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Montessori
in the Natural World - The Durham Parent
The best teacher for the young child is the great outdoors. Equipped with
curiosity and a sense of wonder, he eagerly explores the natural world,
both plant and animal, from tiny insects, busily going about their business
to small seeds that can amazingly grow into enormous trees.
Let's see how the Montessori environment can aid the young explorer in his
exciting voyage of discovery! We will look at two examples: The classified
cards and the botany cabinet. The classified cards: imagine 7
almost-identical pictures of a horse. Here's how each picture differs. In
the first picture, all of the horse is beautifully colored in, and the
picture is labeled "The Horse". In the subsequent pictures the
horse is not coloured in, except for one part which is coloured red and
labeled. E.G. the head, the neck, the fore legs, the hind legs, the mane,
etc. so each part of the horse is isolated so the name can be taught to the
child. There are numerous sets of these pictures awaiting the interest of
the child including, for example, parts of the butterfly, bird, turtle,
fish, iquana, flower, leaf, tree, ant, bee, spider, and even parts of a
house, a place setting, a shoe, a shirt and a computer!
These pictures create an awareness in the child of the individual parts of
birds and animals, etc. and then provide a world for them thereby
satisfying the child's expanding thirst for knowledge and his/her strong
desire to give a word to every new object he encounters.
The botany cabinet: picture a beautifully-crafted wooden chest with three
drawers. Inside each drawer are six yellow wooden squares. Each square
contains a puzzle piece inset: a painted green leaf shape. What fun to
remove the leaf shapes, mix them up, and then correctly replace them!
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After
this has been mastered, the child, of course, is eager to know their names.
Now, their leaf shapes do not represent particular leaves such as maple or
oak. No, there are botanical leaf shapes, representing classifications of
leaves. You probably learned their names in your biology class in High
School. At that time, the learning of new words held little fascination for
you so you do not remember them. The young child, however, has a passion
for words, so Dr. Montessori reasoned, this is the best time to present as
much language to the child as possible. These leaf shapes are also an
example of what Dr. Montessori called "Keys To The Environment".
For example, if a child is in a garden or in the woods, he will make
observations such as "A lilac leaf is cordate, the leaf of the lily is
linear!" In other words, the "Keys" help the child to make
sense of his world, which in turn adds to his self-esteem. The child can do
any subsequent activity with the botany cabinet, the last of which he might
do when he is about 4 1/2 years old, which is to make a book with the title
"My Book of Botanical Leaf Shapes". This involves tracing the
leaf shapes on square paper, colouring them in, and writing their names,
such as cordate, linear, reniform, lanceolate and acciculate, because when
you're over 4 years old, you can write acciculate.....can't you?
These natural science activities are just a small part of the Montessori
environment called the Cultural materials.
[End of Article]
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Montessori
Math - The Durham Parent
One day, just wait and see. I'll do it!" says an exuberant 3-year old
Jimmy to his mother after coming home from school. In the classroom that
day, most of the children had gathered to admire 5-year old Dean's work:
labeling 1,000 golden beads, counting by 10's to 1,000. What an
accomplishment. And what fun!
Before a child is 6 years old in a Montessori class, he has been exposed to
the numbers from 0 to 9,000, including adding and subtracting and
multiplying, with 3 digits! And everything he does, he does with joy;
because in a Montessori class the children choose their own work, and of
course, what they choose is fun! Is Mathematics fun? In the Montessori
environment it certainly is!
Dr. Montessori really showed her genius when she devised the attractive,
Montessori Mathematical materials that introduce these concepts one small
step at a time. Let's examine some of them: the ten colorful red and blue
Number Rods that the child first mixes up and then puts in order; the
sandpaper numbers, where the young 3-year old child can feel the numbers,
see them, hear the teacher say them and repeat them to himself. When he has
mastered the recognition of these numbers, he is ready to match the number
symbol with the quantity, first with the Number Rods where the quantity is
fixed and the symbols are loose; then with the Spindle Box, where the
numbers are fixed and the wooden spindles (the quantity) are loose.
With the next material, Numbers and Counters, both the symbol and quantity
are loose. This material also lends itself to the introduction of the
concepts "odd" and "even".
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Now
the child is ready for the numbers from 10 to 19. With the "Teen
Board" he will build the numbers from 10 to 19 and match them with
colorful beads. With similar materials the child learns the numbers to 99.
When this is mastered, why stop there? The child is now ready for....the
decimal system!
With fun materials that make the symbols and quantities of 1, 10 and 1,000
so easily understandable, the child can now build his knowledge of the
numbers to 9,000. When you attend a Montessori Math Workshop, you will be
sure to see a demonstration of the "Bank Game", an activity
spontaneously chosen where 3 or 4 children each bring together a quantity
and number in the thousands and proceed to discover the total. What fun!
There are cubes with the numbers 1 to 10. Each square and cube has a
colour-coded accompanying chain. A child is invited to choose first the
chain of the square of 2, which is 4. The next step is to label the chain;
2, 4 in this case. The chain for the cube of 2 will have 8 beads. This
activity also teaches the child "skip counting", e.g. 2,4,6,8 and
3,6,9,12,15, etc., which is preparation for multiplication. The last step
in this exciting activity is to take the chain for the cube of 10, which is
1,000, and methodically label it: 10, 20, 30, etc. to 1,000.
What a test of perseverance and concentration! No wonder Dean's friends all
stopped what they were doing to come and admire his achievement!
[End of Article]
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Learning
Through the Senses - The Durham Parent
I like your wool blouse. Mommy bought me a pair of corduroy pants." At
three-years old Rebecca is aware of the different man-made fabrics. She
learned this through the part of the Montessori environment called the
Sensorial materials. During the first six years of the child's life, the
senses are still being refined and developed. These senses include sight,
hearing, touch, taste, smell and the stereognostic and basic senses. (If
you are not familiar with the last two terms ask about them at the next
Open House you attend.)
Since most learning occurs through the senses, it is vitally important that
there be no gaps. So if you want your child to be a surgeon, don't wait
until she's in university. To be a skilled surgeon, one requires a
sensitivity to touch and this isn't taught at university! To be an artist,
one needs an awareness of shades and hues (among other things), to be a
master chef, a sensitivity to taste. All these senses are developed before
the child is 6 years old! After the age of six, the senses are basically
set, so we see why educators like Montessori emphasized the importance of
education during the early years.
Let's look more closely at some of the Sensorial materials. Colour Box #1
consists of 2 red, 2 blue and 2 yellow tablets that the child simply
matches. Gradually she works up to matching 11 colours in Colour Box #2. In
Colour Box #3 there are 9 colours, with 7 shades of each colour. Imagine
the fun mixing them all up, and then putting them in order again! The
Colour tablets also provide another example of how the materials develop
self-esteem. The child is always shown something with which she can
succeed! This is because young children have not yet formed an opinion of
themselves and the world around them.
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If
most of her attempts meet with success she feels that the world is a great
place and that she is a capable, dependable person. If on the other hand,
she meets with a lot of failure, she might feel "Life is hard. I don't
do things well. Maybe I'm hopeless." So a charactistic of the
Montessori materials is that they are sequential, one step at a time, or as
I heard a parent put it, "inch by inch, anything's a cinch". With
the Sound boxes, to refine the sense of hearing, the child will shake 3
pairs of boxes and match their sounds. Later, she gradually increases the
amount of boxes. Another challenge is to put them in order from the
quietest to the loudest. The first Rough and Smooth Board, to develop the
sense of touch, is simply divided into a rough and smooth surface.
The second board consists of rough and smooth strips. On the third board,
the rough strips are graduated from fine to very rough. Then there are a
set of squares that the child matches. Words cannot do justice to these
attractive materials that invite the child to come and participate. You
must visit your local Montessori school and see them for yourself.
Another charactistic of some of the Montessori materials is what Dr.
Montessori called "Keys to the environment". After working with
some of the materials, the child is more aware of that particular quality
in the world around her. I have seen a child, after a friend has entered
wearing a new dress, go to Colour Box #3 and find the exact shade of the
new dress. When the children match the swatches from the box of fabrics
they later become interested in what cloths are made of. These
"Keys" also enhance self-esteem.
They enable the child to say "I can make sense of the world and I can
do it by myself!"
[End of Article]
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A
visit to Blaisdale Montessori School - The Durham Parent
When I exclaimed, "I wish I'd had that when I was a child!" Mrs.
Eleanor Wilson, the founder of Blaisdale Montessori School, said that this
remark is commonly made by parents when they visit her school. First, we
toured the "Casa" class. Children aged 3 to 5 were all happily
engaged in activities of their own choosing: pouring, polishing, sweeping,
using tweezers, tongs, ladles, funnels, locks, keys and dusters. All were
activities that are found in the home and, as Mrs. Wilson explained, help
develop muscular co-ordination, concentration and self-esteem. I saw
children using materials that refine the senses of touch, sight and
hearing, and writing stories--in cursive!
"Before the children leave this class," Mrs. Wilson explained,
"they can often read at a Grade 2 level." And Math, using
Montessori's unique math materials, by age 6, the children know their
numbers from 0 to 9,999 --including adding, subtracting and multiplying
with 3 digits! On the walls were maps that the children had made and
labelled--of Canada, Australia and the United States! Following Dr.
Montessori's dictum, 'Give the child the best', children at Blaisdale are
exposed to classical art (at the entrance to the class was a picture of
Renoir's "Two Girls at the Piano" and 5 Group of Seven paintings
lined the corridor). Pictures of Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart illustrated
the "Music of the Month", a feature that Mrs. Wilson introduced
33 years ago in 1969 when the school was first opened.
While visiting the Elementary classes for children ages 6 to 12, wide-eyed
six-year old Carson told me "The Casa was wonderful, but the
Elementary was awesome!" The core subjects of Math and Language are
still taught individually, as they were in the Casa (Pre-School),
encompassing "Cosmic Education" (Dr. Montessori's term). The
curriculum includes basically "everything" explained the
Elementary teacher
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including
Botany, Zoology, History, Geography and even Palcontology and Astronomy as
well as the Arts, Physical Education, Drama, Choir, Ballet, Karate and
Chess. I observed 2 children working on a ten-foot time-line of the
Prehistoric Age.
Blaisdale also offers a Toddler program for children 16 months to 2 1/2, a
Summer program and, in their 2 acre Pickering location, a class of 13
children ages 12 to 14 (Grades 7 and 8). Some of the children in this class
have been at Blaisdale since they were Toddlers!
Mrs. Wilson explained that as well as the Montessori training, all of the
staff are required to take the Adlerian course (for effective discipline)
and the St. John Safety Course. French begins in the Casa class where the
assistant speak French most of the time. Mrs. Wilson, being very
health-minded, ensures that the fluorescent lights are full spectrum, the
children drink only filtered spring water and healthy refreshments and
lunches are encouraged. The School is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Blaisdale
is a member of the Canadian Council of Montessori Administrators. The CCMA
is a professional organization dedicated to upholding high Montessori
standards and encouraging professional development of its members.
Blaisdale has a Montessori-trained Administrator, Heather Wilson, who
received her A.M.I. (Association Montessori Internationale) training from
Renilde Montessori, Dr. Montessori's granddaughter.
Space does not permit a further description of Blaisdale's well-established
program, but you could do as I did. Call their head office to arrange a
visit (tel. 905-509-5005), or for more information.
You'll be impressed. I certainly was!
A Blaisdale Parent.
[End of Article]
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The
Prepared environment - The Durham Parent
Three-year old Jennifer is scrubbing a table. Tommy, aged 5, is labelling a
map of Canada, and four-year old Robert is tracing geometric shapes. These
children have chosen their own activities from "The Prepared
Environment", which consists of specially designed educational materials
laid out on shelves in an attractive, orderly classroom.
This "Prepared Environment" is divided into the following
activities: Practical life reflects activities that the child is familiar
with because they are found in the home. Thus the activities are a link between
the home environment and that of the school. Children are attracted to
these activities because, as every parent knows, children want to do what
Mommy and Daddy do, i.e. wash dishes, use nuts and bolts, open locks with
keys, pour liquids, sweep, dust and polish. Even clean up a mess! The list
goes on.
Sensorial activities involve the children in the refinement of their
senses, e.g. sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The senses of the
child are still being developed from birth to age 6, and of course, we want
them to be as keen as possible, since all learning occurs through the
senses. There are some senses of which many of us may not be aware.
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For
instance, the basic sense (to distinguish weights), or the stereognostic sense
(identifying objects by feel). Academics includes Language, Reading and
Writing. In a Montessori class, by the time children are 5-years old, they
are reading at a Public School level equivalent to Grade 2--at least! And,
since every activity the children do, they choose to do, every activity is
done with joy! Because, when you are a little child, you choose activities
for one reason - because it's fun! Each lesson is given individually to the
child when he is ready and interested, so that when he does choose an
activity, he has had a previous lesson in it.
Mathematics activities include Art, colouring, painting, cutting, pasting,
drawing, and also Art Appreciation which we will explore at a later time.
In Music the children acquire a repertoire of songs, play rhythm
instruments, move to music, and are exposed to classical music for musical
appreciation. But this is only the beginning as the child eagerly absorbs
subjects such as Botany, Natural Science, Geography, Music and Art.
[End of Article]
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THE
JOY OF READING - The Durham Parent
As we look in on 4-year old Amanda who is writing a story about her cat, we
observe some of the materials that help her learn how to write, and note that
there is an overlapping into reading. Let us now look around the
"Prepared Environment" at more of the attractive materials that
have invited Amanda to further pursue her reading adventure.
Although Amanda knows the sounds of the letters of the alphabet that she
learned with the sandpaper letters, she will work with a great many more
reading materials before she will read from books. Here are some of them:
the movable alphabet, consisting of large individual letters with which to
label miniature objects such as hat, hen, mop, drum, flag and stamp;
classified cards: various categories of pictures, from the utensils in
Mommy's kitchen to Daddy's tools.
Always of interest are pictures that show "parts of" from parts
of a fish, a bird, a flower, to parts of a house. With all these pictures
the children have fun matching them to their correct labels. This is easy
to do because there is a duplicate for each picture with the correct word
already there. When the child herself feels confident enough, she will
match the labels and pictures with the duplicates,and then use these
duplicates to check how well she did. And what fun to do the
"action" words. Large individual words that invite the child to
silently "read and do", such as "hop",
"jump", "run", "rub".
After the child has explored the "Phonegram" booklets, she can
act out "crawl", "dance", "sleep",
"eat", and "scratch". Then there's a wealth of word
activities with which to have fun! Matching baby animals to their mothers,
male animals to females (a goose and a gander), number of symbols with
their words, and singulars and plurals, to name just a few.
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We
must remember that the child from ages 1 to 6 is what Dr. Montessori called
a "sensitive period" for language. They have a passion for words.
(Please call if you would like to know about a very easy word game you can
play with your child to help her understand that words are made up of
sounds.) Because of her passion for words, before the child leaves the Casa
class (children from ages 3 to going on 6) she will have been exposed to
.... grammar!
Yes, to the function of the noun, the verb, the adjective, the adverb and
the definite and indefinite articles. Do you remember how much you loved
grammar when you were in grade 5, 6, 7 or 8? You didn't? Maybe it was
because you were no longer in a "sensitive" period for language.
Dr. Montessori recognized various other "sensitive" periods for
different areas of learning in the life of the child. To learn more about
them, inquire when you visit Blaisdale Montessori School. By attending a
Language workshop, you will see a demonstration of the reading materials we
have mentioned and much more!
You will also learn how vocabulary is taught, how language permeates the
classroom environment, and how you can enrich your child's vocabulary at
home.
[End of Article]
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