Montessori Practical Life at Home

Success in life is directly correlated to the degree in which people believe they are capable as well as independent. And how do we learn to be capable and independent? We practise the skills that are necessary until we no longer need help and can act and do accordingly.

Allowing children to gain independence and self-discipline is the purpose of the Practical Life activities in the Montessori classroom and at home. I say “home” because Practical Life activities have the purpose of allowing students to gain independence and self-discipline. These skills cannot be practised only at school. What happens when a child is allowed to prepare their own snack, slice their own apples, pour their own drink, and wash and dry their own dishes in the Montessori classroom, but at home is told “Oh, you’re much too young to use a knife. You will spill that if you pour it. Let me do it for you”? The mixed message is clear. The skills that are being taught at school are not allowed at home, thus creating a dichotomy in the child’s thinking: I am capable and independent at school, but at home I am not. Later, when Montessori teachers comment about how independent a child is, how he enjoys taking care of his environment and keeps his work area neat and tidy, the parents shake their heads and wonder why these skills are not being demonstrated at home. The answer is clear; the well-meaning and loving parents have done for the child what he is clearly able to do himself.

Practical Life activities are the traditional works of the family and home. They can be broken down into four categories:

1. Preliminary activities – carrying a tray, pouring water, spooning grain, walking on the line, etc.

 

2. Care of the environment – cleaning, sweeping, dusting, gardening, raking, polishing.

3. Care of self – dressing, toileting, brushing teeth, bathing, combing hair, preparing food, setting the table.

4. Grace and courtesy – using table manners, greeting others, saying “please” and “thank you”, learning to control one’s own body.

Each activity is carefully analyzed and broken down into successive steps so that the child may practise each step repeatedly until he has mastered the skill. Adults must model these activities, not just the mechanics of the process, but also the joy that is to be found in a job well done. If the adults lack enthusiasm, the child will learn that it is not a worthwhile task and will not want to continue. We can delight together in dishes that are clean and ready for use at our next meal or in a well-set table.

So, what can be done to extend the Practical Life activities in the home? First off, make sure that the materials you use are child-size. Why is this important? Well, I think about it this way. As an adult, I have several paring knives that I have bought or received over the years. My favorite, however, is the very first one I ever received, even though the tip is broken off and the blade is wobbly. Why is it my favorite? Because it fits my hands just right. The other ones just don’t “feel” right to me. This is the difference between a child learning how to work using materials that fit her just right and trying to adapt an adult-size tool to a child-size body.

Remember that Practical Life activities are the routines and rituals that adults perform daily in order to maintain their environment. Here are a few examples of how to invite your child to continue these valuable Practical Life lessons at home:

Preliminary Activities

• Pouring and transferring liquids and dry ingredients without spilling 
• Using scissors
• Opening and closing lids
• Screwing and unscrewing jar lids
• Stirring

Care of the Environment

• Wringing a wet cloth
• Washing a table or countertop
• Sweeping the floor with a broom and dustpan
• Mopping the floor
• Vacuuming
• Polishing silver or brass
• Polishing wood furniture
• Polishing shoes
• Sorting laundry by color
• Matching socks
• Folding towels and wash cloths
• Folding napkins
• Ironing handkerchiefs or pillowcases
• Sewing on buttons
• Washing dishes: pots and pans; plasticware; silver (flat) ware; glasses; plates
• Watering and caring for houseplants
• Flower arranging
• Caring for pets
• Cleaning up spills
• Putting materials and toys away
• Sorting recycling materials

Care of Self

• Washing hands
• Washing face
• Washing hair
• Blowing nose and properly throwing away the tissue
• Sneezing
• Brushing teeth
• Combing hair
• Trimming fingernails
• Running water in the bath
• Hanging up towels after use
• Dressing oneself (including learning how to button, zip, snap, tie, buckle, Velcro)
• Putting on a jacket
• Hanging a jacket on a low hook
• Putting clean clothes in a drawer
• Measuring liquid and dry ingredients
• Peeling fruits and vegetables
• Using kitchen tools (fork, spoon, grater, blunt knife, ice cream scoop, bulb baster, peeler, chopping board, rolling pin, whisk, pitcher, cookie cutters, melon baller, apple corer, etc.)
• Spreading (like butter, peanut butter, a mixture)

Grace and Courtesy

• How to greet someone
• How to answer the telephone
• How get up from the table
• How to carry a chair properly
• How to open and shut a door quietly
• How to interrupt when necessary
• How to excuse oneself when passing or bumping into another
• How to hand someone something
• Table manners
• Carrying objects without dropping or spilling
• Walking without bumping objects or people

When we remember to present these activities with enthusiasm and break them down into sequential steps, a child will feel encouraged as he practises them independently. We must remember that “Adults work to finish a task, but the child works in order to grow and is working to create the adult, the person that is to be.” (Montessori) As adults, we work to finish tasks efficiently and quickly so as to move on to the next task at hand. A child, however, is working to master the activity. He will practise repeatedly to perfect his abilities and then, may turn his attention elsewhere.


Text from NAMC.

Knobbed Cylinders

Visual Sense
Discrimination of Size
Matching

Materials:
Four blocks, each containing ten cylinders or 5 cylinders with knobs, with each cylinder fitting into its respective hole in a given block. The four blocks, varying in one, two, or three dimensions, form the following graduation of exercises from easy to difficult, simple
to complex.

#1 The cylinders are equal in height, but decrease in diameter.
Two dimensions vary: length and width.
#2 The cylinders decrease in height and diameter.
Three dimensions vary: length, width, and height.
#3 The cylinders increase in height while decreasing in width.
Three dimensions vary: length, width, and height.
#4 The cylinders are equal in width, but decrease in height.
One dimension varies: height.

Direct:

Development of concentration, order, coordination, and independence.
Responds to the sensitive need for order in the child.
Encourages problem-solving techniques.

Indirect:
Education of voluntary movement.
Preparation for writing in holding a pencil.
Preparation of the mathematical mind.
Ten cylinders as a preparation for the decimal system. (The one on this photo has only 5 cylinders)

Control of Error
Each cylinder will fit in its proper place only.

CHILDREN WORKING!!!

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist.”

Dr. Maria Montessori

HAVE A LOVELY WEEKEND!!!

 Threading

Development of eye hand coordination and concentration.

 Rolling  a mat

Purpose
Direct: To enable the child to unroll a mat as a preparation for later working with materials on the floor. Indirect: Coordination of movement, development of muscles, and concentration.

Points of Interests Watching to see that the ends of the mat remain flat as it is rolled.

 

Pouring pasta

Purpose

Direct: To assist the child in developing the skill of pouring.
Indirect: Preparations of the fingers when picking up spilled pasta.

Points of Interests Seeing that all the pasta are transferred.

Spindle box

MATERIAL:  A wooden box with ten compartments numbered 0 to 9 along the back and 45 wooden spindles.

Control of Error

There are 45 spindles. The sum of the numbers 1 to 9 is 45, so there are exactly the right number of spindles for the exercise. If a mistake is made, the child will find that he has either too few or too many spindles when he comes to the last compartment. He can correct his work independently.

PURPOSE:

To see the numerals 0 to 9 in sequence. To associate the corresponding quantities with the numerals. To introduce the concept of zero. With the number rods and tactile numerals, the sequence of numbers was indicated by the segmented rods and the numerals were loose. In this exercise, the sequence of numbers is indicated on the box and the quantities are loose.

Work in progress

Children's House Montessori Daycare

THE CHILDREN'S HOUSE MONTESSORI DAYCARE IS NOW OPEN!!!
It is understood that 50% of the child's mental intelligence has developed by the age of four. They have a remarkable ability to learn from their environment.

Dr. Montessori's recognition of this ABSORBENT MIND led her to develop a unique method of education.
She believed, and through the years it has been proven, that a child needs freedom to learn so that his/her intellectual, social, moral and spiritual development is nurtured and satisfied.
In Montessori schools this freedom of choice to learn is provided in a prepared environment which is stimulating and interesting to the child. This environment allows a child to satisfy his/her curiosity in his surroundings and so develop his interests and abilities.
All materials are very inviting and the child finds learning from an early age an enjoyable thing to do.
Children with a Montessori background are better prepared (more confident, more intelligent, more aware) to face the ever changing and challenging world around them. 

Children working!

The Children's House Montessori Daycare

~Children working~

MONTESSORI APPROACH

Dr. Maria Montessori was born in 1870 and became the first woman doctor in Italy. She studied Education, Philosophy, Psychology and Anthropology. By observing children in a scientific manner, and without the usual pre-conceived educational ideas, she was able to create new techniques of education which emphasized the unique development of each child.

This led to the Montessori system which has at its core an environment in which the child is free to develop their own skills and abilities. Dr. Montessori's first school achieved far greater academic success than the traditional state system and many of her ideas such as cross-curriculum teaching have now been adopted into `mainstream' education.

However, Montessori's ideas, both practical and Philosophical, are based on a co-ordinate approach tailored to each child's development. In the prepared Montessori environment, the child learns to explore and make their own discoveries about the world around them.

Mixed age groups afford the child the opportunity to help and be helped by other children and take part as both the youngest and oldest member.

Montessori teachers are called directresses because they direct the child's learning rather than `teaching' at them. Especially trained to observe, to respond to the needs of each child and to direct the whole group, they do not teach in the traditional sense, but rather guide each child forward.

Learning by rote is alien to the Montessori classroom. It is the child's own drive to enquire and explore their world which motivates the learning process.

The elementary child is entering a new sensitive period - developing their imagination. The younger child learns to co-ordinate hand-eye and large motor movements, practical life, and care of self. By contrast, the elementary child learns to co-ordinate their abstract thoughts and take imaginative steps beyond the physical limits of home, classroom and community. Imagination is the new area of growth, the mental push whereby the child explores nothing less than the world and universe around them.

"My vision of the future is no longer people taking exams and proceeding then on that certification, but of individuals passing from one stage of independence to a higher, by means of their own activity through their own effort of will, which constitutes the inner evolution of the individual"
~ Maria Montessori

MONTESSORI VS. TRADITIONAL EDUCATION

Montessori	Traditional
Based on the development of the child	Based on the transfer of a national curriculum
Children follow their own interests and learn at their own pace	Children learn from a set curriculum according to a preset time frame
Children teach themselves using specially prepared materials	Children are taught by the teacher
Children develop their ability to discover for themselves	Learning is based on subjects and based on what is given
Learning based on physical exploration of environment	Children sit at desks and learn from worksheets and white boards
Teacher works with children	Class is teacher led
Intrinsic Motivation	Motivation through rewards and punishments
Uninterrupted work flow	Block time, period lessons
Multi-age Classrooms	Single-graded Classrooms

GOOD MORNING!

"The secret of good teaching is to regard the child's intelligence as a fertile field, in which seeds may be sown to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim therefore, is not merely to make the child understand and memorise facts but to touch his imagination and to interest the child to his innermost core.

We do not want complacent pupils, but eager ones: we seek to sow life in the child rather than theories, to help the child grow mentally, socially, emotionally and physically."

Dr. Maria Montessori 1870 – 1952

NOW OPEN

SUPERWOMEN WAS ALREADY HERE!

"A Montessori Child’s Plea Poem"

WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY?

Today I did my math and language, practical life too,
I used my eyes, my ears and hands, my senses the whole day through.
I added and subtracted, learned patience all the day.
I used tweezers, blocks, and puzzles,
And worked with the scrubbing tray.
I learned how to mix colors,
And learned how to weigh.
So mom and dad, please don’t say-
“DID YOU BRING ANY PAPERS HOME TODAY?”

You see, I’m sharing as I play,
Learning self control throughout the day,
I’m learning to listen and speak clearly when I talk,
To wait my turn and when inside to walk,
To put my words into phrases,
To balance along the “Red Rod” maze,
To find my name and write it down,
I do it with a smile, not a frown.
So mom and dad, please don’t say,
“WHY DON’T YOU HAVE ANY PAPERS TODAY?”

I learned about a snail, I learned about a worm,
I learned about flags and maps,
And how to take a turn,
I helped a friend when he was stuck,
I learned that water runs off a duck.
I looked at words from left to right,
Agreed to differ, not to fight.
Today I sang the continent song,
I learned the difference between right and wrong,
So mom and dad, please don’t say,
“DID YOU ONLY PLAY TODAY?”

Because yes, I played the whole day through,
I worked to learn the things I do,
Encounter a problem, find the clue and work it out for myself, I do.
My teachers set the scene and stand near-by,
They want me to succeed and teach me how to try.
They pose the questions, and help me to think,
They keep me afloat and would never let me sink.
So don’t get discouraged and frustrate me,
I try my best and I’m learning each day.
So mom and dad, please don’t say,
“HAVEN’T YOU DONE ANY WORK TODAY?”

~ Author Unknown ~

OPEN HOUSE

Please note that the date for the OPEN HOUSE

has changed.

OPEN HOUSE

September 15th 2011

What is MONTESSORI?

The Montessori method of teaching aims for the fullest possible development of the whole child, ultimately preparing him for life's many rich experiences. Complemented by her training in medicine, psychology and anthropology, Dr. Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952) developed her philosophy of education based upon actual observations of children.
Children pass through sensitive periods of development early in life. Dr. Montessori described the child's mind between the time of birth and six years of age as the "absorbent mind". It is during this stage that a child has a tremendous ability to learn and assimilate from the world around him, without conscious effort. During this time, children are particularly receptive to certain external stimuli. A Montessori teacher recognizes and takes advantage of these highly perceptive stages through the introduction of materials and activities which are specially designed to stimulate the intellect.
Encouraged to focus her attention on one particular quality, the child works at her own optimum level – in an environment where beauty and orderliness are emphasized and appreciated. A spontaneous love of "work" is revealed as the child is given the freedom (within boundaries) to make her own choices.

Montessori teachers are trained facilitators in the classroom, always ready to assist and direct. Their purpose is to stimulate the child's enthusiasm for learning and to guide it, without interfering with the child's natural desire to teach himself and become independent. Each child works through his individual cycle of activities, and learns to truly understand according to his own unique needs and capabilities.

Everything in a Montessori classroom has a specific use or purpose. There is nothing in the prepared environment that the child cannot see or touch. All of the furniture and equipment is scaled down to the child's size and is within easy reach.

A quality Montessori classroom has a busy, productive atmosphere where joy and respect abound. Within such an enriched environment, freedom, responsibility, and social and intellectual development spontaneously flourish!





Text from NAMC.

Montessori

Opening Soon!


Children from 18 months to 5 years
Hours: 7:30 - 17:30
Monday to Friday
Price: 30$/day

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was born in Ancona, Italy in 1870, Maria Montessori was to become the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome Medical School. Upon her graduation in 1896, she began her work with the University's Psychiatric Clinic. Her visits with children in insane asylums in Rome prompted her to study the works of Jean Itard and Edward Seguin, Pioneers in special education for the mentally deficient. In 1898 Dr. Montessori became director of the State Orthophrenic School. Basing her educational methods on the insights she had gained from Itard and Seguin, she spent the following two years teaching the children, preparing materials, taking notes, and reflecting on her observations and work. As a result of this intensive study, and her discovery that these children could learn many things that seemed impossible, she devoted her energies to the field of education for the rest of her life.

Maria Montessori Montessori returned to the University of Rome to study philosophy, psychology, and anthropology. The following years provided her with experiences in clinics, hospitals, a daycare center in a housing project, and in schools which she opened in San Lorenzo, Milan, and Rome, the latter for the children of well-to-do parents. Studying the children in all conditions throughout the world, she discovered universal principles underlying the development of all children.