MONTESSORIan induction into Maria Montessori’s

Educational Model for Children 3-6 Years

Photos presented are of Primary/Casa and Elementary Classrooms within the Dundas Valley

Montessori School

Welcome to

FIVE KEY CURRICULUM AREAS:

Practical Life (or Daily Living);

SensoryMathLanguageCultural or “Cosmic Education”:

Science; Social Studies, etc..

PRACTICAL LIFE

PRACTICAL LIFE CONTINUED…

MORE PRACTICAL LIFE MATERIALS:

PRACTICAL LIFE ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:FOLDING, CLEANING, WASHING (CLOTHES, DISHES, TABLES), POLISHING, BUTTONING, FASTENING, LACING, WATERING PLANTS, PREPARING SNACKS, SETTING TABLES, POURING WET AND DRY MATERIALS, ETC.

PRACTICAL LIFEAuthentic Activities (Work) & Materials

Practical Life

Independence;Control;Coordination;Confidence;Concentration;Community;Tolerance.

Preparing snacks for and eating as a

community…

PRACTICAL LIFE CONT’D:

“Grace and Courtesy Lessons”;

Care for Environments: Inside and Outside; Physical, Social and Cultural….

SENSORY DEVELOPMENT AND MUSIC ENRICHMENT…

1) the Brown Stairs 2) the Pink Tower

SENSORIAL AND MUSIC ENRICHMENT cont’d…

SENSORIAL AND MUSIC ENRICHMENT

Building Sensory Discrimination:

Taste: Smelling BoxesColour: Colour TabletsShape: Metal Insets; Size/Volume: Brown Stair, Pink Tower; Red Rods, etc.Weight: Thermic TabletsSmell/Odour: Smelling BoxesSound/Tone/Pitch: Sound Boxes; the BellsTexture: Rough and Smooth Boards; Fabric Box

SENSORIAL cont’d…

Attractive, scientifically designed sensory materials set the stage for mathematics in Montessori environments…

SENSORY DEVEOPMENT AND MUSICAL ENRICHMENT

MATHEMATICS

MATHMATICS….

LANGUAGE…

LA

NG

UA

GE

…

LANGUAGE: WRITING (CURSIVE) PRECEDES READING (!); LETTER SOUNDS ARE INTRODUCED BEFORE LETTER NAMES

Metal insets and shape-tracing prepare the child’s hand for writing, while letter sounds, matching games and letter-tracing (in sand, on chalkboards, with markers, etc.), prepare the child for reading….

LANGUAGE:Casa students usually “explode” into reading by four or five years of age…

Encoding (building words) precedes decoding (reading words) in Montessori….

LANGUAGE:

“CULTURAL” or “COSMIC EDUCATION”

“Cosmic Education” entails both “nature and supernature”: the natural world and humankind’s spiritual worlds….

CULTURAL/“COSMIC EDUCATION” Cont’d…

“Here then is an essential principle of education: to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.”

- Maria Montessori, quoted in Lillard (2007), p. 234.

First Principle of Science, Mathematics, Language and Cosmic Education:

MONTESSORI’S “PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCE”

“One of the greatest mistakes of our day is to think of

movement by itself, as something apart from the

higher functions… Mental development must be

connected with movement and dependent on it. It is

vital that educational theory and practice…become

informed by this idea…. Until now, almost all

educators have thought of movement and the

muscular system as aids to respiration, or to

circulation, or as a means for building up physical

strength. But in our new conception the view is taken

that movement has great importance in mental

development itself, provided that the action which

occurs is connected with the mental activity going

on…. Watching a child makes it obvious that the

development of his mind comes about through his

movements…. Mind and movement are part of the

same entity.”

- Maria Montessori, quoted in Lillard (2007), p. 38-40.

radical educational ideas…

“The study of a child’s psychological development must be bound up with the study of his hand’s activities…. Those children who have been able to work with their hands make headway in their development.”

- Maria Montessori, quoted in Lillard (2007) , p. 56.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT, OF CHOICE all day long….

The secret of success [in education] is

found to lie in the right use of

imagination in awakening interest, and

the stimulation of seeds of interest

already sown. - Maria Montessori (quoted in Lillard (2007), p. 114).

These children have free choice all day

long. Life is based on choice, so they

learn to make their own decisions. They

must decide and choose for themselves

all the time…. They cannot learn

through obedience to the commands of

another.- Maria Montessori, quoted in Lillard (2007), p. 80.

FreePlay?

MONTESSORI OUTCOMES:

Montessori

IndependenceControl

Solid FoundationInner Peace

Care for the WorldTolerance

Respect for Nature

ConcentrationCoordinationConfidenceSelf-Esteem

Love for the Environment

OrderSense of Community

Compassion