What Makes a Montessori Learning Activity "Montessori"?

Self-confidence and a lifelong love of learning characterize the Westmont graduate. But what characterizes a Montessori learning activity? 

Check out our new infographic and tell us what you have observed your child likes to do at home, too.

What are some of the hands-on activities they enjoy?

https://magic.piktochart.com/…/9399797-what-makes-it-montes…

Made by Small Hands

Thanksgiving is a time for being grateful.

Another theme of the holiday season is generosity. Of course, the excitement of getting gifts often becomes the primary focus for children. However, we can help them learn the pleasure of giving to others. The gifts we give are another way to show our gratitude to someone.

Talk with your children about the many ways to be generous, whether gifting time, favors, presents, or words of appreciation. Your gift list may include family, friends, neighbors, and service workers. Children are amazingly insightful and will come up with original ideas, as together you discover the perfect "thank you" for that special someone.

Include the Children

Although sometimes it is easier just to purchase a gift for your child to give another, it is rewarding to involve children in the process of gift-making and giving. This allows your child to be a part of the surprise whether or not they are able to keep the secret. If possible, include your child in the process of wrapping and delivering the gift, too.

Montessori observed that children become acquainted with the world through movement and experience. The process of making something instills an inner satisfaction in the child which he wants to share. By "doing it myself," the gift becomes a gift of the child's self.

(taken from: http://www.montessoriservices.com/ideas-insights/giving-thanks-and-making-gifts)

Nurturing a love of reading

What makes for a great children's book and what are some of your favorite reads with your child? Let's start an ever-evolving, Montessori-inspired book list and let's talk about why Dr. Maria Montessori herself would have approved. Here is one that was written back when she would have had the opportunity to read it herself!

Pelle's New Suit by Elsa Beskow (1930): Pelle has a lamb whose coat grows longer and longer, while Pelle's wool suit grows shorter! Pelle shears the lamb, and the wool is carded, spun, dyed and woven with the help of family and neighbors. Finally, the tailor makes a new suit for Pelle.

Children (2.5- 6yrs) relish this story of a resourceful young Swedish boy as he trades real work to achieve a desired goal. It is fun to see some Montessori Practical Life activities on Pelle's journey!

Some other wonderful selections include anything by Ezra Jack Keats, Elisa Kleven, and Eric Carle. Tell us some of your children's favorites and let's read together!

FOLLOW YOUR CHILD: A Guide to Montessori Principles at Home

Dr. Maria Montessori was a scientist who is known for "following the child". She observed children and devised her approach to education based on a view that each child is naturally eager for knowledge and discovery. It is an approach that values and supports the development of the whole child—physical, social, emotional, cognitive.

Following the child is an endeavor that…

Excerpts from the: “Montessori Parent” article By Kathy Carey, MAT

“…entails much observation. And observation, as Montessori teachers know, is a skill and an art requiring knowledge, effort, and patience. Consider the following as some ways to be fully present with your children: 

• Childproofing: We usually do a good job with outlet covers, drawer stops, and so on, for babies, but what about older children? Call it “preparing the environment”: Place and keep televisions, computers, tablets, and phones in public living spaces and set reasonable limits on their use; balance technology with exercise and indoor/outdoor play; and make time for reading aloud and silently in the presence of other family members doing the same.

• Share meals together, especially dinner and its preparation, as often as possible, five nights a week at least. Share with each other your day as well as thoughts and feelings, and resist the temptation to teach: We learn more through discussion and modeling than through lecture.

• Allow children to speak for themselves: Respect their feelings and their intellect, even if they are mistaken in their thoughts or behaviors.

• Show rather than tell. It is the Montessori way.

• Avoid comparison and competition between children, always and everywhere. Each child is entitled to his/her individuality.

• Set up home environments and family interactions that allow choices and freedom to choose. Meals, weekend plans, vacations, and gifts for family members are reasonable areas of choice.

• Understand that mistakes are opportunities for learning. All humans make mistakes; it is what we do with our mistakes that makes a difference.

• Demonstrate active respect in thought, word, and deed for all life. Be the best model you can be. You are being watched. Children who feel loved and respected will develop their singular potential.

Visit the American Montessori Society for more family support materials.

Exploring the World Around Us

"The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge. Our apparatus for educating the senses offers the child a key to guide his explorations of the world…"[i]

This is the time of year that our senses are enraptured: the smell of autumn is in the air, the canopy of autumn in the sky and the pumpkin patches are replete with pumpkins big and small.  In the Montessori classroom, the purpose of the sensorial materials is to educate and refine the senses. Dr. Montessori observed that the “child's intellect does not work in isolation, but is everywhere and is always intimately bound up with his body”, (Standing, E. M., Maria Montessori: Her Life and Her Work), particularly with his nervous and muscular systems. Sensorial education helps develop a child's intellect through exploration of the senses.

Dr. Montessori was a scientific observer. According to Montessori, a child between two to six years passes through the ‘sensitive period’ for the refinement of the senses. She thus took each of the senses and developed beautiful materials that would support children in using and refining their skills of classification, ordering, and pairing to help them build an understanding of the world around them. 

          What Dr. Montessori advocated for over 100 years ago has also been corroborated by the most recent brain research:  "Experience is the chief architect of the brain…. Rich experiences, in other words, really do produce rich brains.” [ii]

Plus, the materials are endlessly engaging and fun to work with for inquisitive young minds.

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[i] Montessori, M. (1988). The Absorbent Mind. Oxford: Clio Press. p. 167

http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial/introduction.htm

[ii] FERTILE MINDS By J. MADELEINE NASH Sunday, June 24, 2001

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,137214,00.html