DISCOVERER .....
" Our aim is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his innermost core. " Maria Montessori
"A child is by his nature an avid explorer of his surroundings because he has not yet had the time or means of knowing them precisely." Maria Montessori
Children are always ready to "Explore", as this is in their nature to "Discover" things which comes in their way.
In a typical Montessori class, all lessons are hands-on and activity based, it excites the child's "Imagination" and thus he explores more deeply which resulted in Minute to minute discoveries.
this girl is showing an Ant which crawled to her fingers...
Concentration is not something to be developed but can be increased through right kind of environment.
"Miss, I found a rock , I want to add this in our Nature Basket, it is really unusual", shouted one of my Explorer student.
Scrutinizing the size of Twigs ;
scientific categorization cannot be taught to children, they already posses this quality.........................................speechless!
While they were making the Great wall , they discussed every aspect of it's development, Born - managers !.................. I was just a silent observer.
While making our "Smack the Puppet" using a cardboard box ,my children explored it with ways I never thought they could have discovered on their own.
These boys are discussing the great discoveries they made about the different sizes of rocks.
Although it looks like they were all digging the sand but in reality everyone was exploring different aspect of sand in his unique way of approaching.
Ropes invite kids to explore the world in a unique way. This child was trying to insert the rope into that hole and after exploring different possibilities , she told me that what if the rope was wider ? what if the pipe was deeply inserted in the ground? what if the rope pulled out something from the hole? Endless questions show that children are Born - Explorers.
These kids are music lovers , they always find a way to produce some rhythmic sounds out of anything , anywhere. Rock n Roll..
In a free-play a child not only explores but in fact uses the scientific method to assess the information ; this girl tried really hard to get herself inside the box, while doing so she discovered the relation of space and weight, volume and mass, "characteristic of a cardboard box"; like its flexibility and many more facts of Physics which cannot be taught through books .
Exploring Magnetism
Discovering the Solar system through 3-D objects and exchanging each other views, all in a
free - play.
A group of Montessori children ready to "Explore" in their Science project day.
(My little scientists)
This is not just a skill of Knotting , the child discovers the Balance she needs to adjust, the strength she needs to pull, all unconsciously . That's the beauty of free -play.
Children are natural explorers, capable of discovering and figuring out many aspects of life given the freedom and framework to do so
(This is a series of Blogs which advocate Nature based learning opportunities for children. The goal is simple: unless children live in Nature, the will not develop any love for it , and only love can take them to the point of Protection. Providing Nature based learning is the most essential part of creating Environmental stewardship in children, who will take care of this planet )
" Our aim is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his innermost core. " Maria Montessori
"A child is by his nature an avid explorer of his surroundings because he has not yet had the time or means of knowing them precisely." Maria Montessori
Children are always ready to "Explore", as this is in their nature to "Discover" things which comes in their way.
In a typical Montessori class, all lessons are hands-on and activity based, it excites the child's "Imagination" and thus he explores more deeply which resulted in Minute to minute discoveries.
From our Nature table, this child has selected the basket full of rocks, shells, trunk pieces and minerals like granite and limestone. He is discovering on his own and will explore new things .
Whenever we go out, children really feel excited to find out amazing stuff ,this (2.8 years) girl was collecting small rocks but when she discovered that ,she came to me and asked," Miss Erum, is this a rock too, it doesn't look like a rock, it is really different".
this girl is showing an Ant which crawled to her fingers...
These little ones are busy discovering Insects with a magnifying glass.
Concentration is not something to be developed but can be increased through right kind of environment.
This group of children announced that they have discovered an area with lots of crawling insects, so they invited everyone to watch.
this boy loves to find the tinniest pebble and here he is busy picking some.
He shouted with excitement ,"Miss Erum, I saw a wonderful thing, there is some grass coming out of this rock".
And searching never ends, these two children are deeply absorbed in their quest for finding different kinds of leaves.
He is watching the movement of an ant which he just picked up from the ground.
This boy always brings me a bunch of grass explaining how their sizes and color differ from each other.
"Miss, I found a rock , I want to add this in our Nature Basket, it is really unusual", shouted one of my Explorer student.
While we were all in the field to collect the Autumn leaves ,this child came to me with a feather in his hand," look, I think some birds were there in that pile of leaves ".
I was surprised to witness the beautiful connection he has made between the pile of leaves and the bird 's feather.
It was a lovely afternoon when we picked different nature stuff from the garden, every child was supposed to collect something different like; grass, twigs, tiniest rocks, big stones, etc.
I was really wondering how these little children collected those stuff keeping in mind the scientific way of selecting and discarding things , they are BORN - SCIENTISTS
All my children know how to make their own toys using Cardboards. This "Throw a ball" cardboard box was made and then played wonderfully with them discovering everything related to ball, throwing, speed, gravity, control and perfection....amazing !
wonderful sense of discovery !
An invitation to a child like this will definitely excites him to Explore more and more.
The changing seasons are just a matter of changing clothes for us, but for children , it is the season of Excitement and Discovery .
After the China project was over, my children decided to place it in the playground. Here they are busy discovering Sizes of the pipes as they were relating it to the wall.
Scrutinizing the size of Twigs ;
scientific categorization cannot be taught to children, they already posses this quality.........................................speechless!
Playing with the Maze which we have made in the class is another way of exploring space, complex calculations and estimations.
Discovering the leaves .
Chinese Dragon was in the process of creation during our China project. What I discover that the children not only enjoys the "process of making or creating something but always start their Imaginary-play in the process".
While they were making the Great wall , they discussed every aspect of it's development, Born - managers !.................. I was just a silent observer.
"."
"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, they cast a light upon it which makes visible to him more things in greater detail than he could see in the dark, or uneducated state".
MARIA MONTESSORI (The Absorbent Mind)
In our Montessori (3-6) class, children are given ample opportunities through Sensorial materials to discover color, shape, size, sound, texture, weight, temperature, aromas and taste . It enables them to use their senses to explore different attributes of the world
In a Free-play, a child works like a little scientist ;exploring all the possibilities ,making new connections ,discovering again and again against their hypothesis.
This boy brought 4 glasses in the sand area , he filled them with a certain level of sand and then added drops of water using a dropper. He wanted to know how adding more water makes different thickness of mixtures.
The writing comes out as a spontaneous activity if children are given freedom to choose their own mediums (not restricted to papers only).
When we finished our Cardboard made "Wall of China", I was just wondering how to start collecting the leftover cardboard pieces, but to my surprise, my children started writing on those pieces. Soon everyone was indulged in the writing process; some were writing stories, some were making cards for their friends, some were writing secret messages and the 3 year olds were scribbled in a manner as if they know the importance of written words. It was the day I discovered amazing things about children.
Exploring Autumn leaves of different shapes and sizes.
These boys are discussing the great discoveries they made about the different sizes of rocks.
Although it looks like they were all digging the sand but in reality everyone was exploring different aspect of sand in his unique way of approaching.
Ropes invite kids to explore the world in a unique way. This child was trying to insert the rope into that hole and after exploring different possibilities , she told me that what if the rope was wider ? what if the pipe was deeply inserted in the ground? what if the rope pulled out something from the hole? Endless questions show that children are Born - Explorers.
She is discovering the Pouring effects of sand
These kids are music lovers , they always find a way to produce some rhythmic sounds out of anything , anywhere. Rock n Roll..
Building with blocks is not a simple act of putting blocks on one another, it gives the child a correct sense of height ,his relation with his surroundings and the purpose of his activity.
In a free-play a child not only explores but in fact uses the scientific method to assess the information ; this girl tried really hard to get herself inside the box, while doing so she discovered the relation of space and weight, volume and mass, "characteristic of a cardboard box"; like its flexibility and many more facts of Physics which cannot be taught through books .
Exploring Magnetism
Discovering the Solar system through 3-D objects and exchanging each other views, all in a
free - play.
Exploring through Microscope.
(My little scientists)
This is not just a skill of Knotting , the child discovers the Balance she needs to adjust, the strength she needs to pull, all unconsciously . That's the beauty of free -play.
Children are natural explorers, capable of discovering and figuring out many aspects of life given the freedom and framework to do so
