A small presentation on understanding the importance of Montessory principles in preschool education

1. Montessori Education
and
Understanding Kindergarten
Children
By
Dr Seethalakshmi Viswanath

2. Understanding Kindergarten
Children
“Our educational aim with very young
children must be to aid the spontaneous
development of the mental, spiritual and
physical personality”.
-- Maria Montessori

3. Workshop Schedule
30.5.16
9 – 9.30 : Warm up
9.30 – 10.30 : Activity 1—Handouts
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
10.30 – 10.45 : Tea Break
10.45–11.45 : Activity 2- Handout 6
11.45 – 12.30 : Activity 3 Handout 7
12.30 – 1.15 : Lunch Break
1.15 – 2.15 : Activity 4 – Handout 8
2.15 – 3.15 : Activity 5 – Handout 9
3.15 – 3.30 : Feedback
Afternoon Tea to be served in the
hall.
31.5.16
9 – 9.15 : Warm up
9.15 – 10.00 : Activity 6 – Handout
10
10.00 – 10.45 : Activity 7 –
Handout11
10.45 – 11.00 : Tea Break
11.00 – 11.45 : Activity 8 –
Handout12
11.45 – 12.45 : Activity 9 –
Handout13
12.45 – 1.30 : Lunch Break
1.30 – 2.30 : Activity 10 – Handout
14
2.30 – 3.15 : classroom management
-- PPT

4. Activity – 1 Group Activity
 Handout 1
 Handout 2
 Handout 3
 Handout 4
 Handout 5

5. Dr Maria Montessori
Handout 1
1. Early years of a child very important
2. Need for early education
3. Foundation laid for an integrated
personality
4. Young children adopt and learn
everyday chores naturally.
5. Reverence for individual beauty and
potential

6. Dr Maria Montessori
Handout 2
1. Sensitive periods in a child’s life
2. Absorbent mind in a child
3. Tremendous ability to absorb and
learn
4. Receptive to external stimuli
5. Introduction of activities and
materials to stimulate the child.

7. Dr Maria Montessori
6. Stimulating the child’s
enthusiasm for learning and
helping the child’s natural desire
to teach himself and be
independent
7. Work on the inner drive of a
child and make him self-directed

8. Dr Maria Montessori
 Inner Drive  interest, repetition &
concentration
 Inner Drive child chooses activity
of its choice
 Activities involving sensorial
concepts, language, arithmetic, art
and culture along with exercise of
practical life

9. Dr Maria Montessori
 Exercises of practical life brought
intelligence, will and voluntary
movements together for integration
of personality
 Sense of discipline through quiet
orderliness, remarkable work
attitude, striving for perfection,
sense of responsibility

10. Dr Maria Montessori
 Children need consistency,
freedom to choose and operate.
 Possible to rectify developmental
errors and bring the child to
normalcy

11. Stages of child development
Handout 3
 First Stage ---- 0 to6 years
* First phase: 0 to 3 years. --
Conception to birth: Prenatal period &
Infancy and Toddlerhood -- The
absorbent mind which is unconscious.
* Second phase: 3 to 6 years. The
absorbent mind which is conscious.

12. Stages of child development
 Second Stage --- 6 to 12 years
 Third Stage --- It has two sub-
phases:
12 to 15 years -- Puberty
15 to 18 years -- Adolescence

13. Sensitive Periods
Handout 4
Dr Maria Montessori observed six
sensitive periods which are:
1. Sensitivity to order
2. Refinement of senses
3. Sensitivity to language
4. Sensitivity to walking
5. Sensitivity to small objects
6. Sensitivity to social aspects of life

14. Characteristics of Child
Development
Handout 5
a. The child constructs his movements,
language, intelligence, memory, emotions
and creative faculties unconsciously during
this sensitive period. This sub-phase is a
period of self-construction.
b. Abilities to learn and remember and to
respond to sensory stimuli, comprehen-
sion and use of language develop.

15. Growth and Development
Sensori-motor Stage
Preoperational Stage
Concrete Operational Stage
Formal Operational Stage
(The Adolescent Stage)

16. Activity – 2 – Group Activity
Handout 6 – Each topic in this
Handout to be discussed by each
group.

17. EARLY CHILDHOOD-
SENSORY MOTOR
 Children experience the world
through their senses.
 Object Permanence (i.e. the
knowledge that an object exists
even when hidden from view)
 Stranger Anxiety

18. EARLY CHILDHOOD-
PREOPERATION
Cognitive development at 2 to 7 years is
preoperational stage
(Operations: They are flexible mental actions
that can be combined with one another to
solve problems); a period of rapid physical and
intellectual development
i. Primitive identity concept: 4 to 5 years will
not have flexible logical operations(length of
line)
ii: Reasoning will be particular to particular

19. EARLY CHILDHOOD-
PRE-OPERATION
iii: Ego Centrism (not selfish)
- intellectual limitation.
- inability to take the point of view of another
person.
iv: animism-inanimate objects having
characteristics of living things are alive (motion)
v: Do not understand cause & effect relationship
well(Eg: clouds)
Mastery of basic learning skills and active
discussion and experimentation of new concepts
and skills.

20. Activity 3 – Individual Activity
Handout – 7 Each topic in this
Handout to be discussed by
each participant.

21. PHYSICAL GROWTH & MOTOR
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Handout 7
Gross (or large) motor skills: walking,
running, balance and coordination.
Fine (or small) motor skills: drawing,
writing, grasping objects, throwing,
waving and catching.

22. PHYSICAL GROWTH
Activity 4 – Pair Work
Handout 8
 Large muscles develop before small
muscles.
 The center of the body develops before the
outer regions.
 Development goes from the top down, from
the head to the toes.

23. Oxytocin and Security
 Oxytocin : leads to closeness and
cuddling.
People without secure attachments as
infants, have difficult relationships as
adults; Children in this age with high
activity have good control over their
bodies.

24. Activity 5 – Group Activity
Handout 9
 The Three Period Lesson – Gp 1
 The Prepared Environment – 1 Gp 2
 The Prepared Environment – 2 Gp 3
 Materials needed Gp 4
 The Requirements regarding materials
Gp 5

25. The Three Period Lesson
Handout 9
 The first period deals with the association of
sense perceptions with names.
 In the second period, the child is asked to
find the object after it is named for him. ‘Can
you find the square?’
 In the third period, the child is asked to name
the object pointed to, ’What is this?

26. The Prepared Environment
The indoor and the outdoor
The inner part: materials to develop
the mental and intellectual aspects
along with motor co-ordination
The outer part: scope for activities
which involve a lot of physical
movement.

27. The Prepared Environment
 The First Environment – the child’s home
 The Second Environment – the child’s
society
 The Third Environment – the prepared
environment structured according to the
Montessori principles for the 3 – 6 age-
group

28. Materials
 Sensory Materials for developing visual
sense, tactile sense, chromatic sense,
auditory sense, visual and muscular
senses, visual and stereognostic sense,
baric sense, thermic sense, olfactory
sense and gustatory sense.
 Language Materials
 Arithmetic Materials
 Materials related to learning of History,
Geography, Science, Arts and Crafts

29. Materials
 The materials need to have these
requirements:
1. Control of Error 3. Activity
2. Aesthetics 4. Limits
 The exercises are developmental
activities for all children.

30. Session 2
How to go about with an
Activity

31. Activity – 6 Group Activity
Handout 10
Group 1 – Physical Movement
Group 2 – Physical care of oneself
Group 3 – Care of the Environment
Group 4 – Social Behaviour
Group 5 – Sensorial Activities

32. How to go about with an
activity
 Select the activity.
 Set aside time for the activity.
 Invite your child for the activity in an
interesting and stimulating manner.
 Always sit to the right of your child while
working with him.
 Never force the child to do an activity if he is
not interested.
 Continue with the child as long as the child is
interested.
 Repeat the activity as many times as possible
till you start a new one.

33. How to go about with an
activity
 Encourage your child to put back
things in their proper places before
starting the next one.
 Ensure that there is a shelf or two for
your child, within his reach, where he
can keep all his things neatly
arranged.
 To help your child develop
independence, concentration, will
power, motor control, self-confidence

34. How to go about with an
activity
Practical life activities
Help your child to do the following
activities:
 Washing dishes
 Wiping vessels
 Arranging the vessels on the selves after
wiping them.
 Arrange the vessels, plates etc from big
to small.
 Matching the lids to their respective
containers as he arranges them.
(knowledge of shapes and sizes)

35. How to go about with an
activity
 Talk to the child about the dish you are
preparing; tell him the name of the dish
and the ingredients that you are using.
 Introduce words like boil, fry, roast,
sieve, churn; show him a teaspoon, a
tablespoon etc; give the child the names
of various cutlery and other utensils.
 Setting the table and clearing the table
for meals; putting back things into their
places after food.
 Cleaning the table after clearing it up.

36. How to go about with an
activity
 Sorting vegetables and fruits into different
bags for storage.
 Shelling peas, double beans etc;
 Sweeping the floor, mopping the floor, dusting
the things and putting the things back in the
same manner;
 Pouring water from one glass to another and
from a jug to a glass.
 Pouring grains from one container to another.
 Transferring grains from one container to
another.
 Rolling chapattis.

37. How to go about with an
activity
 Pounding a crystal salt, fried
gram/dhal
 Dissolving salt or sugar in a glass of
water by stirring with a spoon.
 Show the child how the milk is
curdled, how cream is formed; how
you get buttermilk and butter, how you
get ghee by heating butter and how
ghee solidifies.
 How rice and dhal changes when

38. How to go about with an
activity
 Show bread and other foods develop
fungus when left out for a few days.
 How water changes into vapour when
heated; how vapour condenses to
become tiny droplets when it comes in
contact with a lid.
 Have a tray with 3 or 4 small cups and
one large cup on it for performing sorting
activities; buttons of different sizes and
colours, beads of different sizes and
colours, seeds of different types such as
beans and peas, plastic clips of different
colours.

39. How to go about with an
activity
 Vegetables, fruits, bangles of different
colours and designs, blouses of different
colors, rubber bands etc, also can be
sorted out.
 Pictures of animals, birds, insects etc
can be used for pairing and sorting.
 Involve your children and let them fold
smaller clothes; let them identify each
clothing with the person to whom it
belongs.
 Sort clothes into white and coloured
ones for washing; into cottons, silk,
woolens etc; make the child help you in
drying clothes.

40. How to go about with an
activity
 Make the child cut old greeting cards into
strips of paper; he can paste these on
either a chart or scrap book .
 Help your child to carry on certain
responsibilities like folding his blanket,
putting soiled clothes for washing, drying
his towel and washing his plate and
glass.
 Help the child to dress by himself, comb
his hair, powder his face, wear his socks
and shoes , pack up snacks, fill up water
bottle etc by himself.

41. Exercises on Practical
Life
Handout 10
 Elementary Movements like how to walk, hold
things and carry them.
 Physical Care of Oneself like Dressing and
Undressing, washing hands and face, combing
hair, polishing shoes, tying lace, putting buckles
etc
 Care of the Environment like dust furniture,
sweep the floor, spread the mat for lunch, keep
plates, glasses etc, water plants, dig, sweep
leaves etc
 Social Behaviour like how to greet others, how to
sit down and stand up, how to offer objects to
others etc.

42. Exercises on Practical Life
Physical Movements
 Walking quietly without any noise;
walking placing feet on an elliptical line;
walking to the rhythm of music; walking
upright carrying a glass of water or a
book on the head
 Rolling and unrolling mats and carpets
 Sitting down and getting up from mats,
carpets or chairs

43. Exercises on Practical Life
 Holding rolled mats and carpets
 Holding jugs of various sizes and
weights with and without handles;
carrying them to another place and
putting them down slowly
 Holding cups, saucers or plates &
carrying them; putting them down
slowly without breaking them;

44. Exercises on Practical Life
Physical Care of Oneself
1. Folding and unfolding clothes
2. Keeping chappals/shoes in proper place
when not using them
3. Polishing shoes and using door-mats
4. Putting on and taking off various
garments, shoes and chappals
5. Opening and closing large and small
buttons, press buttons, hooks and
ribbons, laces, buckles and zips

45. Exercises on Practical Life
 Washing hands, face, feet, mouth etc
 Taking bath with water from the bucket or
from shower, drying the wet parts of the body
 Cleaning the teeth with brush and paste
 Washing the eyes and the nostrils
 Combing, brushing, oiling, washing hair
 Cutting nails, cleaning and brushing
 Cleaning ears with cotton and blowing the
nose

46. Exercises on Practical Life
 Putting kumkum, sandalwood paste on
the forehead
 Plaiting with three different coloured
threads, with different coloured strains of
wool and then with strains of wool of
same colour
 Hanging clothes on a clothes line or
hanger
 Tucking in clothes; pulling up and folding
sleeves

47. Exercises on Practical Life
Caring for the Environment
 Dusting tables, chairs, floor with duster,
soft brush or small broom
 Cleaning mirrors, windows, doors with
old newspaper
 Washing towels, handkerchief, vessels
with soap/soap powder
 Washing/mopping the floor/table
 Laying and cleaning a dining table
 Watering flower plants, feeding pet
animals

48. Exercises on Practical Life
Social Relations
 Greetings for different times of the day;
saying namasthe, touching the feet with
reverence
 Waiting quietly in a queue, thanking
somebody, asking or making a request,
asking permission, knocking at a door and
waiting for permission to enter
 Blowing one’s nose or yawning in company
 Learning table manners; receiving visitors,
offering seats

49. Exercises on Practical Life
 Paper folding, paper tearing &
crumpling, pasting using shredded
paper
 Pouring activities through a funnel
 Activities using syringe, ink-filler
 To cut vegetables/fruits with knife; cut
paper with scissors
 Clay activities – forming balls, rolling,
preparation of dough for clay

50. Exercises on Practical Life
Sensorial Activities
 Sensations of colour, form & dimension –
chromatic sense
 Sense of touch – tactile sense, baric
sense & thermic sense
 Muscular sense
 Holding 2 objects & using two or more
senses – stereognostic sense
 Sense of taste and smell and hearing

51. Sensorial Activities
 Blindfold the child and ask him to identify
somebody else’s body parts by placing his
hand on each of them like nose, eyes, hair
and cheeks etc.
 Keep a few object like book, pencil, candle,
onion, matchbox etc ready in a tray. Let the
children identify each one blindfolded and
mention its name.
 Have a few things with a variety of smells like
orange, lemon, talcum powder, agarbathis,
coriander leaves, mint leaves and pain balm
on a tray and ask the children to take each
thing blindfolded, in his hand and then
identify each.

52. Sensorial Activities
 Let each child taste different things like sugar,
salt, lime juice, bitter gourd blindfolded and
identify the taste.
 Let the child listen to various sounds like the
sound of breeze, aeroplane, footsteps, dog
barking, car horn, auto sound, etc and identify
them.
 Let children listen to various sounds made of
different materials such as paper wood, steel,
plastic and stone; to the sound of tearing of
paper, water being poured from glass to glass, of
a whistle or a scratch on a cloth.
 Let the children listen to clapping by the teacher
from different places in the room and guess the

53. Activity 7 – Group Activity
Handout 11

54. Play-based Learning
 Solitary play Small motor play
 Onlooker play Sensory play
 Parallel play Manipulative play
 Associative play Dramatic play
 Cooperative play Rule-based play
 Competitive play Creative play

55. Acivity – 8 – Group Activity
Handout 12
Group 1 – Creating a Stimulating
Environment
Group 2 – Teaching Nursery Rhymes --1
Group 3 – Teaching Nursery Rhymes --2
Group 4 – Art of Story Telling
Group 5 – Social and Dramatic play

56. Creating a Stimulating
Environment
 Ambience creation
 Setting up classroom corners:
a. Reading /Writing /Book corner
b. Sensory Corner
c. Music and Movement corner
d. Dramatic play corner
e. Art and Craft corner
f. Manipulative corner
g. Sand and Water play corner

57. Teaching Nursery Rhymes
Benefits
 Learning to read
 Phonological awareness
 Enhances memory and auditory skills
 Listening skills
 Brings in sense of humour
 Enhances Math vocabulary
 Enhances motor skills and co-ordination
 Enhances imagination

58. Teaching Nursery Rhymes
To conduct an effective rhymes session
 Sing with actions/ finger motions
 Teach letter combinations using word
families; reinforce words that rhyme
 Use pictures and props while teaching;
children can also draw what they
understand.
 Teach concepts and play games with
rhymes: telling time, numbers, rhyming
word, changing times

59. Teaching Nursery Rhymes
Types of Rhymes
 Finger play and Action rhymes
 Number rhymes
 Language rhymes
 Action rhymes
 Environmental science rhymes

60. Art of Story Telling
 Why tell stories?
 Types of stories : fairy tales, folk tales,
mythology/epic based tales, adventure
tales
 How to choose a story?
 How to tell a story?
 Key Tools for story telling
 Tips to enhance story telling in
children

61. Social and Dramatic play
Benefits of Social play in the class
room: Physical, Cognitive and Social
and Emotional
 Social play
 Progression of Social play
 Role play – Pretend play or Imaginary
play
 Dramatic play

62. Social and Dramatic play
Dramatic play corner: clothing –dresses, shirts
and coats, Accessories – hats, shoes, ties,
coats, slippers and jewelry, Full length
mirrors, small puppet theatre, Doll’s house
with baby furniture/kitchen appliances, toy
washing machines, fridge, iron boxes,
brooms; play kitchen with food dishes, pans
and table accessories; old clothes, large
shoes, hats, spectacles, cooking utensils,
plastic containers, dolls of all sizes, old
blankets etc

63. Activity – 9 – Group Activity
Handout 13 – Language Arts
Group 1 – Listening
Group 2 – Speaking
Group 3 – Reading
Group 4 – Writing
Group 5 -- Arithmetic

64. Language Activities
 Question games
 Sentence completion game
 Oral commands
 Activities in sound recognition
 Memory Games

65. Language Arts -- Listening
Listening and Speaking
 ‘Hearing’ and ‘Listening’ – passive
listening and active listening
 Discriminative Listening – ‘Listening
Detective’ game
 Listening for details
 Critical Listening

66. Language Arts -- Listening
Developing Listening skills in children
 Make eye contact
 Read aloud
 Repeat
 Model good listening behaviour
 Clear speech
 Listening rules
 Ask questions

67. Language Arts -- Listening
Listening Games
 Noise from a bag
 Clapping game
 Story time
 Eyes closed
 Memory game
 Visualisation
 Special walks – Nature walks

68. Language Arts -- Speaking
Speaking Skills
 Strategies to enhance speaking skills
 Speaking rules
 Activities to encourage speaking: Talk
partners, Colouring, Guess who,
Favourite, Puppetry, Telephone talk,
Songs, Props, Role play, Greeting,
Emotions

69. Language Arts -- Reading
 Picture books
 Pop up books
 Phonological awareness
 Phonemic awareness
 Phonics – short vowel, consonant,
consonant digraph, double vowel,
consonant blend, long vowel sounds
 Word families
 Sight words; word building; using sand
paper letters and movable alphabets

70. Language Arts -- Writing
Writing Progression
 Scribbling
 Drawing
 Random letters
 Semi-phonetic
 Phonetic
 Transitional spelling
 Conventional spelling

71. Language Arts -- Writing
Writing skills
 Sensory/motor components
 Cognitive components
 Psychosocial components
 Hand skills
 Ways to strengthen the shoulder, arm
and wrist
 Ways to develop the hand skills
 Ways to develop eye-hand coordination
 Opportunities for sensory input

72. Language Arts -- Writing
 Mid-line Crossing
 Pre-writing activities
 Pre-printing skills: Imitation, Tracing,
Copying, Independent formation
 Developmental sequence of strokes
and curves
 Handwriting – Print writing/Cursive
writing
 Writing Tools & Types of grasps

73. Activity 10 – Group Activity
Handout 14
Group 1 – Arithmetic
Group 2 – History/Geography
Group 3 – Arts and Crafts
Group 4 – Science
Group 5 – Nomenclature Cards

74. Arithmetic
 The Mathematical Mind – Spirit of Enquiry
 Numbers: reading house numbers; what
comes before and after a no.? How many
zeros in 10, 100, 1000?
 Counting: Jump four times; bring 6 leaves;
count the number of seeds in a fruit;
 Addition
 Subtraction
 Games
 Filling shapes with straight lines; draw
shapes, make holes along the outline and
then stitch along the outline.

75. History & Geography
 Calendar
 Preparing a time line
 Events
 Clock
 Globe
 Land and water
 Flags

76. Arts and Crafts
 The Art Materials – Clay, The Markers,
Colour Paddles, Painting Tray, Collage
Tray, Pasting Tray
 Child to sort out pictures on a tray
under various headings like animals,
birds, flowers, insects etc
 Pasting different kinds of leaves after
sorting them.
 Music
 Value Education

77. Science
 The Human Body
 Sensory Box
 Preparing the Outdoor Environment
 Preparing the Indoor Environment
 Classified Nomenclature cards
 Card Story Lessons
 Parts of a plant/animal and their
definitions
 Making a pinwheel; combing hair and
bringing comb close to bits of paper;

78. Science
 Take a glass of water, cover it with a lid and see
what happens when you invert it.
 Light a candle and cover it with a transparent
glass and see what happens.
 Explain to the child why the blood clots and
what happens if it does not.
 Talk to the child about how water gets from the
sump into the tank and show him the various
water pipes that are connected to the different
taps in your house. Tell him that the pipes are
within the wall.

79. Nomenclature Cards
 First Set
 Second Set
 Third Set

80. Classroom Management
Techniques
 Lay down the rules.
 Schedule and organize
 Rewards system: Verbal praise,
Behaviour chart, Sticker chart, Good
Behaviour games, Group reward,
Noise Meter
 Starting a new activity

81. Classroom Management
 Moving to small group activities
 Plan for children who finish early
 Moving children in and out of the room
as a group
 Using Songs and Rhymes while
moving
 Planning quiet time
 Planning Circle time

82. “My vision of the future is no longer
taking exams and proceeding on that
certification from secondary to the
university, 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.”
Dr Maria
Montessori

83. Thank You