Me do it!

A familiar cry? It’s rewarding to give children the chance to ‘have a go.’ What better opportunity than the daily task of getting dressed for going out?  

It can be tricky to fasten clothes on parts of the body that are difficult to reach and Montessori dressing frames are an intermediate step. Velcro is the easiest, all it takes is a tug in the right place. Once seen close up, practised and mastered, shoes are easy.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Each simple achievement gives children confidence for taking on bigger challenges. Tying shoelaces will take many attempts and lots of practice.

However, seeing it done once, slowly and clearly, and having the chance to repeat at will is all that’s needed to develop this skill. Then ………. “Me do it!”

 

 

 

Me do it!

A familiar cry? It’s rewarding to give children the chance to ‘have a go.’ What better opportunity than the daily task of getting dressed for going out?  

It can be tricky to fasten clothes on parts of the body that are difficult to reach and Montessori dressing frames are an intermediate step. Velcro is the easiest, all it takes is a tug in the right place. Once seen close up, practised and mastered, shoes are easy.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Each simple achievement gives children confidence for taking on bigger challenges. Tying shoelaces will take many attempts and lots of practice.

However, seeing it done once, slowly and clearly, and having the chance to repeat at will is all that’s needed to develop this skill. Then ………. “Me do it!”

 

 

 

Problem Solving à la Toddler

 

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Johnny and Michael chase each other around the sandpit, Johnny on a small scooter, Michael on a tractor. They have a ‘collision’ and laugh out loud. Johnny is off again and returns, Michael stops and says:  “I want small wheels .”  I tell him I’m sorry we don’t have smaller wheels. Michael looks disappointed. Johnny has been watching and listening. Michael asks again and waits. Johnny then steps forward carrying pretend small wheels, puts them on and says: “Here you go!” Michael happily resumes his racing. Now why didn’t I think of that?

”Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of innocence & of the greater possibilities of their future.” — Maria Montessori 

 

 

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Jubilee Celebrations at Southwater Montessori

On the one and ONLY sunny day of the week, Wednesday 13th June, we celebrated Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee in style, with a proper picnic lunch party.

Just before lunch the children gathered to watch footage on our big screen, of the young Elizabeth's solemn and festive coronation in Westminster Abbey and her procession down the aisle as Britain's newly crowned young queen. Some of the children had a go themselves, with a home-made crown and a crimson robe. They became increasingly astonished as we counted all the way up to 60 to get an idea of how long Her Majesty has already been on the throne. Then they enjoyed watching the fireworks over Buckingham Castle and waving their flags, some with their faces already painted.

By noon most of our guests had arrived and the food had been laid out on tables in the garden, so it was washing hands and tucking in time.

 Whilst the mums and dads sat enjoying their food, the children got going on the party activities. There was facepainting, crown-making and all the usual outdoor activities with blocks and cars and hula hoops etc. Some of our children were showing their younger siblings how to do things, very sweet. We can share some pictures on biscuit-decorating and crown-making. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

We had a fab egg & spoon race with both adults & children taking part side by side. Not all of the eggs survived .....

The culmination of the day was another procession, this time outdoors. With just a little bit of help the children staged several coronations and even a knighting or two. It may not all have been strictly according to royal protocol, but a great time was had by all and the party seemed over all too soon. 

Why Anne Frank Montessori?

People sometimes ask me why I call my company Anne Frank Montessori. Let me explain the various reasons, from the superficial to the in-depth.

At a superficial level there is a simple connection; Anne Frank was a Dutch girl who attended a Montessori primary school in Amsterdam. I love Anne Frank, I am Dutch and I run Montessori nursery schools in Sussex.

My first nursery, in Horsham, started off in 1996 as Thea's Early Birds Montessori, a name that was difficult to spell, to say and to remember. In 2000 I set up a limited company and changed the name, simply, to Horsham Montessori Ltd. Six years later, when we opened our second nursery school in Southwater, that name was no longer appropriate, as Southwater has its own identity as a village community. We needed a new, non-geographical name that we could use in several places.

By that time I had found that Montessori school owners, myself included, don't tend to be very good at marketing their ethos and values. I also found that many people had heard of the Diary of Anne Frank, about war-time , but very few knew that she had attended a Montessori school. I felt that both Montessori and Anne Frank deserved to be better known.

We know Anne Frank as a child, from her diary that records her two years in hiding in , between the ages of 13 and 15. She was a passionate child and quite a willful teenager. Her parents and sister shared the cramped accommodation with another four people. What shines through from nearly every page of Anne's diary is her love of life, her yearning for freedom and her passionate desire to become a writer.

When the occupants were betrayed, arrested and deported in 1944, Anne's diary stayed behind. It was found by Miep Gies, their close family friend and, much later, published with the consent of the Frank family's sole survivor, Anne's father.

Anne's childhood dream of becoming a successful writer was realised, but only posthumously. Her diary was translated into more than sixty languages and inspired a play and several film versions. Her in is still a thriving school with some 900 pupils.

Anne Frank is a continuing inspiration to me for her optimism and her resilience. Instead of complaining about her lot she wrote:

 

“The Annex is an ideal place to hide in. It may be damp and lopsided, but there's probably not a more comfortable hiding place in all of Amsterdam . No, in all of Holland.”

 

She was determined to remain optimistic:

“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

Her ability to focus on a positive goal, to believe in a possible future, to enjoy doing her school homework and to keep writing throughout her time in hiding, I believe, was partly a result of her early Montessori schooling. She attended what is now called the 6th in from age . She shares her Montessori early years education with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google. They said:

"We both went to Montessori school, and I think it was part of that training of not following rules and orders, being self- motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, and doing things a little bit different that contributed to our success."

I believe that is true and I believe that it is also true for Anne Frank. I accept that it cannot be proven, but it is my personal belief.

In my thirty-or-so years as a teacher I have not come across any methods or techniques that inspire me as much as Montessori, because the principle of 'Freedom with Respect,' honoured day after day in beautifully prepared Montessori environments, allows children to realise their full potential. Once children have learnt that they can do things at their own pace, that asking questions is a great gift and that thinking outside the box is a valuable skill, then nothing can stop them in realising whatever dream they cherish.

As Anne Frank wrote:

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"

If a child believes this, that child becomes a confident and motivated learner and, I believe, a power for good and a potential leader.

I finish with two quotes from Anne Frank:

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before beginning to improve the world."

"I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop and to express all that's inside me!"

and from Maria Montessori:

“Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world”

“We cannot know the consequences of suppressing a child's spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendour during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom. Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.”

It is my enduring privilege to lead a team of loving, caring, professional people who nurture each child's potential so that they blossom and thrive.

 

Why Anne Frank Montessori?

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People sometimes ask me why I call my company Anne Frank Montessori. Let me explain the various reasons, 

from the superficial to the in-depth.

At a superficial level there is a simple connection; Anne Frank was a Dutch girl who attended a Montessori primary school in Amsterdam. I love Anne Frank, I am Dutch and I run Montessori nursery schools in Sussex.

My first nursery, in Horsham, started off in 1996 as Thea's Early Birds Montessori, a name that was difficult to spell, to say and to remember. In 2000 I set up a limited company and changed the name, simply, to Horsham Montessori Ltd. Six years later, when we opened our second nursery school in Southwater, that name was no longer appropriate, as Southwater has its own identity as a village community. We needed a new, non-geographical name that we could use in several places.

By that time I had found that Montessori school owners, myself included, don't tend to be very good at marketing their ethos and values. I also found that many people had heard of the Diary of Anne Frank, about war-time , but very few knew that she had attended a Montessori school. I felt that both Montessori and Anne Frank deserved to be better known.

We know Anne Frank as a child, from her diary that records her two years in hiding in , between the ages of 13 and 15. She was a passionate child and quite a willful teenager. Her parents and sister shared the cramped accommodation with another four people. What shines through from nearly every page of Anne's diary is her love of life, her yearning for freedom and her passionate desire to become a writer.

When the occupants were betrayed, arrested and deported in 1944, Anne's diary stayed behind. It was found by Miep Gies, their close family friend and, much later, published with the consent of the Frank family's sole survivor, Anne's father.

Anne's childhood dream of becoming a successful writer was realised, but only posthumously. Her diary was translated into more than sixty languages and inspired a play and several film versions. Her in is still a thriving school with some 900 pupils.

Anne Frank is a continuing inspiration to me for her optimism and her resilience. Instead of complaining about her lot she wrote:

“The Annex is an ideal place to hide in. It may be damp and lopsided, but there's probably not a more comfortable hiding place in all of . No, in all of .”

She was determined to remain optimistic:

“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

Her ability to focus on a positive goal, to believe in a possible future, to enjoy doing her school homework and to keep writing throughout her time in hiding, I believe, was partly a result of her early Montessori schooling. She attended what is now called the 6th in from age . She shares her Montessori early years education with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google. They said:

"We both went to Montessori school, and I think it was part of that training of not following rules and orders, being self- motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, and doing things a little bit different that contributed to our success."

I believe that is true and I believe that it is also true for Anne Frank. I accept that it cannot be proven, but it is my personal belief.

In my thirty-or-so years as a teacher I have not come across any methods or techniques that inspire me as much as Montessori, because the principle of 'Freedom with Respect,' honoured day after day in beautifully prepared Montessori environments, allows children to realise their full potential. Once children have learnt that they can do things at their own pace, that asking questions is a great gift and that thinking outside the box is a valuable skill, then nothing can stop them in realising whatever dream they cherish.

As Anne Frank wrote:

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!"

If a child believes this, that child becomes a confident and motivated learner and, I believe, a power for good and a potential leader.

I finish with two quotes from Anne Frank:

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before beginning to improve the world."

"I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop and to express all that's inside me!"

and from Maria Montessori:

“Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world”

“We cannot know the consequences of suppressing a child's spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendour during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom. Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.”

It is my enduring privilege to lead a team of loving, caring, professional people who nurture each child's potential so that they blossom and thrive.

 

Learning through Play at Montessori: Numbers

Children just love learning numbers - from counting 'one, two' when changing shoes to joining in with number songs to counting biscuits at snack time.

When they are ready to do some more formal learning, they have special Montessori number rods for counting up to 10 and sandpaper numbers to learn the shapes of the symbols through sight, sound AND touch. Tracing the sandpaper letters lets them feel the numbers so they can start to write them themselves. A tray with sand or salt is great for practice. If they are not happy with the shape they’ve made they just shake it and have another go!

 

They soon learn that their age is a number, their house has a number, and that count-downs are fun, especially down to their birthday.

Our children's learning is not limited to the classroom. In the garden they play games like hopscotch and boules and they love parking their cars in numbered parking bays. The older children write on printer labels to number the cars, front and back, and sometimes match the car numbers to the bays.

A combination of fun indoor and outdoor learning activities helps to keep the children’s love of learning alive and well!

A few days after I wrote the first part of this blog I was proud to be a witness to one of our girls taking things further on her own initiative. Suddenly, there she was, lying on her tummy on the floor with a big piece of computer paper and a felt tip pen, writing a series of numbers. She worked with deep concentration. When I took a few photos of her and her work she leaned back and stayed relaxed on the floor, with a big happy grin on her face.

Later that afternoon she took her work out into the garden and decided to cut out some of the numbers and sellotape them onto the cars. A small event, but a meaningful culmination of years of indirect preparation. It needed the preparation with the early counting, the number rods, the sandpaper numbers, the outdoor car park and the firm confidence in the child that she has the freedom to take her resources and lie on the floor in the middle of the classroom to do her writing. 

Being a witness to this joyful learning is a very rewarding experience. If only we could give this experience to all children. Can we?