High House Day Nursery Established since 1985 |
MontessoriThe Montessori ethos has always been an important part of our work with Nursery school children. Her ideas on self discipline and self motivation have a great deal to offer in today's world. Practical Life activities, so sensible! these are the activities that we, as parents, so often expect our child to just "Know"and of course they don't!! they need to practice, to "work at it"!! Simple expectations, the phrase "Let's tidy up", how? how do we put the books back? how do we tidy a puzzle tray?, these are everyday things that we learn through life, Montessori believed that children of Nursery age could learn life skills through everyday activities and enjoy them!
These activities include, pouring from jugs, balancing a tray, spooning items
from one place to another, learning to deal with buttons, zips, clothes, shoes,
screws on jars, keys, so many everyday activities, so practical for today's
world, yet conceived over a century ago!
The
practical life materials are the most
important pieces of apparatus in the classroom environment. They meet the
child's need for movement and help the child to focus his mind on what his body
is doing.
Certain activities in this area focus on the coordination of self, on the development of poise and balance and the coordination of body parts.
Other exercises have as their main concern the care of self. Still other exercises center upon the care of the environment. Finally, there are exercises in social behavior, exercises which help the child to learn how to relate to his peers and to adults. Activities in this area parallel activities which the child is experiencing in the home. The child learns how to dress himself, pour liquids, polish shoes, say "please" and "thank you", and other practical activities of daily living. As
the child acquires skill in the practical life exercises he is able to
immediately apply his knowledge to his home environment. Further, this
acquisition of basic skills and abilities helps the child to become independent,
able to cope with day-to-day situations and more self-confident. In brief, this
acquisition contributes to the child developing a positive self-image. The
exercises of practical life are indeed vital to the growth of the child and lay
the foundation for other learning experiences.
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HIGH HOUSE NURSERY LTD. 7 GRANARD BUSINESS CENTRE, LONDON, NW7 2DQ REGISTERED ENGLAND 2862905
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Dr. Montessori was born in 1870. Having decided on a medical career and having
mastered the natural sciences, she obtained at the University of Rome an M.D.
at the age of 26 years, distinguishing herself by securing a double honours
degree as a Doctor of Medicine and a Doctor of Surgery. This was in 1896, Dr.
Montessori being the first woman in Italy, and probably one of the few women
in Europe at that time to become a Doctor in the Faculty of Medicine. This was
sound scientific equipment for future achievements.
ontact
with children, she became interested in education and in 1907 she opened the
first institution for children below 6 years which was called House of
Children and which became her Educational Laboratory. A period of intense
study of childhood and marvelous practical results followed.
and was welcomed in India and South America. As a consequence the Association
Montessori Internationale (A.M.I.) was founded in 1929 at Elsinore with the
aim which was stated as follows: "Spreading knowledge of how the child,
immature and struggling to discover and develop his own powers, may be
assisted in his task of self-realisation and of reaching his full perfection
of growth."
