SYLLABUS OF MONTESSORI THEORY & METHODS UNIT 6 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SENSORIAL ACTIVITIES DAY 15 – 17

Learning Activity 1: Read passage & Meditate (as home assignment): Should read the passages in this unit minimum 3 times. After reading each paragraph, close your eyes & think about the paragraph content in a few minutes.

All students should do all preparations and practices with fullest effort for the live class session too.

Learning Activity 2: Digital Visit: Digitally visit a Montessori House of Children and observe the Prepared Environment, Learning Materials and children’s different activities and write a report in 2 A4 pages in your Assignment Book.

Learning Activity 1: Self Speech in front of Mirror: About Learning activates following in a Montessori School for developing different senses of children. Talk about it in 5-10 minutes.

Learning Activity 2: Pair Talk: Two pupils sit face to face and talk regarding Montessori’s concept regarding senses. Faculty prepare the list & put it in the group.

Learning Activity 3: Face to face Interview: Two pupils sit face to face like a TV interview. One acts as Dr. Maria Montessori. The other one asks questions to her regarding the Sensorial activities following in her school, imagining that she is Dr. Maria Montessori. Faculty prepare the list & put it in the group.

Learning Activity 4: Speech as Dr. Maria Montessori in front of Mirror: Write the name of each sense on a small piece of paper (total 9). Fold or roll them and keep together and give a speech about that sense for 2-3 minutes by imagining that you are Dr. Maria Montessori. After that remove that lotto from the lot and continue the process with the remaining lotto.

Learning Activity 5: Self Speech in front of Mirror: Regarding the benefits of mixing different age groups in in a Montessori School. Talk about it in 5-10 minutes.

Sensorial activities are developmental activities where the child mobilizes all aspects of his person, his intelligence, his will and his voluntary movements. Every human activity requires the senses.
Senses are the capacitors of the central nervous system which makes use of the tools called sense organs. What we receive from the sense body is the instrument of intelligence. An adult can connect the impressions using his intelligence because of past experience but not a child. A child’s intelligence is not well developed; as a result the child clings to the senses to interpret impressions.
Intelligence cannot go out to gather information. This information is brought in by the senses. Senses act as agents for collecting information from the environment. Intelligence depends on the sense organs to receive and transmit. We can therefore say that the intelligence gets the sense to scout for information and that they are real support of the intelligence.
A child is ready for sensorial activities even before he comes to the House of Children. But sensorial activities get started only after the entire community is settled down and are familiar with the material and the activities. Sensorial impressions are what we receive from the sense organs. These impressions are what we normally call the physical properties of matter. They not only gather information but also scout around for information at the command of the intelligence. Sensorial activities are divided into different categories. They are:

1. Visual Sense: The sense organ being the eyes aims at perfecting the perception of dimensions by sight alone. Our eyes receive two dimensional sensorial impressions. Our mind when it receives these two dimensional impressions supplies the third dimension and makes it complete. The sense that can take the impression of colour is called the chromatic sense. The visual memory is good and it can function over space provided there is light.

2. Auditory Sense: The sense organ is the Ear. We recognize four different acoustic impressions.
a. Noise – which is an irregular sound?
b. Sound – which comes in regularity.
c. Human speech -these are the sounds produced by the human vocal cords
d. Silence – not absence of noise but minimum of noise.
The acoustic memory is fairly good and it can function over the medium being air.

3. Tactile Sense: This is the sense of touch and is located all over the skin. Certain parts of the skin are more sensitive. It takes in the impression of surface texture like rough or smooth, hard or soft. The tactile memory is there but not easily remembered. It does not function over distance.

There are also movable materials to be used. These materials are gathered into separate groups, each for a specific exercise. There are collections of the following:
a. Cards of varying grades of smoothness
b. Sandpaper cards of graded coarseness.
c. Different kinds of Fabrics.

4. Olfactory Sense: This is the sense of smell. The sense organ being the membrane inside the nostrils, which are very sensitive. The olfactory sense responds very soon and the memory is very weak and it does not function over space.

5. Gustatory Sense: This is the sense of taste. The sense organs are the taste buds located on the tongue. The tongue should be wet in order to make the impression. It is therefore kept wet by fluid called saliva. The classification of taste:
a. Sweet – Tip of the Tongue
b. Sour – The two edges of the Tongue
c. Bitter – the base of the Tongue
d. Salt – All over the Tongue
The gustatory memory does not carry for a long time and it does not function over space.

6. Thermal Sense: This sense gives the impression of hot and cold. It is very relative, which relates to the body temperature. The sense organ is the various nerve endings. Certain parts are more sensitive because the nerve endings are close to the skin. There are two nerve endings – one which registers as hot and another which registers cold. Both are very close to each other. Thermal memory is very weak and it does not function over space.

7. Chromatic Sense: This sense helps the child to recognize and distinguish fine shade differences in colors; develops a vocabulary for colors. The classification of colors:-
a. Primary Colors: Consists of three pairs – Blue, Yellow and Red.
b. Secondary Colors: Consists of II Pairs – Yellow, Red, Blue, Green Orange, Purple, Brown, Gary, Pink, white and Black.
c. Tertiary Colors: Consists of 63 tablets with nine colors in seven different shades – Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Pink, Brown and Gary.

8. Baric Sense: This is the sense of weight. The baric sense helps us to estimate weight with the help of our muscles. The baric sense takes in the impression of heavy and light. There is no baric memory and it does not function over space.

9. Stereognostic Sense: This sense deals with the comprehensions of three dimensional figures. It registers the sensorial impression of three dimensions. It is located in muscles. The stereognostic memory is very good and does operate over distance.
Exercise of practical life acts as a preparation for sensorial activities. The child who is familiar with the exercises of practical life settles down easily. The child develops an interest for intelligent and purposeful activities. He becomes aware of his need to perform these activities and also knows that there is an intelligent purpose behind performing the sensorial activities.
The senses start functioning even before the child is born. So by the time he reaches the House of Children, he is saturated with sensorial impressions. There is nothing new to be acquired from the point of view of sensorial impression. What is required now is for the child to become conscious of what he already knows or what he has already absorbed.
The child should be helped to sort, classify, and distinguish the various sensorial impressions absorbed by him. This is the various physical properties of matter under which the classification can be done. The child can then utilize his intelligence to classify the various activities. Sensorial activities lead to the appreciation of shapes and colors. There is elaborate preparation given to the child in the field of writing through the performance of sensorial activities. The more experience the child has, the more he wants to express and this leads to the development of an enriched vocabulary which helps the child to read and write fluently.

This set consists of 4 Blocks that are made of Solid Beech wood, Teak Wood or Rosewood.
1. Progress in height and diameter from small to large.
2. Progress in diameter from thin to thick.
3. Diminishes in height, yet increases in diameter from tall and thin to short and thick.
4. Progress in height from short to tall with the diameter remaining constant etc.

Advantages of having a mixed age group in a Montessori School as compared to traditional Nursery School are the following:

1. The older children have a great sense of responsibility. They take charge of juniors naturally. The younger, new children settle down faster as they are assisted by the senior children.
2. The senior children give help to the junior children. By extending that help, they become better and stronger. Accepting assistance gracefully comes naturally to younger children.
3. The Directress realizes that every child is unique and different.
4. Outwardly comparing children is easily avoided by the directress.
5. Automatic appreciation of work at different levels becomes probable.
6. All the children learn to look at various aspects of things.
7. The children in the school do not need frequent reminders about conduct and behavior. The seniors live the codes of conduct and the juniors learn by example. There are no strict rules or discipline. All children learn to behave well and practice the conduct that mobilizes their consideration for others.
8. The mixed age group goes a long way for a judicious distribution of the learning materials to children of all age groups.
9. The performance of Exercise of Practical Life and Sensorial Activities at different stages of development proves to be an indirect stimulation for further activities.

STORIES, RHYMES AND BALLAD

Stories fascinate everybody. We enjoy listening to stories. They play an important role in our lives. They provide amusement and relaxation for the mind. Children love to listen to stories. They learn new words and their meanings in the context in which they are mentioned. It is a very effective way of strengthening children’s word power. They learn many facts and new things about the past and the present by listening to the adult’s reading and narrating stories. Imaginary tales and real incidents can be narrated as stories. Children get a lot of knowledge from them. The Montessori Directress should equip herself for this activity of story-telling. She should have a ready stock of carefully chosen stories. They must be told in clear and simple language. The story must not have too many characters or incidents.
Any story can be narrated in five to seven minutes. Stories should be such that the children can relate the experience in their everyday life. The incidents should show themselves as moving pictures in front of them. Stories from real life which are new to the children are also can be used. The skills of animals and birds can keep the children thrilled and excited for a long time. Stories can be taken form religious Texts like Bible, Ramayana and other epics. Any time is good for telling stories.
A story will take about five to seven minutes only. Clarity, facial movements and the voice are important in the narration of the story. Montessori encourages ‘speak-reading’ of story books. Children should be allowed to narrate their own stories also. They love to hear and repeat the same story again and again. When children laugh, the Directress can laugh with them but not at them. Teachers can choose stories from books available locally, nationally or internationally. She can adapt, shorten and change these stories according to the age and needs of the children.