DR MARIA  MONTESSORI  & THE MONTESSORI METHOD (scroll down to see pictures of our Montessori Room). “Children are born with a desire to learn, to discover, to know and to do. What happens to the child in his early encounters with learning ( birth to 5 years)frequently determines the success or failure of his future efforts in education….”  ((Quote from Dr Montessori’s book) Dr Maria Montessori , a brilliant psychologist-physician-educator, designed unique learning materials of wood, glass, metal, cloth, paper, leather etc in various sizes, shapes, patterns etc  to  stimulate the child’s senses, and developmental needs. so that children (aged 2 to 5) worked with them in ways which led to their discovering themselves along with the world around them. She paid a lot of attention to the artistic appeal, so that they were attractive to the child.    In order to follow their natural curiosity, children must be placed in environment that stimulates them and controls them as little as possible. The Montessori room   has shelves with different activities., and very few small child sized tables. The child may take an activity from any shelf , work at it on a table or floor for as long as he/she likes and then put it away and take another activity. (scroll down to see pictures of our Montessori room). The activities on the shelves are based on 5 basic learning areas…practical life,  Sensorial, Language, numbers and cultural activities (music, art and craft, simple projects, confidence building skills etc.) Ms ZARINE MALVA  Director of Training, Sir Ratan Tata Institute, says some of the founding stones of the Montessori philosophy are: 1) The quality of the human mind from birth to six years is different from that of an adult i.e. the child has an “absorbent mind” which explains why children take in the positive and negative at this age hence the responsibility of the adults is to guide him/her in a positive manner. 2) A baby who could barely sit up twelve months ago can walk on his /her own two feet without anyone teaching him/her to do so. The child works toward this development by using his(her) body and his(her) senses  by touching, feeling, hearing, smelling, seeing,. 3) Therefore, in order to develop fully the children need the freedom to repeat activities, and work at their own pace and for as long as they wants as long as they do  not misuse the material or disturb another child’s work.  This freedom they have  in a Montessori environment. 4) They also learn to interact with harmoniously with their peers, by observing the work of others, learning to share ,and to await their turn at using the apparatus. Would you like to become a Montessori trained teacher? Courses commence each year in July.  Duration approximately 9 months full time. Contact Ms Zarin Malva, Director of Training, SIR RATAN TATA INSTITUTE Tel: 022-66648847 Email: www.zarinmalva41@yahoo.com Pictures of a Montessori Class at our school