History

We are all members of the human race and various families. All of our roots are connected, and by looking at history, we can tell the story of our common heritage among the different races. Without a strong sense of history, we cannot begin to know who we are as individuals today. The Montessori method looks at the past from a global perspective, so that we can explore different races and the cultures of the world in a united way, rather than separating each into hierarchies.
 
The Montessori approach presents a sense of living history at every level through hands-on experiences. This includes building and studying ancient tools and structures, preparing similar manuscripts and trying to recreate the artifacts and paraphernalia of everyday life from various historic eras.
 
The concept of time and historical time is developed through many activities, starting small by telling time on the clock. This leads to creating timelines of the child’s life, building into activities focusing on the concepts behind a day, week, month, and year. After this understanding, the child dives into family tree exploration, then the time-line of Earth’s history, until the time-line from 8,000 B.C.E. to 2,000 C.E. to study the development from ancient to modern history, to much more. This process is ingrained starting from the toddler age and elaborated as the child’s understanding progresses.

 

Geography
To many, the concept of geography seems to be a difficult venture, yet with the right approach, even toddlers and primary children can learn it!  Geography comes to life when it is presented in the way young children learn best. The Montessori approach to geography allows the child to learn with a hands-on approach.
Montessori Geography is divided into 2 strands: they are Physical Geography, focusing on the Earth as a whole, and Political Geography, which includes continents, countries, their borders, flags, and more. Children start with physical materials, aiding them visually and sensorially. Through the use of these materials, children also learn geology, focusing on the Earth’s structure, which leads to study of rocks and other materials found in specific regions.
 
Montessori geography focuses on the connections of culture that humans experience throughout their lives. Teaching geography is approached by presenting the whole universe, which sparks the imagination of the child’s “curious” mind and answers the questions of the child’s “reasoning” mind.
 
Montessori materials that are used to explain geography include:
 
  • Sandpaper globes, which are used in order for the child to run their hands and fingers over. The textured globes assist them in finding differences between various land and water masses throughout the world.
  • Landform Models, which are miniature models of geographical formations such as islands, lakes, peninsulas, and isthmi. They have a raised level to represent land and the lower parts can be filled with real water, to depict the various formations and the development of lands over time, in a hands-on way.
  • Montessori Puzzle Maps are wooden materials which help the children memorize the different continents and countries. The continents are color coded, which appeals to the child’s visual sense.
  • These puzzles also help foster a child’s cognitive and fine motor development along with memorization techniques. They build social, emotional, language and vocabulary skills, and mental stimulation.
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