Author: Geetha Nagarajan

I am a Montessori educator and have started an online learning platform called “MONTLE” to help preschool children learn at home during the pandemic and beyond.

I was featured in the VoyageDallas magazine and here’s a link to my interview:http://voyagedallas.com/interview/meet-geetha-nagarajan-montle-frisco/

International Peace day is a special holiday designated by the United Nations to celebrate and spread the ideals of “Peace, kindness and compassion”. It is celebrated annually on September 21st. The theme for this year, 2020 is “Shaping peace together”.

Schools and many organizations use this day as an opportunity to spread peace and kindness by sharing resources, book recommendations, arts and crafts projects, kindness drive, peace parade, pledge to the peace flag etc.

Peace Book recommendations

The Peace Book by Todd Parr: This book delivers positive and helpful messages of peace in a simple and colorful manner that would appeal to the child. It helps teach the importance of friendship, caring and acceptance , which are the most essential grace and courtesy lessons for children.

Have you filled a bucket today? By Carol McCloud: This simple, easy to read truly heartwarming book for children (and adults) that encourages kindness and positive behavior. It uses the concept of an invisible bucket to show kids how easy and rewarding it is to express love, appreciation and kindness by “filling buckets”.

Some other great Peace books are as follows:

I am Peace: A book of mindfulness by Susan Verde

Our Peaceful classroom by Aline D. Wolf

Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me by Harley Wood & Sy Miller

Peace Activities for children

Kindness jar: Set up a little jar on a tray at home /school. Keep a box of little shells, pom-poms or hearts next to the jar. Talk to children about being kind and respectful to others ; when they do, they get to transfer a shell/pom-pom/heart to the jar. When the jar is filled up, empty it and repeat. This activity gives a great visual representation of being kind and compassionate to one another.

United we stand, divided we fall: Collect sticks from the yard /park. Show the children how one stick can snap or break easily. Then start tying a few sticks together and see if it snaps or breaks. Do the same with all sticks. Explain to the children that it is important to work together, be peaceful and kind with one another in the community which is beneficial for everyone.

Help children find inner peace: Verbalize and validate child’s feelings, then provide them tools to navigate the situation and calm their feelings, emotions & express themselves better. This helps the child find their inner peace. Once they are comfortable with it, it would be a lot easier for them to be kind and peaceful with others externally.

“I understand you are upset……”

“I understand you are sad….” etc

Breathing technique and Yoga: Have a designated space for yoga. A simple yoga mat and yoga poses cards would be enough to start this activity for the children. This can be a great way to practice mindfulness and be calm.

Provide cues to the child like : “Let’s breathe in like we are smelling a flower, Breathe out like we are blowing a leaf”. Practice it with a flower and leaf initially for the child to understand the process better.

Gardening and Nature: Spending time in nature, whether it is walks, playing in the yard or sowing and harvesting produce in the garden are simple ways to calm and provide peace to children.

Of course, Peace is not a one day thing, it is something that needs to be done and built everyday… Talk to children about it every day, give them the vocabulary, resources & support to navigate the situations to be calm and understand their emotions. Help children understand the concept of working together, respecting diversity and that deep down all of us are the same, no matter our skin color, appearance or ethnicity etc.

Education is the best weapon for peace : Dr. Maria Montessori

Never give the mind what has not first been experienced by the hand.

First the Education of the senses, then the Education of the intellect.

Above are some of the many quotes written by Dr. Maria Montessori on the importance of sensorial education in the development of the child during the early formative years (0-6 years)

A child is ready to absorb information about their surroundings or environment right from the moment they are born. This happens with the use of their five senses: listening to their parents/caregivers talk, sing, read etc, touch their face, their body, parents ,their toys, smell things around them, taste new kinds of food, lick their fingers & lick everything around them. This kind of sensorial explorations help the brain grow and mature. It also helps form the nerve connections and strengthen them.

Positive sensory exploration help build stronger brain connections and brain pathways, these help support learning and development in the child which extends further even when they are older and are adults. Children without such sensorial opportunities end up having a negative impact on their development and stunted learning growth.

I have observed this in my teaching classroom experience with a few children that have stayed home without much sensorial explorations when they were newborn and toddlers : this impacts their fine motor and gross motor skills even when they are 4 or 5 year olds. They have a hard time doing self-care activities like dressing up, tying shoe laces, holding food utensils etc.

Children that don’t have enough sensorial explorations in early childhood also have a hard time working on their pincer grasp or writing preparation. They would need lots of practice with pre-writing activities, tons of practical life/sensorial activities and lots of support & encouragement from the caregivers to be successful with their penmanship.

Research has proven that sensorial explorations which provide many opportunities for each of the 5 senses helps with both gross and fine motor skills, which in turn impact basic coordination, motor development and day-to-day life skills.

In order for a child to be independent, confident, be well coordinated and be successful in their learning , they need to have many different explorations with sensorial activities that cater to each and every sense.

Math is everywhere… in every part of our life.

From basics like table setting: figuring out how many plates and spoon we need, to measuring quantities and ingredients for baking ,to counting family and friends for an event, to using cash to buy things to just about every aspect of our life is governed either directly or indirectly by “Math”.

According to Dr. Maria Montessori, introduction of math during a child’s absorbent mind period (0-6 years), helps the child build a positive association with math. This helps the child understand, appreciate and feel comfortable with Math concepts throughout life.

Maria Montessori’s use of the term, ‘The Mathematical Mind,’ refers to the unique tendencies of the human mind, such as order, exactness, exploration, and orientation. Humans also have the unique abilities to imagine, create, and think abstractly. Montessori designed her math materials to incorporate the natural capabilities of a child’s mathematical mind.

In our work, therefore, we have given a name to this part of the mind which is built up by exactitude, we call it the ‘mathematical mind.’”
– Dr. Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

Sensitive periods are developmental windows of opportunity during which a child can learn specific concepts more easily and naturally than at any other time in their lives. Such a sensitive period for Math is usually around the age of 4-5.5 years.

According to the Montessori philosophy, Math is introduced in the following steps:

1.Presentation of Quantity

2. Presentation of symbol

3. Association of quantity and symbol

Child is given immense opportunities with hands-on activities using the Number rods to understand “quantity”. Then the child is presented the tactile sandpaper numerals to understand the symbols. This also helps in preparation for writing numerals.

Then the child associates the numerals to the specific number rods, making the connection between the quantity and the symbol.

Children are interested in “rote” counting from a very young age… just counting the numbers maybe skipping a few here and there, without making a specific effort to get the “one-to-one” correspondence between the quantity and symbols. Then they move on to “rational counting”, which lays the foundation for all math operations and concepts. This is when the child understands the basic principle of “one-to-one” correspondence between the quantity and the symbols. Lots of hands on activities using common household items to establish this will help the child build a strong relationship with math and make them more comfortable using & working with numbers for the rest of their life.

It is important for us to understand and believe that “Math is everywhere”, the more we get it, the more better our life would be …. So sing number songs with the kids, count household objects, observe for numbers in and around the environment, do rote counting and then move on to rational counting to establish one-to-one correspondence; lay a strong foundation and liking for the subject.

The only way to learn Mathematics

is to do Mathematics.….. Paul Halmos

How big is the yard around the house? How many cups of flour do we need to make the sugar cookies? Will this furniture fit in that space? etc etc ….. As you can see, Measurement is an integral part of everything we do in life. There is really very little we can do without knowing about or measuring things.

Children enjoy talking about how “big” they are, How “tall” they are,how “mommy is bigger than” them etc.

When children work in the Montessori primary classroom, they often times build towers or structures with the sensorial materials and “measure” themselves against it to see if they are “taller” or “shorter” than that. For example, When children work with the red rods, they usually take one rod at a time , stand next to it and see which rod is taller than them and which ones are shorter than them. A great visual activity to internalize the concept of measurement !

While playing with their friends outside, children often times stand next to one another and measure who is the biggest.

They compare their hair, their utensils at snack/lunch , their water bottles…. just about everything.

Measurement helps with eye hand coordination, build life skills, help prepare for the mathematical mind to work out the complex problems, equations and geometry and improve vocabulary.

What is are simple ways to introduce “measurement” to young children?

By using comparison words in sentences like “My shoes are bigger than your shoes”.

Encourage children to grade household objects from long to short.

Have children roll out play dough of the specific length to match the length of household objects or pipe cleaners.

Have children help get ingredients ready for cooking/baking and participate in food prep.

Read books about measurement.

Provide measuring tape and ruler to the child, so they can explore them and practice measuring things.

Show children that we could use other ways to measure things like our foot, hand etc.

Verbalize the concept of measurement units.

Discuss that units of measurement have specific names and are different for fabric, solids,liquids etc.

Writing letters is an important milestone for children and practicing their phonetic sounds is a key step in the process of reading.

Children do need to write on paper with a pencil for the school work. But, in the early stages when they are beginning to learn writing and phonetic sounds, it should be interesting and fun in order for them to be motivated to do it.

Make it fun and provide different materials for children to practice writing letters on a variety of mediums.

Corn flour, sand, salt, sidewalk, paper, shaving cream are some ideas of materials they can use to practice writing letters.

Children can use their fingers, chalk, paint brush, nature materials like leaves & flowers, household items like buttons, beads, paper clips etc to practice making and writing letters.

Simple play dough can be used to encourage children to mold and make letters with them. It strengthens their finger muscles, is a fun, sensorial, visual and exciting activity for them.

Observe the child, see what kind of learner they are and provide necessary materials/support and encouragement to make learning writing letters fun for them.