Other // Lamplighters Yeshivah Parent Handbook
Later, because materials contain multiple levels of
challenge, the beads can be used to introduce geome-
try. The unit is a point; the 10-bar is a line; the hundred
square a surface; the thousand cube, a solid. rice inside them. Others contain beans or items that
sound louder still. After matching the cylinders, the
child can grade the cylinders—that is, put the cylinders
in order of softest to loudest, or loudest to softest.
Montessori learning materials are ingeniously de-
signed to allow children to work independently with
very little introduction or help. The students are em-
powered to come into the environment, choose their
own work, use it appropriately, and put it away without
help. “Grow” with the Child
Invite Activity For example, exploring the
“binomial
cube”—made
up of 8 red, black, and blue
cubes and prisms—the early
childhood student develops
visual discrimination of col-
or and form. The elemen-
tary child labels the parts
to explore, concretely, the
algebraic formula (a+b)3.
The upper elementary child
uses the binomial cube as
the foundation for work with more advanced materials
to solve algebraic equations.
Maria Montessori believed that moving and learning
were inseparable. The child must involve her entire
body and use all her senses in the process of learning.
She needs opportunities built into the learning process
for looking, listening, smelling, touching, tasting, and
moving her body.
When you look at Montessori materials, you are drawn
to explore them with your senses. For example, you
would want to pick up the sound cylinders and shake
them. They consist of two matched sets of wooden cyl-
inders containing varying substances that create dif-
ferent sounds when shaken.
The child sorts the sound cylinders using only his lis-
tening skill. Two cylinders have the barely audible
sound of sand. Two have the slightly louder sound of
54
Montessori materials are designed to follow the stu-
dents throughout their education; they are like famil-
iar faces greeting them in their new classrooms as they
advance.
Invite Discovery
Montessori-structured lessons are the “work” or pro-
cedures for each set of materials. A teacher may give
a lesson to a child or small group of children, another
child may give a lesson, a child may learn how a lesson
works by watching others, or a child may explore cer-
tain types of materials freely.
For a young child, the Montessori-structured lesson
may be silent and may be only a few moments long.
This lesson models a method for laying work on a mat
or table in an orderly fashion. The lesson helps children
develop work habits, organization skills, and general
thinking strategy, but it never teaches children the an-
swers.