Tim Seldin & Paul Epstein Ph.D. An Education for Life

MONTESSORI PROGRAMS
toms, housing, diet, government,
industry, the arts, history,
and dress. They learn to
treasure the richness of their
own cultural heritage and
those of their friends.
The children also study
the emergence of human
beings during the old and
new stone ages, the development
of the first civilizations,
and the universal needs common
to all humanity. For
older elementary students,
the focus is respectively on
early man, ancient civilizations,
and early-American
history.
Montessori tries to present
a sense of living history
at every level through direct
hands-on experience. Students
build models of
ancient tools and structures,
prepare their own manuscripts,
make ceremonial
masks, and re-create all sorts
of artifacts of the everyday
life of historical eras. Experiences
such as these make it
much easier for Montessori
children to appreciate history
as it is taught through
books.
While Montessori schools
are communities apart from
the outside world, in which
children can first begin to
develop their unique talents,
they are also consciously
connected to the local,
national, and global communities.
The goal is to lead
each student to explore,
understand, and grow into
full and active membership
in the adult world.
Field trips provide opportunities
to explore the world
outside the classroom.
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(Above) Research Card Materials
Younger elementary children
often use simplified research card
material and charts in their studies.
(Left) The Imaginary
Island Puzzle
The Imaginary Island Puzzle
introduces students in elementary
classes to thirty-eight land and
water forms. They study vocabulary
and definitions of such words as
isthmus, butte, tributary, archipelago,
bight, lagoon, and more.
Children also learn to plot longitude
and latitude and analyze the
flora and fauna of a region. With
the use of eighty-four puzzle pieces,
students are able to create an
infinite variety of islands of their
own design, modifying them at will,
and reinforcing vocabulary words
during the process.