Fountainhead Montessori Teacher Training Academy

A two year old bright eyed excited girl holding her teacher's hands, climbed up and down the steps joyously with a strong urge to achieve perfection. There was just one desperate wish to climb the steps all by herself and after repeating this exercise for 40 minutes she perfected her climbing skill with a twinkle in her eyes, she smiled triumphantly looking at her teacher as if saying "Thank you for helping me help myself".  

“After a child is given an object to use, he not only continues to work with it, but his efforts leave him mentally stronger and healthier than before” Maria Montessori

Introduction to Decimal System with beads: Material : The material used for this presentation is: A small wooden tray with one golden bead, a bar of ten, a square of hundred beads, a cube of thousand beads and a felt mat . Presentation: The directress gives a three period lesson of unit, ten, hundred, thousand. She draws the child’s attention to the fact that bar of ten is made up of ten units, similarly the square of hundred contains ten bars of tens, likewise the cube of thousand has ten squares of hundred. Aims: The aims are to provide the child with the names of the categories and the child is getting the Sensorial impression of each category he also realizes the relationship between the categories. 

Exercises of Practical Life - Care of Indoor Environment Watering a plant Material:   Green tray. Green watering can. Green child sized sponge. Green wiping towel. Green Apron. Presentation:  1. Take the child to the shelf carry the tray to the table. 2. Lay out a plastic mat and place the tray.  3. Fill the watering can with water. 4. Pour the water slowly into the pot. show the child how water is absorbed by the plant and soil. 5. Tell the child that plants are living things and they need water. Wind-up: 1. Use the sponge to wipe the tray, watering can, plastic mat, apron. 2. Place the tray back on the shelf. 3. Place a new wiping-towel 4. Hang the wet towel on the cloth line. Note: The whole set of material is colour coordinated because it helps the child have a sense of order and he knows that everything goes together.

The beauty of the Montessori system is that we do not teach the child directly, we simply assist him in skill development through Montessori material.