Montessori & music

One material among manyThe bells

Do it yourself!Snowman made of salt dough

Declaration of RomeFiring the imagination

2013/1

Dear Reader,We proudly present the first edition of Montessori World to you all.

The publisher of our magazine is the Montesz Foundation. The Foundation’s aim is the persistent support of the Montessori Method among the children attending nurseries, pre-schools and primary schools. The Montessori Method’s creator is Maria Montessori, who was the first female physician in Italy. At the end of the 19th century, after gaining her diploma, she worked at a clinic in Rome; that is when she started to be interested in the development of children’s abilities. For this she produced special materials and used special techniques. This was the first step of work-ing her new ways out, which later on led to a world-wide known Method, the Montessori Method. Maria Montessori continued her studies in philosophy and psychology in order to be able to understand children’s thinking.

This type of pedagogy is based on accepting the children’s personality as a whole, and is built on the children’s natural curiosity. It is an anthropocentric educational Method in which the devel-opment is supported by a special system of materials. The Montessori Method gives an answer to the challenge in which – because of the rapid development of sciences – the education’s aim should not be the increasing of the quantity of our knowledge but the forming of our per-sonality and the developing of our abilities because these are the most important skills that establish our convertible knowledge. In Montessori institutions we use special equipment: the Montessori materials. These materials are toys in the eyes of the children, which develop their skills and abilities without them noticing.

We truly believe that the children, brought up in this type of alternative pedagogy, approach their environment with positive thinking and they care about the people, the animals and the plants of our world. (This is also proved by our achievements so far.) These children help others, they know how to ask for and take in other’s help, and they are also capable of making their own decisions. The Montessori teacher handles each child individually; she knows their personalities and abilities very well, and helps them to develop in their own pace. She culti-vates their talent, and provides them with information according to their interests.

We wish to introduce the Montessori ideology and pedagogy with our free, quarterly maga-zine to you all. We hope our magazine contains useful and intriguing information for teachers, parents, and those who are interested in this Method. The main topic of the first edition is music and imagination.

Eszter Kovács

Every child is born musical. But by the time they grow up this skill disappears sometimes. The key to musicality can be found at the beginning of life. The musical development starts 3 months prior to birth, right in the mother’s womb. By this time the foetus’s hearing is fully developed and they are capable of perceiving the sounds of the surrounding world. They are particularly receptive to the tunes of music and the tones of human speech. According to some research a German new-born baby cries differently than a French one. The tone of their cry assimilates to the intonation of their mother tongue. Scientists found out – by examining healthy new-born babies of German and French families – how French babies cry with rising intonation, while German babies cry with falling intonation.

Music and language are tied closely. At the very moment the child is able to bring their sight into focus they start observing their mother’s mouth. They watch the lips’ movements and also try to match different sounds with certain action. After a while they copy these motions; this is how a conversation emerges between child and mother. Everybody – who is close to young children – has already experienced how the child calms down when being nestled and sung to. He turns to us looking blissfully happy. As soon as they start talking they also sing freely whenever they are in a good mood.

The Montessori Method deals with the child’s physical, mental and emotional development as a complex unit. The most important basis of this is the prepared environment. When you talk about the prepared environment do not only refer to the objects there (like musical instruments and cds in case of teaching music), but the teachers themselves are also part of that

special environment. The teacher’s tranquil, open and cheerful attitude is of prime neces-sity. The kindergarten group’s good humour determines the development of the children. The teacher can sing a song whenever she wants during the day, or can help the children with rhythmic clapping or a chant. This is, of course, a part not only of the musical education. You can sing a song about colours while doing some drawing, or tap your knees rhythmically while the child is counting the colourful beads. There is a great opportunity to sing together in the dressing room as well while the children are getting ready, or during the p.e. lessons. Most of the people start moving when they are exposed to music; they nod their heads or move their feet. That is why it is of crucial importance to combine musical education with movement.

In a Montessori group the “Walk the line” activity is quite common. This activity is always accom-panied by music. The teacher makes a circular line on the floor with the help of some thread (or sticky tape), that is the line the children have to walk on. This task develops the child’s concentration and body-balance; they learn to control their own bodies and walk rhythmically, and to coordinate their arms and legs. As the child improves we can make this activity even more complicated by doing it with a glass of water in the hand or a beanbag on top of the head. If the music is varied while completing this task, the child will be able to recognize a lot of different rhythms. The “Walk the line” activity prepares the ground for later musical development.

Eszter Strausz

1: http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/sonstiges/meldungen/detail/artikel/sprache-be/

Montessori and music

Originally these bells were developed by Maria Montessori with the help of the music specialist Anna Macaroni. All of the mushroom-shaped metal bells are standing on wooden baseboards. The set is made of 13 bells, two times. The 13 bells represent the chromatic scale from c to c. The bells in the first set are painted black or white according to the keyboard of a piano. The second set of bells is all brown. All the Montessori bells are the same shape and it is possible to move them one by one. The difference between the bells can only be recognized by ear.

The 26 bells are standing in pairs on a board, which is painted piano-like black and white on one side and plain green on the other side. The set also contains a small wooden mallet and a damper.

The direct aim of the material:• Ear and memory trainingThe indirect aim of the material:

• To develop the arms’ and the hands’ fine motor skills

Control of Error:• Aurally

Age:• 3 and older

Vocabulary:• high – low• higher – the highest• lower – the lowest• diatonic scale• chromatic scale• modal scale

One material among many

The bells

More possibilities of using the bells:

When the child has been using the bells for a while, we can add different materials. One of these materials is a green board with five lines. There are little discs to go with the board on which numbers (from 1 to 8) and the names of the notes are written. With the help of this material the child can learn the name and the place of the notes on sheet music.

How to use the bells:

There are endless possibilities of how to use this material; from the point when the child learns how to make the bells sound to the point when the child composes his own play with the help of the bells. After the first occasion the child learns to recognise the different notes. There are two brown bells and one white bell in front of the child. One of the brown bells is the pair of the white bell. This is what the child has to find out only by ear and match the same sounds. First the child listens to the white bell with both ears and then he listens to the brown bells one by one, after which he decides which of the bells sound the same. At the beginning we chose the two brown bells to have decided difference between their sounds. Later on we can chose more and nearer sounds to match. Eventually the child will be able to put the whole scale together.

There are many games in which we can use the bells. For example we can put one set of bells to one side of the room and the other set to the other side of the room. The child first listens to the white or black bell, after which he goes to the other side of the room and tries to find the same sounding brown bell by only using his memory. If he thinks that he found the right brown bell he brings it back to the white or black one to check if he was correct.

The bells can also be used in pairs. One child makes a tune with the help of the brown bells and the other child’s task is to make the same tune by using the white and black bells.

Eszter Strausz

„Imagine no possessionsI wonder if you can

No need for greed and hungerA brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people sharing all the world”John Lennon

According to Dr Maria Montessori there are two powers of the mind which go beyond the simple perception of things actually present: the mathematical mind and the imagination. Both powers play a mutual part in the construction of the mind’s content. They can be considered as poles of a continuum. It is the mind’s work to collect true information through accurate observation. The mathematical mind provides the child with tools to order his impressions. Qualities can be categorized and than quantified. Algorithms bring certainty in problem solving. The mathematical mind is the power that leads to abstract thought. Convergent thinking in-volves aiming for a single, correct solution to a problem. Statistical operations are subdued by levels of significance. The mathematical mind is nomothetic: based on laws, rules and regulations.

The imagination is the other mental power that enables us to go beyond the concrete. It is the ability to picture and conjure up things not physically present. In other words: to bring them into one’s mind’s eye. This power becomes manifest as a deep curiosity. Imagination, the creative quality of the mind, helps to generate new ideas, to look for new ways when one is in doubt about a well- trodden path. The imagination generates divergent thinking. In modern parlance: ‘ thinking out of the box’. On the scientific level it means: the ability to question fixed relations and to formulate new hypotheses.

It is Montessori’s conviction that the creative imagination of science is based upon truth and therefore can only have a sensory basis. This also can be said referring to artistic imagination. Man does not create artistic products out of nothing. “What is called creation is in reality a composition, a construction raised upon a primitive material of the mind, which must be collected from the environment by means of the senses.” Montessori distinguishes between imagination and fantasy.

Declaration of RomeFiring the imagination

Montessori Europe is an organization established in 2000 to enable and encourage Montessori pedagogy at political, social and educational levels throughout Europe. The Montessori pedagogy offers education for life by providing free choice in a structured learning environment.

Children of differing ages, abilities and backgrounds are integrated in Montessori environ-ment. This leads to the development of an unique personality that is free, self-motivated and self responsible.

https://www.montessori-europe.com/

Unlike the fantasy of a child, which allows him to dwell in the fields of make-belief and to deal with non existing things and creatures, imagination is a force for the discovery of truth and is linked with reality. Interesting is the question where the borderline is to be found.A ‘conditio sine qua non’ to this all is freedom. Free expression leads to free production. In order to appreciate the free thoughts and works of others, one should restrain from fixed opinions or biased judgments.

Of great political significance is the use of im-agination to solve future problems we have to live with (energy, water, environment).The last decade European politicians have put extra weight on the subjects mathematics and language. pisa aims and objectives have nowa-days an almost holy status. European countries even compete to get the highest scores on the given pisa tests. Although we recognize the importance of a basic knowledge of the three rs, we believe that school programs should give greater significance of art-, social-, moral- and physical education. Education must approach the whole personality.

Montessori considered the human being to be an individual, a personality that cannot be divided in separate parts to study. All educators should strive to help all individuals to develop their inner potentials and special talents. They will be the creators of the world of tomorrow!

What you need:Salt dough, clove, a triangle-shaped orange piece of paper, a lid from a plastic bottle

Salt dough recipe:Mix and stir 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of salt, 1 spoon of oil and ½ cup of water to make the dough not too soft but not too hard either. The leftover dough can be stored in the fridge for 1 or 2 days. The body of the snowman:Rounding the dough between our palms we make 3 different-size balls (body) and 2 more balls of the same size (arms). We put them together to make the snowman’s body.

The head of the snowman:We use the clove to make eyes and the orange piece of paper to make nose for our snowman. The lid of the plastic bottle can be used as the hat. While we are making our snowmen we can sing a few songs about them.

Eszter Kovács

Do it yourself!Creative ideas – snowman made of salt dough

I’m a little snowman

I’m a little snowman, look at me. These are my buttons, 1 2 3. These are my eyes and this is my nose. I wear a hat and scarf. Brrr… it’s cold!

(Tune: I’m a little teapot)

Five Little Snowmen

Five little snowmen came out to play Slipping-and-a-sliding on a snowy day. Then the sun came out to stay And one little snowman melted away. Four little snowmen came out to play Slipping-and-a-sliding on a snowy day. Then the sun came out to stay And one little snowman melted away. Three little snowmen came out to play Slipping-and-a-sliding on a snowy day. Then the sun came out to stay And one little snowman melted away.

Hungarian–English Montessori Kindergartenwww.lanclanc.hu

Bilingual education

Individual development

Specialized educational materials

Develop independence in all areas

Environmental education

Nice big garden

Growing plants in our own vegetable garden

Colourful and cozy environment

Big spacious classrooms

Mixed age classrooms

3 teachers in every group

20–25 children per group

Many cultural programs, excursions

Afternoon clubs

Large gym

1112 Bp, Menyecske u. 14. • info@lanclanc.hu • +36 30 543 3432

Dear Reader,

Would you like to go to new places and enrich your live with new experiences?The Eszterlánc Hungarian–English Montessori Kindergarten is looking for teachers or students who would be interested in spending some time at our kindergarten. Our kindergarten is located in the beautiful and lively capital of Hungary, Budapest. Our young and enthusiastic team of teachers is always looking for an opportunity to widen the horizon of the children’s world. For you as a guest it would be a unique possi-bility to have a closer look at how a Montessori kindergarten works in Budapest and how the children learn a second language in a Montes-sori environment. You could get to know more about the Hungarian culture and share your culture with our children who are always very interested in the guests coming to us. For more information about our school have a look at www.lanclanc.huIf you would like to apply or have further ques-tions please contact Eszter Strausz ateszter@montesz.org

Hope to see you soon!

Montessori World 2013/1

Published by Montesz FoundationEditor in chief: Orsolya KenesseiEnglish translation: Bernadett BatkaDrawings: Belián, Béla, Lukács, Sári, HannaPhotography: Eszter Strausz, Péter E. VárkonyiDesign: János SzüdiPrint: Polderprint (Hollandia)All photos are made at EszterláncHungarian–English Montessori Kindergarten.

1112 Bp, Menyecske u. 14. • info@lanclanc.hu • +36 30 543 3432

Dear Montessori schools,

We are looking for a Sister-school, a Montessori kindergarten in an other country who we can work together with.The Eszterlánc Hungarian-English Montessori Kindergarten is located in the beautiful capital of Hungary, Budapest. The kindergarten has three classes with children of mixed ages between 3 and 6 years old. Our young and enthusiastic team of teachers is always looking for an opportunity to learn from other Montessori schools and share their experiences and knowledge. We would like to make it possible for some of our teachers to travel to the Sister-school and get new inspi-ration. On the other hand we would be happy to have the Sister-school teachers as our guests at our kindergarten. This long term project would enrich the lives of both schools.For more information about our school have a look at www.lanclanc.huInterested in being our Sister-school or having more questions please contact Eszter Strausz ateszter@montesz.org

Hope to hear form you soon!

Montessori and cosmic educationCosmic education contains the following sub-jects: zoology, botany, geography, biology, and astronomy. In our next issue we will cover the practical uses of cosmic education.

Springtime fun: dibbling vegetablesWe take the children out to the garden and together we prepare the seed-plots.

Bird of the year:The European Bee-eater won the “Bird of the year 2013” title.

Next IssueMontessori World 2

Would You like to know more about the Montessori method?Visit the Eszterlánc Hungarian–English Montessori Kindergaten at:

http://www.lanclanc.hu/