Ayelet Montessori

"When the child goes out, it is the world itself that offers itself to him." - Maria Montessori In a Montessori environment, and according to Dr. Montessori herself, exploring the outdoors is a very important extension of the indoor environment.  Every Friday, is scheduled for a visit to the park at Ayelet. We not only play on slides and swings (that is a very important part of our time in the park), but we explore the environment around. We pick flowers and leaves, spot creepy-crawlies, observe, listen to stories, discuss and enjoy.  On one such visit to the park, children collected rocks and stones, back in Ayelet, we learned how to clean these stones. We followed it with discussing about the colours, shapes, size, etc. Once, we spotted a butterfly in our porch (which is such a rare sight now-a-days). We went on to read Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and discussed the life-cycle of a butterfly.  A child picked flowers on one such v...

Ours is a land of diversity and that is the beauty of our country. The harmony and love with which a large part of our society lives, embracing all the uniqueness and differences is what makes India truly amazing. We have so many customs, festivals and rituals in our country. We should should help our child be a part of these celebrations.  Montessori is a method which is extremely adaptable and embraces all rituals.  In a Montessori, festivals and holidays form an integral part of our cultural curriculum. For us, festivals are cultural celebrations and not religious. Children focus on traditions and rituals while celebrating. When we celebrate a festival, its about the customs, the clothes and the traditional food. As a Montessori school, Ayelet believes in celebrating all holidays with equal enthusiasm. We try to avoid accepting one and ignoring another important festival. All festivals hold equal importance for us.  We share stories and ev...