What is Normalisation?

‘Normalisation’ a term which you will hear often in a Montessori environment. This very term at times confuses parents, specially the ones who don’t know much about the method. Normalisation doesn’t imply that a child or set of children aren’t normal, we are no one to say that. Then what does normalisation mean? Normalisation is a very special process in the overall development of a child. When a child is able to concentrate on an activity, when s/he works freely in their Montessori environment. These children are self-deciplined and peaceful. It is a stage where the child's will, intelligence and coordination of movements work together. It is a very important stage of development. A child in this stage of development enjoys his/her work.

In The Absorbent Mind, Dr. Montessori says the following about normalisation “the most important single result of our whole work.”

Children go through 3 stages of normalisation in a Montessori environment:

A child will do activities s/he wants to.
A child will do activities s/he is asked to
A child gets involved in something s/he knows is right.

Children who are normalised, love the harmony and peace in the environment, hence they try to follow the ground rules set in the environment. The process of normalisation comes naturally and it can never be forced. In an authentic Montessori environment, the self-correcting didactic material, the environment and trained adults; help the child in this process.

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We love going out and explore!

"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...

Why Ayelet? What does Ayelet even mean?

When we envisioned our Montessori, even before we decided on the name, we knew we wanted a place where children can experience a 'TRUE MONTESSORI'. We wanted to give little children, who enter a new world, a place which will be their little home away from home. A place where they explore, learn, feel safe and more than anything a place which helps them shine. We wanted to choose a name that gives away just that and more. Ayelet is a word we chose after going through a lot of names. It is a Hebrew word, which means ‘Brightest Morning Star’. 'Ayelet' defines our goal to create a safe, bright, rich, stimulating school environment for children, which will stay with them for life. Ayelet aims at fostering a community of children, educators and families, to support the optimum development of the child for life. At Ayelet, we are super happy with what we have created. And we would love to reach out to as many young children (and parents) as possible. ...

Ayelet Montessori

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