Report of the Second Saturday Meeting

Month: October

Venue: Anweshana Montessori House of Children

Theme: History in Houses of children

Anweshana Montessori House of Children

Meeting at Anweshana! The Montessorians just love to meet at this venue. This House of children is located amidst picturesque surrounding. The fatigue of the distance traveled and the difficulty in locating the environment just vanished the moment we entered the environment.

Wonderful garden, spacious outer environment, smiling adults welcomed the eager montessorians to the meeting. Well attended by over 60 adults, the meeting took off little late than scheduled time, waiting for Members from Bangalore South.

Ms. Bharathi, the head of the Institution welcomed the gathering and gave a detailed introduction about how & why to offer the ‘History’ in a House of children. She emphasized on the importance of this knowledge offered as an item of human culture. ‘History’ is not just a word but has to be experienced through ethnic food, music, objects, and pictures via interesting activities. Many of the examples provided now will be used as points of references in later history studies. When a child is six years old bits of information via narrations form the basis for study of history. In order to enable the children to study history we must help them acquire both an understanding of the passage of time & the ability to conceptualize the passage of time in linear pattern. This is done by weighing & measuring the height children, celebrating birthday, measuring plants, drawing successive stages of plant growth, weighing animals etc. These have to be done on a regular basis to help the child to become aware of passage of time.

Later Ms. Bharathi introduced her enthusiastic adults who in turn introduced various activities that are offered in Anweshana. The materials/activities were made scientifically & attractively. The assembled Montessorians were stunned to see so many activities that are possible in teaching history. The staff had done wonderful homework in offering the presentation to the members. Bharathi stressed on ‘historical’ environment just like the botanical environment. She and her staff offered some of the activities to enlighten the assembly.

A historical environment can have antique objects & wall hangings in the environment. Antique containers can be used for pouring activities etc. To add beauty we can have some historical theme around which the outer part & the inner part of the environment can be built like terracotta models to depicting the evolution of man, other animals etc. Various activities with calendar, clock, time lines & day records will be a good source for history activities. We can offer the activities like,

  • Introduction to the passage of time
  • The language of time
  • Linear calendar
  • The days of the week
  • Months of the year
  • The standard calendar
  • The seasons
  • The First time line
  • Introduction to the clock
  • Initially at the hourly unit
  • Little later at half an hour interval
  • Five minutes an interval
  • The time line of the day
  • The time line of the year
  • Personal time line
  • The family tree

Apart from the above said items, she introduced several other materials to give an idea of passage of time. She urged members to have an exclusive trunk/ box, with the collection of old lanterns, lamps, dairies, special clothes, butter milk churner, other kitchen items etc. These objects can be collected with the involvement of parents. Then these objects can be introduced with a focus on passage of time.

Towards the end of meeting the members were all charged up with several ideas of history. The number of activities & the kind of materials prepared & offered had become the topic of the day for the rest of the time spent. Mr. Ananth secretary of IMC-K chapter expressed his gratitude to Ms.Bharathi and the adults for having offered the venue to host the meet and share their invaluable experiences. He urged the members to take the enthusiasm, inspiration rather than the name of the activities and the materials. With an orientation towards history there are several things that one can think of offering in a house of children. Reports of earlier Meetings