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History, Geography and the Cultural Subjects The presentations excerpted below opened the Parent Education evening, September 25, 2001, on History, Geography and the Cultural Subjects. We chose the focus on history in August, but with the events of September 11th frest on our minds, it seemed more important than ever that we be conscious about how we tell the human story to children.
History and Geography for the Very Young
History and Geography for Children's House
History and Geography for Elementary Levels
History and Geography for Junior High
History and Geography for the Very Young by Ann Luce The child's history begins with the parent dreaming of having that child in their lives. History is the story of each particular child and begins with storytelling. Even in utero the parents can tell their tales, explain joys and stresses they are experiencing, and share their hopes for their child. Early sharing with an infant creates closeness and relationship.
It is so important to explain to the infant everything that is happening to her. When the diaper is changed, each step should be verbalized for the child. When it is time to go somewhere, it should be explained to the infant. This conversation lays the basis for communication and learning the "dance of language." As the child gets older, the care-giver can include more information, such as "We are going to spend the afternoon at your aunt's house and we will be back after dinner. When we get home, it will be almost time for bed." Communicating clearly and carefully about all aspects of the day will help your child understand the present as well as peek into the future.
Infants rely on parents to help them develop points of reference. In this way, the child learns his place in the world and develops identity as well as culture. Points of reference orient the child not only in space but also in time. The child's first points of reference are the mother's heartbeat and voice. Outside the womb, the child uses those reference points and moves out to explore. The infant crawls away from the adult, explores the world, comes back and moves away again. This is the first lesson in geography. As the child internalizes her personal geography and moves toward greater Independence, she begins to show an interest in the unfamiliar world.
By the time the child is three years old, he understands cultural anthropology completely. Merely by living in a family the child is immersed in the language, the food, and the rituals that make up his own particular family culture. He gains identity in a family as well as a society. Unconsciously he absorbs all aspects of culture, including what the family holds reverent and mutually dislikes. We as adults must be aware that the infants absorb prejudice as well as tolerance.
Infants and toddlers are totally self-centered, and that's the way it should be. Life is all about them. They must learn about themselves first before they are able to learn about the world. And so that is where history starts, with the stories of their lives. Tell your child all the stories that you can about how she has lived her life thus far, how she came to be in your family, learned to crawl, and had her first belly laugh.
Start telling those stories before you think that they are able to understand them, and you will be surprised at what they know. Tell them every story you think will help them appreciate who they are. Use their birthdays as an opportunity to have a storytelling festival in their honor. Then, have them begin to tell their own stories of how they see themselves in the world. Keep those stories alive, either by writing them down or through an active oral tradition.
History and geography begin with the child's place in the world. The adult must help him learn his place, appreciate himself and who he is, and offer him an identity in the family as well as the culture. This will help him answer the question: who am I? In this way the child and the parents are prepared for the bigger questions that will soon follow.
Dr. Montessori described the child's mind of six years of age as "a fertile field, blazing under a fiery sun of imagination, onto which we can sow the seeds of culture."For children under the age of six, she realized that cultural activities are well within their reach. She knew that even very young children need a physical and cultural sense of the world. In Children's House, through a meticulously prepared environment, we integrate geography, science, art, music and history, weaving a rich tapestry of human experience.
The child uses her senses to explore the world around her, to build language and communication skills, to absorb the surrounding environment, taking in information in a systematic and organized way. We present the child with the whole, which is then broken down into its parts. Classifications and naming satisfy the developmental needs of the child during the sensitive periods for language.
Geography is the story of the earth being formed; it is central to the human ability to adapt to the world and to find one's place in it. We offer the child the opportunity to explore the world of geography through work with the globes, which are displayed in a prominent place in the environment. There are puzzle maps of the continents and flags of different countries. The child is able to see and understand the world and the continents and to have a better understanding of the part of the world in which he lives.
Children use other materials to learn about land and water formations, as well as the workings of the earth's elements. In addition, they learn about the needs of humans - food, shelter, clothing, defense and transportation - which are represented in such a way that the child understands how these basic needs are cultivated and why different cultures meet these needs differently.
History can be defined as the story of the human being partaking in the cosmic plan set in motion with the creation of the universe. We all are members of the human family. Our roots lie in the distant past, and history is the story of our common heritage. Montessori history follows the development of the solar system, life on earth, the development of humankind, early civilizations, and recorded history. Through stories, the child sees the long labor of humankind needed to accomplish all that is enjoyed today.
Children are able to learn about people and cultures in other countries with respect and admiration. They come to feel connected to the global human family. Experiences with nature inspire reverence for all life and a desire to help in the preservation of our planet. The children gain awareness of the world around them by exploring other countries, their customs, food, music, climate, language and animals. This helps them develop an understanding of their place in the world and appreciation and compassion for other people.
A guiding principle for us in the Montessori elementary level is that it is a vision of the whole that makes the study of details interesting. So we begin with the telling of the first great story - the origin of the universe. It is a fable in the best sense, intended to strike the imagination and lead to reflection, thought, and study of the myriad details.We bring to the imagination the formation of our solar system, our Earth, and all the materials that make up our world. It is geography on the largest scale, yet rooted in the smallest scale - the particles of all the elements of the universe, each obeying their unique physical laws, coming together to form the rocks of our lithosphere, the waters of our oceans, the air of our atmosphere.
I have delighted this year in watching the children, just flown up from Children's House, cross the threshold into elementary. Just imagine. She stands in the doorway of the El classroom and peers in. Along the sink wall a group of students are awash in vinegar, baking soda and red food dye, exploding the model volcano time and again, recalling from the story how all the particles of the Earth settled down and cooled according to their own laws.
At a nearby table another group of students is hotly debating how to represent visually just how much of the surface of the Earth is covered with water. There are reference books and papers spread all about. The fraction circles are out, the Montessori protractor, and construction paper, scissors and tape.
Next to them, a lively group of students is pulling at threads of the lessons on the work of water. They have been shown the impressionistic chart that portrays water as a boy asleep inside a rock. We explain that water seeps in and sleeps inside the rock. Then when winter comes, the boy wakes up and breaks out of the rock. The water freezes and breaks apart the rock. They are working together making geometric solids that symbolize two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom joining together. Water! What is it? Why does it behave the way it does?
So our study of geography starts with the properties of materials - solids, liquids and gas. We tell stories about the rock cycle, the water cycle, and the nitrogen cycle. We examine maps of the world, each continent, and our own country. We pose questions and work to inspire the children to research. For this is another guiding principle of the Montessori elementary: do not do the work for the children. Help them to find areas of study where they can dig in, with enough information to start, finding new information, making connections, and adding to their knowledge base.
We then branch into the study of history along two paths. We tell the second great story of the coming of life on earth. This kicks off the study of life forms in our world. We talk about unicellular creatures, not quite plant and not quite animal. We look at bacteria, diatoms, algae, yeast, and lichen. We examine the fossil record and tell stories of the age of invertebrates, the age of fishes, the age of amphibians, the age of reptiles, and the age of mammals. We hope to inspire in the children an appreciation for the vastness of deep time. This work leads on into the study of zoology and the story of the coming of humans.
The second branch of study is rooted in the fundamental needs of humans. We begin by examining with the children the ways their families satisfy their fundamental needs for food, shelter, defense, transportation, and spiritual and personal expression. We present materials in the classroom and tell stories about how a few of the great civilizations of the past met these universal needs. From this base, the children can take off into studies of cultures around the world and through time. And we weave stories throughout the year and through each area of study to awaken admiration and appreciation in the students for all the things we have inherited from the past.
Montessori's vision of history study in the elementary is an inspiring vision. During the International Montessori Congress in Italy in 1949, Maria Montessori called on us to stress the interdependence of human beings that exist now, throughout the world, but also the interdependence that links the present to the past and to the future. She said, "All those achievements ... which have benefited humanity, are due to the work of men who often struggled in obscurity and under conditions of great hardship, but who were driven ... to create by their labors and researches new benefits not only for the men who lived in their own time but also for those of the future ... This solidarity between human beings, which projects itself into the future and is sunk in the remotest ages of the past, thereby linking the past to the present and the present to the future for all eternity, is a most wonderful thing."
The good news is that it all comes together in the junior high in a Montessori school. As we focus on geography and history as vehicles, I like to think of two favorite phrases we use: "You learn geography through the feet, and you learn history through the heart."For eighteen years I have waved good-bye to my husband, the staff and students of the Junior High as the bus pulled away for a two-week trip - an Odyssey east or west. He would always, without fail, wax eloquent about how amazing this year's students were, how much other adults along the way were impressed with how our students conducted themselves.
Finally in my "retirement" I was able to join him this year to witness myself these 48 very young adults with seven somewhat older adults. I can say in honesty (after tenting with them for ten very real nights) that these Lake Country Montessori students were indeed amazing. I've concluded that a two-week camping trip starting the first day of school to a living history site like Williamsburg or a real archeological dig site like Crow Canyon is the perfect prepared environment for the developmental phase of very young adulthood. It is quintessential geography and the living history of the roots and values of our culture and our ancient psyche.
As James said at the beginning of the trip, "We are not taking children on this trip. It is too difficult. We can only take young adults." And rise they did to their proper height, taking responsibility for setting up tents, cooking meals for two sets of 28 people, and cleaning up.
In addition, morning bus rides were truly quiet times of reading assignments, answering questions and doing math work. Each day they sat themselves with a different person. Each night they slept with two different people per tent than the nights before. Nightly they gathered around a fire to assess the day, give thank you's and mark challenges to work on. All these activities are living lessons in building community - the central task this age needs to address. As a result of their readings, they were well prepared for their Williamsburg experience. The guides over and over commented on their enthusiasm for learning and on how much they knew.
Liz Garity, a Williamsburg guide for a group of 16 Lake Country students, asked me on the last day, "What makes them so unusual? They are so enthused and polite. What is this Montessori experience anyway? Can you tell me in a few words?" And after I answered she asked if I could find out what Montessori schools I could recommend for her granddaughter in the Denver area.
What did I tell her?
1. Their interest drives the process. The teacher inspires, guides, is a resource, but their life force moves growth forward.
2. We give them choices within a prepared environment that frees them from the adult but has expectations and responsibilities. They say, "help me to think for myself."
3. They come to trust the adults. They seek out the best our culture has to offer. They "sniff out a phony" in the adults who work with them. They want authentic balanced adults. They want to know who we are collectively, what our purpose is.
4. They are primed for learning geography through their feet. They have studied it sensorially through puzzle maps of the world and their own country through impressionistic charts and experiments. They have planned their own going-out trips to learn more than what is within the four walls of their own classroom.
5. They have used their imaginations to fathom every stage of the earth's evolutions and they have been encouraged to feel responsible for it. The human story they learn is their own story, history.
6. They have been free to follow their passions: topics and people who interest them.
So when they encounter an authentic living history museum like Williamsburg, they are prepared through their own life story to enter the story of their founding fathers and mothers. Thus on the morning when Patrick Henry spoke to us of liberty, of the need to be free from injustice, to be responsible for one another, our children weren't standing there; our very young adults were vulnerable, some with tears but all with a sense of purpose and privilege. It was Tuesday, September 11, 2001. And together with grace and courage they handled the news of the disastrous attack on our country. They took the sudden journey home with the same resolve and purpose that brought them to Williamsburg. At nightly campfire meetings, they posed the same questions: "What did we do well today? What can we improve upon?" Somehow they knew now in a more profound way that these were the same questions to ask of our country and that now they had a deeper, more vested interest in the answers.
This article appeared in the Fall 2001 issue of the Lake Country School CourierLCS Home Page > Parent Resources > Articles > History, Geography and the Cultural Subjects