“It could be said that there is a period in a child’s second year when nature leads the intelligence through progressive stages until he gains a knowledge of everything.”
Dr Maria Montessori
“As the aim of the exercise is not that the rods be arranged in the right order of gradation, but that the child should practice by himself, there is no need to intervene.”
- Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook, P. 76
“A child has a sensitive period which lasts until he is almost 5 years old which enables him to assimilate images from his environment in a truly prodigious fashion.”
- Secret of Childhood Chapter 9
In the life of the child from 0-3 there are what Dr Montessori called “sensitive periods.” They are often referred to as ‘windows of opportunity’ and are meant to define those time periods when the child is especially open to learning something specific. It is a time of greater ‘sensitivity’ to say, order, movement, small objects, refinement of the senses and language. These periods of sensitivity are universal and transitory. They have a gradual beginning, reach a maximum and then fade away. Dr Montessori said, “When a particular sensitiveness is aroused in the child, it is like a light that shines on some objects and not on others, making of them his whole world.” As adults working and living with young children, we use our knowledge of these periods; their duration and the function that is being established to provide positive assistance.
How do we do that? With the upcoming Silent Journey through the Sensorial Materials, this article will focus on those materials, the presentation of use, and the use of language as support, and how easily it could be a distraction, from the task at hand.
Through the use of the beautiful materials Dr Montessori developed, children experience all that our senses have the power to discern. It is through his senses that the child studies his environment – at first by putting everything in the mouth to gain information about it, and then also by use of the hand.
The infant comes into the world with his senses already working; he’s already been hearing sounds and seeing light/dark; he’s been feeling his face and sucking on his fingers and he’s even had experiences of taste! At birth he is already a sensorial explorer! Now he uses those senses to orient himself in his new surroundings. At first he will engage with his “points of reference” from prenatal life: touching his face, hearing his mother’s heartbeat, tasting maternal milk, etc. After a while he may concentrate on, say, a mobile hanging above the mat area. As long as he is concentrating on that mobile, there is no need to say anything. To do so is an interruption to his concentration. His visual sense is engaged by the slow moving mobile. The time for ‘conversation’ is when there is eye contact and the baby is observing the adult face.
In the Children’s House (3-6 classroom) it is equally important for the adults not to interrupt a child in concentration. This age child is in the sensitive period for continued exploration or refinement of the senses. This refinement is aided by the introduction to, and use of these sensorial materials. They were designed for the exploration of the qualities of hot/cold, big/little, wide/narrow, tall/short, rough/smooth, sweet/sour, heavy/light, etc. Each item is introduced to the child with very little, if any, language. With no words to listen to, the child is free to be fully present with his senses. Exploration comes with repeated use of these self-correcting materials .. and the child learns as his ‘inner teacher’ urges him towards perfection in his work.
Language is introduced and then the exploration of the materials continues through extensions of that initial lesson. “Bring me the long/short/longest/shortest rod” is an essential part (manipulation) of reaching full understanding which supports his recall when asked “what’s this?” We use a condensed request: ”Bring me the short rod” and not ”Walk over to the shelf slowly and carefully, not stepping on anyone else’s work, see if you can find the short rod and then, carrying it with two hands, walk back here with it.”
The three period lesson includes Introduction (This is …) followed some time later with Association/Recognition (Show me…) followed by Recall (What is this?…).
The first period introduces a word or two. At home with a young child I may, while doing the laundry together, refer to an item of clothing simply by its name: shirt. After a while an adjective is added: green shirt. And then, Peter’s green shirt! Noun, adjective, and possessive! In the second period, where items are manipulated, a child might be asked to bring me the shirt .. the green shirt … Peter’s green shirt. And in the third, he can tell me what and whose that is.
In the classroom, the sensorial materials are manipulated through many “games” that involve remembering what they’ve crossed the room to retrieve and then carrying that item through the room without disturbing anyone else’s work. Often there are many trips across the room to retrieve all the parts of a particular activity. For instance, each knobbed cylinder block has ten cylinders!
Montessori classrooms are, and should be, abuzz with activity. Children in motion, engaged in a variety of activities. The Silent Journey will be a lovely chance to experience the room in an extraordinary state: silence. Ahhhhh.
How we break that silence with the children as they are given their lessons is one of the most profoundly collaborative and beautiful parts of the work.
