Benefits of Brown Stair

 Enhanced visual discrimination, which helps children compare and differentiate between widths and depths, and refined fine and gross motor skills through the act of handling and arranging the prisms. It fosters concentration, problem-solving, and introduces foundational mathematical concepts such as measurement, gradation, and proportion, preparing children for more complex math like geometry and volume. The self-correcting nature of the material also promotes independent learning and confidence. 

What are the Montessori Brown Stair?

The Montessori Brown Stair consists of ten wooden prisms, each varying in size, which allows children to understand gradation and refine their visual perception of dimension.

It's a tactile and visual tool that encourages children to explore and compare different sizes, enhancing their cognitive and motor skills.

What are the Benefits of the Brown Stairs?

This hands-on experience provides a tangible understanding of size and order, key concepts in early math learning. The Brown Stair offers multiple benefits:

Benefits of the Montessori Brown Stair

👁️ Enhanced Visual Discrimination: Children develop the ability to recognize differences in dimensions, an essential skill for mathematical understanding.

🤲 Improved Fine Motor Skills: Handling and arranging the prisms refine children’s fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

🧠 Fosters Concentration: The engaging nature of the activity captures children’s attention, promoting prolonged focus and concentration.

🚀 Encourages Independent Learning: The self-correcting nature of the material empowers children to learn and correct their mistakes independently.

📏 Promotes Cognitive Development: Understanding gradation and sequence lays the groundwork for mathematical concepts such as measurement and comparison.

Introducing the Brown Stair in your Montessori home setting is a wonderful way to support your child’s sensorial development and early mathematical understanding.

What is the Purpose of the Montessori Brown Stair?

In the Brown Stair activity, children are encouraged to arrange the prisms from the largest to the smallest, or vice versa.

How to Present the Montessori Brown Stair?

Before starting the activity, give a brief introduction to the Montessori Brown Stair.

Introduction: Call the child over with a warm and inviting tone, sharing that you have something special to show them.

Explain that you'll need a mat for today's activity and ask them to help by fetching and unrolling one.

Then, guide them to the correct shelves and gently introduce the Brown Stairs, saying with a smile, 'These are the Brown Stairs

Materials

A collection of 10 prismatic rods, each with a length of 20 centimeters and heights decreasing from 10 centimeters to 1 centimeter in equal increments.

A ground covering in a hue that stands out against the brown prisms.

The following instructions are the basic presentation of Montessori Brown Stair activity:

Presentation

Building:

Start by showing the child the gentle art of carrying the thinnest prism; hold it carefully over the top center using your right thumb and fingers.

Slide it smoothly off the shelf until it's completely free, emphasizing the slow and deliberate movement.

Keeping the prism upright, carry it to the mat with grace, holding it at waist level.

Encourage the child to bring over the remaining prisms one by one, explaining how to support the thicker ones from underneath.

With all prisms on the mat, ask the child to stand beside you to the left, ready for the next step.

Now, with both hands, lift the thickest prism and place it confidently near the back left corner of the mat.

Turn to the child with a spark of challenge in your eyes and say, "Let's find the next one together."

Choose the next thickest prism with care, using both hands, and line it up perfectly under the first, checking for precision as you go.

Guide the child through arranging the prisms from thickest to thinnest, each step drawing closer to you, forming a descending staircase.

Dismantling:

When it’s time to clear up, show how we honor our work by dismantling as carefully as we build. Remove the prisms from thinnest to thickest, placing them to the side.

Now, it’s the child’s turn. With a warm prompt, ask, "Which one will you start with to build the Brown Stairs?"

Step back and observe. If the child nods with understanding, trust in their ability to work solo.

Upon completion, guide the child to replace the prisms on the shelf in the correct order, celebrating the beauty of an activity well done. 

Why Montessori Education is Important

 It provides a child-centered, holistic approach to learning that develops independence, self-discipline, critical thinking, and social-emotional skills through hands-on, self-paced activities in a prepared environment. This method nurtures a lifelong love of learning by focusing on the individual child's intrinsic motivation and fostering a deep understanding of the world and their place within it. 

Montessori is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the highly trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process. Children work in groups and individually to discover and explore knowledge of the world and to develop their maximum potential.

Montessori classrooms are beautifully crafted environments designed to meet the needs of children in a specific age range. Dr. Maria Montessori discovered that experiential learning in this type of classroom led to a deeper understanding of language, mathematics, science, music, social interactions and much more. Most Montessori classrooms are secular in nature, although the Montessori educational method can be integrated successfully into a faith-based program.

Every material in a Montessori classroom supports an aspect of child development, creating a match between the child’s natural interests and the available activities. Children can learn through their own experience and at their own pace. They can respond at any moment to the natural curiosities that exist in all humans and build a solid foundation for life-long learning.

The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) was established by Maria Montessori in 1929 to protect the integrity of her work and to support high standards for both teacher training and schools. Today, AMI continues to uphold Maria Montessori’s vision while collaborating with contemporary research in neuroscience and child development. Montessori Northwest is proud to be an official teacher training center of AMI, training teachers to work with children from birth to age twelve.

INFANT/TODDLER

for children ages birth to three years

provide a safe, engaging and nurturing 

environment for the child

promote trust in themselves and their world

develop confidence in their emerging abilities

develop gross motor coordination, fine motor skills, and language skills

offer opportunities to gain independence in daily tasks.

PRIMARY

for children ages three to six year

foster the growth of functional 

independence, task persistence and 

self-regulation

promote social development through respectful, 

clear communication and safe, natural consequences

contain a large variety of materials for the refinement of sensory perception and the development of literacy and mathematical understanding

offer opportunities for imaginative exploration leading to confident, creative self-expression.

ELEMENTARY

for children ages six to twelve years

offer opportunities for collaborative intellectual

exploration in which the child’s interests are

supported and guided

support the development of self-confidence, imagination, 

intellectual independence and self-efficacy

foster an understanding of the child’s role in their community, in their culture and in the natural world.

ADOLESCENCE

for children ages twelve to eighteen years

ideally a working farm in which adolescents 

engage in all aspects of farm administration and 

economic interdependence, but also include non-

farm environments in urban settings

assist the young adult in the understanding of oneself in wider and wider frames of reference

provide a context for practical application of academics

emphasize the development of self-expression, true self-reliance, and agility in interpersonal relationships.

Pink Tower

 By stacking the cubes from largest to smallest, children learn to recognize differences in size, which can enhance their ability to make distinctions in their environment. The Pink Tower also promotes concentration and coordination, as your child must carefully handle and balance the cubes to form a stable tower.

Pink Tower

Materials

- 10 pink wooden cubes ranging from 1cm3 to 10cm3, differing in 3 dimensions. The cubes increase progressively in the algebraic series of the third power. Therefore, the second cube equals 8 of the first; the third cube equals 27 of the first etc…

- A floor mat of contrasting color.

- A small stand on which to keep the tower where it can be seen from at least 3 sides.

Presentation

Introduction

Invite the child by telling him you have something to show him.  Tell the child that for this lesson, we will need a mat. Have the child fetch and unroll a mat. Bring him over to the Pink Tower stand and tell him: “This is the Pink Tower”. 

Building

- Show the child how to carry the top cube by gripping from above the top edges using your right thumb and index finger.

- Place your left hand flat under the cube and carry the cube at waist level.

- Then reset the cube on the Pink Tower and have the child carry the cube over to the mat.

- Show the child where to place the cube in the right haft of the mat. (Never have the child place a cube on the left half.)

- Have the child bring over the rest of the cubes and place them randomly on the mat.

- Once the cubes get too big for the child to pick up and carry by only using one hand, show the child how to gently tilt the cube back using your right hand and sliding your left hand flat under the cube (first picture). Then lift the cube up and place your left hand flat under the entire cube (second picture).

- Carry the remaining cubes one at a time over to the mat.

- Once all of the cubes have been placed, have the child stand to your left.

- As you remain standing, carefully pick up the largest cube and place it near the front left corner of the mat (closest to the child).

- Turn to the child and tell him that you are now looking for a specific cube.

- Go over to the right half of the mat and carefully choose the next biggest cube.

- In a steady and precise movement, place the cube in the center of the bottom cube.

- Once it has been placed, check to see if it is well centered. 

- Continue placing all of the cubes in correct order until the last cube has been placed on the top.

- Stand looking over the tower to check if all of the cubes are centered.

- Allow the child to do the same.

- Then check from every side by squatting down low to check for it being centered.

- Have the child check as well.

 

Dismantling

Dismantle the tower in the same way you did when you were bringing the tower over to the mat from the stand and place them back on the right half of the mat.

Invite the child to build the Pink Tower. To help him get started, ask him which cube he is going to start with. If the child seems to understand, you can let him work alone. Once he is done, have him replace the cubes in correct order and centered back on the stand.

Exercises

Exercise 1

The child builds the tower individually as was shown in the demonstration.

Exercise 2

Once the child has seemed to master the building of the tower, the directress will show him another way of building the Pink Tower. The directress will demonstrate in the same manner as above but instead of placing each cube in the center of the cube under it, she will line them up at a right angle will two sides adjacent. Once the entire tower has been built in this way, the directress will pinch the top cube with her thumb and index finger and place it on the ledge of the bottom cube. Starting at the far back, the directress will slide the smallest cube along the length of the entire ledge. This will be repeated for every ledge, by working you way up from one ledge to another. The child will then try. Once he is done, the child will replace the tower centered on the stand.

Games

Grading from an extreme.

Grading from a midpoint.

Stereo Gnostic.           

Language           

Large and Small

The positives, comparatives, and the superlatives

Purpose

Direct Visual discrimination of dimensions.

Indirect

- Refinement of voluntary movement by placing the cubes one on top of the other with one single movement of the hand.

While doing this movement, the child is refining visual-motor coordination and is called upon to concentrate.

- Preparation for mathematics.

Control of Error

- The control of error lies within the child being able to discriminate dimensions.

- Visual Harmony

Age

3 – 3 1/2 years (After the child has been introduced to a number of Practical Life Exercises.)

 PRELIMINARY APPLICATION EXERCISES

This is an exercise which acquaints a child to chores and movements, such as carrying, folding, and pouring. The tools used in this lesson are mat, chair(used for carrying), towel(for folding), cups, mugs, and cereals ( for pouring). First, the teacher demonstrates and shows the children on how to do the movements the proper way. Then, after the demonstration of the steps, the teacher lets the children do the same movements. The exercises utilize Practical Life Montessori Materials for easy and fast Learning.

Now We Will Throw Light On Some Of The Examples.

1. Carrying a Table.

2. Carrying a Jug.

3. Opening a Box.

4. Carrying a Tray

1. Carrying a Table-

Material:- A table ( to be carried)

Introduction:

a)Prepare a child's table with sufficient space around it. Ask one of the older children to come demonstrate with you how to carry a table. Because the older child will know how to carry a table, this allows the other children to see the movements of the ywo people carrying the table.

b)You may still want to explain to the older child that he should follow your movements. Invite 3-4 children to come participate in your lesson by telling them you have something to show them.

c) Show each child where exactly to sit and once the children are seated, you and the older child sit so that everyone can see each other. Call their attention to the table and tell them that you are going to show them how to carry a table with the help of the older child.

Lifting

a) Stand on the side of the table so that the width of the table is directly in front of you.

b) Show the older child where to stand (opposite you) through a gentle hand movement .

c) Both people bend your knees.

d) Place your right thumb down on the table so that your right palm is on the tabletop near the side right corner.

e) Wrap your four right fingers around the base of the tabletop.

f) Place your left thumb sown on the table so that your left palm is on the tabletop near the side left corner.

g) Wrap your four left fingers around the base of the tabletop.

h) Have the older child to excatly what you have just done.

i) As both straighten their knees, bring the table slightly up off the ground.

j) Have one person move backwards and one person move forwards.

k) Check constantly for obstructions in the walkway.

l) Come back to the spot of the demonstration.

Setting Down

1) Both people bend your knees.

2) One person carefully places one leg of the table down silently

3) The same person places the other leg of the table down silently.

4) The other person now places the two remaining legs down.

5) Unwrap your left four fingers from under the tabletop.

6) Lift your left thumb and palm from on top of the tabletop.

7) Unwrap your four right fingers from under the tabletop.

8) Lift your right thumb and palm from on top of the tabletop.

9) Stand erect.

10) Offer each child the opportunity to pick up and carry the table with you.

11) Once they have all had a turn excuse them one at a time, making sure each child has thought of what he would like to do next.

Purpose

Direct: Growth in independence with regard to the performance of the movements necessary for the carrying and placing of the table without damaging himself, others, or the table.

Indirect: Coordination of the child's movement, development of the muscles, and concentration.

Points of Interests

Lifting at different levels based of the other person's height.

Note

The hand you begin with ( above I use the right Hand) needs to be more specifically the hand furthest away from the seated children. When lifting the table, only lift up to the level the smallest person is lifting to.

Importance of Practical Life Activities in the Montessori Preschool Classroom

 Montessori stated that at each plane of development there is a sensitive period for different skills and activities. It is critical that proper stimulation be provided as nature intended. A child enters the Children's House (Montessori Preschool) around the age of three. It is here where the work of the Family, Known as Practical Life activities, provides an introduction and smooth transition to the Montessori school by linking the activities that the child is familiar with at home to the school environment.

Children at this age enjoy, and even prefer, spending their time helping adults in their activities. When allowed to do so, the child learns that his contributions are of value, thus boosting his self-esteem and independence. He enjoys and should be encouraged to use child- size replicas of adult tools. In short, the direct aim of Montessori Practical Life activities is to help develop social skills and independence. Indirectly, Practical Life activities develop fine motor skills, as well as strengthening intellect, concentration ,and personal will.

The importance of beauty in the Montessori classroom can be keenly observed in the Practical Life area of the classroom. Practical Life activities have a unique purpose which, when carried out properly, are very calming. To the adult eye, these activities may seem simple and repetitive, but a child who is learning to wash a table or fold napkins is accomplishing more than meets the eye.

The Montessori Teacher realizes that the child is:

1) Demonstrating a high level of concentration

2) Developing a sense of order (purring all materials back where they belong)

3) Taking pride in a job well done

4) Increasing independence through care of self and the environment

5) developing respect for his community ( using materials appropriately and cleaning up afterwards)

6) Improving fine motor coordination

Areas Of Practical Life

1- Preliminary Activities- These activities provide the foundation and set the stage for all works in the Montessori classroom. These include such tasks as how to roll and unroll a mat, how to walk around a mat, how to sharpen a pencil, how to put a chair, and walking on the line.

2- Care of Self - These activities provide the means for children to become physically independent. These may include such activities as how to wash hands, how to brush teeth, how to pack a lunch, how to pack an overnight bag, and how to tie shoes.

3- Care of the Environment- Learning how to clean is very important in the Montessori classroom. These activities may include how to set the table, how to clean dishes and cutlery, how to sweep the floor, how to dust the shelves, how to water the plants, and how to clean up spills.

4- Social Graces and Courtesies- These activities are not found on the shelves. Rather , the Montessori teacher introduces social graces and courtesies such as how to shake hands, saying please and thank you, how to interrupt someone, and how to cough and sneeze.

 

Montessori- Exercises of Practical Life

 EXERCISES OF PRACTICAL LIFE

A) Introduction :

 What is Practical Life?

Practical: means basic, useful, purposeful

Life: means the way of living.

Practical life Exercises are just that, they are Exercises so the child can learn how to do living activities in a purposeful way.

Meaning and Purpose of Practical Life

The purpose and aim of Practical Life is to help the child gain control in the coordination of his movement, and help the child to gain independence and adapt to his society. It is therefore important to "Teach teaching, not correcting"(Montessori) in order to allow the child to be a fully functional member in his own society. Practical Life Exercises also aid the growth and development of the child's intellect and concentration and will in turn also help the child develop an orderly way of thinking.

Exercise Groups

PLE can be categorized into four different groups:

1) Preliminary Applications

2) Applied Applications

3) Grace and Courtesy

4) Control of Moment

1) Preliminary Exercises, the child learns the basic movement of all societies such as pouring, folding, and carrying.

2) Applied Exercises, the child learns about the care and maintenance that helps everyday life. These activities are, for example, the care of the person ( i.e. the washing of the hand) and the care of the environment (i.e. dusting a table or outdoor sweeping).

3) Grace and Courtesy Exercises, the children work on the interactions of people to people.

4) Control of Movement Exercises, the child learns about his own movements and learns how to refine his coordination through such activities as walking on the line.

Reason for Practical Life Exercises

Children are naturally in activities they have witnessed. Therefore, Dr. Montessori began using what she called "Practical Life Exercises" to allow the child to do activities of daily life and therefore adapt and orientate himself in his society.

It is therefore the Directress's task to demonstrate the correct way of doing these Exercises in a way that allows the child to fully observe the movements. Montessori says, "If talking don't move, if moving don't talk". The directress must also keep in mind that the goal is to show the actions so that the child can go off and repeat the activity in his own successful way. Montessori says, "Our task is to show how the action is done and at the same time destroy the possibility of imitation". The child must develop his own way of doing these activities so that the movements become real and not synthetic.

Montessori also saw the child's need for order, repetition, and succession in movements. Practical Life Exercises also helps to aid the child to develop his coordination in movement, his balance and his gracefulness in his environment as well as his need to develop the power of being silent.

Characteristics of Practical Life

Because Practical Life Exercises are meant to resemble everyday activities, it is important that all materials be familiar, real, breakable, and functional. The materials must also be related to the child's time and culture. In order to allow the child to fully finish the exercise and to therefore finish the full cycle of the activity, the material must be complete.