It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books.. but for me, why don’t we do both when we can?
Yes, no doubt that reading and learning from paper materials is how we learn in most time of our lives, but outing is important as looking at the paper materials as the real experience helps human beings to build concrete memory about what they have been looking at
Smelling bottles are standard material in the Sensorial area of a Montessori classroom. The smelling bottles are a part of the early childhood Montessori Sensorial lesson sequence, focusing on the olfactory sense.
Children and adults alike can have fun with the smelling jars, and they’re easily adaptable for different spices and leaves. The purpose is for the child to develop their sense of smell. The process is simple – the child sniffs their way through the bottles trying to match two identical scents.
Making the smelling bottles is pretty straightforward and can be done with items we already have around our school compound – betel leaves, pandan leaves, curry leaves, and kaffir leaves.
“Education is not something a teacher does, but it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment.” – The Absorbent Mind.
On a shining day, the playground was filled with waves of laughter and joy. Children were wandering in the playground.
At a corner where children were not wandering. They were looking at the snail quietly. They started to observe the movements and appearance of the snail. While observing, one child gave the snail way as she saw the snail was getting near her foot.
“Why does this snail look different from other snails?”
“Why is it small and light?”
“The shell look-alike triangle.”
They started to discuss the snail…until it was time to return to their classroom.
It’s such an honour to observe what children are observing.
“There is no description, no image in any book that can replace the sight of real trees and all the life around them in a natural forest. Something emanates from those trees which speak to the soul, something no book, no museum is capable of giving.
There must be provision for the child to have contact with nature, to understand and appreciate the order, the harmony and the beauty in nature… so that the child may better understand and participate in the marvellous things which civilisation creates.” – Maria Montessori.