Customer Reviews

Basic Montessori: Learning Activities For Under-Fives

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Maria Montessori had a huge influence on primary education throughout the world. Unfortunately, a cult-like mystique surrounds the Montessori method, which has prevented it being taken seriously by many educators and parents. Basic Montessori opens the celebrated philosophy and method to a more general public for the first time. It clearly explains her ideas and provides a step-by-step guide to the Montessori learning activities most commonly used with under-fives - and even shows how to work with a child at home. No parent or educator should miss out on her marvellous insights into how young children learn

Of the four books I have about using the Montessori Method at home with this age group, this is by far the best in some ways. It gives the clearest understanding of the sequence of activities, dividing them into groups or "periods"--and of the flexibility of the sequence. It has the clearest explanations of the presentation of each set of materials, and of the different exercises that can be done (in order) with each, as well as giving a good idea of which exercises lead directly or indirectly to which others. It has helpful tips for making some of the materials yourself at home (and of course instructions for making many more can be found on the internet).

And it has the best explanation of how to follow the Montessori method at home. Here are a few quotes that really opened my eyes:
"Imagine that the child has recently been given a number of very high quality presentations, the cleaned and polished materials are neatly stored in their designted places in the carefully ordered Montessori environment, you are sitting expectantly in the corner waiting to observe some of that remarkable Montessori self-teaching, and what is the child doing? Playing with the cat. Sound frustrating? Well, it shouldn't! We must be very careful not to get in the frame of mind that there is anything wrong with the child's playing with the cat, nor indeed with any typically childlike behavior. The point cannot be emphasized too strongly that the Montessori environment is only there to help the child. Forcing it on the child, making evident our expectations of the wonders that Montessori's method can work...will only cause harm and distress."

"A presentation to a young child should never consist, in whole or in part, of verbal instructions. The essence of a good presentation is that you don't explain the activity to the child--you show it."

"You must not draw attention to error...When an error occurs, you must decide whether it happened because the child was momentarily distracted or careless (in which case you simply ignore the error and continue as though it didn't happen), or if the error was fundamental to the concepts being explored (such as confusion about terminology or organization). In the latter case, you should gracefully and without any expression of disappointment bring the activity to a close. Later, at another unrelated time, you can give a special presentation that clears up the particular confusion in the child's mind. This may mean going back one or two activities to re-establish the necessary fundamental principles."

The downside is that the book's emphasis on perfection can be quite intimidating. The directions for Pouring Beans between Two Jugs comprise 26 steps. The page on how to present activities states, "Each presentation you give must be absolutely perfect..." While this may be the case in Montessori schools, homeschooling parents may find it intimidating and unrealistic to the point of immobilization.

I do recommend buying this book. If it's too perfectionistic and intimidating, then also buy Teach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child, which has many of the same activities with more accessible instructions, though without giving nearly as thorough an understanding of the underlying principles.

This book has been the clearest and most concise version of the Montessori method I have found yet. The introduction is excellent and seems to cover all the history of Maria Montessori and her philosophy without confusing issues or making it over complex. It gave me a real feeling of being able to implement her ideas in my home without having to hugely change the way my daughters lived. I found the descriptions of the materials and how to present them excellent; simple, as the presentations should be, ordered, so I knew what I should tackle next and with lots of varieties, so I could make good use of the materials I made or bought. I found a lot of confidence from this book - partly in my parenting techniques and partly in my ability to take to the do-it-yourself stores and make my own materials using his descriptions! If you are going to have one Montessori book - have this one!

'Basic Montessori' is one of the most popular renditions of Maria Montessori's philosophy and method, and it has been for nearly 20 years. This is because the author, David Gettman -- who attended the official AMI Montessori course, has a honours degree in philosophy, and is also an accomplished author and publisher in his own right -- has done the education world and parents a great favor by rendering Maria's early-1900s pedagogical language (similar in style, for example, to Henri Bergson) in modern, accessible, common-sense terms. This accessibility disturbs narrow-minded obsessives like A C Crook (see review below) who wish to keep Maria Montessori's actual thinking closeted away from the general public, so that only a chosen few are 'qualified' to dispense it. But the many thousands of educators and parents who over the years have read 'Basic Montessori' have deeply appreciated being given this access and insight, so that they too can benefit from Maria's wonderful approach to early childhood education. Long may Montessori's ideas be open and available to all!

Signed,
Montessori nursery teacher in London

I'm new to Montessori and borrowed this book from a friend- I quickly learned how important it would be to have my own due to all of the great activity descriptions. I felt like it gave a nice overview of the montessori method- enough that I was hooked. I have since checked out Montessori From the Start from the Library and finished it. They didn't have this book at my local library so that's why I purchased it. However, I think I would have wanted to anyway because i reference it so much.

This book is wonderful if you've already had an introduction to Montessori principles and ideas about learning, and would like directions for making some of these materials to use with your own children or in a classroom setting. I have incorporated several Montessori materials into my public school teaching, but since I was not in a position to quit teaching and start over, I found this book invaluable for laying out the steps on how to introduce the materials to children and teach them to work with them. Even when I use materials that I've purchased for my classsroom (the puzzle maps, for example), I have found that following the procedures for introducing the work in this book has made all the difference in how the children use them and how successful and self motivated they are in working with them. This book is an absolute bargain, and is a great introduction to using the Montessori materials and making them yourself. I would recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in homeschooling, or supplementing their classroom instruction with the always reliable Montessori materials.

First published in 1987, this book is on its way to becoming a classic, and it is written by a trained Montessori teacher.

It covers much of what you want to know about Montessori education with a simple, in-a-nut-shell style, including a 35 page chapter called "Montessori and her Theories."

The meat of the book are the sections that cover the curriculum areas of Montessori classroom with detailed lessons and activities: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Math, and Culture including geography, natural sciences, plants, matter and energy (science), and history.

There are many pictures of the materials (done in black and white drawings) placed in the margins, to help you visually, as you read each lesson!

The information is very easy to understand! David Gettman has a clear and concise writing style that will appeal to someone who is new or less familiar with Montessori.

At 219 pages long, it is a modest read, and a terrific handbook to help you with your Montessori daycare or homeschool.

I'm here now looking for Montessori books for 5+ and realized I needed to leave a rating for this excellent book. I bought several home-how-to books, but this is the one I use day in and day out. Yes, others are easier to read (tiny print for my aging eyes), look better and have more pictures/a nicer layout/etc. But after reading them all, this is the one that I can pick out 1-2 activities per day, do a quick skim and then be able to do the activities with my daughter.

I am doing Montessori at home to supplement preschool and have relied completely on books for training. I recommend getting a few different books, and this is definitely one to include.

btw, he also includes how to's re: making the toys at home yourself (and also tips when it's just easier to buy it instead). Very helpful. I just hope that he wrote something for 5+, too.

I purchased this book to see if it would provide some insight on tie-ins between learning and movement and suffice it to say, I was not disappointed. The instructions are highly detailed, while also providing ample explanation of the underlying theory behind the approach and the individual exercises with the materials themselves.

As someone who has taught complex movement for over 20 years, the level of detail makes a great deal of sense -- as long as one takes into account Montessori's teaching philosophy. Montessori did not believe in siloing or separating out intellectual activity from movement and viewed learning from more of a holistic perspective. With that in mind, the level of detail found within this book makes complete sense. As I have found with teaching, even the smallest movement or hand placement can be imitated by someone learning, i.e. while the instructor or guide knows what is important.

Part of the reason is that the student or pupil does not yet have the ability to filter out what is relevant and is not relevant to the lesson being taught. If the instructions seem intimidating at first, I would recommend looking at them as both movement and intellectual exercises with an emphasis on continual learning and improvement on both ends.

One thing that has kept me teaching throughout all these years is how much I have learned about what I do (or don't do) when watching others learn or imitate. This is a great book that shows how learning is learning, no matter what the milieu.

This book is very precise; it explains step by step how to teach basic life skills. It stresses the importance of letting the child learn to do things for themselves. Great buy.