A unique Preschool closing day celebration

March is the final month of the Philippine schoolyear when various kinds of graduation take place: Elementary school, high school and college graduations. Even preschool commencement exercises are now marked in the school calendar. Copying their elders, the fives and sixes don their little toga gowns and perform dance and song numbers before the adoring audience of papas, mamas and grandparents.

Veering away from this traditional performance, since the school was founded in 1966, the Operation Brotherhood Montessori preschools instead present all the activities fours and fives have done in 200 school days. Why?

Every day, when one’s darling kindergarten boy or girl comes home, parents would ask, "What did you do today, love?" The child would always say, "I played...," leaving papa and mama wondering if the child does nothing but play. In these pages, one sees that children prefer work to play. It is the century-old discovery of the child by Maria Montessori.

Dr. Montessori dedicated her whole lifetime to observing the true nature and character of children, from infancy to adolescence. She discovered that an infant undergoes three periods of transformation – infancy to early childhood (birth to sixth year), grade school (6 to 12) and high school (12 to 18). The most important of these is the first six years when the absorbent mind operates and develops one’s character.

The Secret Of Childhood

In this pictorial article, five types of activities of three to six-year-olds are demonstrated to preschool parents: Practical Life, Sensorial Exercises, Math and Language activities, and Cultural Arts. But it is only at three, when the child’s absorbent mind can be scholastically directed. Dr. Montessori refers to the "secret teacher" within each child. The youngest enrollees in the OB Montessori preschool are the threes. By June, OB Montessori Greenhills will start the toddlers’ school for one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half-year-old children.

The principle that "work is a recipe" involves the provision of complete materials which a trained teacher uses in a step-by-step procedure. The "analysis of movement" per lesson, be it laundering or buttoning, results in easing the difficulties of an activity.

In case water spills or a glass breaks, the "error" is regarded as a friend. Instead of scolding or humiliating a child, the teacher lets him practice the right way. Montessori reminds, "Insegna, insegna, insegna (teach, teach and teach again)."

The Makabayan Curriculum In Preschool

The Department of Education’s dream of the Makabayan curriculum for basic education has been very difficult to fulfill beyond paper work. These photos are evidence that the Montessori curriculum with corresponding materials embodies the idea of Makabayan.

The OB Montessori closing day ceremony never fails to awe the parents at the end of the year. Each classroom becomes the theater where parents watch the joyful maturation of their children. Paradoxically, before a child steps into formal schooling in Grade I, a professional Montessori guidance readily transforms babies into little men and women.

The public must be warned that 90 percent of so-called Montessori preschools have nothing Montessori in them except the signboards hanging in front of the schools. This article is meant to persuade such school owners of the responsibility of training professionally as Montessori preschool teachers. The Federation of Philippine Montessori schools, which is located at No. 3 Eisenhower St., Greenhills, accredits authentic Montessori preschools using instruments reviewed by the Department of Education. They can provide information to teachers and parents. The OB Montessori College provides a one-and-a-half-year teacher training proficiency course, which can be completed in one summer and two semesters. Classes are scheduled on weekends, as well as the required 18-unit of Professional Education for non-Education graduates. A four-year Bachelor program in Early Childhood Education with specialization in the Montessori preschool education is also offered.

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For more information please e-mail to exec@obmontessori.edu.ph. Or call 722-0019, 722-9721 to 26.