Exercises of Practical Life
These are familiar activities which the child has seen at home, for instance, cutting vegetables, carrying a tray, kneading dough, sweeping, buttoning, tying shoe laces and so on. Such activities help the child to become independent in taking care of himself and the environment. They also help in developing hand-eye coordination, concentration and the ability to complete an activity on one’s own. Emphasis is also laid on skills that one requires to live harmoniously in a community. For example, how to greet one another, using ‘Sorry’, ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’, speaking softly etc.
Snack preparation is an integral part of our daily routine at Anokhi. Children are themselves involved in the preparation of the same, which helps in fostering a sense of belonging to the community. They are also exposed to a variety of food which helps them to accept and appreciate a range of tastes, flavours and textures.
From birth, children absorb everything around them through their senses. The child through the sensorial materials begins to refine these impressions by categorising them into texture, colour, size, shape, taste, smell, sound or weight. This helps him in further exploring and discovering the world around him on his own.
Language is an integral part of our lives and is absorbed unconsciously from birth. Right from the time the child walks into an environment, we focus on enriching his vocabulary through stories, songs, conversations and names of everything around him. Language development happens across all curriculum areas in a Montessori environment and is introduced via phonetics.
Concrete materials are used to introduce mathematical concepts. Repeated use of these materials help the child to internalise a concept and later move on to abstraction.
These include an introduction to History, Geography, Science, Art and Music.
In History, the child is made aware of the passage of time, mainly through stories. For instance, at a birthday celebration a timeline of the child is made, using pictures from birth. This makes him aware of his own journey of growth.
Children are encouraged to talk about their own travel experiences, through which Geography is introduced to the entire group. They learn about continents, countries, the flora and fauna, customs, food, language and other aspects of life.
Children are intrigued by nature and love making observations of the world around them. Gardening is one of the mediums through which we help them connect with nature.
Science is introduced to them through real life experiences and simple experiments.
We lay a lot of emphasis on Art and Music appreciation. They are excellent ways of expressing emotions and ideas and reflects on how one perceives the world. Children are inherently creative and all their work is appreciated without any judgment. That is why, at Anokhi, we do not teach art and music. They are exposed to works of various artists and different genres of music. The use of simple musical instruments also helps them in developing a sense of rhythm. Different mediums of art, like paint, crayons, charcoal, chalk etc are offered.
At Anokhi, we aim to nurture environmentally conscious individuals. Some of the eco-friendly practices that we follow are:
We provide opportunities for unstructured free play and yoga because it helps children of this age in:
