by Letty Rising
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Do you have History Question Charts on your shelf in your elementary environment? If so, are they being taken out and used regularly by students in your class? Do you not know where to begin, or how to keep the interest in this valuable tool alive?
Letâs take a journey into history presentations in the elementary environment, and how the history question charts can extend the presentations and result in deeper learning.
How do we present history in the Montessori elementary environment?
The teacherâs presentations of history should be in the form of stories. Remember that stories not only spark interest but also help students retain key information and concepts contained within the stories. Keep a balance in the classroom of storytelling, broad, big picture studies, and detailed narrower studies. It will probably be true that the younger children will tend to focus on broader topics and older children on more detailed topics.
As the Montessori approach is experiential in nature, the presentation that the teacher gives should be prepared with visual aids as well as hands-on materials such as books, pictures, artifacts, and hands-on activities. You may also want to invite a guest lecturer who is an expert in their field to come in and tell a story. After the presentation, you will want the children to leave wondering the following:
- How much more is there to find out that wasnât shared in the presentation?
- How can I find out what I want to know that the teacher didn’t say?
- Is there more I can find out than can be found in the books in the class? Can I find this information in the school library or the local library?
- Is there a university library available to me?
- Is there a local history museum that I can visit to learn further information?
What Are the History Question Charts?
The History Question Charts are a material that serves as a guideline for childrenâs studies of various cultures and time periods, and their repeated and continuous use lends itself to an incredibly enriching experience to any Montessori environment.
However, it is often the case that they are relegated to the sidelines in favor of flashier materials, such as the Timeline of Humans, and the Fundamental Needs of Humans charts. If this is the case in your classroom, how about dusting off those charts and creating time and space for them in your environment? They are worth a second, third, and many more look.
Why do we use them?
The study of cultures, both past, and present, provides fascinating areas of study for the elementary child. This interest ties into the psychological characteristics of the elementary child, with their growing imagination and development of the intellect, as well as their tendency towards hero worship and interest in âbig work.â How does the Montessori elementary teacher present the study of culture in the elementary class?
One of the materials used is the History Question Charts. Dr. Montessori, in collaboration with Dutch Historian, Mrs. Prins-Werker, developed these as keys for the children in the study of cultures. They saw a need for this material to be developed as a tool to help the children organize and classify information they learned about different groups of people. They can be used for any time period, any society or nation, any culture or civilization.
The charts are the foundation for history presentations and stories given by the teacher and also act as a guide for the childâs own exploration and research. They act as a springboard for deeper work in history-related studies.
When and how do the children use them?
The History Question Charts can be presented as soon after the Great Story of Human Beings as desired. After the presentation, encourage the children to explore further on their own, using the History Question Charts as guides. The children may choose whatever questions interest them, from whichever chart. They can use index cards, record the information for each question, and lay them underneath each question on the chart.
The exploration the children do related to these questions helps the child to think about what might be interesting for further exploration. The information gathered by the children can be prepared individually or as group projects. The making of timelines is an activity that visually helps the child present the results of their exploration.
For any required history curriculum, additional sets of âanswer cardsâ may be developed to accompany the questions on the charts. The children may use the answer cards to supplement the information they find themselves. Therefore, you need not include on these answer cards readily available information from encyclopedias and standard reference books or materials.
They may also use answer cards to help memorize facts and dates needed to meet the required curriculum. Do not prepare additional sets of answer cards for any other purpose. The answer cards (both prepared and child-created) can serve as their note cards for reports, group projects, and the making of timelines.
How do we encourage their repeated use?
As with everything you present to the students, you will start with modeling! You will want to present them to the children, walk through an example of how to use them, and present them again on another day, until they understand how they can use them independently during the work cycle.
You will think of a culture you are interested in learning more about, show them how you find the information in an encyclopedia or online, have your index cards handy and write down notes as you think aloud. You will match your index cards onto the history question chart in the appropriate places, and see that youâve answered all of the questions. Maybe youâll come up with a new question or two! Now you have an outline that can be the beginning stages of a report!
With younger students, it might be enough to just have them start out with answering the questions on the chart, and getting the hang of that process. Then you might want them to answer one of the questions in full sentences on a sheet of paper, and create an accompanying illustration. For older students, they can create a lengthy, detailed report from the notes they took in response to the questions.
History is a vibrant aspect of the Montessori elementary environment
Elementary children are fascinated by different cultures and civilizations, and love to learn how groups of people are similar and different to one another. The History Question Charts can be easily made with construction paper and lamination, and they can be hyped up as a pretty exciting material to engage with in the elementary environment.
If this material isnât in constant use by at least a few of your students, you might want to think about re-presenting these useful charts, which will not only help elevate your studentâs knowledge of history and civilizations, but also will serve as a framework for writing detailed outlines and reports.
So dust off those charts (or create some if you donât have them in your classroom already!) and get ready to capture the childrenâs attention with this interesting and inviting material.
Letty Rising has been involved in Montessori education for over 15 years. She holds a B.A. in Sociology, a California State Teaching Credential, and an AMI elementary diploma for ages 6-12 and an M.Ed from Loyola University in Maryland. She has held positions as a Homeschool Education Specialist, Montessori Elementary Teacher, School Director, Principal, Montessori Coordinator, and Consultant in several public and private Montessori school communities throughout the years. Letty currently supports schools around the world through professional development offerings, consulting, and mentoring.