Empowering Learning Through Montessori Materials

Who is Meisha?

Meisha Perrin, M.Ed, is a certified Elementary Montessori teacher who has taught in classrooms across continents over the last 8 years. She is a passionate Montessori educator who saw the value of the pedagogy from the very first moment she stepped into a Montessori Casa classroom many years ago. She completed her AMS Lower Elementary (6-9) teacher training in Florida, USA and has been thoroughly engaged in Montessori pedagogy ever since.

She firmly believes that this educational method can change the future, and forever change the way we think about education. As a teacher, she aims to put as much emphasis on the child's social and moral development as she does on their academic learning, which comes naturally to the inquisitive child. It is through social and emotional learning that children begin to grow into adults who care about the way they inhabit and care for each other and the world around them.

Why Montessori?

Dr. Maria Montessori designed her groundbreaking pedagogy after studying children and human development for 50 years. She posited that if the environment is created with the child in mind, then everything is an opportunity for learning. She also knew that different types of materials would serve different functions for children in the various planes of development.

She designed with sensory and practical life skills in mind for children between the ages of 3-6. For the next level, she designed materials that would alllow the child ample space and opportunity to move from concrete understandings of the world, to abstract understandings. Here, children began to develop a stronger interest in understanding the how and why of the world around them, leading them to develop the capacity for learning even the most complex of subjects--from the leaf margins to the creation of stars through helium and other elements. Children have the entire world open to them at this level in a Montessori classroom.

Therefore, you will see through these materials, a variety--and perhaps vocabulary--you would not usuallly associate with children at the age of 6 or 7. But they absolutely have both the capacity and the desire to learn as much as they possibly can about the world in which they live. These materials help them do so in a way that is relevant, purposeful, and meaningful. It is never about rogue memorization. They match and sort and internalize, and then we give them a real world experience of what they are learning. This is how the dots connect for all humans, not just children.