Ardee Teacher Trainee Centre The Ardee School Sensorial Education Workshop To mark the closure of the Sensorial Module 5 th October, 2012 A Report By Teacher Trainee, Ms. Amrita Vaid Singh Montessori and Nursery Foundation Course, Batch

‘ WORKSHOP: Friday, October 5, 2012 from 2.30 to 4 p.m. TODAY’S SENSORIAL EXPERIENCES….TOMORROW’S MEMORIES PROGRAM SCHEDULE WELCOME ACTIVITY – TASTE BAGS A SENSORIAL STUDY OF OUR FRIENDLY JEANS TETE-A-TETE ON SENSORIAL

‘Today’s Sensorial Experiences…Tomorrow’s Memories’ On 5 th October, we, the teacher trainees, were invited to participate in a very special workshop, organized as a closure activity to the Sensorial Module of our curriculum. The module, which began in mid – August 2012, took us through a very exciting journey that unraveled the profound philosophy, thoughts and works of Dr. Montessori on the subject of human ‘Senses’. We marveled at the brilliance of the sensory material she developed, we felt the largeness of her vision in the smallest of the cubes…we saw, we heard, we felt, we smelt and we tasted…as if for the first time. Our senses were brought alive through the module and we became, in Dr. Montessori's words, ‘sensorial explorers’. As our faculty members, Ms. Rajashree Rao Raj and Ms. Shweta Puri reiterated, Sensorial Education can never come to an end. It is only the module that has come to a closure. So, to celebrate the learning gained and hard work put in during the module, the faculty organized the workshop, which was, in the spirit of the module, a truly sensorial experience.

That it was going to be a special day, was perceived from outside the classroom itself. Notes from western classical music tingled our auditory sense and added a spring to our stride. We were very warmly welcomed by Ms. Rao and Ms. Puri with smiles and…a mystery bag! We had to close our eyes and using our writing fingers (as the bag was small) and stereognostic sense, pick one item from the bag. Then, using our gustatory and olfactory sense tell what we had eaten. The bag contained pieces of betel nuts, cloves, cardamoms etc…all traditional to the Indian culture. Welcome

Once we had settled down on our chowkis the next activity began. We had all been asked to come dressed in denims and shirts of our favorite colors, “unthinkable for Montessori dress code”, to quote Ms. Rao, but the reason soon became apparent. Apart from providing a treat to our chromatic sense, our attire was an element of a very interesting exercise. There was another mystery basket. This one had a pair of jeans. We used our visual and tactile senses to point out its various aspects, that is, its texture, colour, shape, if it had any smell and temperature, number of different things on it like buttons, belt, pockets etc. and their colours, shapes and so on. We could identify many subjects that could be introduced through the pair of jeans: Geography – where the material comes from Mathematics – number and shapes of buttons EPL – how to wear the jeans, and button them in a proper manner Answer the Questions and Question the Answers…

However, questioning the answers, could this pair of jeans, or for that matter, any material from our environment be used to show a child a particular aspect so that he is able to internalize that knowledge? No, because the material from the environment does not isolate any one aspect and present it in totality. For the child, a pair of jeans will be a pair of jeans. He will be distracted by the jeans and the various other elements on it to understand the aspect being shown/taught. The sensorial material on the other hand, presents an aspect to the senses in totality. * It isolates one aspect of the material. * It offers finer distinctions and contrast. * It is graded and offers exercises in controlled seriation * The sensorial apparatus brings order to the sense perceptions, broadens knowledge, and refines the sense impressions received. * It offers variations and exercises * The sensory material offers exercises in Aesthetics and Intellectual Activities. * It enhances memory and helps in development of Language … Answer the Questions and Question the Answers…

For the next activity, we all gathered together and formed a circle of friends. Then, we teamed up with our practice partners to play a version of Blind man’s buff. One of the partners had a scarf tied around her eyes and using her auditory, stereognostic and even olfactory sense, she had to locate her partner, from amongst all the others. This exercise was a lot of fun with the blindfolded girls stepping gingerly and using their stereognostic feel even more gingerly to find the correct partners!! To refine Stereognostic Sense - Blind man's buff

For the final activity, we were all given a questionnaire to complete. This questionnaire was not about us, but about our respective partners. This activity really brought the class alive as the questions were very interesting. First we had to draw a geometric figure that had the same number of sides as the number of alphabets in the name of our partner! We had to then colour this figure in our partner’s favourite colour and stick her picture on it. Then, we had to draw our partner’s favourite sensorial material. Post that, we all went down the memory lane to as far back as our memory could take us to recall our first senses - memory of our first touch, first smell, first taste. This was a very nostalgic and emotional exercise and the class came up with many sensitive and even funny recalls! Looking back

From Mother’s touch to father’s stubble, Amul butter, Lactogen, Mother's Rassam Rice to smells of Boroline and Nivya cream, all the memories were relived! The rest of the questions were about what our partners liked most about the sensorial material and what its various elements meant to them. This culminating exercise truly marked a closure of the Sensorial Module as we touched upon all aspects of the Sensorial Education at personal level. … Looking back

We, the students of the Batch of 2012 – 2013, sincerely thank our teachers and mentors Ms. Rajashree Rao Raj and Ms. Shweta Puri for conducting such a wonderful and thoughtful workshop and for conducting it with so much warmth!! Thank You!!