POS-KUPANG.COM | KUPANG —
A total of 54 students and teachers at Buoyant Montessori School Kupang celebrated Maria Montessori’s 149th birthday party on Friday (30/8/2019).
The school’s patron and inspirational birthday celebration is centered on the location of the Buoyant Montessori School on Jalan Sam Ratulangi, Kelapa Lima District, Kupang City.
Maria Montessori is a doctor who invented the Montessori school curriculum method, a curriculum that takes a learning approach that depends on the child’s condition.
The celebration began with watching videos of Maria Montessori’s life history. Next, the children were divided into groups to play games with various props.
As a birthday greeting, the children did Arts activities by making colorful handprints on the prepared white cloth. On the cloth is also written the words “Happy Birthday Marie Montessori”.
When doing handprints, the children looked enthusiastic and cheerful. They are also seen joking with each other when dipping their hands in the prepared dye.
The head of the Montessori School Buoyant Dince Abanat told POS-KUPANG.COM that this birthday anniversary is important to remind children that they are learning using the Montessori method created by Maria Montessori.
“We celebrate Marie Montessori’s 149th birthday because our school uses a Montessori curriculum,” he said.
In this activity, said Dince, the children were reminded that their school uses the montessori method invented by Marie.
In art activities, they do handprints as a token of appreciation for the children remembering Maria Montessori. He said the tradition of giving congratulatory cards at their school was replaced with handprints as an expression of congratulations from children.
After the group photo activity, the birthday celebration ended with the distribution of muffins to each child. Muffin is a type of cake that Marie Montessori used in history to express her gratitude to her students.
“We share muffins for children, because of the history at that time when Marie Montessori taught poor children in Italy, she distributed muffins to children as a thank you to the children who have joined her school,” added Dince.
Some children when asked by POS-KUPANG.COM admitted that their school was very fun because they immediately learned to nature and they learned while playing.
In the Montessori method applied in schools, the main element that is learned is the preparation of an environment that supports children’s activities according to their conditions, treats children with respect or respect, and trains children in correcting any mistakes they have ever made.
In this method, each child is free to choose the activities that have been prepared by the mentors. This method also teaches children to be independent, think critically, and be assertive in acting. (hh)
Source : Tribunnews