Geography of Israel

     In a regular Montessori environment, there's an area of the room dedicated to Geography. In it, one finds globes, puzzle maps, pictures of foreign countries and people, land and water forms, etc. It's a sequence that spans the entirety of the 3 years the child spends in the Primary (ages 3-6) classroom.

     The very first presentation is done using a Sandpaper Globe, on which the water is painted blue, and the land is covered in sandpaper.

     Very simply, the teacher touches every inch of the surface proclaiming, "This is land" or "This is water" as appropriate. Upon the regular course of lessons, it would lead to exploration of continents and countries, both geographically and culturally.

     Likewise, in our Sunday School environment, we have an area of the room dedicated to Geography. It's much less extensive, focusing mostly on Israel as it was at the time of Christ, but we begin in the same place - with the Sandpaper Globe.

     After showing the child all of the "land" and "water", we bring their attention to a tiny red dot on the land: "This is Israel." There's so much land, and Israel is just a tiny little dot. 

     Soon after, we introduce the child to the raised map of Israel and then to the Puzzle Map of Israel.

All of this work is meant to give the child a place to put the geographical references spoken of in the Gospel Readings. Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem from Nazareth in Galilee. Christ is born in Bethlehem of Judea. Christ goes to the city of Jerusalem. Christ is baptized in the Jordan River. With this work, we begin to show them that these places are real places, that Christ truly walked here among men as man.

The Sandpaper Globe.
Israel is marked with a tiny red dot (though I think it's a little south of where it really should be).

The Relief Map of Israel.

The Relief Map of Israel with picture labels for Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth. Children as young as 3 - 4 can tell you which is which.

An upside-down (sorry) picture of the Puzzle Map of Israel.

The Puzzle Map of Israel with written labels for Nazareth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. An extension of this work is labeling every part of the map (i.e. Jordan River, Dead Sea, Perea, Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Sea of Galilee, Mediterranean Sea). 

 

Icon Figures

Two of the areas of the Catechism environment, Parables and Life of Christ, involve icon figures used as visual aids while reading the children the parables and the major events of Christ's life from the Gospels. 

These icon figures are made by isolating individual figures in an icon, printing them out, and mounting them on a thick, flat piece of wood carved to imitate the shape of the saint (or Christ) being mounted.

This particular icon figure is of Christ standing in our model Jerusalem. We use the model Jerusalem and our icon figure of Christ to take the children through the events of Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday and leading up to the Crucifixion and Burial of Christ. (Don't worry, we do the Resurrection too!)

We love using these figures because they connect the work back to the icons the children see in Church every time they go. A couple years ago, a class of mine was lent a huge icon of the Nativity that was taller than most of the children. After we had done the Nativity work with them, showing them with movement how Joseph and Mary travelled, how Christ was laid in a manger, how the angel came and how the shepherds went to worship Christ, the children began to recognize the figures in that large Nativity icon saying things like, "There's the shepherds!" 

It was beautiful how they began to connect with the icon as more than a picture. That's a difficult thing, especially for those of us who come from Western mentalities, where what you see is what you get, and everything seen is meant to be understood. Icons have a mystical quality and presence in the event they convey, and that's something that is inexpressible yet tangible in our experience. By using these figures as opposed to some kind of model people, we give the children an opportunity to put their hands on what they hear and see and to begin to understand that a festal icon is more than a group of people, it is kairos, an eternal moment in which we see revealed a confirmation of our Faith.

I'll take advantage of being at the course at Hellenic College for the next few days to take some more pictures of the newer icon figures that have been made since last year. Hopefully I'll be able to post them by the end of the week.

2013

First, an apology - It’s been a while. During the last year, I moved, got married, got a new job, became briefly nomadic, etc etc etc… My new home parish unfortunately doesn’t have the space for a preschool catechism classroom (Sunday School for older children currently happens in the Church or the Narthex – I can’t very well clutter up those spaces with all of my bookcases and whatnot), so I’ve been away from the actual practice of catechism since I left Florida. But in God’s time, perhaps that will change soon enough. All the same, I’ve still been working at a Montessori school and interacting with the children, silently wondering what’s going on in their little minds and hearts.

Right now, I’m back sitting in a classroom at Hellenic College/Holy Cross with my husband Paul, my friend and teacher Catherine, and a few others who have come from near and far to learn about Montessori education and what it has to do with our Faith. Every time I come here, I learn something I thought I knew. The people who come bring their experiences and their knowledge, and they continue even now to shape our work – and rightly so, as our Faith is an organic experience for each of us. My husband, drawing upon his recent education at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, has given us beautiful insights in the theology behind what we do with the children, and two women have come from Orthodox preschools, bringing with them their experience with and love of children and our Faith. With the inspiration they have given me, I hope I’ll be able to create an environment again soon, but in the meantime, I’ll wax poetic a little and share some pictures. Enjoy.