ECO SCHOOL PROJECT

In academic year 2023/2024 in our Manchester Montessori House nursery, we have focus on the topic of ecology. Importance of being and eco nursery has always been part of our ethos. Montessori’s approach emphasizes the importance of experiencing the natural world first-hand. An educator believed that there is no substitute for the real thing, and that books and museums cannot replace the sights, sounds, and smells of nature, Montessori also recognised the therapeutic benefits of spending time, with bare feet, in nature, and believed that it could help children develop a sense of wonder and respect for the world around them.

Montessori believed that the vivifying forces of nature were essential for the development of the child:

“There is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all the life to be found around them, in a real forest.” She spoke.

Maria Montessori believed that nature played a crucial role in the education and development of children. She believed that children should have access to the natural world, as it provides them with a means of experience and a special environment that can help them develop their senses and understanding of the world around them.

“The child has a different relation to his environment from ours… the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see, and his ears hear.”

“The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth.”

Our MMH provision allows the child’s freedom and encourages outdoor play and physical activity which are essential for the child’s development. Our outdoor classrooms and the use of the natural world as a means of experience could help to foster the child’s innate curiosity and love of learning.

In the Montessori classroom, nature is often used as a means of cultural activity, with children learning about the natural world through observation and exploration. Montessori believed that the work of the child was to discover the world around them, and that this could be achieved through the use of the natural world as a means of experience.

“The child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope that humanity can develop in a new direction.”

And that nature provides the perfect setting for a child’s physical, mental and emotional growth. She believed that nature is a source of inspiration, wonder, and awe for children, and that it offers endless opportunities for exploration and discovery.

Montessori also believed that nature helps to develop a child’s vital instincts and inner life. She saw nature as an instrument of child’s individual mind, providing them with the tools they need to develop their physical and mental abilities. She believed that nature helps to awaken a child’s senses, stimulates their curiosity, and encourages them to explore and experiment.

Montessori also believed that a child/s own natural desire to be in nature should be encouraged and supported. She believed that children should be given freedom to explore and experience nature on their own terms, without adult interference, she saw nature as a source of joy, inspiration, and wonder for children, and believed that it should be an integral part of their daily lives.

Maria Montessori believed that the relationship between the small child and nature is essential for the child’s development. She believed that nature has a significant impact on the child’s emotional and intellectual growth. According to Montessori, living creatures in nature provide the child with a sense of wonder and awe, which is essential for the happiness of the child. She believed that nature is not just a physical environment but also a spiritual one, and it is part of the child’s soul.

Montessori believed that outdoor play and learning are essential for the child’s development. She believed that outdoor play provides the child with interesting activities and creative work. Montessori believed that the child’s task is to explore the world and to learn about it. She believed that the teacher’s task is to facilitate the child’s exploration and to provide the child with the tools to learn. Montessori believed that the child’s development through nature is not about the transmission of abstract ideas but about the child’s discovery of the world around him.

Montessori believed that outdoor play and learning are not just about physical development but also about the development of human values. She believed that outdoor play and learning provide the child with the opportunity to develop the values of cooperation, collaboration, and respect for others. Montessori believed that outdoor play and learning provide the child with greater possibilities for their future and that it is the task of the educator to provide the child with the tools to explore the world around them.

Maria Montessori’s quotes about nature reveal her deep appreciation for the natural world and its role in human development. For Montessori, nature was not just a setting for learning, but an essential part of the learning process itself. Her belief that the greatest sign of success in education was not knowledge but love of learning was reflected in her emphasis on the importance of connecting with nature.

Montessori believed that any unkind act towards nature reflected a lack of understanding of the interconnectedness of all things. She saw the natural world as a source of inspiration and wonder and believed that modern observations of nature could help us better understand ourselves and our place in the world.

For Montessori, the first thing that children needed to learn was how to observe the world around them. This included observing nature and its many wonders. By observing and interacting with nature, children could develop a deeper understanding of the world and their place in it.

Montessori saw the path of life as a journey of discovery and self-discovery and believed that nature was an essential part of this journey. She believed that by connecting with nature, we could better understand ourselves and our place in the world and develop a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life.

Montessori’s quotes about nature remind us of the importance of connecting with the natural world and the role that nature plays in our development as human beings. By observing and interacting with nature, we can develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us and find greater meaning and purpose in life.

Thinking about care of the environment and to cover important topics around sustainability, we decided to divide our terms into little projects and hands on activities throughout a year. This is what we did.

Litter: reducing litter, which harms wildlife and costs millions to clear every year.

At MMH fostering a clean and safe environment is paramount for the wellbeing and development for our children and our community.

As part of our ethos is to install a sense of responsibility, providing hands on experiences with various activities.

Much as walking through the Community litter picking using litter pickers from the library and Biffa.

Setting up a tuff tray w/ rescuing the sea life animals from pollution. Using tongs encouraging physical development and coordination.

We, At MMH promote responsibility and empathy encouraging in these activities teaching children about responsibility towards their environment and community. We have introduced songs relating to the topic and set up a recycling basket in the classroom where children place their waste.

MMH also helped the community by setting a stall at Manley Park supporting the team clean waters.

Harvest: Gratitude for & origins of food

As every year in Manchester Montessori House, we talk about harvesting and the good we receive from the planet Earth. Together with children want to be grateful for it and we look at the cycle of life, the food chains, but also the fruits and vegetables that we are consuming. In the month of September, but also throughout the year, we explore different vegetables and fruit together with children. We grow them together and harvest them, we experiment while cooking and use them in our snack area. We use them in our creative corner, but also to introduce children to the different mathematical concepts: quantities, shapes, , number work. We explore them using our senses: sight and touch and taste, but also smell to cover our Sensorial Curriculum area and as mentioned use them to introduce children to the food chains and life cycles of fruit and vegetables, but also learning about the origins of fruit and vegetables and where they come from, support our learning of different cultures in our Cultural curriculum area. They are also perfect to be introduced in Linguistic area while learning about different sounds and letters, but also other languages. We can find them commonly in many books. We like sharing fruit and vegetables we grow with the community, as our garden is designed for growing and harvesting, we also plant and harvest our own fruit and vegetables.

Waste: refusing, reducing, reusing, repairing, recycling

Children at MMH have enjoyed junk modelling, bringing in various materials like cardboard boxes of different shapes and sizes, tubes etc to create cars building robots using their ideas to reuse and repurpose the materials.

We also set up and introduced at MMH a community swap shop where parents and community bring clothes, toys and books.

The children have had first hand experiences filtering water experiment and using the clean water to water the plants, learning how to make paper during our outdoor sessions.

The children are involved in emptying the recycle baskets which we have placed along the general waste and food waste bins in the classroom. At the end of the day and always ask questions such as where do I put my yogurt pot? Can I recycle this?

We have introduced 5 Rs:

Reuse

Reduce

Recycle

Refuse

Repurpose 

To encourage children to think about waste they produce and rethink what they can do with it.

Air & Pollution

Children at MMH created a banner for the local community as they were holding an event promoting clean air, carbon footprints.

We have enjoyed blowing bubbles: light blue paint representing clean air and black paint representing dirty polluted air.

We have learned some songs relating to air pollution and sorting exercise which involves putting pictures/ objects that are beneficial for our planet Earth, and those that are not.

This year, we especially focus on clean air and transportation. Oxygen that gives us life is important for our growth help us to breathe and stay healthy and safe. As the community we join local actions with the Clean Air charity organisation, that promotes clean air and encourage people to clean to keep our air clean for all generations. Children designed the banner, and we talk about importance of staying safe and about the care of our lungs. Children went to the local park to display the banner and take part of the clean air picnic.

Transport: leaning about modes of transport

We have focus and lead many discussions on safe transportation. We talk about transport and different models of transport. Together with children, we look into the water transport, air transport and transport on land. Children were able to refine the differences. We also look at the green transport which is more environmentally friendly. Most our family’s scoot, bike or walk to the nursery, but we also have families who travel in a car or use public transport like buses and Metrolink. Together we discussed different options and looked at the different distances and places that we can reach on foot. We have promoted and encouraged children to join many walks throughout the year in a local neighbourhood, so they become familiar with the infrastructure and local facilities. It was amazing experiences.

Transport: How to promote cycling and walking – bike safety, bike/scooter ride.

To promote this the children and MMH have been going on local walks in the Community. We have sent o communication out to the parents to support this. 

Most of our children ride bikes or scooters to our nursery. We also have made an enquiry of having access to cargo bikes.

The Eco Committee created benefits poster and spoke about how ridding, walking and scooters is healthy.

Healthy living: our health and health of our planet. Growing fruits and veg.

In Manchester Montessori house we focus on the topic of healthy living and benefits of growing our own fruit and vegetables: feeding organic eating organic, but also having the healthy balance in our life including movement, exercising and rest. Children were introduced to different activities. We look at our snack area while we discuss healthy choices. On our shelves we can find fruit, vegetables, plant-based milk only.  During the day children have access to Weetabix and porridge throughout. We also talk about importance of rest where we can recharge our bodies and our energy. After lunch time, in Montessori house, we sit together in a book corner reading stories or sharing stories, playing different games. We talk about importance of the outdoor play, where our body can get to exercise using different equipment: like scooters and bicycles, but also use the space around us to run, hop, jump. We have done a lot of obstacle courses with the children that encourage the health and movement outdoors. We go outside daily, no matter of the weather, to get fresh air and exercise our body and support the gross motor movement. 

Topic of healthy living also reflects and relate to the health of our planet. We look at the planet Earth as the only planet that the life exists on, that we know so far. We have open discussions about how we can look after our planet, what can we do to sustain a long life of our planet and what can we do to improve the health of our planet through our daily activities. Children enjoy joining the different conversation and discussion that happened throughout the day throughout the weeks across the classroom, indoor and outdoor classroom that build awareness of becoming most sustainable and mindful while using sources given by Mother Earth. One of the important elements to promote that is our Forest School/ outdoor learning on Mondays, where children experience sessions delivered by qualified forest school practitioner.

Healthy living: our health – fruits and veg

As a Montessori setting, we emphasise on independence, freedom within limits and respect for children’s natural psychological, physical and social development 

When it comes to nutrition, we incorporate this into our Curriculum emphasising the importance of healthy eating by providing fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks which are self-directed allowing children to choose from variety of healthy options, guiding them towards nutritious foods.

School Grounds: improvements for children & staff, improvements for plants, insects, & animals

We at MMH redesigned our garden area with the input of the children. Providing space for plants (our nature and wildlife area, to that a pond and bug hotel which the children have designed and made. Observing on daily basis with great interest. We have made 4 planters to grow flowers, herbs and fresh vegetables and care for daily.

We have designed the garden as a tree looking from a bird’s view, branches leading out to all areas. 

Not forgetting our outdoor classroom, filled with various small world and natural objects and weekly topic related activities on tuff tray.

We have a bird box too, which is in the garden, nearby children make bird feeders frequently.

 Biodiversity: insects: Bees, plants: butterflies, animal life cycles

The children have enjoyed learning about this topic, as we have observed hands on cycle of caterpillars and tadpoles. The children were very proud of releasing the butterflies and tadpoles into our outdoor garden.

We looked at the life cycle of the bee and did honey tasting with many various types of honey.

MMH organised trip to the Bridgewater Garden in Worsley, where the children participated w/a nature hunt and learnt about the importance of plants growing in our environment. They experienced birdwatching.

Water: Why is it important? Where does it come from? Water cycle, Valuing and preserving this natural resource, Oceans and animals that live there, Protecting & conserving water-based ecosystems

One of the topics that we’ve covered, was about the water. We talk about the importance of water: where it comes from and about water cycle. Children have enjoyed experiments with water both indoors and outdoors. They learn the differences between dirty and clean water and how to filter it, but also how to reuse water for washing up, practice to wash clothes outdoors and hung them on the washing line and how to store rainwater for gardening. 

As we talk about the Earth, we looked at the amount of water is on this planet. We talked about oceans, rivers, seas, lakes and we look at animals that live in water or near water and how important those are for our ecosystem.

We talk about water pollution. Children and enjoy activities removing rubbish and waste from the water using different tools like tongs, tweezers, spoons, forks. We set up activities in Practical Life area in our classroom, that involve water play; with transferring water with the sponge, turkey baster and pipette.  We were amused to see how children-built storage for the rainwater in our garden. Amazing learning took place there.

Energy: What is it? What do we use it for? Where does it come from, reducing use, greener energy sources

Together with children we explore topic on energy. In a Democratic way we found the definition of energy we discuss about how we use it, where energy come from, how we can reduce the use of energy and how to use more sustainable energy. In our classroom we offer a lot of different experiments with the heat and with the light as a source of energy and we also have electricity free day:  when none of us were using electrical appliances. On that day we didn’t use the light in our nursery we heated our food on the fire and we get warmth from the fire on that day too, as we weren’t using the heating. That was different, new experience for us all, as we so used to the energy that we use daily.

Global Citizenship: Taking an active role in our community and making our planet more peaceful, sustainable and fair. – endangered animal focus. Adopt an animal.

The most important part of our project of becoming an eco-Nursery, was to build an awareness within the community and teach little children that attend to our kindergarten, about the important role that they’re growing into. The role of being a global citizen, a man responsible for the planet Earth, a man who will be making changes to make this planet more sustainable for himself/ herself and the community. Throughout the year and different activities offered, we encourage children to play daily outdoors to benefit from mother nature to grow their own food to look after the garden and to Care one of another, because we want them to understand, and be prepared for this important role in their lives. Children at Manchester Montessori House have adopted a turtle. They walked around the park for 2 miles to raise the funds to adopt this reptile. Happily walking along they’ve sung eco songs they learn, to build awareness in the local community building awareness for the future and learning about importance of the environment for their own children.