Health and Physical Education (HPE): Ages Six to Nine

HPE Overview

Movement, fitness and health have been incorporated into the Montessori curriculum from the time of the first school established by Dr Montessori more than a hundred years ago. Drawing on her medical training, Dr Montessori was keenly interested in the health of the human body, and argued strongly that physical activity and good nutrition were essential to the well-being of children. A key component of the Montessori curriculum, from birth, is a focus on the development and refinement of coordinated movement. Dr Montessori also designed gymnastic equipment for the children in her schools, and encouraged games in the open air for younger children and outdoor adventure education for older children.

The Montessori curriculum provides a repertoire of activities to enable individual Montessori schools to develop customised programmes to meet their own requirements and those of local education authorities. For children from six to twelve years, the Cosmic Education curriculum provides many opportunities for considering ways of improving quality of life for themselves and others in the classroom and wider community in terms of health and lifestyle, personal relationships, values education, social responsibility and social justice. Here are some examples:

• Children move freely around the classroom during the day to complete their work and to care for their environment. They can vary their place of work depending on need e.g., to sit on a chair or on the floor, to stand or walk, to have more or less light, to talk with others or to work quietly.

• Many of the activities and exercises of the curriculum incorporate physical activity, including reading and grammar games.

• The study of biology includes the story of the great river, a story that initiates the study of human physiology and emphasises the interdependence of all the organs of the human body.

• The study of history is organised around an understanding of the fundamental needs of humans, including spiritual needs (personal and artistic expression and religion), as well as material needs (food, clothing, housing, transport and defence, including defence from disease).

As in all areas of the Montessori curriculum, materials and activities designed for PDHPE are prepared to enable self-directed, independent work for individuals and groups. These materials are placed on the shelves as another choice available to the children at any time of the day, rather that at set times only. Children are also involved in research-based projects relating to PDHPE.

The key components of the Montessori PDHPE programme are:

• personal development (incorporating lessons of grace and courtesy)

• health awareness

• physical education

Personal Development (Incorporating Lessons in Grace and Courtesy)

In the Montessori classroom social behaviour is learned through observation and imitation. The three-year age range includes children at varying stages of social and emotional maturity. Older children have the opportunity to become role models and to assist younger children with resolving issues and building their social skills.

Children are shown how to manage social interactions in effective ways during small group lessons known as the lessons in grace and courtesy. These lessons are given at point of need in order draw children’s attention to ways of interacting with others that respect everyone in the class community and that promote harmony. These lessons can take several forms, including:

• short role-plays or mini-dramas, often highlighting inappropriate behaviour in humorous ways, then modelling more effective behaviour, or asking the children to act out more effective behaviour

• story-telling

• group discussions

Lessons in grace and courtesy (sometimes called how to lessons) include:

• how to put a chair under a table without disturbing others

• how to interrupt politely

• how to introduce one person to another

• how to express your feelings without hurting others.

 As much as possible appropriate social behaviours are taught through modelling and grace and courtesy lessons rather than through correction. It takes time and much repetition of the grace and courtesy lessons before children understand and incorporate the appropriate behaviour into their own behaviour. The lessons are, therefore, repeated as necessary, but the teacher never draws attention to a particular child or group of children who ‘need’ the lesson. In the Montessori view, correction that embarrasses children, or makes them self-conscious, is damaging and usually counterproductive.

At all times respect of oneself and for others is emphasised. Friendships are also valued as these lay the foundation for future extended relationships. Everyday in Montessori classrooms children make their own decisions about their work and their interpersonal relationships. Children are encouraged to work together to create a miniature and harmonious society.

At the beginning of every school year each class meets to work out the rules the class needs to follow if they are to work harmoniously and productively together. The rules are reviewed from time to time and adjusted if needed. Because the children have discussed and voted on the rules themselves, they adhere to them and ‘police’ them far more rigorously than an adult would. Class meetings continue to be held weekly to discuss problems and issues that have arisen during the week and to work out solutions. In this way children experience the roles and responsibilities of community living.

Health Awareness

There are many features of the Montessori curriculum that show children the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

• Through exercises in practical life children learn to care for themselves and their environment, including routines for maintaining health, hygiene and cleanliness (e.g., washing hands, cleaning teeth, pouring water to drink, preparing fruit, dressing for the climate, cleaning surfaces, washing up, sweeping floors).

• During the study of history the Fundamental Needs of Humans Charts initiate discussions of those things humans need to live, including good food, safe and secure housing and defence against disease. Follow-up discussions and research projects extend children’s exploration and knowledge to cover nutrition, personal safety and prevention of disease.

• During the study of biology, beginning with the story of the great river (a metaphor for the circulation system of the human body), children learn about the functions of the different organs of the body, and the way they work together. With this knowledge children are able to consider how best to keep each organ, and their whole body, healthy and functioning properly.

• During the study of botany, children grow plants. As part of this study, they are encouraged to grow plants for food. They can then harvest and prepare the food.

• As in all other areas of the curriculum children are encouraged to research PDHPE topics, matched to children’s age and interest, and to present their research to the class. Topics might include, for example, nutrition, the effect of exercise on the body, sun and road safety, or the uses of medication and/or drugs.

Physical Education

In 1947, during a training course in India, Dr Montessori described the most effective school for children aged from six to twelve in the following way:

The school for this age must be full of activity, not only for knowledge, not only for the development of the mind, but also for the development of the body.

Gymnastics was an activity Dr Montessori particular valued for the following reason:

Just as (with) movement, the gymnastics of children is necessary because, as is well known, muscles which are not exercised become incapable of performing the variety of movements of which the muscular system is capable.

She was also an early advocate of teaching young children to swim from as early as the age of four. Regular physical activity is, therefore, an essential component of the Montessori curriculum.

Very young children, infants and toddlers, are very active. They are constantly moving, whether crawling, walking, running, climbing, jumping, swinging or balancing. It is important, as children grow older, to create an environment in which they can maintain this level of physical activity and extend their stamina and physical endurance. To achieve this, the school environment must be designed to promote regular physical activity and to extend children’s physical skill and capacity. As well as opportunities for free movement in the classroom, children in Montessori schools participate in a range of games and exercises that enable them to build agility, strength and coordination progressively, from individual skills to combined, and increasingly more complex, skills. In addition, they participate in a range of fitness activities, including team sport, athletics, water safety/swimming/aquatics, tennis, yoga and dance.

In the Montessori curriculum physical education lessons, materials and activities are designed following the same principles as lessons in other curriculum areas.

• Materials and activities are prepared to enable self-directed, independent work for individuals and groups. The equipment is attractive, child-sized, stored in an orderly fashion and is easily accessible to students.

• Brief initial lessons, called key lessons, give children just enough information to enable independent exploration (e.g., to introduce a skill, the rules of a game or the safe use of equipment).

• Children are free to choose to work with the materials and exercises during the work period and for as long as they like.

The Montessori sports curriculum does not emphasise competitive games. Dr Montessori (1989/1930:17) argued that once children are concentrating on an activity, they are more interested in the activity than in competition. Games are played with an emphasis on:

• enjoyment

• the gaining of new skills

• team work and collaboration

• being a good sport

• safety

Wherever possible, new skills are introduced by skilled adults (e.g., certified swimming teacher).