“My habit of measuring things led me to begin to count the number of times she repeated the exercise. Then I thought I would see how far the strange concentration she showed could withstand disturbance, and I told the teacher to make the other children sing and move about. They did so, but the little girl did not stop her work for an instant. Then I gently picked up the armchair in which she sat, with her in it, and put it on a little table. She had quickly clutched her cylinders to her, and putting them on her knees, continued her work. From the time when I had begun to count, she had repeated the exercise 42 times. She stopped, as though coming out of a dream, and smiled as if she were very happy. Her eyes shone, and she looked about her.”
-“The Secret of Childhood” by Maria Montessori
Adeline could not be prouder than what she has achieved here. After a couple of months of practice, she finally completed the 1000 chain all by herself. It took a lot of observation, practice, confidence and concentration on her part to complete this task and she was very delighted to finally be able to do this independently.
“The child makes a number of acquisitions during the sensitive periods, which place him in relation to the outer world in an exceptionally intense manner….. But when some of these psychic passions die away, other flames are kindled and so infancy passes from conquest to conquest, in a continuous vital vibrancy, which we have called its joy and simplicity. It is through this lovely flame that burns without consuming that the work of creating the mental world of man takes place.”
-“The Secret of Childhood” by Maria Montessori
It is work that brings children joy and love. Purposeful activities help them fulfill their sensitive periods, special powers they posses from birth to 6 years old, which they need to build their unique personalities. The activity Adeline just finished fulfilled her sensitive periods of language (names of numbers), movement (actual counting) and order (sequence of numbers). She repeated it over and over again with intensity and without fatigue for a considerable period of time. When she finished, she was happy, satisfied, rested and fulfilled.
Adeline is not the only one. I have seen this happiness and satisfaction from work many times over from many children in my class. That fulfillment and learning will mold who they will become. Those smiles brought about by their work will carry with me.