Montessori Flowers

I am a Montessori teacher for ages 3 to 6. Enter my (or any Montessori) classroom, and you might be surprised to hear all the vocabulary that the children use. A 5-year-old has mastered the map of Europe and can tell you the name of any country--Norway, Ukraine, Italy. A 3-year-old is beginning work with the geometric solids--sphere, cube, cylinder. A 4-year-old has learned all the parts of an insect--thorax, abdomen, forewings.  Why all the fancy language when so many sources of entertainment, and even education, for young children use simplified language? Dr. Maria Montessori observed the “absorbent mind” of the child ages 6 and under, meaning that they effortlessly absorb all the language around them like a sponge--so why not expose them to as much real language as possible? From before birth, a child benefits from all the language she is exposed to. When I was pregnant I purchased CDs with songs in 9 different languages (from Michael Olaf) to expose Calvin not onl...