A Fitting Comparison: Montessori Works of USA / Africa

From Sarah McDowell's blog after she visited Africa last summer: "One of the schools that I worked with actually has two Montessori trained teachers in the nursery school. I was totally amazed to talk to them and find that even though we had such different lives we had this common ground of teaching in our classrooms with the same principals and using the same materials. But when I saw the poor condition of the materials or the fact that almost all of them from the number rods to the continent puzzle maps were made by hand by the teachers I had to fight back tears. Chipped and cracked their pink tower only stands five blocks tall now and many of the works are made out of cardboard. Here as a part of your teacher training you learn how to make all of the materials yourself and many of the ones I saw were quite impressive. I am really hoping that in the future this school can be the recipient of older materials that we are ready to retire at the school that I teach at but would be ever so valued here in Tanzania. All of the schools that I visited, whether public, private, or religiously run have very few resources. Some floors are cement, others are simply dirt. Some have chalkboards on the wall and others are just leaned against the wall or on the floor. Many have desks but in others the children just sit on the floor. None of the schools have electricity or glass in the windows. But in all schools the children are fed at least lunch if not breakfast also. This alone is a wonderful thing about schools here."

When Papa last visited Artgarden Montessori to observe Leia Rose, he said, "These are surely the luckiest children in the world." Papa is right.


"The Pink Tower" (USA)
"The Pink Tower" (Tanzania, Africa)
"Number Beads" (USA)
"Gold Bead Bank" (USA)
"Number Beads / Gold Bead Bank" (Tanzania, Africa)

"Counting Spindles: Uncompleted" (USA)
"Counting Spindles: Completed" (USA)
"Number Rods 1" (Tanzania, Africa)

"Geometric Cabinet 1" (USA)
"Geometric Cabinet 2" (USA)
"Geometric Cabinet" (Tanzania, Africa)

"Continent Puzzle Map" (USA)
"Continent Puzzle Map" (Tanzania, Africa)
"Number Rods" (USA)
"Number Rods" (Tanzania, Africa)