The Hand: "The Instrument of Intelligence"

In the journey of early childhood development, introducing eye hand coordination activities at the age of 5 months is a gentle yet profound way to support a child’s growth. I remember the first time I introduced a small, simple activity to a young infant, just a soft, easy-to-hold object that encouraged them to reach out, grasp, and explore with their hands. Watching them interact with this tiny object, I saw the beginning of a critical process – the development of the child’s control over their movements and the way this ability opens doors to understanding their environment.

 Maria Montessori spoke of the hand as an “instrument of intelligence,” a concept that resonates deeply as I see these little ones discovering the world. Their hands, at first clumsy and unsteady, start to reach purposefully, touch, and eventually hold with a gentle precision. When we offer them materials to explore, it’s as though we’re inviting them into a conversation with their surroundings. Every grasp, every touch, every shake of a rattle is a message “I am here, and I am discovering.”

 It’s important to remember that the growth of these skills isn’t immediate but unfolds bit by bit, through practice and repetition. This gradual refinement of movement, enabled by myelination (the formation of a protective sheath around their nerves) allows the child to gain better control, little by little. Through each attempt, each reach, and each grasp, they are forming connections that will empower them to explore their world more effectively.

 As they grow, their curiosity leads them to more complex activities, and around 16-18 months, we see them reaching new levels of coordination, they are now refining their eye hand coordination.  I’ve watched children become captivated by activities like stringing beads, cutting strips, pasting, and sewing. It’s incredible to witness a young child, a year or two old, completely engrossed in an activity for at least 15 minutes to an hour. These moments of concentration remind me of the profound capability children have for focus and engagement when they are offered the right challenges and opportunities.

 Every activity at this stage has a purpose, it’s all carefully chosen to support the child’s development. Stringing beads, cutting, pasting, and sewing, for example, isn’t merely a craft and a pastime, it’s a practice in coordination, patience, and independence. The child is developing their finger strength, learning the pincer grasp, discovering that their hands can work with precision, learning cause and effect, logical sequencing, and even the thrill of accomplishment! Each step and sequence engages their mind, and each success builds their confidence.  As I guide them through these activities, it’s important to highlight points of interest, the parts of the activity and movement that require particular attention. When a child misses a key step, rather than simply correcting them, I show them the steps gently, helping them notice the details they might have overlooked. This allows the child to learn without feeling discouraged. My role is to be a guide and a model, to demonstrate with care, but never to make them feel as though they’re incapable. Children thrive when they feel trusted, and this trust fuels their independence and self-esteem.

 In these interactions, I also see the child’s ability to create external order in their environment, which will create their internal order later. Children are so sensitive to the organization of their surroundings; they crave predictability and find comfort in routine. By engaging with these materials and tasks, they are not only developing eye hand coordination but also reinforcing a sense of internal and external balance that will serve as the foundation for their self-construction.

 This past week as I observed children spending extended periods with specific activities, I was struck by the dedication they showed. The young children with intense concentration, either stringed beads – one by one, carefully trying to find that hole with the string; cut strips of paper meticulously – fascinated by the snip-snip of the scissors and the pieces that fell into place; pasted with precision – to ensure the glue was applied only on the shape to be mounted on the cardstock; and sewed – calculating their finger movements to thread the needle and being able to push the needle through, and pull out the needle and thread.  All these particular activities, the children focused for almost an hour. These moments of focus are not just signs of engagement, they’re the seeds of concentration and determination that will carry through their lives. The children are learning to persevere, to try again when a bead falls or a strip doesn’t cut quite right. Each tiny challenge met builds their resilience and a deep sense of satisfaction.

These activities also bring together intelligence, will, and movement in a harmonious way. When a child picks up a bead or reaches for a piece of paper to paste, they’re making decisions and taking action. They’re choosing their steps, testing their abilities, and making sense of the effects they can create. This process strengthens their understanding of themselves and their environment. They see the results of their actions, learn practical skills, and discover cause and effect. In offering these experiences, we help children develop more than coordination, we nurture their ability to make choices, their resilience in the face of a challenge, and their belief in their own capability. Each bead, cut, or stitch represents more than a task – it’s  an affirmation of their independence and a step toward their future selves.  In these quiet moments of concentration, these gentle steps toward skill and understanding, I am reminded of the wisdom in Montessori’s words. Children’s hands truly are instruments of intelligence, shaping not just objects in their environment but the very structure of their growing minds and spirits. By nurturing this exploration and providing materials thoughtfully, we are not just helping children refine eye-hand coordination. We are offering them the tools to construct their world, piece by piece, and in doing so, they construct themselves.

Tenacity

We in the elementary faculty have been as busy as the students!  While they have been either getting going with animal research or learning vocabulary associated with the skeletal system, we have been engaged in lots of first and secondhand professional development, as well as preparing for our fall conferences.  What do I mean by secondhand professional development?  Mrs. Dankoski just returned from a conference which gathered some of the finest minds in Catholic Montessori.  She brought home lots of ideas and resources about how to help today's children.  Similarly, our very own Mrs. Mello has been enjoying two night classes on elementary education in a Montessori environment.  I've loved the insight I have received from them.  While I have only been a teacher for ten years, we are living through a rapid time of change.  I am blessed to be part of a school so committed to improvement and sharing.  In this busy, busy time of year, I almost decided to write my update a day late, until I remembered what the subject matter was that I would be writing about. 

The thing I'd decided to write about today is tenacity.  It is a noun that brings up images of sweaty men clenching teeth.  Perhaps you prefer words like "persistence", "determination", or "perseverance", but however you say it, this is a virtue we ought to instill in the children of our school.  Your child will be in elementary for a long time.  In my experience, over that long six years, tenacity will take a child much further than ability.  Tenacity will make a child practice seven problems instead of five today.  It will make them want to get them right.  It will make them passionate about improving.  

I can understand if you want to say, "yes Mr. Short, but if doing those two extra problems is so transformative, why don't you just make everyone do the two extra problems?"  All I can say is that the source of the desire to complete those two problems matters.  A teacher will not always be there to force a child to do that little bit extra.  Eventually the desire and initiative must come from within.   

One way you can cultivate this at home is to find out what your family's version is of what I might call a "morality theater."  For my family growing up in New England, it was hockey.  Whether we were watching a college game in a half empty college barn that always smelled a bit like exhaust fumes or watching professional hockey from the comfort of our sofa at home, my dad always involved us in a verbal analysis of what was going on.  Some was what you might call the "x's and o's" of the game, but much of it was about the dichotomy he set up for us between effort and talent.  He pointed out how often the players who were all talent and no effort would fail in their defensive responsibilities.  He thrilled us with descriptions of the games of bygone days--ones that had decided seasons, ones that had crowned heroes.  It was not lost on me how often these heroes were not the expected stars of great talent, who had been groomed for this moment from childhood.  Often these were the exact players who seemed invisible in the moment of decision.  More often than not, the heroes were the ones we called "lunch pail" players.  There were many ways that my parents taught me that hard work is what counts, but giving me role models to emulate was exactly what I needed as an elementary aged student.

While my parents were completely unfamiliar with Montessori principles, they hit the nail on the head here.  The second plane child needs heroes and role models.  Don't let the world give them to your child--you might find that their heroes are immoral, or, even worse, a Youtuber!  Find your own "morality theater" where you and your child can safely discuss ethical decisions and cultivate virtue.  Perhaps it will be watching football together.  Perhaps it will be discussing figures of history or characters of literature.  

One thing we are doing at RMS to introduce your child to role models of virtue is preparing for our Living Souls Museum.  The children have been loving their preparation for it.  I must admit that for a brief moment as I watched the children work on their reports today, I asked God if this was the entire reason RMS exists, so we can do this together.  Perhaps so.  In the choices of these children I see many saints of great love, and others of great tenacity.  I am thinking particularly of Saint Paul, and the many other martyrs represented in our class.  There is a sort of love present in this tenacity; a refusal to be denied union with what we love.  May we feel that way about learning; may we feel that way about the Lord.

Some of you may know that my wife is an occasional extracurricular guest in the classroom.  Over the summer she used her designer's eye to help Mrs. Dankoski choose some new furniture and art.  She is also our link to veterinary advice, thanks to her contacts at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island.  (It was through these channels that we got the advice to handle the bearded dragon's mouth rot.  You will be happy to know that our lizard is fully healed!)  During the school year she makes appearances to lead large group art projects, or special small group projects.  Last year on Candlemas she led us through a wonderful candle dipping project.  In the spring she planted a bunch of dye flowers near the chicken coop.  Last month the upper elementary was able to hammer these flowers into some white socks, to make dye flower patterns onto them.  It was not until last Friday that she was able to make it back to do a flower craft with our lower elementary students.  

As I pulled up to the school, I did not think the project would work out.  Frost covered the grass.  Surely the flowers had been ruined.  I sent her a mopey text that the time had come and gone and we had missed it.  In what I can only describe as a beautiful act of God's providential love, somehow the frost had killed all the flowers except the dye flowers.  With some fourth year girls there to help supervise, the younger students came out in groups to hammer flowers onto paper.  These pieces of paper have been drying out on the window sill for almost a week now.  Today, I think, we will brush off the crumbly remnants of petal and calyx and admire the flower art that remains on the paper.  

In chapter six of Jeremiah's book of prophecy, he famously counsels us to take the old paths.  There is no older road than living in contact with our place and with our land.  There is something special in the way we use our land here at RMS.  May we grip tenaciously to our community and our faith, and may we find that like trees and their roots, that which feeds us is also what keeps us upright.

Seeking the Invisible

As we near the end of October, our Children’s House is thrilled to welcome our parent observers to come and take a peek into our little community and daily activities. We have been brushing up on our Grace and Courtesy to welcome our guests (including how to offer some hot tea), and I have heard at least one child say to a guest, “welcome to our Children’s House!” And another prepare some tea.. As conferences are around the corner, I am looking forward to sharing with parents about the beautiful progress and transformations that are happening in your individual child in the context of our whole community and so glad to have you come in to see for yourself!

It is this time, that the biggest work of the Montessori guide now begins:  to set a challenge before each child and support them to see it through to the end. It is the strengthening of each child's character. Our whole team works together to encourage each person to act in a meaningful and purposeful way through lessons in Math, Language, Sensorial refinement, Catechesis and Practical Life. The materials provide the necessary activity that offers an opportunity for collaboration between their body, mind and spirit which not only supports concentration, but also brings them peace and joy! 

 Every visible choice and behavior reveals something invisible within us. What I mean by that is that what we see in a child’s action is only “the tip of the iceberg”, so to speak of what goes into making a choice or responding to a stimuli. Recognizing each person means that we are also seeking to understand the invisible interior when we see a child’s choices or behavior. What are their interests? What are their emotions? What are their gifts? What is their struggle? Who is this child in the eyes of God? These are the questions that I ask when seeking the invisible. As the adults who get to journey alongside your children each day, we embrace both the joys and struggles and rejoice with each person in the moment that they discover that what was once hard is not now a favorite!