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PreSchool - 2
Through 6
Why should you
send your child to a Montessori school?
Montessori is
education...not a nursery school. The best time to start your child's
education is during the early years...2 1/2 to 4 1/2 years is when most
of a child's intelligence and social characteristics are formed. 50% of
the child's mental development occurs before 4 years of age. In a
Montessori School, your child will learn to think in logical patterns
and to deal with reality. Children with a Montessori background become
better prepared to cope with the complex challenges of tomorrow's
world.
 Language
In the Language
area of the classroom, we have a wide range of activities. For the
beginning children who have not yet learned their phonics, we begin with
beginning sound jobs. These help the children to recognize the letter
and the sounds to prepare them for reading. We use Zoo Phonics which
associates the sound of the letter to an animal. The children have fun
while learning their phonic sounds. Once the children recognize sounds,
they begin putting three letter words together. Later they move into
long vowel sounds, blends, digraphs and longer words. We also introduce
them to grammar in this area of the classroom, with fun, concrete,
attractive materials the children learn what a noun and verb are. The
children begin reading small books and are exposed to writing as well.
Mathematics
Mathematics is
taught by giving the child objects to hold, count and manipulate. In
small sequential steps, each learner develops a mathematical mind at his
or her own pace. Theses activities help him learn the fundamentals of
simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to ensure a
good mathematics foundation before he enters elementary school. The Math
curriculum moves from the concrete, to increasingly abstract concepts.
Sensorial
 In
the Sensorial area of the classroom, we have jobs that focus on the
physical senses. With the visual sense the children will work on sizing
and matching different materials. Once again this helps to develop the
eye muscles for reading and discriminating between letters and words.
The children will
use their sense of touch to grade various materials from rough to
smooth, light to heavy and hot to cold. Most of the touch activities
are done blind folded so that their sense of touch is isolated and they
don't use their sense of sight. This helps to develop their fingers for
holding a
pencil and using lightness of touch for writing.
The sound jobs
help to develop their sense of hearing for listening and following
directions.
Practical Life
Learning the basic skills of
caring for one self is the core of the practical life curriculum.
Zipping, buttoning,
buckling, bow tying, hand washing and polishing are some of the skills
the child will learn.
Many practical
life activities challenge the children to control their small hand
muscles to complete delicate tasks such as spooning peas from one
container to another.
Caring for the
environment is the responsibility of every child. Learning to sweep and
use a dust pan, wash a table and water plants are all common practical
life activities. Nurturing independence is at the core of the Practical
Life curriculum. If they need help, they are given only the assistance
they need to complete the task on their own.
Science
The science
program covers topics in life, earth, and physical sciences.
Included are the studies of: living things and how they are affected by
the environment, plant and animal life, the human body, health
education, health practices, and nutrition.
In order to
stimulate their
minds and curiosity as well as to prove the basic concepts of various
disciplines in science, the students are given the opportunity to
conduct experiments and utilize
many hands on
materials.
 Social
Studies
The social studies
curriculum includes geography and history. In geography students learn
about land and water forms, globes, maps, flags and multicultural
awareness. In history they will learn time, calendar, seasons and
personal family history.
The children gain an awareness of the world around
them by exploring other countries, their customs, food, music, climate,
language, and animals. This helps to raise their consciousness about
other people, to gain an understanding and tolerance and, therefore,
compassion for all the people in the world.
The children use the large wooden puzzles to learn the names of the
continents and gradually the names of countries.
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