Method
The
academic subjects of
practical life, sensorial, math, language, and cultural subjects are
based on the Montessori Method.
Practical
Life
Practical
life exercises
are the foundation of a Montessori environment. It provides a
wholesome range of activities which allow the children to develop
control and coordination of movement, awareness of their environment,
orderly thought patterns, independent work habits, responsibility and
many other human characteristics which can only be attained by
spontaneous, purposeful work. The first elements to be perceived and
absorbed into the child's very being are the numerous levels of order
prevailing in their home. The daily activities undertaken by adults
in establishing the living environment; the care of others and the
care of the self; the ceremony and ritual of hospitality; these are
all intensely fascinating to the child because they are aesthetic,
logical and understandable. These daily rites of everyday existence
are comforting and provide a security necessary for the child's
development. The practical life exercises are classified under the
headings: care of the environment, care of the person, grace and
courtesy, and movement. There are materials for each of these areas,
adapted to the child's-size, interest and capabilities.
Sensorial
Montessori
sensorial
apparatus allows the child to classify sensorial impressions in an
organized, orderly and scientific manner. The sensorial apparatus
are sequenced in such a way that they discriminate one predetermined
aspect and quality or facet at a time, keeping the others constant or
identical. They have built-in control of error. Sensorial materials
allow for individual work and repetition. This makes it possible to
illustrate abstract concepts inherent in each piece of material; to
name them and then apply them to the environment - thereby, giving
the child a more accurate perception of the universe around them. Our
sensorial material; in fact, analyses and represents the
attributes of things: dimensions, forms, colours, smoothness, or
roughness of surface, weight, temperature, flavour, and sounds.
Math
A
variety of concrete math
materials are used to teach math concepts and skills. These are
presented to the child in a developmental sequence beginning with:
sorting, one-to-one correspondence, numbers and counting, sets and
classifying, comparing, shape, space, parts and wholes, ordering and
patterning, measurement, time, and graphs. Mathematical materials
give the child a sensorial experience of the abstraction that is
mathematics. This allows them to absorb concepts so that when the
time comes to deal exclusively in abstract terms, the understanding
is already there. Every item focuses attention on a single concept.
These concepts are then integrated to form the basis for a further
step in the development of the child's mathematical understanding.
Language
When
the child comes into
the Montessori environment at around three years of age, their spoken
language is developed. Their vocabulary is quite extensive and the
grammatical structures of their speech are established. They have a
boundless capacity to expand and enrich their language and, the
desire to write and read. The language materials provide the keys to
the fascinating world of language and are highly effective.
The
language program is
based upon developing verbal communication and problem-solving. The
materials are very simple: the sandpaper letters give the child the
shape of the letters, they learn phonetic sounds with the use of
these tactile letter, the moveable alphabet allows them to arrange
these letters to form words and the metal insets make it possible for
the children to control a writing instrument.
Culture
Cultural
subjects are
presented through the use of materials that model physical facts and
areas of the world. Materials such as: globes, puzzle maps of the
continents and countries, land form trays, and flags are used. With
the cultural materials, the child is given the facts of his physical
world- that it is a sphere. This sphere is composed of land masses
and bodies of water. They have different forms and these forms have
names. The facts that the land masses are called continents, and the
bodies of water are called oceans. We then specify that the oceans
and continents have names. The cultural materials provide the child
with the opportunity to explore the many levels of order established
as we perceived and classified our earth over the ages, organized it
into countries, provinces, states, each with their own particular
shapes, their intriguing names, their capitals and their flags.
When
the child arrives at
the next plane of development, the time for intellectual exploration,
the time of asking the why, when, wherefore of all things, the facts
absorbed through the sensorial exploration provide a solid foundation
for him to rediscover that which he already knows. He is able to
integrate the physical characteristics for the land and water, to
understand human affairs past and present that evolved upon them, and
to become aware of man's dependency on, as well as responsibility for
the habitat he shares with other forms of life.
In the
first years of life
children have absorbed a limitless wealth of impressions taking in
all the elements of the world around them. Among these are a
multitude of plants, trees, flowers, shrubs- an infinite variety of
growing things. The child is given names and the opportunity for
sensorial exploration thereby creating the foundation for knowledge
to be acquired in the years to come.
Art,
music, and French
activities are also integrated into the daily program through
stories, matching activities and curriculum based apparatus. There
is painting, finger play and creative movement as well as rhythm
games and songs. Gym is also a part of our academic program. Each
school year curriculum emphasizes and includes activities directed
toward conscious behaviour in ecological matters as they relate to
the individual, the community and the world.
|
|