CREATIVE CURRICULUM: ENCOURAGE HEALTHY OVERALL CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
West End and Highlands Montessori has a curriculum defined by the practical application of sensory-based and self-directed learning through the original Montessori Method of teaching. Our curriculum is an innovative framework that integrates specific learning results and skills that align with children’s developmental needs. Contact us now for more details.
Our unique curriculum introduces lessons simply and concretely in the first stages. We then reintroduce a lesson at increasing degrees of abstraction and complexity throughout the school year. The Montessori program provides blocks of uninterrupted work time to allow children to repeat lessons and arrive at new ways of completing. This integrated scaffolding approach to education is one of the Montessori program's greatest strengths.
Materials used encompasses a broad range of lessons in six areas of learning; practical life, culture, sensorial, arithmetic, language and cultural education. Mastering a lesson is accomplished through hands-on use of materials, exploration and repetition; all under the guidance of our trained teaching staff.
In all Montessori activities we progress through this critical mental mnemonic development by incorporating the use of concrete materials and progress to blending abstract concepts with concrete examples preferably stimulation at least three of our five senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic (touch), olfactory (smell) or gustatory (taste) in all subject area.
PRACTICAL LIFE
Creative, time-tested practical life activities are offered to assist the child in developing a sense of order, concentration, personal pride, independence, and respect for others, fine motor skills, grace and courtesy, confidence, and self-esteem.
INTRODUCTION TO PRACTICAL LIFE
How to roll a mat, walk around a mat, put down a chair, walking on the line, sort cutlery, pour water.
CARE AND RESPECT FOR SELF
Dressing frames, wash your hands, brush your teeth, clean your nails, sew a button on to cloth, pack a lunch, pour water from a thermos.
CARE AND RESPECT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
How to fold towels, use a dustpan and brush, how to wipe up a spill, how to plant a seed, clean a house plant, water a plant, how to clean a mirror, wash a vessel, clean a placemat, clean a vinyl apron, how to sweep.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS
How to grate the soap, mix coloured water, pour grain, package eggs, clip clothespins, colour salt, to pour water into a narrow neck bottle, discern contents of mystery bag (identification), how to weave a ribbon, stack coins in to coin wrappers.
LIFE SKILLS
How to wrap a present, pack an overnight bag, peel a carrot, how to butter a piece of bread, set a table, clean sunglasses, sharpen pencils, fold napkins with napkin rings, polish shoes, how to insert batteries, use a rolling pin and cookie cutters, roll a pair of socks, serve liquid with a ladle, how to dial 9-1-1-, fold a t-shirt, use clothes pegs, make orange juice, how to sift, sort garbage that can be recycled.
SOCIAL GRACES AND COURTESIES
The daily greeting politely draws a person’s attention, say “Please” and “Thank-You”, answer the telephone, blow your nose, how to cough and sneeze. Through lessons of grace and courtesy, a student is able to develop and refine social skills while building self-esteem and independence.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Through the use of a multitude of activities both direct and indirect, literacy and language develop speaking, listening, writing, reading and comprehension. To this end, a child first learns to write starting with practical life activity then advances through to his phonetic sounds, phonetic reading, and whole word recognition. Irregular or sight words, phonograms, and blends are introduced in the advanced stages that lead to fluent (total) reading.
SPECIFIC AREAS OF LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION AND DEMONSTRATION
SPOKEN LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES
THEMES
THE OUTLINE
Combining sandpaper letters and objects from the sound pouches
PHONEMIC AWARENESS:
CULTURE AND SCIENCE
Geography - starting with land, water, and air, and progressing to studying the world's different regions through photography, art, and geography puzzles.
History - by examining their own timeline from birth to present and their own family tree, children gain their first sense of history and the concept of time is brought to life.
Botany - assists the child in exploring the biological aspects of his environment. Helps the child develop an appreciation for the delicate balance of nature. The study of botany is child-centred using live plants as a piece of knowledge and interest catalyst.
Introducing the plant: parts of the plant, the root, the function of the root, parts of the stem, the function of the stem, parts of the leaf, parts of the flower, parts of the fruit, parts of the seed, growing plants outside
Zoology - children, by their very nature, are fascinated with animals. We learn about animals and to respect their needs, habits, and characteristics.
Science experiments - these activities are interesting and fun! They are all “hands on”. Prediction and analysis are incorporated into each experiment and all experiments are “teacher friendly”.
The magic mixture, vanishing sugars, disappearing water, how hard is ice, sink or float, volcanoes, sickly plants, coloured carnations, magnetic attraction, copper cleaning.
MATHEMATICS
Activities that incorporate the use of concrete materials. Children first learn to count to ten and systematically progress to solving complex addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division questions.
NUMBERS TO TEN
DECIMAL SYSTEM
THE FOUR OPERATIONS
ADDITION
SUBTRACTION
