Practice offers the opportunity to develop
deep concentration and control of movement
Pouring Exercises
Montessori Category: : Practical Life
As with many of the Practical Life activities, pouring allows
the child not only to acquire a useful practical skill but also encourages
a range of life skills such as concentration, control of movement, care
and responsibility. The equipment is scaled down to the child\'s size,
but is functional and provides a real life experience for the child.
The purpose of this activity is to enable:
* increase self-esteem and self-confidence through independence
* encourage the child to be an active and valued member of the community
* develop control of movement and concentration
* acquire the practical skill of pouring
Approximate age: 2 - 5 years with increased challenges and refinements as the child progresses.
Our Children's House
caters for children from three to five years old.
The children follow a full Montessori curriculum,
continuing the holistic child centred approach begun
in our Toddler Community.
Children are guided through a wide
range of activities, beginning with lots of hands on learning,
and moving at their own pace towards abstract ideas and concepts.
The 'Swirl' provides opportunities to explore
musical sounds outdoors
The nurturing environment
maintained by our confident team of teachers
provides the perfect conditions for children to explore, discover,
and become happy confident learners.
Our methods have proved
successful time and again,
with our children achieving both academic success
and high degrees of responsibility and self confidence.
A gradual progression from concrete to more
abstract concepts is a key feature of
the maths curriculum
|
The Teen Boards and Beads
Montessori Category: Maths (Group 3)
Initially the children work with just the beads to develop a concrete understanding
that the teen numbers are one '10' plus an extra quantity of units. Once the child is secure
with this concept the numeral board is introduced. The board consists of a series of printed number
'10s' over which the appropriate unit numeral card is inserted. The language to accompany the teens
is taught in parallel, first verbally, and then in written form.
The purpose of this activity
is to enable:
* build on the knowledge that the child has already acquired
* introduce in concrete form the concept of teen numbers being made up of tens and units
* introduce the language and sequence of the teen numbers
Approximate age:4, after the child has worked with all the group one
maths activities and has been introduced to the decimal system with the golden beads.
The photos here
give a sample of activities across the curriculum.
To gain a better insight into how we work make an appointment
to visit our school.
In the meantime, see below the photo story called, Emelia-Mae's day,
that describes one child's day in school.
|
The 'moveable alphabet'allows young children
to put phonic knowledge into practice even
before their writing skills have developed
|
The Large Moveable Alphabet
Montessori Category: Language
As children become confident with letter sounds they can use
the plastic letters to spell out words phonetically. The children are not hindered by needing
to write the letters at this stage, they can use the Moveable Alphabet to begin to express their
own thoughts and ideas quickly and easily. As the children become more confident at sounding and
blending the letters they are placing, reading emerges naturally. The letters can also be used to
explore and experiment with sounds, for instance finding out what happens when just one letter
sound is changed.
The purpose of this activity is to enable:
* self-expression
* exploration of phonics
* writing
* emerging reading
Approximate age: 4, after the child has shown confidence with the I-spy game
and sand paper letters.
Emelia-Mae's Day
This is Emelia-Mae's Day, she is four and attends our Children's House.
|
In the morning I go to the window to wave goodbye to my Mummy.
|
|
I change my shoes - I can put my slippers on by my self.
|
|
|
I have chosen the cylinder blocks. I'm doing all four blocks: that's 40
cylinders to fit back in. I have to concentrate hard.
Today when I'd finished I chose to do it all over again!
|
|
After all that work I want my snack.
This is me pouring my milk, I had yummy crackers too and sat with two of my friends while I ate it.
|
|
|
Mrs Jones asked me to choose something from the language shelf. I chose the pink cards.
I like to read the words and match them to the pictures - I can do them very quickly!
|
|
I chose the tri-nomial cube next. It's quite tricky to do and it
took me a long time to get it sorted out and to
build it back into the box but I felt really happy that I'd done it all by myself.
|
|
|
I used the metal insets to make patterns.
Today I chose the circle. I coloured the shapes using bright colours.
|
|
After that it was time for 'end group' . I got a mat and joined my friends.
Today we sang 'Incy Wincy Spider'.
|
|
|
Today I was a lunch server. I helped to put the chairs round the lunch tables and to set the tables.
|
|
It was hot today, so before I went outside I put my sun cream on!
|
|
|
I spent a lot of time on the rocker today. It was really fun.
|
|
I also found a buttercup, can you see it in my hand?
|
|
|
I was tired when I came back inside. I sat in the book corner and looked at some books.
Mrs Higgins came and read one to me. I chose a book about acorns.
|
|
Later on I pegged out some cloths on the drying rack.
The pegs are called 'cyclone pegs', I used two pegs on each cloth.
|
|
|
These are the sequence beads, I'm matching my beads against the card to check I got them right.
There are lots of different shapes, colours and sizes so I have to look carefully.
|
|
Now I'm doing the lace frame.
I was going to do the number rods but I've run out of time. I'll have to do them tomorrow.
|
|
|
That was my day!
My Grandad is here now so it's time for me to say 'Goodbye'. I hope you enjoyed my day, I did!
|
