Our Story

A Child must develop his own way of doing these activities so that movements become real and not synthetic.

During the child’s sensitive period between birth and 6, the child is constructing the inner building blocks of his person. It is therefore important for the child to participate in activities to prepare him for his environment, that allow him to grow independently and use his motor skills, as well as allow the child to analyze difficulties he may have in the exercise and problem solve successfully.

Montessori also saw the child’s need for order, repetition, and succession in movements. Practical life exercises also help to aid the child to develop his coordination in movement, his balance, and his gracefulness in his environment as well as his need to develop the power of being silent.

The child will need to experience different modes of language and to hear and tell stories.Most importantly, the child needs to feel free and encouraged to communicate with others.

With the child’s absorbent mind, the child by age 6 will have reached the 3^rd point of consciousness in language where he understands that sounds and words have meaning and that these symbols can be used in writing. He/She will be able to express themselves in writing, he/she will be able to read with ease and have full comprehension of the thoughts of others.

To help the child is his/her development in language, the Montessori classroom is designed to help the child reach the 3^rd period of consciousness. Because the learning of language Is not done through subjects as in a normal classroom, the child is learning at his/her own rhythm. This allows the child to concentrate on the learning of each important step in language so that each progressive step is done easily and without any thought on the part of the child. The special material also plays an important role in aiding the child to develop the powers of communication and expression, of organization and classification, and the development of thought.

Children can relate and understand cultural diversity and ultimately come to appreciate differences between humankind and compassion for one another.

The large wooden Puzzle Maps are one of the most popular activities in the classroom. Children can move each puzzle piece by grasping little knobs (thereby also developing their pincer grip to support writing later on). The introductory map of the world has a separate puzzle piece for each continent. Following a sensorial exploration of the puzzle map, they learn the names of the continents, countries within, their flags, languages etc.

Science in the Montessori classroom allows the children to explore and work with hands-on experiments that will cultivate a lifelong interest in nature and discovering more about the physical properties of matter of our world, for example, the concepts of sink and float, magnetic and non-magnetic are taught through materials.

Through the study of Botany, the children learn to identify plants through the shapes of leaves (what they look like, how to take care of them, how they grow, etc.) so that they may appreciate nature in a more organic way.

The study of Zoology shows children animals from all around the world (where they live, their unique eco-systems, what they eat, how they’re classified, etc.).

Lastly, the study of Music allows the children a very unique opportunity to express themselves. Music is explored through The Bells, a Montessori material where the child develops and refines the auditory discrimination of pitch. Children progress from learning each note, to learning simple songs.

Culture activities facilitate children’s cognitive, social and emotional development in a constructive way.

Manipulatives allow the child to use their sense of touch to grasp mathematical concepts of quantity. Materials are generally made of wood and are painted pleasing colours, when necessary. They have weight to them, which helps small hands and muscles understand that 1 is less than 10 and 1000 is more than 100. Smooth wooden rods and heavy cubes work to ensure that the child develops a concrete understanding of quantity.

Some materials are made of glass. These shiny, glass beads appeal to the tiny fingers that will count them precisely and handle them carefully. From the youngest to the oldest child, the colourful glass beads hold their appeal through the years. Younger children use them for simple counting lessons: single units, teen numerals, and tens to one hundred.  Older children have lessons on skip counting, addition, subtraction, and even square numbers and cubed numbers; all with the same shiny beads!