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(Care available all year
around)
The Montessori
Casa Curriculum
(3 - 6 year
olds)
General
Description
The Program is based on 5 basic areas of learning.
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1. Personal Independence and Care of the
Environment
2. Education of the Senses
3. Language/French
4. Math
5. Cultural Studies |
Children are placed in family age groups of
three years, e.g. 3, 4 & 5 year olds work
together, and the full curriculum is designed to
be completed over a 3 year period. It is best if
children join the program before 4 years old. |
1.
Personal Independence and Care of the Environment (Practical
Life Exercises)
Children have an innate desire to become
independent and take care of their own personal
needs. The Montessori curriculum supports this
inner drive by providing an environment and the
necessary materials to support the path to
independence.
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Exercises in personal hygiene
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Dressing
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Care of clothing
These are an integral part of the early
childhood Montessori classroom. Activities to
support the many skills young children need to
accomplish on the way towards independence are
all taught as specific lessons, with their own
set of materials, e.g. dressing frames,
hand-washing exercises. In order to work
independently in a mixed age group, children are
taught the rules of the classroom and how to
move and work successfully within it.
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Carrying and handling the many Montessori
materials
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Using floor mats
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Putting away work
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Looking after classroom pets and plants
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Taking care of books
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Preparing refreshments
These skills are all
taught as separate exercises which are designed
to give children the freedom and confidence they
need in order to work at their own individual
pace in the classroom. Exercises in grace and
courtesy are presented daily during "circle
time" and in small informal group lessons. The
children learn how to behave in certain
situations and acquire the social skills
essential for everyday living in society.
The children develop a sense of personal
dignity, an understanding of their own culture,
and an awareness and respect for people of all
ages and traditions. Having the appropriate
social and language skills enables a child to
engage positively in the classroom, community
and beyond. Early conflict resolution skills
are taught and attention is given to making good
choices.
Exercises are designed to teach the child how
to:
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Ask politely, Apologize, Offer help to others,
Shake hands, Work cooperatively, Walk with a
partner, Behave in public places, Wait one's
turn, Introduce oneself, Make eye contact,
Welcome visitors, Offer refreshments, Behave at
the table.
Through the social interaction involved in
carrying out these exercises, the children
develop the ability to work harmoniously in a
carefully prepared environment. Exercises for
the development of fine and gross motor skills
are carefully developed as part of the Practical
Life curriculum.
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Rolling mats, Threading, Spooning, Carrying
chairs, Carrying large materials to a work
space, Pouring liquids, Cutting, Sweeping,
Walking carefully.
These activities and many others develop
dexterity and coordination, and are closely
linked to other areas of the curriculum. The
Practical Life component of a Montessori early
childhood curriculum is the underlying
foundation for success in the other four areas
of the curriculum. Each task allows the child
to gain independence and to develop a sense of
order, concentration, responsibility and
coordination of movement. Children gain enormous
freedom and confidence to work successfully,
both independently and cooperatively.
The future success of the Elementary Montessori
environment is based in this core foundation of
learning skills.
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2.
Education of the Senses (Sensorial Materials) Early
Childhood (Casa)
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The Montessori Sensorial curriculum allows the
child to discriminate and order the impressions
that have entered through each of his senses.
Scientifically designed materials that isolate
each sense, facilitate in the development of the
intellect through hands-on exploration.
The child learns to separate and classify forms,
colours, textures, tastes and smells.
Exercises in this area refine the senses and
develop skills in thinking, judging,
concentrating, comparing and sequencing. The
materials offer unlimited opportunities for the
development of vocabulary and the essential
development of dexterity that will lead to
writing and reading.
The Sensorial curriculum is divided into the
following areas:
Visual Sense
Children learn to discriminate by size, length,
dimension, colour, similarity and difference.
Tactile Sense
Children learn to discriminate by touch. They
match sandpaper and fabrics of varying textures
according to their similarities. They order
material from rough to smooth and learn to
contrast and compare.
Auditory Sense
Children continue the process of matching,
ordering, contrasting and comparing, this time
using various sounds and instruments. In
addition, the school has a Music-of-the-Month
program where a different classical composer is
studied each month. The Musikgarten program is
also available to the Casa children as an extra
curricular activity.
Complex Senses (Weight, Heat, Shape, Smell,
Taste)
Children explore all of the above qualities by
using carefully designed materials and exercises
which sharpen their senses at a time when they
have a particular, developmental interest
(sensitive period) in this work. The Sensorial
exercises are designed to prepare the child for
more complex learning in Language, Math and
Cultural Studies. |
3. Language Curriculum Early
Childhood (Casa)
Language in the Montessori early
childhood curriculum focuses on the following areas:
a) Oral Language
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Listening
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Speaking
b)
Written Language
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Reading
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Writing
a) The
oral language curriculum is designed to meet the young
child’s innate need to acquire language. Significant
emphasis is placed on building vocabulary and oral
competency. Through the use of the Montessori materials,
children acquire a rich vocabulary for labeling, describing,
comparing and contrasting their environment and the people
in it. Precise terminology is used. The following is a
brief description of the general for reading.
After
the children’s speech becomes acute and they have been
introduced to and understand the preliminary activities, the
children begin what we call the “sandpaper letters”. The
sand paper letters are in cursive and they are shown to the
children in a multi-sensorial fashion. The children will
hear, feel and say the sound. When the children are able to
recognize approximately 75% of their sandpaper letters they
are shown the moveable alphabet. The children will make 3,
4 and higher phonetic sounds, and do many other activities
with this and similar material. When they are able to read
back the sounds they have made they are introduced to formal
reading. They are shown 3, 4 and higher phonetic words
which are shown in various progressions that eventually lead
to books. The children are introduced to phonograms (“oo”
for example) in the same fashion. There are some words
that simply must be remembered and these are introduced as
“puzzle” words through what we call a three period lesson.
After this, the children MAY be introduced to many other
advanced activities including grammar and sentence analysis
depending on their level and ability. This activity is
also in the Elementary classes.
b)
Written language is introduced to children at about 4 years
of age. Skills are taught separately by careful use of
specially designed materials. The children start with
creativity and design with the metal insets. This activity
helps with their manual dexterity, creativity and design and
also introduces them to the 10 basic geometric shapes.
These
exercises, when presented in sequence, lead the child to
initial levels of competence in reading and writing skills.
Literacy skills develop rapidly as the child’s own inner
drive to learn is supported by a carefully prepared program
designed to meet this natural stage of heightened
awareness.
4. French - Montessori Early
Childhood Curriculum (Casa)
The
Montessori French curriculum allows for the French assistant
to speak mostly in French to the children. Since pre-school
children are in an absorbent stage for language, the
children are absorbing the vocabulary and the nuances of the
language through consistent everyday conversation with the
French speaking assistant.
On
completion of the Early Childhood curriculum (Casa), at a
minimum the child is expected to be able to respond to
French greetings.
5. Math Montessori Early
Childhood (Casa)
The
Montessori Early Childhood Math curriculum is firmly based
on learning through experience. Children use a wide variety
of carefully constructed materials to lead them to an
understanding of the value and sequence of the numbers 1 to
10. From there they are introduced to larger amounts and
learn the concept of making groups of tens, hundreds and
thousands (the decimal system).
Number
notation and place value are taught as the child develops an
understanding of number concepts.
Four
and five year olds are introduced to the basic operations:
addition, multiplication, subtraction and division, at a
concrete level so that they experience what these activities
really mean.
Gradually the children move towards an abstract
understanding of the concepts. The children will begin
with the number rods and work with various activities which
will help internalize the numbers from 1 – 10. Once this
has been achieved the children are introduced to higher
numbers up to 9,000. They are shown the concrete
counterparts to the numbers and begin adding, subtracting,
multiplying and dividing larger numbers (4 digits) with the
use of the materials. The rest of the many materials in the
class assist the children in slowly abstracting the concepts
so they will ultimately not need to rely on the aid of the
materials. There is material in each class that introduce
the children to squaring and cubing (this is an advanced
piece of work that is also in the Elementary class). The
rate at which all materials are shown to the children is
dependent on their ability as each child is different.
Geometry is introduced in the Early Childhood program
through the use of materials which are classified according
to qualities, e.g. “These shapes have three sides. They are
called triangles.” “The four sides on these shapes are all
the same size. They are called squares.”
The
child learns to discriminate, classify and name circles,
squares, rectangles and polygons, always using materials as
a guide.
Fractions are introduced again in concrete form and an
introduction to the concept of equal parts of a whole lay
the foundation for further work in the Elementary level.
6. Cultural Studies Early
Childhood (Casa)
The
Montessori Early Childhood program is based on an integrated
study of Science, the Social Sciences and the Arts.
In
keeping with the Montessori philosophy of education, the
children first experience general rules of the universe,
e.g. the division of land and water. These are gradually
broken down into smaller parts: continents/oceans, provinces
and territories of Canada.
Stories
of animals and children from other lands help the children
to understand fundamental needs and how these are influenced
by climate, environment and lifestyle.
Cultural differences and similarities are explored through
music, dance, costume and food. Festivals and traditions,
e.g. Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Divali and St. Patrick’s
Day are celebrated through the arts, stories and geography.
Simple
science experiments that demonstrate the qualities of
matter: sink/float, magnetic/non-magnetic, solid/liquid and
living/non-living are made by the children as part of the
study of their environment.
Weather
observations and experiments help them to appreciate the
variety of clothing, homes, and foods that exist to meet
people’s needs.
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Extra Events and Activities
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Piano
(Oct-May)
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Ballet (Oct- May)
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Karate (Oct-May)
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Soccer,
Basketball, Floor Hockey, T-ball (8 week
lunch or after school sessions)
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Pizza Days
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Class Trips (With parent volunteers in a
bus)
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Animals/Science and Special Events visit the
classroom.
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Holiday and Birthday Celebrations
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Parent Volunteer Groups
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Grandparents’
Day
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Parent Nights
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Interviews and Observations
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Report Cards
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Parent Education Evenings
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Newspaper Articles written about Blaisdale Montessori
Schools Casa (Pre-school) program.
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