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| We offer an inter-disciplinary approach that empowers children to challenge themselves in a nurturing environment. Our aim is to enhance whole-brain learning and to encourage the development of multiple intelligences. Our approach combines the Montessori method and the more holistic project approach. We believethat children should engage in projects and activities based on their interests. The classroom lends itself to the learning experience with a constant source of materials, props and equipment with the teacher as a guide to help them along by asking questions, taking them to the next level, helping them make connections, facilitating interactions and so on. Through interaction with materials and others in a respectful environment, they learn that their ideas matter, and that people have different opinions and different likes and dislikes. Our teachers model acceptance of diversity, and encourage the children to respect these differences. Opportunities to imagine, to locate resources, to organize materials to fit together, to share ideas and to complete a chosen project, all serve to strengthen the connections between the two brain hemispheres, as well as the rest of the body. It is an important exercise in developing perseverance, and patience and listening and communicating skills. They also develop the ability to concentrate, observe, contemplate, reflect, hypothesis, imagine, wonder and celebrate! Montessori educators design activities with the aim to improve concentration and attention spans, visual discrimination, refinement of fine motor skills, indirect preparation for math and literacy skills, develop a love for order, maintain decorum in the class-room, develop and respect psychological boundaries, taking responsibility for the care of materials in the class-room etc. In a Montessori classroom, the children are usually busy investigating and thinking at a much deeper level than is possible in other settings. Through out the day children work in small groups, or one on one, within a framework of teacher-guided/children-directed activities. The classroom’s daily offerings also include opportunities for large motor development such as music and movement, ball games and nature walks and unstructured outdoor activities. Children at any age also need activities that help them develop community building and leadership skills. Essentially this involves in creating an environment that values each child and encourages contribution from all. Multi-cultural awareness and an environmental focus serve to round out our students educational experience, by weaving lots of opportunities through out the day, like storytelling, music, festivals, and creating arts and crafts from different countries, and reading about the lives of children from other parts of the world. An environmental awareness is crucial for raising children in the 21st century: it is very important to understand and appreciate the inter-dependence of all life-forms including human, and the need to live lives that reflect that awareness, as well as a sense of responsibility for the well-being of our planet. Our day, more or less, follows this schedule: 9:00am – Free choice 9:20am – Morning circle and small-group projects (Math/Literacy/Thinking activities) 10:00am - Outside time 10:30am - Small-group project followed by independent work choice 11:30am - Music and movement/show-and-tell/yoga/foreign language 12:00pm - Lunch (Morning session ends) 12:30pm - Story-time 1:00pm - Outside time 1:30pm - Afternoon circle, followed by small-group project, and independent work choice. 3:00pm - Out-side time (Afternoon session ends) From 3:30pm - 6:00pm is after-school care. Children engage in activities using different props and materials to build and play with one another. Different kinds of art materials are also available for creative and artistic endeavors. |
An Integrated Approach to Educating the Whole Child |