TWO & THREE YEAR OLDS
The biggest principle of this class is this--that if a child feels loved, and feels safe, they'll learn.
Our two & three year-old program is designed to lead the child toward independence, social awareness and respect of others.
There is a structure to the class, yet there is no pressure. There are group lessons, group activities, songs and circle time. And there are also plenty of 'individual lessons', a staple of the Montessori idea.
In the individual time, children choose their 'work' from dozens options, and work on them on a small carpet 'matt'. The matt itself becomes a multi-faceted lesson--they work with one thing at a time, they put it away when they're done, and they don't intrude on another child's work.
Every work item has an underlying lesson, whether it be a motor skill or math or brain organization. We "teach" them how to work with each item, so these lesson takes root. Montessori's analogy was that 'it's not productive to let a child use a violin as a hammer... Let's teach them the basics of how to play it, so they start learning fo the hey c"
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
Through activities like song and dance, walking up a ramp and down stairs and jumping on a mini tramp, children work not only on gross motor skills, but they also practice making good choices, and they practice respect for others and for their environment. We tailor these activities so they also help organize neurological development.
OTHER SKIILLS
We focus on colors, numbers, letter sound recognition, beginning reading and beginning writing. We focus on care of their immediate environment by doing things like washing tables, watering plants, feeding the bunny, sweeping the floor, and putting their work away.
MANNERS, GRACE & COURTESY
We work on “please”, “thank you”, “no thank you”, “you’re welcome”, etc. We work on hand and face washing, combing hair and brushing teeth.
COORDINATION
We work on hand-eye coordination with bead stringing, pegs, puzzles, gluing, folding, pouring, transferring with a spoon, grasping, sweeping, cutting, etc. We also have Dressing Frames which have zippers, buttons, velcro, snaps, hook & eye, laces, pins, etc.
LANGUAGE
Vocabulary is taught constrantly, through weather discussions, story books, finger plays and songs. We also have weekly Spanish lessons.
TO JUMP TO THE 3-6 CLASS...
We work with parents to decide when to move a child up to the 3-6 class. Around age three, there is a jump in focus, maturity
AVERAGE DAILY SCHEDULE
7:00am-8:00am Optional Early Morning session for working parents (extra cost)
8:00am-8:30am Before school, supervised free time
9:00am-11:30am 'Circle Time'--songs, visual phonics, group lessons (things like calendar, Pledge of Allegiance, etc.)
'Montessori Work Time where children choose from any of the available work--choosing from the ones they've been given a lesson. more about Montessori methods
11:30am-12:15pm Lunch
12:15pm-3:15pm More Circle Time, Montessori Work Time and outside 'Work Time' (learning to weed, trim bushes, plant flowers, etc.), and recess time
3:15pm End of basic school day
3:15pm-5:45pm Optional "After School" time for children with working parents (extra cost).
