The Montessori Curriculum (Les Petites Souris, Les Papillons and Les Dauphins)
Practical life activities provide opportunities for the children to practise life skills such as caring for the classroom, using child-sized brushes and dusters, watering plants, and caring for pets. The children are also encouraged to look after their personal hygiene and that of their environment through hand washing, polishing, dusting, cloth washing, and activities such as cleaning tables, sweeping and mopping. Working alone and together the children develop practical and social skills enabling them to feel capable, self-reliant members of the community.
The Montessori sensorial materials refine and enhance children’s sense perception allowing them to gain maximum stimulus from their explorations of the world around them. Children use construction games, puzzles, and listening activities, to investigate concepts such as big and small, light and heavy, or long and short. There are many opportunities to explore colours, textures, shapes and patterns. These sensorial experiences enhance children's powers of observation and discrimination, broaden their vocabulary and contribute to their later understanding of formal educational concepts.
Creative
With the wide range of materials we provide, the children are free to innovate, to explore information and in so doing, to assimilate new concepts of seeing and understanding. Imaginative exploration spans all areas of classroom experience and children’s exposure to creative art is enhanced by our carefully graded introductions to art techniques and art styles. The creative curriculum involves the fusion of visual arts (drawing, painting, modelling), literature (stories, poems, the spoken word), music and movement, dance and dramatic arts (role play, story acting). Our visiting music specialist complements the curriculum. By exposing children to all manner of arts experiences we ensure that they acquire the tools to make relationships with others. This becomes an additional sophisticated means of communication on the path to confident self-expression. The more language tools they possess, the more articulate the communication and the greater the use of the imagination.
Cultural
The Montessori cultural curriculum introduces a plethora of activities that develop the children’s understanding of the wider world. Children use globes, puzzle maps and artefact boxes to underpin activities which build their understanding of other countries, cultures and people. There are many activities that teach them to match, classify and name the elements and species of the natural world using picture and name cards as well as relevant models.
The practical skills that we encourage in plant growing and caring for pets help to form a bridge between their knowledge of the immediate environment and the wider world. Our garden areas are an extension of our classroom and the children enjoy planting seeds, tending to flowers and digging in our vegetable beds. The children take an active part in composting, weeding and recycling, all contributing to their enhanced understanding of their natural environment.
ICT
The nursery is resourced with computers which the children enjoy using for educational games as well as for finding out about areas of interest. The children are able to record their world using digital cameras and video recorders too. The classrooms are also equipped with CD players which the children enjoy sharing with numerous sets of head sets- listening to stories or music of their choice.
Language
Children are free to converse with peers during play. The vertical grouping of 2½ – 5 year olds means that a wide range of conversation is facilitated. Our cultural curriculum of activities in geography, history, religious festivals, and cultural awareness and environmental studies extends the children’s scope for discussion and is constantly introducing vocabulary and ideas. Children have free access to a library corner. They can request a story at any time during the session and group story times are a regular occurrence. Staff discuss storylines and
characters with the children and there are group activities during which the children role play characters from their favourite books.
Circle games, rhyming songs, clapping rhythms, poetry and all manner of musical genre extend the child’s individual listening skills. As children show an interest in alphabet sounds and letters they are guided to progress through the literacy curriculum step by step. The Gower School offers an extensive range of early reading materials and children build a solid base in the Language area.
Mathematics
We recognise that mathematics is underpinned by an understanding of relationships in the environment and being able to express them in mathematical terms. Our math materials (or teaching aids), like the number rods and spindle boxes, are simple and interesting and provide step-by-step learning. They provide a range of counting and sorting games in which the children explore the quantities and eventually numerals. They are also self correcting, which means that children can see at a glance if they have made a mistake and can put it right without a teacher's help. This enables them to progress at their own rate and understand each stage thoroughly before they move on to the next stage.
All the Montessori maths materials provide a concrete understanding of mathematical concepts, which later move onto the abstract. At this stage the children work with very visual, concrete learning materials.
The principles and philosophy of Dr Maria Montessori underpin our educational approach. To find out more, and to read our full curriculum, please ask our Head of Nursery next time you visit The Gower School, or attend one of our regular parents workshops.