Early Learning – Balanced Montessori

Our balanced Montessori curriculum offers children a full authentic Montessori education with a balance of traditional educational experiences. This balance helps to ensure a seamless entry into Kindergarten. Our full day programs are complemented by weekly enrichment sessions. We incorporate the well known award winning music program, Kindermusik which is dedicated to using the power of music to help children grow during the years most critical to brain development. Our Dynamic Art program incorporates Arts and Crafts and an Art Education program geared toward learning the styles of famous Artists. The Licensed Fitness program focuses on inspiring and empowering children to see fitness as fun, playful, and lifelong as well as build motor skills and confidence for life. We also offer Dance with Connie Parsons School of Dance which provides opportunities for boys and girls to experience an introduction to different types of dance and movement as well as participate in the year in the year end recital at the Arts + Culture Centre.

A Montessori Education with a balance of traditional education, in addition to a bonus of Fine Arts; provides an educational program of excellence tailored to fit the unique needs of individual children in a multi age setting. The goals of Montessori education are to cultivate each child’s natural desire to learn, acquire and master skills, learn responsibility, to cooperate and foster strong, positive feelings about themselves and others.

A Montessori Education addresses the total child developing social skills, emotional growth, physical coordination, and cognitive preparation, within a thoughtfully designed and prepared environment.

We believe that children learn best in an enriched, supportive environment through exploration, discovery and creativity with the guidance and encouragement of professionally trained and caring educators.

Classrooms are prepared with a wealth of stimulating, educational materials selected and designed to meet the needs of the individuals it serves. There are a range of materials both in variety and level of development to allow multi aged children to progress through the curriculum as their skills develop with an educator guiding them each step of the way.

Family Grouping

The groups are composed of children ages; 1.5 to 3 years, 2.9 to 4 years and 3 to 5 years. This allows for peer teaching, broad social interactions, individual differences in learning style and pace, and creates a social community of family. It provides the youngest students with a graded series of role models and the older students with peer teaching opportunities for reinforcement of learning. Family grouping offers children of multiple ages an opportunity to learn and excel at their own pace.

Teacher

Our educators receive extensive training in the area of Montessori education and methodology. Our Montessori teachers are trained facilitators in the classroom, always ready to assist and direct. Their purpose is to stimulate the child’s enthusiasm for learning and to guide it, without interfering with the child’s natural desire to learn and become independent based on his or her own unique needs and capabilities. Our educators also use their expertise to design learning experiences that encourage critical thinking, creativity and active learning based on children’s interests and developmental needs.

Individualized and Group Instruction

With small group and individualized instruction each child learns and develops at her/his own pace through the use of materials and lessons introduced by trained staff. The integrated curriculum is introduced sequentially and at the developmental level of each individual child, allowing every child to work to capacity and at their ability level. Traditional group instruction will also be incorporated into the child’s daily activities allowing children an opportunity to learn together.

Hands-on Approach To Learning

The use of educational materials for early learning is an integral part of the program for all ages. We believe that children learn by doing, therefore lessons for math, language and all subject areas include hands-on materials for use by the student. Everything in a Montessori classroom has a specific use or purpose. A quality Montessori classroom has a busy, productive atmosphere where joy and respect abound. Within such an enriched environment, freedom, responsibility, social and intellectual development spontaneously flourish!

Our Early Learning programs include classrooms well equipped to stimulate and educate young children in the areas:

The Educators at Early Achievers focus on ensuring that young children are exposed to literacy-rich environments and receive developmentally appropriate literacy instruction. By focusing on the child’s development, teachers are able to cater to the individual needs of each child reinforcing school readiness skills in listening, speaking, Early reading and writing.

Cultural subjects encompass History, Geography and Social Studies. Concepts are presented through photographs, videos, maps, globes and stories to introduce children to our community, environment, and the cultures in our world. Hands on experiences are emphasized in order for children to experience a study of the earth and its natural phenomena.

Actively searching for buried treasure, tip toeing through the tulips or visiting the Land of the Fairies are just part of the Acting Out Drama Classes. Drama in a child’s life gives many opportunities to use imagination, to act, and explore in a fun way. Through individual and group activities, Early participation in Drama develops confidence, self expression, and language skills. Drama also enhances Early social skills and creative learning. Our Acting Out classes serve as a wonderful introduction to acting and a lifelong enjoyment of creative arts.

Our dynamic Art program incorporates Arts and Crafts and an Art Education program geared toward learning about famous Artists.

Arts and Crafts

The Arts and Crafts program focuses on the development of the creative mind. Children work on cutting, gluing and fine motor skills to help prepare for school in a fun enjoyable way.

Art Education

After learning the inspiration and techniques of each Artist the children are ready for the real fun where they are guided through their own art project following the Artist techniques. They discover their own creativity while developing confidence in their own unique abilities.

These Montessori exercises help to develop control and coordination of movement, an awareness of the environment, orderly thought patterns, work habits and responsibility. The direct aim of these exercises is to improve and refine the fine motor skills of the hand and arm muscles in preparation for writing skills. These exercises indirectly develop independence and self-confidence which will help children master their daily life activities later in life.

The scope of our Science Curriculum includes the introduction to Botany, Zoology, Experiments and more. Children by nature are active learners and this “hands – on” approach to Science provides opportunities to take curious minds a step further toward analytical thinking. Science activities help to encourage children to approach their environment with observation, questioning and discovery to give them the confidence to make their own conclusions.

Music and Movement

This program is designed to channel children’s natural enthusiasm for music and movement into productive learning experiences. Skills are reinforced in the areas of counting, sequencing, pattern recognition and relationships reinforced between rhythm and math. Results in improved attention span, self-expression, self–esteem and music appreciation are identified.

Kindermusik

We’ll laugh, play, sing, dance, explore, share, and learn our way through Kindermusik class. Kindermusik promotes early literacy, reading, and math skills and impacts language, social and emotional development. It speaks the language of children and opens them up to a lifelong love of music and learning.

These Montessori exercises aid the development and refinement of the senses by providing organized opportunities for contact with the environment. This moves the child from concrete understanding to the ability to think abstractly and logically. Building imaginations teach children to use their sense of touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell as a key to the basic understanding of reality.

Math skills are reinforced using concrete, perceptual – based materials which bridge the gap between abstract mathematical concepts and logical thinking. Children participate in activities developing skills in counting, sorting, patterning, problem solving, logical thinking and more. By using hands on Montessori materials, like rods, beads, spindles, cubes, counters, etc, children learn counting, addition, multiplication, and division concepts in a meaningful way.

During suitable weather conditions; children will participate in outdoor learning and enrichment. The outdoors offers many opportunities for teaching children in a natural setting. Not only do children receive fresh air and physical exercise, they also learn important developmental skills, such as fine, gross motor and social skills in a fun environment.