Devt-Cont

Our Curriculum

Montessori Toddler Program	Montessori PlayGroup Program	Montessori WorkGroup Program
Montessori Phonic Program	Montesorri Comprehension Program
Montessori Creative Writing Program	Montessori Mathematics Program	Montessori Mathematics Program

Montessori education is a flow of experience; it builds on the continuing self-construction of the child--daily, weekly, yearly--for the duration of the program. Although Montessori schools are divided into multi-age environment for toddler, playgroup, workgroup -- the prepared environment introduces an uninterrupted series of learning passages. The prepared environment described in this section, along with their physical dimensions, desired outcomes, and documented results, carefully reflect the natural learning characteristics of the child at each stage of development. In Maria Montessori's metaphorical language, "the successive levels of education must conform to the successive personalities of the child."

The prepared environment and the role of the directress in the classroom distinguishes Montessori from other educational approaches. The logical, sequential nature of the environment provides orderly structures that guide discovery: Theorems are discovered, not presented; spelling rules are derived through recognition of patterns, not merely memorized. Every aspect of the curriculum involves creative invention and careful, thoughtful analysis.

The Montessori Toddler Program

The Parent-Toddler Class provides an environment in which parents and children interact alongside a Montessori-prepared adult who uses the environment to facilitate their interaction. Caregivers are taught how to observe what their toddlers do in order to know what materials to offer them. The parent and child attend a one hour classroom session once/twice/thrice a week.

The Montessori Playgroup Program

In a small and intimate group of children and a trained directress for a two hours session. The environment conforms to the physical needs of the children, both in the size of the furnishings and in the opportunities for motor development. There is minimal furniture, tiled floors, maximum natural light, selected art placed low on the walls, and defined spaces to challenge co-ordination of movement. Children learn best through play and therefore the playgroup exposes them to developmentally age appropriate material to foster positive self-concept.

The Parent-Toddler class and the Playgroup use the same environment that
has the following objectives:

Enhance creativity & problem solving skills

Develop motivation to learn

Develop good social skills

Promote motor skills Activities include:

Practical Life

Sensorial Activities

Games

Story Telling

Social Skills

Physical Play

Maths Activities

Cultural Activities

Phonetics

Nursery Rhymes

Art & Craft

The Montessori Workgroup Program

Children choose their work from among the self-correcting materials displayed on open shelves, and they work in specific work areas. Over a period of time, the children develop into a "normalized community," working with high concentration and few interruptions. Normalization is the process whereby a child moves from being undisciplined to self-disciplined, from disordered to ordered, from distracted to focused, through work in the environment. The process occurs though repeated work with materials that captivate the child's attention.

In the Montessori preschool, five distinct areas constitute the prepared environment:

Practical life enhances the development of task organization and cognitive order through

care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and coordination of

physical movement.

The sensorial area enables the child to order, classify, and describe sensory impressions in
relation to length, width, temperature, mass, color, pitch, etc.

Mathematics makes use of manipulative materials to enable the child to internalize concepts
of number, symbol, sequence, operations, and memorization of basic facts.

Language arts includes oral language development, written expression, reading, the study
      of grammar, creative dramatics, and children's literature. Basic skills in writing and reading
      are developed through the use of sandpaper letters, alphabet cut-outs, and various
      presentations allowing children to link sounds and letter symbols effortlessly and to express
      their thoughts through writing.

Cultural activities expose the child to basics in geography, history, and life sciences. Music,
art, and movement education are part of the integrated cultural curriculum.

The Workgroup environment unifies the psycho-social, physical, and academic functioning of the child. Its important task is to provide students with an early and general foundation that includes a positive attitude towards school, inner security and a sense of order, pride in the physical environment, abiding curiosity, a habit of concentration, habits of initiative and persistence, the ability to make decisions, self-discipline, and a sense of responsibility to other members of the class, school, and community. This foundation will enable them to acquire more specialized knowledge and skills throughout their school career.

The Montessori Phonics Program

With Montessori-graded phonics material, your child will learn through recognising the letter sounds and make connection between a written symbol (a letter or group of letters) and a specific sound. Phonics is the very foundation of good reading and pronunciation.

Learning the sounds of alphabet, three letter phonetic words, Spelling and reading

Learning consonant digraph, Blends & special letter combination, Reading of 4 to 5 letters words

Learning phonograms, long vowels, exception rule, Silent sounds and reading

The Montessori Comprehension Program

This program teaches basic skills in reading and comprehension and enhances critical thinking skills, imagination and love for reading for the development of creative expression in the written word.

Revision of Phonics through worksheets Basic grammar rules Noun Verb Adjective Article
Adverb Conjunction Singular & Plural Masculine & Feminine Comprehension Passages
Cloze Passages, etc.

The Montessori Creative Writing Program

This program is designed to help children to express their ideas creatively. Children are encouraged to write about a wide variety of topics. There are many exercises which include:

Basic recognition of sentences Construction of sentences Punctuation Paragraphing
How a story is developed Using descriptive words and some poetry Grammer, etc.

The Montessori Mathematics Program

Children learn basic Maths concepts through play. The “Hands On” approach helps children apply such concepts in their daily life. Well-researched Montessori Mathematical Apparatus present mathematical concepts in simple and logical ways to facilitate easier and faster grasp of concepts and achieve better retention.

Numbers Clock Number Bonds Shapes Addition Subtraction Multiplication
Division Decimal System Fractions Skip Counting Odd/Even Numbers Ordinal Numbers Money

The Montessori Primary Mathematics Program

This program prepares the children for Primary One Mathematics syllabus. It is best suited for children who have completed the Montessori Mathematics program or those who will be attending Primary One next year.

Numbers Clock Number Bonds Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division
Decimal System Fractions Skip Counting Odd/Even Numbers "More Than"/"Less Than" Concept Money

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