Our classroom will be set up in areas for each child to discover when they wish. They may choose from the areas of Sensory, Practical Life, Botany, Zoology, Art, Music, and the Book Corner. Each individual area will support the developmental needs of the child. Everything is hands-on for the littlest ones. They can discover the objects and puzzles feeling their weight, texture, size, and color. The older ones can manipulate the objects further to solve puzzles, trace, draw, and build, both individually or together. We'll begin the morning with music, dancing, and a short thematic unit discussion about something interesting on our shelves. The children will then have the opportunity to move about the classroom working on whatever activities they wish. After snack time, they'll be free to explore with the outdoor playhouse, swing set, water sensory bins and water wall, play with our bean bag shapes, or
return to the classroom to finish up their work for the day.
So the question is, what do they want to do all morning?
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| Photo compliments of Play, Create, Explore |
In Zoology, the shelves contain puzzles on a few of the animals for playing, naming, and classifying. We'll also study a thematic unit on the life cycle of a frog and a butterfly (no dissecting needed). They'll be able to play with a representation of each stage in the cycle, put them in their re-created habitats, and even get to hold a real butterfly and release it!
Practical Life- This is Montessori at its finest. Children love the concentrated fine motor movements that make-up our everyday life. To foster these, children will have the opportunity to tweeze, pour, scrub, polish, transfer, and sweep with all the tools made just their size. These lessons will also promote the care of themselves and their environment, both in and out of the classroom.
Sensory- Montessori believed to tune the senses, that one must be able to isolate and study them. Among some of the activities, children can enjoy the fun activities of matching the sound cylinders and smelling bottles, grading the knobbed cylinders by weight and size, discover the names of 3-D objects and construct their own, learn how many shapes can be made by using triangles, or just build a tall tower.
Art- In addition to the crafting that can be done within each area, trays will be available for crafting a butterfly, drawing, tracing shapes, cutting, playing with play dough, and stamping. Book Corner- When they'd like a quiet moment, they can read a book, re-inact a nursery rhyme, or make their own story with our felt board.
Sound fun?
There's also two ways as a parent you can take part in this experience. You can subscribe to our interactive feed where you will be privy to a logbook of your child's daily activities and pictures at a small additional cost, or if you'd like to help us for a day, volunteer to be a room mom.
