Nursery Programme | Laying A Solid Foundation For Future Learning

Early Childhood

Nursery

The core curriculum at pre-school level is the Montessori Curriculum. Your child will work with Montessori materials and other educational resources, which will help him/her perfect their natural tools for learning, and also learn how to think, communicate, behave responsibly and become independent. Through the use of the Montessori materials, the basic skills for language and literacy, mathematics, knowledge and understanding of the world, creative development, personal and social skills including physical development are achieved. Your child will be treated with trust and respect, and encouraged to work out his/her own relationship, and also appreciate his/her environment by caring for, and learning to respect his/her natural world. Your child is thus prepared to make a smooth transition to the elementary school and other educational materials that will be used in future.

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CURRICULUM

In addition to encouraging your child to be independent, he/she is given the freedom to choose his or her work/activities in the different curriculum areas. Your child is introduced to Montessori materials within the prepared environment and shown how to respect and care for the environment and all things within it. Other activities such as singing, music and movement using percussion instruments and other forms of creativity are encouraged. Termly themes are also explored in class discussions, and inform planned activities for the children across the entire pre-school. Overall, the child is given the necessary foundation for work which the elementary school will build on. Subjects are categorized under the following major curriculum areas.

PRACTICAL LIFE ACTIVITIES

These are everyday living activities which afford the child the opportunity to imitate adults as he carries out daily tasks that adults consider ordinary, develop his motor skills, learn to care for himself and his environment and also develop social skills, grace and courtesy. Example of such activities include washing, dressing up, polishing, sweeping, opening and closing and such like. By carrying out these activities the child perfects his coordination, concentrates more effectively, works more efficiently and learns to observe more carefully.

MATHEMATICS

Montessori identifies the mathematical mind as one of the tendencies of the human being. Mathematics is all around us and we use numbers and engage in calculations in our daily encounters, without even realizing we are being mathematical. The Montessori mathematics curriculum employs the use of beautifully designed, precision, and graded concrete materials to help the child understand mathematical concepts from identifying number symbols, to quantifying, understanding the concept of zero, odd & even numbers, number bonds incorporating tens and teens, place values up to thousands, number operations - addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, up to fractions – all explored through the use of concrete materials with the child gradually and systematically moving towards abstraction.

LANGUAGE ARTS

The goal of the Montessori Language area is to support the child's natural process for acquiring and perfecting language. For the young child in the Montessori Early childhood classroom, language is something to be discovered and created rather than learned. The starting point is the provision of a language rich environment and a solid foundation for reading and writing through conversations, listening, speaking and activities for auditory and visual discrimination. The extensive curriculum includes handwriting, graded word building, word study/spelling, early grammar, descriptive, narrative & creative writing and literature. All of these are carried out through the use of concrete and teacher –created materials and resources, exciting games and activities, to sustain the child’s interest and make language learning enjoyable and fun for the child

Geography

Geography in the Montessori Early childhood classroom includes physical and cultural geography. It begins with learning simple directions and position of things, study of the earth, and extends to mapping of the world, extensive study of continents, countries, land and water forms and identification of flags, beginning with one’s own country and continent. The journey to becoming a Scientist has its humble beginnings in the Montessori early childhood classroom. Your child is introduced to the physical properties of substances like magnets and magnetism, floating and sinking materials, and encouraged to explore physical principles like friction, colour mixing, refraction with prism. Your child will be encouraged to conduct investigations, research and explore nature.

Study of Plants and Animals

Study of Plants and Animals within the Montessori environment begins with simple pairing exercises, naming and identifying the different parts of a plant, or the different animal families. Your child will learn about the different classifications of the plant and animal kingdom and the interdependence of living things on each other. Specific concrete materials, teacher created materials and planned activities will help your child reinforce these lessons. Through all these activities the child learns about the real world (the natural and man-made environment) exploring countries, food, customs, music, climate, language, fauna and flora. Above all, the child learns about love for all and appreciation and tolerance of all things and all people. He becomes a citizen of the world and understands his position in the circle of life.

Arts, crafts, music and movement

Arts, crafts, music and movement are not relegated in the Montessori classroom. Your child is encouraged to foster their imagination in creative ways, employing different forms of media to express themselves. Music and music making, using percussion instruments, elements of music – rhythm, tempo, and pitch with freestyle dance are all explored in music and movement. Art activities are planned based on explored themes, seasons, festivals and interests of the children. The focus is on the process the child goes through in exploring the activities and not on the product.

Age Section

The nursery programme is on application for children aged 2½ - 5 years

Locations

The program is available in all of locations. Check here for locations

School Hours

Nursery hours are 8:00am - 1:30pm