Children's House Montessori
Casa Program
Curriculum:
The Montessori curriculum for 3- to 6-year-olds (usually referred to as Primary or Casa) provides the child with an environment that is stimulating and encourages independence. The Casa program is a three-year program. It is not meant as preparation for traditional kindergarten. Casa is intended to replace both junior and senior kindergarten. Therefore, students who enroll in the Casa program are expected to remain for all three years. Children are expected to start Casa in the year they turn age 3 and stay in the program until the year they turn 6.
The program can be divided into five areas:
Practical Life
This area contains activities to assist the child in their strive for functional independence. Here, the child will perform purposeful activities (dusting, washing, polishing, etc.) that help him/her feel as though they are a purposeful member of society, as well as developing and improving their gross and fine muscular coordination, hand-eye coordination, and length of concentration. As well, these exercises help the child become more aware of their environment and help him/her to find order in it.
Sensorial
The materials in this area were developed with the recognition that children do not need to be taught how to use their own senses. They have been doing this from birth and before. Instead, here the child can focus on one aspect of the stimuli (i.e., colour, size, shape, texture) in order to develop and refine his sensorial perceptions. The child is also given the language for these abstract concepts and their relationships so that he/she can use these terms to better understand and discuss the world around him/her.
Language
Indirect and direct preparation for writing and reading is found throughout all areas of the Montessori environment. The language area analyzes these two complex tasks and breaks them down into a series of exercises that focus only on one aspect of the task (i.e. analyzing the word into sounds, gripping a pencil, forming the sound, etc.) and allows the child to master each skill individually before attempting to put all these skills together to write and read. All this advanced preparation allows the child to easily acquire the ability
to write and read.
Mathematics
The math materials take the abstract ideas that are contained in math (i.e., symbolic representation of quantity, decimal system, the four operations, fractions, etc.) and very clearly demonstrate them in a simple, concrete way to give the child a visual display of what is going on. After he/she has worked with these concrete ideas, he/she will understand the process involved when the work is transferred to a more abstract form (numbers on paper and operation signs).
Culture
This area is integrated throughout the other areas of the classroom. Here, the child is introduced to the natural world around him/her (botany, zoology, geology, geography, etc.) and the supranatural (manmade) world as well (music, art, history, geography, architecture, etc.) Geography, for example, is introduced both politically and physically through materials such as puzzle maps, globes, flags, land and water forms, photographs, classified cards, and books, to bring to life in a concrete and physical way, the fascinating world in which the child lives. The students also receive French instruction using the AIM method each week, as well as music, drama, and physical education programming.
French
Casa children receive French instruction on a daily basis.
The Casa Program at Children’s House is licensed and inspected by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and meets or exceeds all provincial requirements. Tuition fees can be claimed as child care expenses.
