The period from birth to six
years is the most important in the life of a person. During
this period, a child does much more than learn as adults and
older children do; he forms his own mind.
When a child is first born, he absorbs what
he sees unconsciously. By the time he is two he has begun
the process of conscious absorption of the world. A child
needs to manipulate things at this age and the use of his
hands is critical. The purpose of the pre-Montessori
program is to provide an inviting and interesting world
within his reach designed for him to touch, use and explore.
In the pre-Montessori program for two year
olds, the environment is specially designed for the children
to explore the world using their hands. There will be
preliminary coordination exercises, simple sensorial
materials, pre-reading and vocabulary enrichment materials
present. Also includes is a program of activities to
introduce the child to science, math and social studies. As
the children grow and learn, additional classroom materials
will be introduced accordingly.
Within this prepared environment there will
be an early childhood teacher and a trained assistant to
guide the children and maintain the environment. They will
model the behavior they expect of the children; a profound
respect for each child and for the materials used in the
classroom.
Simple ground rules will be explained and a
large part of the program will involve the modeling and
clarifying of these ground rules each day. The teacher will
lead short group activities daily to give the children the
experience of being in a group and following simple
instructions. These include songs, finger plays, games and
stories.
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Goals of the Pre-Montessori Program:
To provide for the child a
happy first experience of school with loving and caring
adults.
To foster the child’s natural sense of order
by providing an ordered environment
To provide materials which will help the
child gain greater large and small motor control
To help the child enrich his or her language
skills
To introduce the child to a pre-school
environment that a two year old can handle
To foster the child’s independence,
especially in the care of himself, dressing, hand washing,
toileting, etc.
To prepare the child for entry into a primary
Montessori program.
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Progression:
The Pre-Montessori children will move into
Montessori classes as they become ready and as space
permits. The pre-Montessori teacher will determine when a
child is ready to progress to a primary class.
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Eligibility:
Village Montessori School accepts
applications for children age two by date of admission,
regardless of toilet training. It is policy of the school
not to discriminate in the selection of students for reasons
of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
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