Children's House
Age: we welcome children from 3 to 6 years old
Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 15:45
Introductory interview: before proceeding with the registration, an introductory interview with the school director and/or the teacher is required. The main topics of the meeting (which does not imply any commitment for the purpose of registration) will be the presentation of the family and the child, the description of the school and the method and reflections on parental expectations.
The child's work
The child organizes his work around the following areas:
• practical life activities or materials , i.e. dedicating time to home and personal care (for example: cleaning tables, dusting, sweeping, washing, hanging out the washing, ironing, brushing, setting the table, sewing, tying and buttoning, cutting, etc.);
• sensorial activities or materials , i.e. dedicating oneself to the development of the senses: visual, tactile, stereognostic, thermal, auditory, baric, gustatory and olfactory;
• cultural activities or materials that introduce the child to topics such as: language, mathematics, geometry, botany, geography, artistic and musical education, motor skills.
•self- and other- awareness activities (example: grace and courtesy) .
The activities are based on self-education: an individual path where, according to one's own inclinations, each person builds his or her own knowledge and experience.
The teaching
The activities are carried out both in English and Italian.
The education carried out through Montessori pedagogy has as its main aim the formation of the human being according to the principles of autonomy, freedom and individual responsibility.
In particular, the 3-6 program offers your child an important first step towards gaining autonomy, a gradual development of knowledge and a progressive maturation of their personal identity thanks also to an environment created specifically to stimulate their sensori-perceptive, linguistic and motor skills, and the use of materials specifically and scientifically designed to attract children's interest and to teach concepts through their repeated use.
Practical life
Practical life in the Montessori environment consists of real-life tasks with intelligent purposes that help the child gain independence. Exercises develop skills in caring for oneself, others, and the world. Each material and exercise provides the child with the opportunity to adapt to the environment. All activities in the area of practical life are introduced in a sequential, orderly, logical, and developmentally appropriate manner, thus creating the foundation for all future learning.
Sensory exercises
Maria Montessori believed that there is nothing in the intellect that has not first been experienced in the senses. The materials in the sensory area are designed to help children sharpen their senses by isolating particular qualities such as size, shape, texture, color, taste, smell, tone, consistency, weight. Each of the materials in this area is self-paced, allowing the child to work at his or her own pace with minimal interruption from the Guide. Children enjoy working with these materials repeatedly, enthusiastically developing and expanding their knowledge.
Language
“The only language that men can speak perfectly is the one they learn at a very early age, when no one can teach them anything.” Dr. Montessori always emphasized that a child has a natural sensitivity to the development of language. The three-, four-, and five-year-old child has a unique fascination with words, both printed and spoken. This fascination often enables him to begin reading and writing before the age at which it is traditionally taught. Individual or small-group presentation of language materials in the Montessori classroom allows the Guide to take advantage of each child's periods of greatest interest.
Mathematics
"The environment should be rich in interesting motifs that lend themselves to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences." Mathematics in the Montessori environment is based on the idea that we all have mathematical minds. In every area of the classroom, the child encounters indirect preparations for mathematics by developing precision, order, concentration, measurement and accuracy.
In mathematics, the child first experiences concrete materials: in fact, Maria Montessori believed that sensory manipulation was essential for the child to begin to understand the difference in size, quantity, sequence and patterns. All these ideas are essential for mathematics. It is important for the child to have strong and precise impressions in order to develop clarity and a solid foundation for mathematical principles.
The field trips
Children often leave the classroom and school; they go to different places or spaces that transmit real experience, information or knowledge suited to their operational and cognitive abilities. Activities in the woods, in gardens, in the vegetable garden, at the museum, on the farm, etc. promote sociability, psycho-physical improvement and coordination of movements in open and emotionally rich contexts of interest for children as they allow a personal experimentation of active, sensorial and harmonious knowledge.