The Montessori Curriculum

Enrol your child in Little Acorns Montessori School and watch them thrive with our Montessori method.

Our Curriculum

Montessori gives children the freedom of choice and movement in a structured environment, to pursue their interests, and enjoy their achievements where dignity, respect and independence are of paramount importance. Montessori discovered that structure was important to help children feel safe and secure. Montessori education integrates the interests of a child into a cumulative curriculum.

Practical Life exercise

Practical Life is an essential foundation of a Montessori environment.

Learning how to pour your drink or fasten zips, buttons, buckles and shoelaces, sweeping, washing up the dishes, polishing, dusting and many more things make a familiar link to the child’s home life. These activities are exciting and purposeful which improve physical co-ordination as well as building confidence and independence.

Sensorial

The young child is an ‘explorer’, investigating every detail of his surroundings and learning through physical experiences. The Montessori Sensorial materials offer the possibility of improving the quality of perception during this especially receptive period of a child’s life.

Children build cognitive skills and learn to order and classify impressions by using their five senses and the physical properties of their environment. The child’s fascination with the sensorial materials can extend for several years and lead to a life-long appreciation of the most subtle aspects of the environment.

Language

One of the many unique traits of Montessori is how children come to learn language.

The freedom to express themselves is offered to the children creating many opportunities for them to communicate with their peers and adults.

Reading is taught with the phonetic method- learning the sounds of the letters in preparation for word building and reading.

We emphasise the development of vocabulary based on real experiences and the early preparation required for reading and writing. Advanced activities take the child well beyond the basic skills into reading and writing for interpretation, creativity and pleasure.

Mathematics

In the Children’s house, children learn to express themselves. The freedom offered to the children creates many opportunities for them to communicate with their peers and adults. Reading is taught with the phonetic method- learning the sounds of the letters in preparation for word building and reading.

Arts, Science and Culture

This section explores music, art, geography, history, botany, and zoology. Children are exposed to a rich, stimulating variety of work through hands-on learning and group discussion. The child’s sense of wonder and his inquisitive mind are nourished through manipulative work with materials on various cultural topics. Cultures from around the world are explored and celebrated.

Early Years Foundation Stage

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. We believe that every child deserves the best start to life and the EYFS principles provide each child with the potential to excel. Our environment encourages 'child-led' learning, allowing your child to learn through play and explore their environment.

The national EYFS framework explains how and what children will be learning to support their healthy development and provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.

The EYFS specifies requirements for learning and development and for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare.

Children learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through seven areas of learning and development. These are:

· Communication and language

· Physical development; and

· Personal, social and emotional development

These prime areas are those essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning. As children develop, the prime areas support them to develop skills in a further four specific areas. These are:

· Literacy

· Mathematics

· Understanding the world

· Expressive arts and design

All seven areas of learning are used in planning children’s learning and activities.

The daily routine activities are from the EYFS Framework which includes four guiding principles

A Unique Child: Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships: Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.

Enabling Environments: The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children's development and learning.

Learning and Developing in different ways and at different rates: Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and interconnected.

The classroom routines are extended to our outdoor environment, and are organised to teach the children through play which underpins the delivery of the entire EYFS curriculum by providing opportunities for indoors and outdoors activities. Our outdoor space is carefully planned to provide children with a range of play and learning choices through the use of; colours, symbols, language, and labelling, different items of play.

Science experiences are built into outdoor planting area and using the sand pit, nurturing and caring for living things and maintaining their natural habitat.

Mathematics and Literacy are built into our daily activities e. g. Mealtimes, tidying up when engaged with practical life skills, counting plates, cups, cutlery, table mats, colours of the objects being used for activities, mealtimes, shaping our breads for sandwiches, pouring water, emptying remnant of food into the food bin for recycling, naming all objects as they use them.

The quality of early years experiences provided at Little Acorns Montessori empowers the children to become a successful lifelong learner that is secured, embraced the world and their environment as an invitation to learn, grow, have fun and reach their full potentials through the activities they planned and carried out themselves.