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Mel-O-Dee Montessori Preschool admits children from 18 months through 6 years of age, and offers full-day and half-day programs from Monday through Friday. Children, both girls and boys, are grouped together into classes according to the following ages:
- Toddlers (18 months to 2 ½ years old)
- Pre-School (2 ½ to 3 ½ years old)
- Pre-Kindergarten (3 ½ to 5 years old)
- Kindergarten (4 ½ to 6 years old)
Our Curriculum
The Montessori environment motivates each child to experience the excitement of learning through self-directed activity. The purpose of the classroom is to enable children to develop and expand their natural ability to learn. Throughout the day, each child is allowed to work comfortably at a table or on a mat on the floor, and is able to choose a classroom activity suited to their individual interest.
The children work in a prepared environment with attractive materials, which are arranged on low shelves within easy reach of even the smallest child. The learning materials designed for use in the Montessori classroom enable independent activity and self-teaching. These materials help to develop a sense of order, concentration, coordination and independence, leading to the development of good working habits that are necessary to cultivate the child’s own natural desire to learn. By using these materials under the guidance of the Montessori teacher, each child is permitted to work at their own pace, thus accommodating many levels of ability.
Also throughout the day, teacher or student-initiated small group activities or exercises, and teacher-initiated large group activities, are held in various areas of the classroom. These sessions provide additional opportunities for children to ask questions of the teacher, as well as the opportunity to share and interact with one another as peers in an informal, positive setting that is monitored by the teacher.
A full range of Montessori materials are provided in the following areas:
- Practical Life: Materials to develop a sense of order, concentration, coordination and independence. Activities associated with these materials prepare children to care for themselves and the environment, and give each child a sense of mastery and self-confidence.
- Sensorial: Materials for making accurate judgments and comparisons of size, shape, color, sound, texture and taste. These materials are designed to heighten the child's sense of sight, touch, sound, taste and smell.
- Mathematics: Materials for the development of mathematical abstractions including numeration, place value, and operations of addition and subtraction. Children's understanding of the basic mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division emerges from use of manipulative materials such as rods, beads, sandpaper numerals, cards and counters, which allow the student to visualize the abstraction of numbers.
- Language: Materials are used for the development of reading and writing, emphasizing both oral and written expression. Using simple alphabet cutouts and sandpaper letters, children learn the sounds of letters to make words, then use words to make sentences.
- Cultural Subjects: Geography, science, art and music are referred to as cultural subjects. Children learn about people, their countries, and the world through food, music, pictures, flags, maps, artifacts, holiday celebrations and other cultural observations.
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