Casa Programme
De BISAWiki
westbrookmontessori/ Casa programme is based on the Montessori philosophy that strives to provide each child with an environment in which they learn, and also develop essential work ethics. This in turn, will lead the students to success and prepare them for their future school years.
The Casa classroom has five areas of concentration: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics and Culture.
The children explore various areas of study, absorb independent learning, and develop self-esteem and leadership with age appropriate Practical Life activities.
Practical Life Exercises:
These activities provide the children with the opportunity to manipulate items that are found within their own home. They are able to care for themselves as well as acquire a sensitivity and sense of respect for their external environment. This in turn provides them with independence, focus and promotes a healthy self-esteem.
The Sensorial Exercises:
Help children explore their senses and put things into perspective. They are led to study concepts, such as colours and shapes through Montessori Specific materials.
The Language Programme:
In the Montessori classroom we teach initial sounds of words, middle sounds of words and ending sounds of words. For example "I spy" games which ask the child to find the object that starts with the sound "b" (or end with the sound "t") help the child to isolate and identify specific sounds within a word.
Further exercises of the Language curriculum provide basic knowledge and lay the groundwork for Language development. Special exercises with the Montessori materials teach the child his/her alphabet, how to recognize the letters by sight and sound and prepares him/her for later reading and writing. These activities show the child that a word is nothing more than an accumulation of sounds.
The Mathematics Programme:
Mathematics consists of symbol and quantity identification for the categories of units, tens, hundreds, and thousands. The children are exposed to all categories in preparation of operation performance. The operations the students are introduced to are: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
By working with Practical Life exercises and sensorial materials, the child has been indirectly preparing himself for math. Practical Life materials are laid out in a specific and orderly way. The child often follows a set procedure as he/she does each activity. He/she learns to be exact and precise as he/she works. The exercises of Practical Life have given the children the opportunity to develop logical and sequential thought patterns.
Cultural Activities:
Culture is an enriched area of the environment. It consists of zoology, botany, science, geography and art. The children explore the parts of animals, maps, computers and plants as well as composers and artists. This builds self-awareness and introduction to the community and environment around them.
French
In recognizing the demand and challenges of the future, Westbrook Montessori Academy introduces French language skills to enhance the child's receptive and expressive communication skills.
Our teachers are trained to understand child development and to use that understanding in planning appropriate activities to stimulate your child's development. Our goal is to ensure that every child in our care receives age appropriate opportunities to develop physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally. Your child's teacher will be planning activities to aid the development of your child in each of these areas, therefore offering your child the opportunity:
- To feel and be secure in an atmosphere especially created to help a child develop his/her full potential.
- To play and learn with other children who are at the same developmental level.
- To experience activities which are at times streamlined to provide guidance and to allow for free individual expression.
- To develop positive self-image through appropriate and challenging experiences specifically geared toward success.
- To learn to share, wait their turn and develop friendships.
- To acquire self discipline and good work habits for further school years.
- To encourage independence, and create the opportunity for each child to develop skills according to their respective maturity level.
