Integrated Montessori Program

In addition to the educational programs offered at each Site, Ideal Child Services Group implemented the Montessori method of education which entails the ideas, principles, techniques and materials that inspire, inform and guide the Montessori Program. The Montessori method of education represents a resourceful combination of theory and set of rules to an event or topic in an attempt to put the Montessori theory into effect.

Ideal Child Services Group’s Integrated Montessori Program’s main objective is to provide a carefully planned, stimulating environment which assists the Child to develop within themselves the foundational habits, attitudes, skills, and ideas that are essential for a lifetime of creative thinking and learning.

Over one hundred years ago in San Lorenzo Rome, Maria Montessori began working with a group of disadvantaged Children, helping them to learn and develop. She worked in the fields of psychiatry, education and anthropology and believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed. What transpired was the worldwide Montessori movement for Children.

The Montessori Program promotes the Children’s innate ability to learn in a well prepared environment that displays order, beauty and reality. The Children learn through specifically designed materials that target all the areas of development. It encourages Children to develop observation skills by being exposed to a wide variety of activities and develop creativity, discovery, precision and self discipline.

The Montessori Philosophy is a Child-Centered, hands on approach that teaches the Children freedom to develop at their own pace and interact with others in a natural and peaceful environment. It teaches respect for the environment, for each other, and for the various cultures.

The materials in the Classroom are designed to awaken the desire and direct the curiosity of the Children into a positive and empowering learning experience. Each Learning Area is designed with a specific purpose.

In Montessori, writing comes before reading. The Children discover writing by forming letters. And then exploring the different sounds related to the formation of the letters. Therefore, the process of learning to read becomes seamless and natural. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of sandpaper letters, alphabet cut-outs, and various presentations. These activities allow the Children to link sounds and the written symbols effortlessly and to express their thoughts through writing. The Children begin by creating simple 3-letter phonetic words and then move on to reading words by performing many exercises that offer the Child variety rather than monotonous repetition.

Mathematics simply described is the study of quantity, form, arrangements and magnitude. The Children use hands on learning resources that make abstract concepts clear. The Children have access to concrete mathematical materials in their early years; therefore they can easily assimilate many facts and skills of arithmetic in the future. The materials are designed to represent all types of quantities. By combining these materials, the concepts of exchanging, counting separating, and comparing are understood.

Science allows the Children to give reason to the world through observation and testing. This allows the Children to label, define and explain the processes and elements of life. The Children are encouraged to clarify a question, come up with theories and then set up a situation so that they can examine evidence and come to conclusions.

All Children have an inherent curiosity about our world. Geography is more than just learning the countries and capital cities; it entails working with detailed three dimensional maps, and learning about the culture and the heritage of the world. The Children learn to distinguish land and water forms, the air and the atmosphere, and the cultures of each country including the diversity of the arts and music. The Children are given these opportunities through the various discussions and activities.

The senses aid in the maturation of our sensory organs but also help in intellectual development. The Sensorial materials help Children make clear and concise classifications in the environment. As the Children make these classifications, they are experiencing their first understanding of organization. The Sensorial materials help Children to distinguish, how to categorize, and how to apply new information to what they already know. Children learn about their world by comparing, sequencing and abstracting different heights, lengths, weights, colours, sounds, smells, shapes and textures. Children build their intellect by generalizing from the concrete to the abstract.

This Learning Area promotes self-sufficiency, self-reliance, coordination, and independence. The Practical Life model contains high quality attractive objects, pertaining to daily living tasks. The Practical Life exercises help Children perfect their coordination as they repeat and become absorbed in an activity. Children gradually lengthen their span of concentration and also learn to pay attention to details as they follow a regular sequence of actions. Through the exercises of Practical Life, the Children learn life-long working habits such as orientation to tasks, perseverance, self-direction, satisfaction and confidence that they transfer to later academic work.