Montessori
“Scribblez Day Nursery is a lovely Montessori led nursery. Our daughter has been coming here since she was 1. She is now 2.5 They have lots of play equipment, outdoor play hut, and bicycles to encourage outdoor play activities. They allow children to explore blackboard painting with water, watering plants etc. Indoors they have 2hrs a day of Montessori letting the children work out puzzles through play. Learning days of the week, reading, dancing, dressing up and interacting with younger and older children too. Our daughter has a lot of confidence in playing and interacting with other children as she is an only child. Staff/facilities are very friendly, clean and ensure them ‘children’ have a good healthy start in a ‘school’ environment.”
How our children learn at Scribblez Day Nursery Montessori Kindergarten
About our setting and method
At Scribblez Day Nursery we use the Montessori approach to learning linking this in with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The children learn at their own pace following their interests with our preschool having a vast range of the specialist Montessori materials available which help children to explore and engage in their chosen activity and learning.
To have the skills of engaging in their tasks forms an important aspect of learning and development of the child.
“The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy.” “The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.” “The first essential for the child’s development is concentration.” (Quotes from Maria Montessori).
The Montessori curriculum is as listed below with the environment forming an important element of the smooth running of the classroom.The environment is calm and quiet conducive to learning.
Practical life – These are activities that develop hand eye co-ordination and motor control. Children choose their activity developing their own independence and a sense of responsibility. These activities help develop concentration skills through the child carrying out purposeful tasks and are in two areas of development: care of self and care of the environment.
Practical life exercises are such tasks as pouring, threading, transferring, brushing up, polishing, good manners and social skills.
Sensorial – Children learn through their senses and in the Montessori classroom children have access to specialist equipment designed by Maria Montessori to help children discriminate and order. They learn by grading, matching, sorting, weight, smell, taste, sight, sound and colour. This equipment helps the child to refine their senses through working with this beautiful material along with continuing to develop the child’s concentration skills.
Language – development is encouraged through stories, songs, poems and rhymes, role play, dance and music to help improve and extend language development. Children are often introduced to the phonetic alphabet which leads them into early word building and reading.
Number skills – Children enjoy matching, pairing and sequencing objects, colours, shapes and numbers. They enjoy measuring and judging height, length and weight with these activities often linked in with the sensorial materials. Children develop a great mathematical foundation knowledge through using this equipment grasping the basic concepts. As the child develops, they may be introduced to such equipment as the number’s rods, spindle box, cards and counters and gold beads.
Cultural and creative – Children learn about the world around them in a variety of ways from projects such a Diwali, Chinese New Year, Peace Day, learning to speak basic French such as counting, days of the week and colours. Children enjoy music and movement sessions, exploring the sounds of musical instruments, singing and dancing, role play/dressing up games.
Craft plays an important part of our curriculum with all learning being reinforced with art or craft work.
Social skills – Children work individually and in small groups to help develop their social skills encouraging sharing, teamwork and respect for one another. Children eat in small social groups where good social skills and manners are encouraged.
Physical skills – are developed through the repeated use of the practical life exercises with children having the freedom to move around in their environment. Physical activities take place in the large outside area where children have the freedom to climb, balance and run with bikes and scooters available to help develop gross motor skills and co-ordination.
Weekly PE Sessions are planned for the 2 – 3s rooms and pre-school guided by staff
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has 3 prime areas:
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Physical development
- Communication and language
Planning takes into account these areas of learning along with the specific area of learning and development:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
These areas guide us with preparing our environment and the activities and experiences to help the development of the children leading them towards the early learning goals. When planning for activities to progress learning consideration is given to play and exploring – Engagement, active learning, Motivation and Creating and Thinking critically. Which all form part of the Characteristics of Effective Learning as detailed in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Our aim is for children to develop independence and self-discipline. To be kind and thoughtful to each other respecting others and the environment. We hope that they will leave Scribblez to go onto school with confidence and have developed a love of learning after having reached their full potential.