Overview #5.

Classroom Activities: Building Knowledge Incrementally, While Having Fun

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We provide opportunities for the children to learn independently and collaboratively. Group activities include singing, story telling, movement and music. During "circle time", the children show something they've brought from home, and have a shared lesson, typically including French and sign language. Young children learn higher-level cognitive and social skills not only through mental development, but also by observing others as models. Dr. Montessori introduced multi-age grouping so the older children can act as models and sometimes teachers of younger children. This collaboration develops self-confidence in the older child, while building a spirit of co- operation and a sense of community. When mutual respect, not competitiveness, is encouraged, children learn much from each other.

Building a tower Dr. Montessori based her method on the simple observation that children learn most effectively through direct experience and the process of investigation and discovery. She also learned that children need large blocks of uninterrupted time to problem solve, to see the interdisciplinary connections of knowledge, and to create new ideas. For much of the day, the children take material from the shelves and work with it independently for as long as they wish. When it no longer interests them, they must return it to the shelves, and only then may another child use it. The children soon learn to respect these rules, and many parents have been pleasantly surprised to find them being implemented at home.

In the elementary program, children are not confined to a designated desk for the day as they would be in a traditional classroom. They are free to search out activities on their own and explore a variety of learning centres. They are actively and spontaneously engaged in the process of learning, rather than sitting quietly and passively at their desks while listening to a teacher discuss a subject of their choosing for a particular period of time. Work cycles are determined by the students and are uninterrupted.

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