Programs & Curriculum
Daily Life At Casa
Casa Montessori offers an authentic Montessori experience for the young child, ages three years to six years. A 10-month program, children attend Monday through Friday, September through the end of June. First and second year students – three- and four-year-olds – spend the morning from 8:15 a.m. until noon. Third year students – five- going on six-year-olds (the kindergarten year) – remain in class until 2:30 p.m. each day.
Morning Montessori
During the morning the children enjoy a free, uninterrupted activity period of three hours. This allows each child many opportunities to visit with one another, work with a friend or alone, repeat a chosen activity as many times as desired, receive a new lesson from the directress and explore, explore, explore. The children help themselves to a mid-morning snack while conversing with friends. Most mornings will find several children in the backyard sweeping, gardening, tending the bird bath or working on Montessori materials. They are supervised by the ExtendaCare assistant who respectfully guides the children to purposeful work. The children take ownership of the environment, both indoors and out through their practical life activities.
Each group comes together at about 11 a.m. to share a song or story. Sometimes a lesson that is appropriate for all of the children will be presented or a “reminder” lesson will be shared. Seasons, holidays, people and places are explored during our Group Times through pictures, songs and beautiful books. The children are invited to share and listen to their friends during this brief time when we all come together.
The morning children from all three classes greet each other in the backyard at 11:30 a.m. and play until noon. The children are guided in cooperative games and basic skills such as throwing/catching a ball, jumping, hopping and taking turns are practiced, as well of plenty of free play. For the young child, the outdoors is so much more than “just play”; there are plants and animals to discover and wonder about!
Extended Day Montessori
Older children – the five- going on six-year-olds – enjoy lunch in their classroom, tidy up and go outside from 12:15 p.m. until 12:45 p.m. They meet up with their friends from the other rooms and play games of skill and imagination. The adults regularly engage the children in team or skill building games along with their free play. At 12:45, they return to their classrooms for a short rest. They spend the afternoon engaged in their work; perhaps an activity begun that morning or receive a new lesson. This is the time of day when topics can be explored with the adult that may not be of interest to the younger children. They also add to the “Daily Story,” an ongoing time line of the important or unique events of the day. The afternoon flies by much too quickly!
ExtendaCare
In addition to our Montessori program, Casa is pleased to be able to offer ExtendaCare for families until 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. This small program enables parents to rest assured that their child is in familiar and loving care while they are at work. Children in ExtendaCare enjoy lunch and playtime with their friends and then join together for a story, nap time and an afternoon of art activities and play in a homelike atmosphere. The children follow the same guidelines as the have learned in their Montessori classrooms, making this a seamless transition from one setting to another.
The ExtendaCare program is limited in size and therefore Casa utilizes a priority system which enables us to meet the needs of families who need it the most. Casa also has a Space Available option: Parents may sign up in advance, on a first come, first served basis for an occasional afternoon. We have found this to be a very popular option.