A.M. Session & P.M. Session

The above is only a guideline and can change with the emerging interests of the children.  Arts and Crafts are done throughout your child’s day                 

Arrive at School

Arriving for school on time is extremely important for children even at this young age!  Being on time allows the children to have a pleasant transition from the home to the school environment, easing them in gently and calmly.  Their teachers are always there to greet and interact with them on arrival, settling them for their day ahead. 

Morning Meeting

This is an important time for the children as they will have a small circle time to discuss the day ahead and all the activities that await them!

Work Time                    

The children are free to choose what they wish from the shelves and spend as much time as they wish exploring their work.  They get to choose from the Montessori and educational materials on the shelf, to paint, draw and create, to play in the home corner, to work with a group of friends or on their own, or to do work with their teacher.  There is so much for them to experience and explore!

During this time your child’s teacher will also work one-on-one with your child instructing and directing them through the Montessori materials.  Because each child is at a different stage of development they will learn at their own pace and are only ever encouraged to move on to the next step when they are ready.  Because each child’s learning is led by each individual child we will always endeavour to follow your child and encourage and facilitate them in their learning.

Circle Time

Each day the children will have Circle Time which is where the exciting group work takes place!  The children learn about the calendar, the weather, and start the week with a suggested theme of the week which can go off in all sorts of directions depending of the interest of the children and where their interest and curiosity bring the teachers!  We will also have lots of fun learning about our sounds and numbers.  We start by introducing a number each week from 1 to 10 and then progress onto the sounds a to z.  Each sound will be taught using the phonic method helping the children along when learning sounds through their one-on-one Montessori work.

Lunch Time

Lunchtime allows the children the opportunity to develop social and conversational skills by interacting with each other over a healthy snack. 

Garden Time

Weather permitting the children will play outside for approximately twenty minutes each day.  This encourages imaginative role-play and allows interaction with their peers whilst developing their gross motor skills.

Classroom Assistant     

Each day the children take turns as the classroom assistant. This teaches the children to take responsibility for themselves and their environment.  The classroom assistant is given certain tasks to carry out helping their teachers during the day.  It is done alphabetically to ensure all children get a turn. The classroom assistant also has the very important job of bringing home our secret phonic bag!

Secret Phonic Bag

Each day the classroom assistant will have an additional job to do.  It is their job to bring home our special phonic bag.  The bag has a sound written on the front which is the sound we are learning in circle time that week.  Your child is required to find something at home beginning with the ‘sound of the week’, put it in the bag, and bring it back into school the following day, e.g. a for apple, b for bat etc. They are not allowed tell anyone what is in the bag, as we will all try to guess in circle time!  If it is a difficult sound and you cannot find an object, why not draw a picture instead or print one from your computer!  This is a fun interactive way to help the children learn their phonics whilst extending some of the Montessori methods into the home environment. Participation is important to your child so please try to remember the bag when it is your child’s turn. 

Work Pouches     

Every Friday the children will take home a work pouch if they have done any painting, colouring or art activities during the week.  Some weeks the children’s arts and craft projects will be kept on display in the classroom.  Some children do not gravitate towards painting or colouring so please do not be disappointed if your child does not bring home a pouch.  It just means they were busy doing other things and didn’t have time to paint!  We would appreciate it if you could return the pouch on the following school day. 

Arts and Crafts

The children will participate in arts and crafts each week and, where possible, it will be linked to the weekly theme.  The children actively participate in Arts and Craft’s and all work taken home is completed solely by the children.  There may be times when some of the arts n’ crafts may require templates and the teachers will prepare these.  However, the children will always finish the project and what they take home is their own work.  If your child attends on a part-time basis we will endeavour to ensure they also participate in arts and crafts.  Some weeks we may keep some of the children’s wonderful creations to keep on display on the classroom wall but these will be eventually sent home.  The children will also participate in messy play throughout the year.  To see all our arts and crafts like us on facebook where pictures are posted each week.