Casa

Benefits of Children’s Yoga

Aside from our weekly yoga classes with Cheeba, the children are also welcome to practice yoga in the classroom.  Our City Place Montessori Casa classrooms are equipped with a yoga mat, yoga pose cards, books, and a timer. 

(Please click “view” for benefits of children’s yoga and parallels between Montessori philosophy and yoga practice.)

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Social Emotional Skills Through Second Step

Empathy, emotion management and social problem solving contribute to success in school and throughout life. We use the Second Step program through photo-lesson cards, posters, puppets, a be-calm bunny, hearts, and songs to help children gain confidence, achieve positive goals, collaborate well, and navigate the world more effectively. Please click “view” for more details.

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Spindle Box

The Spindle Box is introduced to the child once they are able to identify the numbers from 1-9. This activity is used primarily to show the child that numbers can represent a collection of separate objects. It is also where the quantity of “zero” is first introduced and where the realization comes that “0” to “9” are all the symbols needed for arithmetic. The Spindle Box brings the concept of numbers from an abstract place to a more concrete one, where the child can see and touch and truly internalize their meaning.

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Holiday Event

East Casa held a family cookie decorating event. Breakfast was served and the children had fun listening to holiday songs while decorating gingerbread cookies with icing, sprinkles and more! The children enjoyed having their parents spend time with them in their school environment.

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Practicing Yoga

The weekly Yoga class with Cheeba is an opportunity for the children to learn and practice meditation, relaxation, balance, breathing, strengthening, and self-control, and extends into the classroom. A child may use a Yoga mat when desired to practise what they’ve learned in Yoga class. In these photos, a child is practicing the Cobra, Downward Dog, and Table Top poses independently.

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Swirling Soap, Fat and Colours

The West Casa classroom experimented with colours, fats and soaps. They witnessed milk mixing with food colouring and soap pushing the fat away from itself when combined. This creates swirls of colours and beautiful movement in the bin. Look at the power of soap!

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Autumn in French

We have been enjoying the beautiful autumn (l’ automne) weather and everything fall has to offer, along with the beautiful colours, textures, smells and the yummy food. We have incorporated Fall in various ways in our role playing, sensory and culture activities. In each French lesson, we translated the English words to French words.

Please click “Autumn in French” for more photos and information.

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Cultural Doll

Casa children really enjoy this activity as it fosters their creative and spatial skills.  They are also learning about human differences.  Celebrating our cultural ethnicities is a big part of the Montessori environment.

Please click “Cultural Doll” to read and see step by step how the children design their own cultural dolls.

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Out of This World!

The children have been travelling to galaxies far, far away by reading books, colouring fact sheets, cutting on a line to space objects, singing songs, exploring sensory materials, and role playing being astronauts. What an “out of this world” learning experience!

Please click “Out of This World!” for more info and photos.

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The Bells

Once a week, our music teacher Adriana visits each Casa classroom to teach a couple of children how to play the Montessori bells. This activity consists of a series of bells from middle C to high C. First, the children learn how to play an individual bell with a mallet and a damper. Then they progress to matching and grading the tones. Eventually, the children will be able to play familiar tunes such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”. Recently, the children have been learning how to play the song “A Visit to the Farm”. 

Please click “The Bells” for the photos.

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