Under 3

Child on top of a snow mound

Winter Fun!

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Our outdoor environment allows children to enhance their equilibrium, gross motor and fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and to coordinate the whole body working together while developing independence. It allows children to form a relationship with nature, to enjoy and care for it and discover our interdependence with nature.
The children are encouraged to discover and preserve the beauty around them while experiencing inner peace and tranquility, a process Dr. Montessori called “cosmic education”.

Please click “Winter Fun!” for more photos.

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Child under 3 spreading butter on bread

Child’s Natural Desire to Learn

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“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn.” -Maria Montessori.

Please click on “Child’s Natural Desire to Learn” to see more photos of a child’s typical day in the Under 3 classroom.

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A child matching dinosaur figurines to nomenclature cards

Language Acquisition

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Enriching a child’s vocabulary fosters the ability to clearly communicate and express oneself. Children’s brains are primed to learn language from before birth to age six, the most critical period for language acquisition, when language can be learned effortlessly. Language in the Montessori classroom is taught in many different ways, such as through storytelling, songs and poems, encouraging self expression, identifying and matching objects to nomenclature cards, and labeling photo representations on nomenclature cards.

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Child under 3 signing cookie

Sign Language

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The children learn to use sign language to aid in their communication. The child in the above photo is imitating a sign for “cookie” depicted by a photo on one side of a card and the corresponding sign on the other. Sign Language practice helps promote self-expression, movement and hand-eye coordination.

Please click on “Sign Language” to see more photos of children signing.

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Children raking leaves

Leaves, Leaves and More Leaves!

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Our Under 3 Montessori community participates in keeping our environment beautiful and well maintained. In Autumn, we rake up the fallen leaves and jump on them when the opportunity arises! We collect the leaves and place them in a yard waste bag. What a wonderful way to appreciate our environment and promote being an active participant in our community!

Please click “Leaves, Leaves and More Leaves!” for more information and photos.

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stacked wooden blocks

LET’S GET STACKING!

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Our Under 3 Montessori environment supports the need for children’s sensorimotor development by providing a construction area filled with manipulative materials for a variety of construction uses.

Please click “LET’S GET STACKING!” to read more about the benefits of building activities on children’s development.

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Child practicing with a nut, washer and bolt

Refinement of Movement

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Refinement of movement materials help the children to refine small movements of the hand, to exercise and develop hand-eye coordination, and to coordinate two hands working together. These types of activities aid the children in concentration, growth, and independence.

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Canada Day display

Celebrating Canada’s 150th Birthday

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Everyone enjoyed celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday. The children in the Under 3 community participated in a variety of fun and meaningful activities!

Please click on “Celebrating Canada’s 150th Birthday” to learn more about these activities.

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Beans growing in the playground

Gardening and Harvesting!

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The children have been busy pulling weeds, collecting yard waste, watering plants, and keeping our playground beautiful. We planted beans, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, lavender, morning glories, and our ribbon plant cuttings, maintained them and watched them grow.

Please click “Gardening and Harvesting!” for more photos and information.

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sweet potato experiment

Watch Me Grow!

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In the Under 3 classroom, we did an experiment with a sweet potato. We submerged half a sweet potato in water and waited to see what would happen.

Please click on “Watch Me Grow” to see what happened and what we did next!

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