Many Montessori schools feel that to preserve the wholeness and richness of the environment interruptions by out side teachers are a distraction. Here at the Children’s Tree we feel that our classroom teachers are specialist in their field of study, Montessori teaching methods. We thrive on the fact that our students receive a top notch education by the best in their fields. Thus we have solicited the help from highly qualified professionals to assist our program in teaching yoga, music, and theater to our children. We feel that without their expertise the children would not be receiving the same quality that we strive for in the rest of our program. Their teaching methods follow the same Montessori principles and philosophies that we value as a school. Some have had formal training in the Montessori method of teaching, while others naturally possesses the inner peace that a Montessori teacher needs to be successful. We recognize that all of our teachers facilitate in preserving the wholeness and richness of the environment we offer.
…education is a natural process carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment.
-Maria Montessori
Music and Movement
The goal of the music curriculum is to give children an opportunity to participate in the joy and expression of making music as a community. They learn to identify basic tones and to read music. Through singing experiences students develop a knowledge of pitch, timing, and melody.
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Geography
The Continents are studied through exploration of large colorful puzzles, Countries and cultures are studied through collections of photographs and sharing cultural traditions and holidays celebrations around the world! We celebrate the traditions and holidays of people from all the continents throughout the year with art projects making costumes and dramatic performances with music and dance, coloring line drawings of people and landmarks of a country, food preparation. Counting and singing in different languages! Yes, children do get introduced to foreign languages and they discover that no matter how different people might look they all say “Mama”, “Daddy”, “I love you”, “Hello” , “Good By” and “Thank you” and even though it sounds different. Children come to the realization that different people share universal needs, that we are all part of something bigger than we are!
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Yoga
Montessori argued that healthy children are naturally drawn to a sense of the spiritual: reflectiveness, good will, a love of work, and so on. This is the root of the “normalized child”-the positive model of health and intelligence that all Montessorians are called to facilitate.
Introducing yoga to the Montessori classroom is one way we can promote the normalized child. In establishing a yoga program, teachers must recognize that children need much more support than adults in order to begin to recognize the effects and benefits of yoga. If they do not receive such support, they will not be likely to create a clear sense of yoga or of how yoga can help them. Instead, they may treat yoga like a variation of a martial arts performance.
Small children are naturally oriented toward process rather than performance. It’s possible to train small children for performance. But it forces them into directions that are usually difficult and often counterproductive. As Piaget pointed out, small children are naturally egocentric; they have difficulty imagining the points of view of others.
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Drama
The children thrive on drama, and the environment offers them the opportunity to express themselves freely “on stage”. Sometimes the plays are real productions. More frequently the skits are written by the children. In any case, the children gain valuable experience in props creation, costuming, stage direction and performing. The children’s drama experiences are usually expressions of something they learned in class that excited them so much they wanted to share it with others.
Spanish
Children are receptive to language acquisition at an early age, and the program seeks to inspire and excite younger students through active learning, music and body movement. Songs composed for the purposes of language acquisition provide children with vocabulary, proper pronunciation and a comfort level with Spanish that create natural transitions to the spoken language, whether used to narrate or to converse. Memorization in the context of a song is fun, and serves the children well as they progress in the program.
At the Pre-school level, basic Spanish words and language structures are taught through songs, action games, and activities both oral and written. Children focus on themes such as the following: food, animals, colors, family, and holiday celebrations. Movement is a particularly useful tool in many Spanish lessons. Spanish songs or phrases may form the verbal structure for a dance routine or sports game. In warm weather, for example, you might find a group of intent students jumping rope in rhythm to a Spanish song they are singing.
In addition to participating in these Spanish activities, elementary students are exposed to written language. We begin to read simple sentences and texts in Spanish and incorporate phrases and sentences into creative work such as drawings or photo collages of families, pets and familiar environments. At every level of the early Spanish curriculum, the emphasis is on the beauty and joy of language, the child’s natural abilities and her desire to describe and communicate with the world around her.
Through presentations of dialogues, projects, and short stories, the Elementary program accomplishes four key aims: to introduce the students to Spanish grammar, to elaborate on language structures, to increase students’ vocabulary, and to improve their oral expression. Children are encouraged to speak in Spanish. They are also encouraged to participate as much as possible to gain confidence and achieve success.
No one can be free unless he is independent. Little children, from the moment they are weaned, are making their way toward independence.”
-Maria Montessori
