More Installations
The Interior
The interior is attractively designed and equipped in an eclectic
style with a special nod to Dr. Montessori's precepts. Three classrooms
catering for different ages and needs. The centre is decorated in
a soft buttermilk colour, which is said to stimulate mental ability
in young people. The school is fully central heated.
Teddy
Room
Ages: 12 months - 2½ years approximately
Maximum: 10 children
Staff: 2 teachers
This
room is warm with natural daylight and workspace. The floor is parquet
style and the shelves at low level, inviting children to help themselves
to toys and materials. There is a big safety mirror, for "self
exploration," a soft corner with cuddly toys, cushions and
hideaways, a home corner for pretend play and numerous floor boxes
containing age-appropriate materials and baskets containing natural
elements for play, as well as storage space for the children's own
personal belongings and their school work.
The
focus here is on physical development and manual dexterity. There
are regular sessions where creativeness is encouraged through painting,
dough, dance and percussion. Water and sand play encourage young
scientists. There are many daily story sessions which combine, rhymes,
chants and songs. The physical and emotional needs of the Teddy-room
pupils requires two teachers at all times.
Jigsaw
Room
Ages: 2½ - 4 years, approximately
Maximum: 14 children
Staff: teacher and assistant
This
room is endowed with plenty of natural light from a very large,
low window overlooking the playground. Here the home corner is bigger
than the 'Teddyroom' as imaginations are fast growing. Dressing-up
clothes are provided to add reality to role playing. Numbers, colours
and shapes are freely available and provide the beginnings of mathematical
learning together with construction equipment. Story time is longer
and extends into drama and puppet plays as well as song and rhyme.
The activity corner covers a multitude of practices which include
cutting, sewing, drawing and modelling, just to mention a few. The
focus in the playroom is on structured play, through which many
valuable lessons are learned, largely through a child's own firsthand
experience.
Hobby
Horse Room
Ages: 4 - 6 years, approximately
Maximum: 12 children
Staff: Teacher and part-time assistant
Bearing
in mind the age group here and the fact that they come to this class
with many skills already developed, we have tried to create here
a space where children, who are now pupils, can focus on some of
the subjects and abilities which they will encounter in primary
school. The Hobby Horse Room takes the form of a classroom. The
ever-important play material is still close at hand, except that
now it is found in a labelled box, rather than on view. Symbols
like letters and numbers are now available for all those interested
in exploring and investigating them, which is most of the pupils.
Once
we have established the children's interest, we start to encourage
them in number and letter recognition. Phonics are combined with
other early reading methodologies, in order to provide a strong
scaffolding for reading. We introduce the computer and technology
in this room alongside the mud pies and water play which are still
as important as they were in the Teddy Room. Children's responses
are heard through group discussion and expression. This age sees
the beginning of the self as subject and with it grows pride in
one's achievements.
As
we mentioned before, discovery learning predominates in the Hobby
Horse Room, prompting the child to question his/her surrounding
world. One of the most fascinating examples of this learn-by-doing
approach was a visit the children made to the research laboratory
of one of our mothers. The children were invited to soil their hands
and then imprint their fingerprints on an agar-agar culture in a
petri dish. Two days later they were amazed to discover all of the
little beasties which they had on their hands and had grown up big
and strong in the dish! We can tell them over and over to wash their
hands because they carry germs. But no amount of "telling"
has the lasting impact of a real discovery experience.
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