Berlin Center Montessori

Peace Curriculum

The foundation of the curriculum at the Berlin Center Montessori school is the peace environment. Through the peace curriculum the children are taught social skills and how to solve conflicts. A child sized peace table is in each room. It has a flower, dove, or ornament that symbolizes peace. It is a place where children solve conflicts with other children or have a place alone to reflect and think about things. Children are given a procedure for settling disputes at the peace table. The goal is that they can eventually do so without the help of adults. It is our firm belief that a child’s self esteem is greatly developed in this way and the child can accomplish more with greater skills all through life.

Practical Life

Dr. Maria Montessori recognized that at a very young age children desire to care for themselves and their environments. They lose interest in toys and prefer instead to help adults with their activities. They want to feed themselves, sweep the floor, rake leaves, and pour milk into their own cups. The practical life activities include pouring and scooping, using kitchen utensils, washing dishes, polishing, scrubbing tables and cleaning up. These are designed to help them learn to take care of themselves, their environment, and to respect others. The practical life activities are the foundation for all further work. This work builds fine motor skills, confidence, self-esteem, independence, and concentration.

Sensorial

All learning first comes through the senses. Dr. Maria Montessori knew the greatest gift we can give our children is an awareness of how to enjoy the world through our senses. Sensorial materials isolate qualities such as color, weight, shape, texture, sound , temperature and smell, encouraging children to distinguish, organize and describe these experiences and impressions. These also develop a child’s art and music appreciation. The pink tower, the red rods, and brown stairs to mention a few, develop a child’s ability to compare, reason, and give order to their environment.

Language (elements of reading, spelling, and handwriting)

We utilize a phonetic approach to reading which begins with sandpaper letters. These are used to teach each letter’s sound and shape, and to train the muscles needed for writing by tracing the letters. It is an integrated approach that combines phonetics and whole language. After several sounds are mastered, a child can begin to spell and read words by linking these sounds together. The moveable alphabet is another important resource for teaching and building words. Each classroom is a print-rich environment with labels and other printed materials visible. Reading and book experiences are enjoyed throughout the day. A reading corner is established in each room that provides a variety of books and experiences with literacy.

Mathematics

The love of math is inspired by a variety of hands on experiences. The number rods, geometric shapes and solids are a few of the materials that the children handle and explore to help the child move from concrete to abstract math concepts. Writing numbers comes as a natural response to understanding the one to one correspondence of numbers and objects.

Culture and Geography

As part of a 21st century learning environment, students need a deeper understanding and appreciation of the people and children around the world. They are automatically drawn to the sandpaper globes, continent and world maps, flags and artifacts from other countries. An important outreach by the school is to sponsor a child from Honduras each year. The children correspond with this child become connected with the global family.

Science and Nature

The natural world is the best teacher of all! The classrooms are equipped with nature items that the children can study and learn about. Taking care of our world and environment is experienced through recycling, gardening, and taking care of animals. They are encouraged to bring nature in to share with the classroom. Science experiments and discovery are daily activities.

Art Appreciation

Art is a daily curriculum in our program. Using a variety of techniques and media, the children explore their inner artist. They learn about famous artists and their unique styles, and are encouraged to try different ways of creative expression.

Music Appreciation

Weekly classes awaken and develop the child’s inborn joy and talent for making music. Children are exposed to music from around the world, different instruments and their sounds, and tonal and rhythmic patterns. They experience both musical and listening games.