Casa Dei Bambini

Children Aged 3 - 5
  • Casa times & Eligibility

    • Casa dei Bambini is in session Monday to Friday
      Two timeslots available for the 2023-2024 10-month program:
      • 830 a.m. to 330 p.m
        A
      • 830 a.m. to 530 p.m.
        B

    The Goal of Casa Learning

    Dr. Montessori observed that the child passes through definite periods of sensitivity for acquiring knowledge and skills. Our Casa dei Bambini curriculum integrates these sensitive periods, with the individual interests of the child to design a cumulative curriculum.

     

    Planes of Development

    Montessori classrooms and materials are grouped according to the principles of Dr. Maria Montessori’s “Planes of Development”, which groups children according to observable developmental characteristics and needs.

    The first plane (birth to age six) we call the “Absorbent Mind”. This stage is the foundation for all later learning. It is the greatest stage of brain development and the children in the this phase seemingly effortlessly absorb everything from their environment. As Montessorians, we believe in providing a rich, stimulating environment that involves hands-on learning in this plane.

  • When to Apply

    Casa admissions begin in January of the calendar year that your child turns 3. Our annual Open House in late January is a great opportunity for families to visit the school, meet the teachers, and learn more about Montessori.
  • Typical Daily Routine

    • 8:30 a.m.
      Door Opens - Children change to indoor shoes and wash hands.
    • 8:45 a.m.
      First Circle - Children discuss calendar / the day's activities / group lesson
    • 9 a.m.
      Work Period - Free choice / individual lessons / small group lessons
    • 11 a.m.
      Transition to outside for playtime.
    • 11:15 a.m.
      Outside Playtime - Rain or shine. In the adjacent fenced-in playground.
    • 11:45 a.m.
      Transition to indoors for lunch time.
    • Noon
      Lunchtime
    • 12:45 p.m.
      Quiet time / rest or gentle yoga.
    • 1:30 p.m.
      Specialist or art class
    • 2:30 p.m.
      Snack time and outside play
    • 3:15 p.m.
      Story time
    • 3:30 p.m.
      Dismissal for 3:30 p.m. children
    • 3:30-5:30 p.m.
      Free play, art activities, story time dramatic play, outdoor exploration
    • 5:30 p.m.
      End of day dismissal
    • Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment

      Dr. Maria Montessori
    • Practical Life

      The Practical Life exercises relate directly to daily living tasks. They are activities a child sees being carried out every day in his home. From learning to put on his coat, to peeling a carrot or polishing silver, the child gains independence and develops fine motor movement essential for future writing skills.

    • Sensorial

      “The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge”
      -Dr. M. Montessori
      This group of activities helps in refining the child’s senses. Dr. Montessori designed these materials to isolate individual senses and to show the child how to pair and eventually grade the materials according to colour, taste, smell, touch and sound. Activities for all the senses begin with simple tasks and move toward materials that require more skill.

    • Language

      In the Montessori Method of education, reading is taught by the ‘Phonetic’ method. ‘Phonetic’ means ‘by sound’ and the whole system for teaching reading is based on teaching the child the phonetic sound of each letter of the alphabet.

    • Math

      The young child loves to count and does so as a rhyme. This is done in a similar manner as the phonetic sounds but only after some sound work has been done with the child. Once a child is comfortable with numbers and quantities of 1-10, she is introduced to the decimal system and begins to learn the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The Montessori Math materials are very extensive and always move from the concrete onto the abstract.

    • Geography

      Geography is an integral part of the curriculum and is incorporated into every aspect of the school. Dr. Montessori believed that the best way to introduce a concept was by first looking at the whole and then breaking it down into the integral parts. The globe is presented, then the land and water forms followed by the puzzle map of the Continents and then the individual continent maps. Climate, customs, language, music, dance and peoples are part of our geography studies. The child is introduced to science through observations and simple experiments; zoology, botany, Biology and Geology are incorporated into the Montessori curriculum.

  • Casa dei Bambini Educators