Music Program
Children love to sing, and we often hear our preschoolers humming as they work and play. Music is integral to their development, and in addition to having a structured music class, singing is part of our every day life here at Maple Tree Montessori.
We have adopted an Orff/Kodaly approach to music, using song, dance, rhymes, clapping games, stories and poetry taken from the creative and cultural world of our children.
At Maple Tree Montessori, music is “never alone, but connected with movement, dance and speech – not to be listened to, meaningful only in active participation”. (Carl Orff)
The Outdoors
Equally important to a preschooler is a closeness to the outdoors and nature. Our garden play area looks very different from a conventional playground, and the benefits of this landscape are immeasurable and designed to bring children back to nature despite our urban setting. There are logs surrounding their sandy beach, a slide embedded into the side of a hill, a vegetable box and so much more! Watch our children as they actively explore in all sorts of imaginative ways.
The garden is also used as an extended part of the classroom all year round as we bring nature to life in our botany and zoology lessons with things like:
- planting and watering seeds
- real time plant and animal life cycles (oh, the wonder of sprouting buds or a caterpillar's caccoon!)
- animal habitats and bird feeding
- digging holes for flower planting
and so much more … the sky is the limit!!
