Children's House | Discovery House Montessori School, Lekki

Children’s House

This classroom, traditionally referred to as the "Casa" (Italian for "house") houses the children aged usually from 3 to 6. Children who have been in a Montessori environment from a young age are usually able to move to the CH by two and a half. We have 4 Children's House classrooms, one of which is a full-day classroom. The environment is typically classified into 5 areas (Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language and Cultural Subjects. Through work in these areas, the students develop many skills and abilities and lay the foundation for others.

Practical Life Skills

As children work with activities such as spooning, scrubbing, pouring, sewing, washing, they develop the following qualities:

Order
Concentration
Coordination
Independence and responsibility – the child learns to care for self and the environment

Organizing, Classifying and Refining

All children at this age learn through their senses. This area of the curriculum develops the mind (intellect) by refining (sharpening) the 5 senses. The child learns to organize and classify all information acquired through the senses. In this way, the child is led to study and develop the ability to discriminate such qualities as dimensions (length, size, thickness, width), geometric forms, color, texture, weight, taste etc.

Communicating (Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing)

Preliminary exercises help the child acquire the skills necessary for the proper processing and use of language: the enrichment of vocabulary, categorization, visual and auditory memory, the sounds of the alphabet, sequencing, e.t.c. Writing, spelling and reading develop in the most natural way. Children learn the functions of words (parts of speech). They also do word study, using objects and pictures to understand homonyms, synonyms, singular/plural forms, e.t.c.

Nurturing the Mathematical Mind

According to the developmental theorist Jean Piaget “Knowledge is not a copy of reality. To know an object, to know an event, is not simply to look at it and make a mental copy, or image of it. To know an object is to act on it. To know is to modify, to transform the object, and to understand the process of this transformation, and as a consequence to understand the way the object is constructed.” The Montessori Math curriculum is designed to help build a love for math and an aptitude for reasoning. This is achieved as the child works with concrete objects that prepare the mind for a deep understanding of the principles of mathematics.

Learning About The World

Through a meticulously prepared environment, we integrate geography, science, art, music and history. The child can:

Explore the world of geography through work with the globes, puzzle maps of the continents, flags of different countries, land and water formations, as well as the workings of the earth’s elements. The child is able to have a better understanding of the part of the world in which he lives and gain awareness of the world around them by exploring other countries, their customs, food, music, climate, language and animals.
Explore the world through science. Children are introduced to plants, water, the sun and how they affect their everyday life. Zoology is studied and introduces the child to animals and their needs, external characteristics and habits. There are also explorations in physical and chemical sciences. Sounds like a lot for a three to six-year-old, but the joy they feel as they do their work in these areas must be seen to be believed.
Develop an appreciation for music and individual expression through art.