Welcome to Children’s Montessori Day Care  located in Whitby, Ontario. We offer enriched Montessori program in a safe and nurturing environment.

E-mail: administrator@childrensMDC.com
TEL: 905-723-3998
Map and Location

Programs

• Enriched Montessori Curriculum
• Character Education
• Safe and nurturing environment
• 1:8  Teacher/Student Ratio Preschool,  1:5 Teacher/Student Ratio Toddle
• Before and After School Programs with transportation for JK/School age children
• Catered nutritious lunch and Snacks
• Bright and spacious classrooms
• Large outdoor playground
• Indoor gymnasium
• Benefits of multi age grouping
• Open 6:30AM TO 6:30PM

Curriculum

The Montessori Classroom is a prepared environment which invites activity and exploration. The classroom consists of the following areas:

Young children are attracted to activities that help them achieve personal independence and also take care of their environment. Materials in the practical life area allow children to practice routine day-today activities such as cutting, pouring, sweeping and washing a table. The purpose of these activities is to develop concentration and attention to detail, completing each task and putting away all the materials prior to moving on to another activity. Repetition of such activities enables perfection, thus improving coordination and developing concentration. The skills developed through practical life exercises will lay the foundation for academic exercises.

Sensorial materials in the Montessori classroom are designed to help the child explore the world through their senses. Each of the Sensorial materials isolates one defining quality such as color, weight, shape, texture, size, sound and smell. The materials help children to distinguish, to categorize, and to relate new information to what they already know. The Sensorial Materials are largely self-correcting so the child can accomplish the exercise alone. Children find a sense of order in these materials and acquire a joy in learning that their environment has order. 

The Montessori mathematical materials isolate each concept and introduce it to the child in a concrete form using manipulative equipment. Children are first introduced to the numbers using the sandpaper numbers. Once they can recognize the numbers they are introduced to activities that teach them to associate each numerical symbol with the proper quantity. These exercises not only teach children to calculate, but they provide a deep understanding of how numbers function. They learn concrete mathematical concepts and the materials lead them to the abstract, so that their understanding has a firm foundation. The child progresses one step at a time to a more abstract understanding of the concepts of arithmetic including addition, multiplication, subtraction and division.

Dr. Montessori believed that the evolution of language begins with the infant's unique capacity to absorb fragments of language which serve as a basis for development.  Initially, children discover that sounds have meaning, and then they isolate the parts of speech. Finally, they grasp the use of sentences. The child between two and a half and six is in a sensitive period for language, and hence the constant assimilation of language results in a sudden expansion of vocabulary.

Montessori children begin writing and reading when they are ready and progress at their own pace. Their experiences in practical life and their sensorial education serve as preparation for this. The sandpaper letters provide a phonetic basis for reading. Children’s desire and sensitivity to touch are utilized by these letters which are cut out of sandpaper and mounted for tracing, when they not only hear the sound and see the shape, but also train their muscles in the formation of letters, for when they begin writing.

Once the children are able to recognize the letters, they build their own words phonetically with cut–out letters placed on a mat using matching objects/pictures (maintaining the use of concrete material), and later proceed to non-phonetic words. The material frees them from the fatigue of their still developing writing skills and yet provides them with the opportunity to pursue their interest in words. Children build their vocabulary through story–telling, conversation and many other exercises. These activities serve as preparation for the time when children assimilate what they know and are then ready to explode into writing.

Montessori introduces geography, geology, biology, history and many other interesting subjects to children at a young age. Children can joyfully absorb many difficult concepts if they meet them in concrete form. The common stumbling blocks in the middle elementary grades can be exciting if they are presented to youngsters at an earlier age when they enjoy manipulating with their hands. In a Montessori classroom, a fraction is not simply a number on a paper: in concrete form a fraction is displayed as a segment in a circle – a tangible object, which children can hold in their hands. A verb is not just a word on paper; it is something which they can act out. Likewise, they can pour water around an island form or form a five squared with five rows of five beads each. The materials that make these concepts tangible for them will serve as touchstones in their memory for many years, to clarify the abstract terms when they encounter them on repeated occasions in future learning situations.

“When the children had completed an absorbing bit of work, they appeared rested and deeply pleased. It almost seemed as if a road had opened up within their souls that led to all their latent powers, revealing the better part of themselves. They exhibited a great affability to everyone, put themselves out to help others and seemed full of good will.” - Maria Montessori, MD

Sensitive Periods

Dr. Maria Montessori, physician, anthropologist and pedagogue through her intense scientific observation of the human being, deduced that children, by nature, learn from their environment. In view of the fact that they carry with them, from birth, an individual potential for physical and cognitive development, which is nurtured through what Montessori referred to as "the sensitive periods." In order to facilitate the exploration of the child’s unique inner potential, the environment must be properly prepared.

Dr. Montessori identified eleven different sensitive periods occurring from birth through age six. Each refers to a predisposition compelling the child to acquire/attain specific characteristics as described below. The following ages of the onset and conclusion of each sensitive period are approximate and benchmark the subsequent description.

Movement – random movements become coordinated and controlled: grasping, touching, turning, balancing, crawling, walking (birth – one)

Language – use of words to communicate; a relative progression from babble to words to phrases to sentences, with a continuously expanding vocabulary and comprehension (birth – six)

Small Objects – a fixation on small objects and tiny details. (one – four)

Order – characterized by a desire for consistency and repetition and a passionate love for established routines. Children can become deeply disturbed by disorder. The environment must be carefully ordered with a place for everything and with carefully established ground rules (two – four)

Music – spontaneous interest in and the development of pitch, rhythm and melody (two – six)

Grace & Courtesy – imitation of polite and considerate behavior leading to an internalization of these qualities into the personality (two – six)

Refinement of the Senses – fascination with sensorial experiences (taste, sound, touch, weight, smell) resulting with the child learning to observe and with making increasingly refined sensorial discrimination (two – six)

Writing – fascination with the attempt to reproduce letters and numbers with pencil or pen and paper. Dr. Montessori discovered that writing precedes reading (three – four)

Reading – spontaneous interest in the symbolic representations of the sounds of each letter and in the formation of words (three – five)

Spatial Relationships – forming cognitive impressions about relationships in space including the layout of familiar places. Children become more able to find their way around their neighborhoods, and they are increasingly able to work complex puzzles (four – six)

Mathematics – Formation of the concepts of quantity and operations from the uses of concrete material aids (four – six)