Montessori education philosophy was created by Dr. Maria Montessori. Maria was born in Italy in 1870 and became the first female physician in Rome. She was working in a hospital caring for children with special needs and relied solely on her scientific observation to developed her own teaching methods. The children in her care passed state exams with scores similar to those of average developing children.
Maria was now eager to try her methods with the average child and in 1907 she hired a carpenter to create child-sized furniture and equipment (the first of their kind). She observed that when the children were engaged in a purposeful activity they almost taught themselves. In 1909, Dr. Montessori had begun to train teachers across Europe using her methods and by 1915, there were Montessori schools all over the world.
The Montessori philosophy is child-centred and goes beyond academics in order to develop the “whole child”. A Montessori teacher respects each child’s interests and specific learning style. The use of Montessori designed materials and prepared environment to teach the children a wide variety of topics.
Below are three Montessori schools in the Halifax area:
Montessori Children’s House
Location: Halifax, NS
About: The Montessori Children’s House is for children 2 to 7 years of age and was been established in 1979. The school is directed by Mary Stephen who earned her Montessori International Diploma from the Montessori Training Organization in London, England and is accredited with the Association Montessori Internationale. They’re open from September to June from 9:00am to 2:00pm.
Contact: Website
Atlantic Montessori School
Location: Halifax, NS
About: Atlantic Montessori School offers full-day and full-day + early arrival/after school care programs for both toddlers (aged 18 months to 3 years) and Casa children (age 3 to age 6). Their school year follows the public school calendar from September through to June and are closed for two weeks for holidays in December as well as one week for March break. They are also beginning to offer a six-week summer camp program. It’s worth noting that their Casa children program is taught by fully bilingual teachers (French/English).
Contact: Website
Maple Tree Montessori
Location: Two campuses – Quinpool and Oxford
About: This program is for toilet-trained 3-5 year olds. Open from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Maple Tree provides nutritious snacks and lunch. The children get time outside daily. Each week they get the chance to learn music, do yoga, create art projects plus more such as French, geography, botany and zoology. Your child has the option to attend 2, 3 or 5 days a week and the school follows the public school year from September to June.
Contact: Website
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