Activités extrascolaires
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infant COMMUNITY
The infant community is an environment at the level of the last years of nursery education, welcoming children from 2 to 3 years old.
"Apprends-moi à être moi-même"
Montessori in the infant community
Dr. Montessori called it the infant community (18 months to 3 years old). According to her, school is before anything else a place of living, adapting itself to the needs of each child, reuniting all the necessary conditions for his development, in order to help him to find his true self.
She perceives the child as an "absorbent mind". She often compares the young spirit to a sponge, completely absorbing all the information in his environment.
Acquiring information this way is a natural motivating activity for the kid, using all his senses, including through the use of science materials.
The importance of the first years
In her book "The absorbent mind", Dr. Montessori wrote "the most important time of life is comprised between the birth and six years old, not in higher education. Thus, it's the moment where man's greatest tool, intelligence, is developed. Not just intelligence, but all the physical abilities... There's no other time but this one when the children require a clever help, and any obstacle impeding his creative work will reduce his chances to reach perfection".
Montessori materials
Many of the pedagogical materials were created by Maria Montessori, in order to allow the child, through manipulating, to develop his potential in all the areas.
This material is definitely one of the main strenghts of the Montessori pedagogy.
Most of this material allows the child to correct himself on his own, thus developing his self-correction ability.
The material is located on children sized shelves in order to attract the child's interest and to fulfill his deepest desire and will of learning.
The child is free to choose what he wants to study, and completes it right to the end. He becomes the organizer of his own path, thus developing his independence in studying.
In each environment there is an area dedicated to a specific kind of materials:
Mathematics
Sensorial
Practical life
Language
Science
History-Geography
Music/Sports
Adaptation...
Day 1 1h, with parents and children
Day 2 1h, without the presence of the parents
Day 3 Half day without lunch
Day 4 Half day with lunch
Day 5 Full day
In the infant community, children enjoy a large bilingual space, which is specifically dedicated to them. They also benefit from the schoolyard and contribute to the vegetable garden on the rooftop.