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Published by jason, 2019-06-25 09:43:51

News Letter June 2019

News Letter June 2019

Exciting new chapter
for our school as we
prepare to open our

Middle School in
January 2020

Modderfontein Montessori

ISSUE NO 3| June 2019 |

HIGHLIGHTS: 2019 Pre-School Concert “Music Through The Ages”

We were all honoured by
the Pre-School children
as they presented their
musical concert in early
June. It was spectacular
to host this event on our
very own premises. We are so grateful to our
staff for putting this amazing production to-
gether.

We would also like to thank you, our parents
for your support. The biggest thanks however
goes to the stars of the show, our beautiful
Pre-School children.

GROWTH IN 2020

IT WAS A VISION AND NOW IT IS A REALITY

High School here we come!

The official launch and name reveal of our High School will
be announced in the next few months. We are looking for-
ward to sharing this exciting new step in education with all of
you. This has been in the pipelines for over three years, and
we are proud to be able to bring yet another vision in educating
the next generation of children to reality.
Our 12 - 15 year old Middle School phase will open in January
2020. This model will follow the Cambridge Assessment Interna-
tional Education Curriculum, which provides a seamless continua-
tion from our Montessori Primary School, continuing the philoso-
phy of mixed age grouping. Students enrolled in Modderfontein
Montessori’s Senior Primary class will move to the Middle School
in their 7th year, to join the 12-15 phase.

2021 will see the opening of the High School 15—18 year old phase. Student will have three
possible High School exits; IGCSE, AS levels or A' levels, all of which are locally and internation-
ally recognised.

Modderfontein Montessori Primary 6—12
year olds will continue to follow the Montes-
sori Curriculum.

We hope to see you , your family and friends
at our official launch!

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPLETING MONTESSORI PRE-
SCHOOL

(Montessori 3-6 includes the so called Grade 0 year)

The three-year cycle refers to an essential element of Montessori education. Children from 3- 6
years can stay in the same classroom, with the same teacher, the same classmates and as a re-
sult are able to build a strong, cohesive community. They move through the stages of develop-
ment experiencing different roles, responsibilities, and lessons and having their developmental,
social, intellectual and emotional needs met at each stage they pass through.

It is easy for everyone to understand how the child of 3 benefits from working in a community with
older children. The child can observe the more advanced work the older children do, something
the child will be aspiring to do some day. She can witness the grace and courtesy modelled re-
garding how to resolve a dispute, how to express frustrations and how to use our words effective-
ly. If the child struggles with work she has chosen, then an older child will be ready and eager to
help. What’s not so easy to see immediately is how the older child of 5 or 6 benefits from the
mixed-age community. Parents have asked me why their child would benefit from staying in the
Montessori classroom for their Grade 0 year. I relate it to you building a house with strong founda-
tions, an excellent structure, and a beautiful interior. However, you wouldn’t decide to finish your
work without building the roof, would you? It is during this third year (grade 0) that the fruits of all
the child’s labour begin to grow.

In the area of language, all the work they do during the first two years with the sandpaper letters,
learning the sounds and the symbols of the letters, and building words with the moveable alphabet
by breaking them apart into individual sounds, now forms the foundation for reading. And it’s not
just the task of acquiring fluency and comprehension in reading that occupies the third-year child
(Grade 0). There’s also work with nouns, articles, adjectives and verbs, etc., the foundation of
grammar and writing one’s own stories and so much more that is made available for them.

In the math area, the work that the child of three and four has done to count first from 1 to 10, then
to 100, then to 1000, and her concrete experience with the decimal system prepares them well for
the beginnings of abstraction in the third year of pre-primary (Graded 0.) Now they can work with
the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in a variety of ways and
they can memorize math facts.

We all know your child will undoubtedly learn to read and write and will learn to do the mathemati-
cal operations and these are all important skills, but I believe that these are not the most important
things a third year (Grade 0) child will learn. The greatest skills and gifts that the third year pre-
primary child receives are the qualities of character the child creates. Self-confidence, self-
motivation and responsibility for the community among others. These character traits are practiced
and perfected each day, practicing empathy, showing love and affection for others of all ages and
for oneself, exercising leadership skills, and being a positive role model to others.

I feel sad when I hear that my third year children are leaving our community for traditional school-
ing for (grade 0). The third year is the opportunity to complete the full cycle of activity with the
classroom materials and curriculum, and the chance to be the leaders that they themselves had
looked up to during the previous years. With your guidance, they have laid the foundations, built
the structure, made their interior beautiful and now it is time to put the roof on their house.

The Six Principles of the Montessori Prepared Environment Explained

Montessori’s idea of the prepared environment was that everything the child came in contact with would facilitate and
maximise independent learning and exploration. This calm, well-ordered environment has a lot of movement and activ-
ity. Children are free to choose and work on activities at their own pace. Here, they experience a combination of free-
dom and self-discipline, as guided by the environment.

1. Freedom

Montessori believed that a child must be free to explore and follow
his own natural impulses, thus developing his potential and increas-
ing his knowledge of the world around him.

2. Structure and Order
While Structure and Order seem counter-intuitive to the aforemen-
tioned freedom, nothing could be further from the truth. By using
the Montessori classroom environment as a microcosm of the uni-
verse, the child begins to internalise the order surrounding him, thus
making sense of the world in which he lives.

3. Beauty: Montessori environments should be uncluttered and well-maintained, the environment should reflect
peace and tranquillity. The environment should invite the learner to come in and work. This atmosphere is easily seen
by the attitude of those working there, both child and adult.

4. Nature and Reality
Montessori had a deep respect and reverence for nature. She believed that we should use nature to inspire children.
This is why natural materials are preferred in the prepared environment. Real wood, reeds, bamboo, metal, cotton, and
glass are preferred to synthetics or plastics.

It is here where child-size real objects come into play. Furniture should be child-size so the child is not dependent on
the adult for his movement.

5. Social Environment
Where there is freedom to interact, children learn to encourage and develop a sense of compassion and empathy for
others. As children develop, they become more socially aware, preparing to work and play in groups. This social inter-
action is supported throughout the environment and is encouraged with the nature of multi-age classroom settings.

6. Intellectual Environment

If the above aspects are not recognised, the intellectual environment
will not reach its purpose. The purpose of the Montessori environment
is to develop the whole personality of the child, not merely his intellect.
By guiding the child through the five areas of the Montessori curriculum
(Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, and Cultural sub-
jects), the child has the structure which is at the forefront of the crea-
tive work in a Montessori classroom.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN TERM 3

 ** Our new and improved Primary Sports Programme and field
 ** Changes to our Toddler outdoor area

 Open Class Day—Show my parents what I can do—20 July 2019
 Family Carnival & Market Day - 31 August 2019
 High School Launch and Information session (date and time TBA)

 Primary school applications for 2020 entry should have already been hand-
ed into the school office—contact [email protected]

 Please note that you will receive individual class theme calendar.
 Kindly note that if you are leaving the school at the end of the year, a full

term’s written notice must be sent to the school office.

EXTRA MURALS

Extra murals offered on the school premises (except swimming)
by private service providers. Please contact them directly for all queries.

SWIM SCHOOL – (011 608 1159) modderfonteinswimschool.co.za
PIANO WITH TRUDY - (Liz – [email protected] / 011 608 0902)
CHESS CLUB (Liz – [email protected] / 011 608 0902)
SOCCER STARZ – ([email protected] — 083 236 8559)
KRAFTY KIDZ (Nicki - 083 301 9825)
KINDERMUSIK - (Debbie – 082 826 1555)
PHYZZ ED (011 882 6684 - [email protected] )
GUITAR LESSONS – (Peter – 071 635 1929)
KARATE – (Russell – [email protected])
BALLET (Leanne – 084 884 5005)
SPROUTING YOGIS Yoga (Heidi - 083 7811559)



Payment made easier! We can now accept CARD pay-
ments in the school office! No cash payments are
accepted.

Remember to swipe your
MY SCHOOL CARD


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