MSW | A Day at School

"Our daughter has been attending the Montessori School of Wellington for 2-1/2 years now. The development she has experienced through her desire to learn is seen in her ever expanding curiosity in books, spelling, mathematics and language. This desire is brought on and expanded through the Montessori system of childhood development. As much as she has developed to date, we believe that the true benefits of Montessori will be seen throughout her entire life."

Our school is located in Dublin Street United Church in a beautiful residential area of downtown Guelph.

Our teaching staff all hold AMI teaching diplomas and our classroom assistants have all taken the AMI Assistant Course.

Our day begins at 8:45 a.m. When they arrive, the children are greeted by a friendly staff member. The children are then free to go and choose a piece of work which they have been shown.

From her observations, the teacher decides when a child is ready to move on to the next exercise. She invites the child to join her and do some work. The teacher works one-on-one with each child. This allows her to closely monitor each child's progress and to tailor the work to suit each child's individual needs

One child may choose to take out the Small Metal Insets. This exercise introduces children to the concept of fractions and is also used for design work in art.

Another child may decide to work with the Stamp Game. This exercise introduces children to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

While other children are working on their individual projects, a Classroom Assistant may offer to read a favourite book.

At any time during the day, the children can go and help themselves to a snack. The children go two at a time to the snack table. When they are finished, they clean up their spot for the next child.

Children can also choose to go, three at a time, to the French table. The French teacher gives them instruction in conversational French. They also learn French songs and poems.

We may then decide to go out to the playground where the children can tend the flower gardens which they planted or play in our sandbox

After lunch the children may decide to do some work in their writing books. We encourage the children to observe others at work as this is another excellent source of information and inspiration

Occasionally, we have a special event, such as our recent Reptile Party. The children were introduced to a variety of reptiles and amphibians. It was a hands-on experience and the children had the opportunity to handle frogs, lizards, spiders and snakes