Life at La Maison Montessori
Students First
Nutrition
Parents & Guardians
Behaviour Strategies
Montessori Approach
Classroom Rules
Students First
Even though at La Maison Montessori Kingston we practice the Montessori philosophy, we also put the unique needs of our students first. Our motto is: STUDENTS FIRST. Our goal is to meet every student at their level, build relationships, and guide each of them to grow and reach their optimal selves. Our students are seen and heard.
Our students are valued. We adapt our strategies to set up each and every student for success by following, the following four foundational blocks:
Spiritual
Intellectual
Emotional
Physical
We are dedicated and committed to shape and mould our students to meet the best of their abilities in all four foundational blocks and to ease their entry into elementary grades.
La Maison believes that every student will succeed and achieve their greatest potential when they are provided an environment that reflects kindness, guidance and nurturing. In turn, students will acquire a passion of inquisitive lifelong learning which will help them to discover the wealth of possibilities in their future.
Nutrition
La Maison Montessori provides a morning snack, three-course lunch, and an afternoon snack. At La Maison, we are committed to providing whole foods. We uses stainless steel eating and serving tools for all our students. We avoid plastics tools, and packaged/processed foods and foods preservatives whenever possible. We follow the nutrition guidelines set by the Canadian Food Guide ensuring a balanced meal.
Our on-site bilingual chef strives to provide a menu that allows students to be exposed to a diversity of foods often and at an early age. All students are encouraged and never forced to try foods. La Maison is fully vegetarian school and currently egg-free as well. We respect students’ dietary needs including allergies, dairy-free, Halal, and lactose intolerance.
Each day we offer options for children with special diets including gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and vegetarian needs. Our Chef and Director work closely to develop a menu that features a fifteen-day rotation cycle that changes seasonally. As per the Montessori Methodology, the students are guided to serve themselves and clean up afterwards.
La Maison aims for our students to be connected to where their food comes from. To achieve this ongoing goal, we are starting our first sustainable, organic, and heirloom vegetable gardening program led by the preschoolers. The students are guided to comprehend the plant-life cycle, starting from: seed, germination, planting, irrigation, growth, blooms, and harvesting. The students make connections between their bodies and food in that we need food to grow, healthier and get stronger.
Families, Parents & Guardians
La Maison Montessori Kingston makes decisions centred on our students. Just as integral as our students are to us, so are the families who care for them daily. We have many opportunities for families to volunteer, fundraise, support, and donate to build a close community to support all of our students.
In a short time, our students become family, supporting and making bonds with each other. Outside our school, our parents become family as well since our goals are the same which is to support our students to flourish. By establishing respectful relationships, consisting of open communication we can grow together. In our experience, open and respectful on-going communication between all stakeholders helps create a environment responsive to students’ needs resulting in putting students first.
Proactive Behaviour Strategies
Misbehaviour is expected and is impossible to prevent totally. Students are curious and infinitely imaginative, are most likely to exhibit behaviours unexpected to families and caregivers. In acknowledging unexpected behaviours, there are numerous positive strategies families, caregivers and teachers, can utilize to assist in preventing misbehavior.
- Set clear, consistent rules, provide practice.
- Ensure the learning environment is safe.
- Demonstrate interest in students’ activities by making sure each student is seen and heard.
- Provide engaging play resources.
- Support self-control by offering meaningful choices.
- Focus on the desired behavior, rather than the one to be avoided.
- Foster students’ confidence of themselves as responsible and cooperative.
- Have high expectations.
- Give clear directions, one at a time, to ensure comprehension.
- Observe and acknowledge students when they meet expectations.
- Take action before an exchange gets out of control. Provide feedback. Help deconstruct.
- Provide encouragement. Believe in all students.
- Be a role model. Do as you expect. Be the change.
- Help students see the impact of their words and actions.
The Montessori Approach to Student Behaviour
Discipline versus Self Control
Discipline is “to teach” or “to train.” However, most commonly discipline is associated with punishment.
La Maison Montessori Kingston aims to reduce adult enforced control by guiding the development of self-discipline in the student.
According to Dr. Maria Montessori the essence of discipline is inner growth and awareness developed by the student as one works at engaging tasks at home or at school.
Freedom to Do What’s Right
At La Maison Montessori Kingston, we aim to practice discipline to achieve self-control within the students to prepare them for a promising future. The goal of discipline is student self-control in preparation for a successful future.
The Montessori methodology is foundationally based on the concept of freedom with limitations. Dr. Montessori stated, “Children always have the freedom to do what is right. They never have the freedom to do what is wrong.”
Making Suitable Choices
Most often, a young child’s life is scripted, lacking choices. Providing choices is one of the guiding principles of Montessori philosophy to achieve confidence and cultivate independence. Students at La Maison Montessori Kingston are encouraged to make choices. As a natural consequence, if one makes a poor choice, the action will naturally result in poor outcome teaching the child with experience in hopes of inner growth and altering one’s actions in the future.
La Maison Montessori Kingston is dedicated to designing positive learning environments for all students. We provide a rich, purposeful, safe, and inclusive environment resulting in rewarding experiences for all students. We aim to reduce distractions and interruptions to routines.
Clear Rules and Expectations
There are few people that consider Montessori methodology is entirely permissive in relation to discipline. This is unquestionably false. Classroom ground rules are clearly posted in each room. The teachers, student teachers, support staff, and volunteers consistently remind students of these classroom rules.
The purpose of the ground rules, aligned with Montessori methodology, is to cultivate the development of self-respect, respect for others and respect for the environment.
Classroom Rules
- Students may move freely. Students will not run or push. All students are expected to walk indoors. Students will keep their hands to themselves.
- Students are welcome to work with any materials displayed in the classroom environment that one has had a lesson.
- Students must use the materials respectfully. Students must not harm the materials. Students must use the materials with purpose.
- Students may work on a table or rug, whichever is suitable to the work chosen.
- Students will restore the environment during and after an activity or exercise. Students are responsible for cleaning up spills, rolling up and returning rugs, placing chairs under tables and finally returning their materials to the designated space on shelf.
- Students have the right to work undistracted by others.
- No student touches the work of another without invitation. No student is allowed to interfere with another’s learning cycle or concentration.
- No student will touch another student without invitation. Personal space will be respected at all times.
- Students have the right not to join a group activity. Students may continue working with individual activities during group activities or may be an observer.
- Students are not allowed to interfere, disrupt, or interrupt a group activity in progress that they have chosen not to join. They may join the group at any time.
- Students have the right to do nothing. Invariably in “doing nothing” the child is learning through observation, conceptualizing and resting.