Ellesmere Montessori School

Founded in 1973, Ellesmere Montessori School has been serving children and families for over 45 years. Our private school is nestled within the walls of West Ellesmere Community Church in Scarborough, Ontario. Our bright and sunny classrooms allow for an easy flow between the three different environments, helping to build a strong school community. Fundamental to this community is the mutual commitment to the Montessori principles between our school and our families. Our curriculum and activities are based on the educational pedagogy of Dr. Maria Montessori and guided by the principles of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).

Our Toddler Community and Casa are AMI accredited through Montessori Quality Assurance. Ellesmere Montessori is in the process of having our Elementary class accredited. MQA is the organization established to help Montessori programmes uphold the criteria of the Association Montessori Internationale across Canada. Our mission is to provide an educational programme for children 18 months to 2.5 years (Toddler Community), children 2.5-6 years (Preschool), and children 6-12 years (Elementary) of age, in which a child prepares a firm foundation for a lifetime of creative and purposeful learning.

Our Montessori programme begins for the Toddler Community for infants and toddlers who are walking well until they are around 2½ years old. A Montessori programme for children aged 0 to 6 years old should feel like a second home, a place where the children experience all aspects of daily life.

The environment is specially prepared with real materials (small versions of adult materials) and allows each child to participate in the daily activities. Everything in the environment is beautiful, clean, and in good repair. The children are taught to use the materials with respect. The furniture is sized to suit the proportions of the children's bodies and is easy for them to move about.

The Casa programme for children ages 2.5 to 6 is designed to give children an understanding and appreciation of the world around them. The areas of history, art, science, geography, biology, music and French are integrated into the classroom as part of the daily programme. These subjects are introduced through concrete materials, language lessons, songs, and stories.

Practical Life activities encourage within each child: care of the person and the environment, grace and courtesy, and control of movement. All of these exercises help a child to acquire a sense of order, independence, self-control, and intellectual concentration essential for later learning.

As a child learns to adapt to his own environment, his sense of self-confidence and independence increases. Sensorial exercises help the child clarify and classify past and continuing impressions gathered from his environment. The sensorial material is sequential, requiring the child to match or grade different shapes, colours, sounds, tastes, weights and textures.

The Language programme focuses on three aspects of language development: self-confidence, enrichment of vocabulary, and expression. Numerous vocabulary exercises increase the child's word power and ability to communicate. Reading skills are first acquired by concentrating on the phonetic decoding of words, and opportunities are provided for verbal and written self-expression. The entire Language programme is continuously woven into the life and work of the whole environment. In a similar fashion, French as a second language becomes a living language when the children hear it spoken throughout the environment during the day by the classroom assistant.

A child understands abstract mathematical concepts by first working in a concrete, manipulative manner. As children work with the Montessori mathematical apparati, they build a firm foundation in mathematics. The Elementary Montessori curriculum for children 6–12 is highly enriched, challenging, and continues to build on the experiences gained in the Casa programme.

The classroom environment reflects the needs of the child who is becoming increasingly social, as well as increasingly curious about the world around her or him. The imagination and sense of wonder is stimulated, and the students are encouraged to pursue their own avenues of interest as their curiosity is aroused.

The Elementary programme allows the student to gain a mastery of fundamental skills while cultivating within the student a “cosmic” perspective of the Earth and of humanity's place within the universe. As such, the areas of study include mathematics, language (English and French), history, geography, music, art, physical education, botany, and zoology.

Elementary children work collaboratively in a research based approach to learning. The children discover the world around them and show a desire of becoming contributing members of society. By providing a key into the universe, children at this stage of development are able to deepen their knowledge and engage the intellect while fostering a sense of connection to all humanity.