Parents often wonder how learning takes place in a multi-age class of fifteen (Primary Classrooms) to thirty children (Elementary Classrooms) moving freely around the room carefully choosing their own work. The classroom is prepared and ready each day for the children's young minds and hands to manipulate the beautifully constructed materials. These materials will help the children with learning about the world around them and leave our school with a well-rounded, strong academic foundation.

 

​Montessori and 21st-century education tenets complement each other: creative thinking, solution-seeking, collaboration, innovation, ethical decision-making, and communication. We honor and practice Montessori everywhere in the school. We respect and nurture the whole child; the social, intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual development. Montessori-credentialed teachers in multi-age classrooms practice and model Montessori education that is both authentic and innovative.

 

The PREPARED ENVIRONMENT, in addition to the student and the classroom guide, is the “third teacher.” Just as every child effortlessly absorbs his native language, so he absorbs the ideas guiding the design of his environment. The Montessori Prepared Environment is arranged in a variety of curricula areas using child-sized appropriate shelves and materials:

1. Mathematics: Numeration, the Decimal System, Computation, Arithmetic Tables, Whole numbers, Fractions, and in higher levels, Geometry, Pre-Algebra and Algebra.

2. Language: Grammar, Reading & Reading Comprehension, Writing, Vocabulary, Word Studies, and Spelling. Research and Oral Presentations that are cross curricula are an integral part of the Lower, Upper and Middle School Classrooms. 

3. Cultural Studies: Geography, Zoology, Botany, History, Bible, Science, Foreign Language, Art and Music

4. Practical Life: Care of Self, Care of Environment, Grace and Courtesy, and Control of Movement

5. Sensorial Activities (Toddler & Primary Classrooms have materials specific to these areas): Sight (visual), Touch (tactile), Smell (olfactory), Taste (gustatory), Sound (auditory), Stereognostic (kinesthetic). The Sensorial work in Lower & Upper Elementary are found throughout the class, and well loved in the Geometry area. 

 

​The Montessori approach encourages self-directed learning. Our teachers act as guides, offering assistance as your child explores the carefully designed classroom materials and discovers new concepts. This approach promotes your child’s intrinsic curiosity and desire to learn. “Follow the child” is a phrase Montessori teachers implement. It reminds them to have faith in the child, believing in their ability to learn and grow according to their own internal developmental timeline.

 

Students at BCA learn to build strong partnerships within diverse teams. They learn to teach, coach, and lead others by example, accepting feedback, implementing decisions, and sharing the credit. At every level, the youngers look to their elders for modeling and advice. BCA's multi-age classes encourage peer teaching, as children manipulate hands-on materials. Everyone teaches; everyone is a learner.​​

Montessori teachers carefully choose words to convey consistent expectations for every child. Respect, kindness, and positivity are modeled to help students master the social skills vital to future success. Words that encourage children to be independent, intrinsically motivated critical thinkers are used consistently at school. “Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future… Let us treat them with all the kindness which we would wish to help to develop in them.” - Dr. Maria Montessori

 

BIBLICAL TEACHINGS & CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Learning goes far beyond academic concepts such as mathematics and grammar. For example, equal emphasis is given to character building and incorporating values in every learning session. Knowing that your child has an absorbent mind, and is capable of learning from their surroundings, the Montessori way builds and strengthens children's faith through activities and opportunities that develop a strong, enduring and close relationship with God. Students are taught Christian character traits through our faculty's example, daily Bible devotions, prayer and the wise use of unscheduled “teachable moments”. 

Shelves filled with Montessori materials that cater to each aspect of the child’s development are common to every Montessori classroom. Taking inspiration from this, we have a shelf or simple quiet area that invites the child to pray and give thanks to God for the day’s blessings, including scripture cards, devotional books or a Bible for a daily dose of God’s word. All students gather for weekly chapel, where each class takes turns leading with worship, Bible stories, scripture recitation, skits, and more. 

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PRACTICAL LIFE

Students learn to be aware of and initiate care for their environment by watering plants, decorating the classroom, cleaning tables, straightening the classroom, caring for animals, washing dishes/cloths, sewing, planting and cultivating gardens, and other activities they can easily master at their particular age. Additionally, students cultivate the awareness of their classmates and willingly offer assistance as needed. The practical life activities should be taken seriously as children are working diligently to perfect and master specific skills. This fundamental range of work has many layers of purpose that include joyously earning mastery over the "mundane," as well as constructing and practicing core human faculties.

 

Those who are unfamiliar with the Montessori method may question why a child is doing something like washing the dishes over learning something more academic like mathematical concepts. The practical life Montessori curriculum teaches the child things they need to (and are motivated to) learn anyway, and does it in a way that is of a piece with the more academic disciplines, developing the same key fundamental executive and emotional skills. Math, reading, and language all require one to have the ability to focus, to be able to follow logical and sequential steps, to make intelligent choices, to see a task through from start to finish, to persist when one makes a mistake, and to correct one’s mistakes—and all of these are present in the process of learning and practicing the practical life activities.

 

NATURE, BOTANY & ORGANIC GARDENING

Children take walks throughout our spacious campus, filled with live oaks, sycamore trees, large green spaces, and organic gardens in our outdoor classrooms, taking in and discussing the beauty and elements of nature. Much like the Montessori way, where natural and wooden materials are used, a simple tree can spontaneously begin the story of Zacchaeus and how his yearning to see Jesus prompted him to climb the sycamore tree. A nature walk is also a wonderful way to introduce children to botany.

 

Dr. Montessori believed that, when children were introduced to the sciences, they would naturally be drawn to the subject matters that interested and challenged them. Blake Christian Academy implements Botany & Organic Gardening as part of our students' education, starting with our Toddler and Primary classes, by teaching the importance of plants to human life, the parts and types of plants through flower dissection, botany puzzles and 3-part cards, caring for classroom plants, flower arranging, and planting/harvesting outdoor gardening beds.

 

As the children progress in age, teachers build on what was taught previously in the lower grades, giving more advanced and intricate lessons in Botany, learning plant structures/functions, photosynthesis, physiology, adaptation in different environments, foraging for wild edibles, preparing soil/composting/planting/weeding/harvesting a large garden, and creating natural salve remedies, first aid analgesics, teas and jams.  Our Upper Elementary students run a small business distributing and selling plants, salves, and organic seeds, earning money to purchase, build and start an aquaponics system.

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While teachers “follow the child” in the Montessori fashion, there are some botany basic milestones that they teach at every grade level. This allows for hands-on-learning in a variety of educational subjects (science, math, history, economics), in addition to exposing children to a concept of where their food comes from, how it is grown and what different fruits and vegetables taste like. This is a fun way to involve students in their own long-term health care, practical life skills, and to grow their appreciation of God’s creation.

 

ART
We provide art education for children from the age of two, with the aim being to amplify the artist in every child, as well as engage their creative sides. Students are introduced to classical and famous artists and their works through group lessons, 3-part cards located on our cultural shelves, and while recreating a variety of masterpieces. During class work cycles, and formal art classes for Kindergarten students and up, many Montessori strategies and tools are used, and playing with art increases confidence in children and gives them an appreciation for the arts.

MUSIC
Music is also an integral part of the Montessori Method because of the way children easily connect to it. Using its innate auditory appeal, we incorporate classical music and songs of praise and worship during work cycles, and while gathering on the ellipse, the children perform the songs, or simply listen to the lyrics.

Along with music in the classroom, all Elementary students receive formal ORFF Music Training once a week. Students engage their mind and body through a mixture of singing, dancing, acting and the use of percussion instruments using instruments like xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels. A key characteristic of this approach is that lessons are presented with an element of play, which helps the children learn at their own level of understanding, much like the Montessori Method. The technical objectives of the music program emphasize basic music literacy, and progress from the memorization of songs and movements, through the introduction of instruments and musical notation to the introduction of scales, harmony and composition.

 

In 3rd grade, students learn to read music, play the recorder and continue in their ORFF instrumental journey. Beginning in 4th grade, students participate in our beginning instrumental music program and may learn woodwind, brass, or percussion. Students start in Beginning Band and may progress into the Concert Band. (A monthly rental fee is required for instruments, unless purchased outright. All instruments are to be approved by the Band Director.)  *Private music lessons are available for 1st grade students and up on Thursdays after school.* 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION
We know the relationship between movement and the brain.  In her book The Secret of Childhood, Maria Montessori wrote:  “Movement, or physical activity, is thus an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement we come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that we eventually acquire even abstract ideas.”

 

Children want to move – they need to move -- while they are learning, and at BCA they can. Classrooms and the campus provide environments for movement, both purposeful and playful. From gross motor work in the classroom to running on the playground to music with movement, children can engage in physical activity throughout their day, promoting emotional growth and intellectual growth. Formal physical education classes, from kindergarten through middle school, teach children more specifically about their bodies in space, how to work as a team, and how to be healthy physically. *A Run Club is available for grades 3 and up one to two quarters per school year, dependent upon staffing.*

 

BEFORE & EXTENDED CARE PROGRAM

The Before and Extended Care Program at BCA offers toddlers through middle school students a place to play, be with friends, and learn.  Parents’ extended care needs are met while their children experience a familiar environment. BCA's Before & Extended Care program is both the same and different from students’ classrooms. The classroom maintains such qualities as freedom of choice, mutual respect, exploration, movement, consistency, and kindness, but differs by including non-Montessori materials and activities such as board and card games, toys, and puzzles, and an extended outdoor recess.

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ELEMENTARY/ADOLESCENT GOING OUT / FIELD TRIPS

Because no classroom can contain answers to all of the child’s questions, “going out” is a response to the need to explore beyond the classroom. In contrast with the traditional field trip, where the adult usually plans the activity for the whole class, the Montessori  children’s “going out” is based on individual or small-group interest and is an extension of classroom study.

 

Whether it be a visit to the public library for more specific books on earthworms and butterflies or a trip to an art museum to see Japanese paintings, children “going out” plan their own excursions, call the institution to be visited, and work out their transportation needs. The experiences of learning from new resources and meeting different people present a glimpse of social cooperation and the experience is a wonderful training ground for learning executive function skills.

 

Another part of “going out” can be service projects such as cleaning up the environment or holding a food drive for the hungry. These projects build the child’s sense of social purpose and moral responsibility.

 

"The teacher's task is not a small or easy one! She has to prepare a huge amount of knowledge to satisfy the child's mental hunger. She is not like the ordinary teacher, limited by a syllabus. The needs of the child are clearly more difficult to answer." - Maria Montessori