Ottawa Montessori School

A Montessori 'Village' Can Help Raise a Child

At Ottawa Montessori School, Ecole Montessori d’Ottawa, we pay special attention to everything a child does. Over 300 students from 18 months to grade & use internationally acclaimed Montessori materials and curriculum to develop focused, joyful engagement in learning, Responsive, multiage classrooms create supportive, integrated learning communities where teachers assess individual progress through observation.

In a world where children are rarely able to move about freely, Ottawa Montessori School is like a small village. Our youngest students (ages l8 months to 5) stay close to home - their classrooms; working/ playing, inside or out under the watchful eyes of adults. The older students move about and interact freely in their classrooms and throughout the school. They work and play in the same way that we probably did when we were young - choosing who we would be with, moving about our community, checking in with the adults at specified times.

In Montessori classrooms, children spend their time with others who are both older and more experienced than themselves, and younger and less experienced. They exist in a community where sharing and what is fair are everyday, every moment experiences.

Montessori students choose from an extensive array of displayed activities, and can repeat or change activities independently. The teacher observes each student carefully and guides them through the international Montessori curriculum. Students learn through what they focus on and do, rather than through what they have seen or been told.

Students in the 3 to 6 year old classes are introduced to the world beyond their home and school through geography and language materials, for example using globes, puzzle maps, and geography envelopes that look at different continents.

In Elementary the stories of the universe, life on earth, human life on earth and the development of language, mathematics and science form frameworks that help students increase their sense of belonging and of having a responsibility to life. For example in the Fundamental Needs of Humans activity, students examine the physical and spiritual needs that humans "have, and explore how different cultures meet these needs. Montessori students see themselves as belonging to the whole of humanity; they see themselves as an important link in the continuing flow of human life.

Montessori students call what they do 'work' but they approach it in the same way that children approach play with direct engagement. Indeed, most of our students don't distinguish between work and play, which is a wonderful thing. Wouldn't we all like to be in the position of feeling that what we must do is what we want to do?

Ottawa Montessori School offers an excellent academic education in a small village where the young move about safely exploring the joys and responsibilities of independence and community.