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CURRICULUM

School Readiness at Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy – St Clair

Building Strong Foundations for School Success at Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy

School Readiness

Our School Readiness Program is offered throughout the year to ensure that your child is given the maximum opportunities to learn new skills, as well as refine existing abilities. All of our Preschool 2 children will engage in this comprehensive program in their final year before school.
 

Our School Readiness Program is aimed at supporting the development of, confidence and independence skills that your child will need prior to starting school, helping to build a solid foundation for later learning.
 

Our School Readiness Program promotes interests and assists your child in becoming an active learner and provides opportunities for your child to develop to their full potential whilst having fun at the same time. Our educators will also talk with you about your child’s readiness to start school, and provide you with support to help them to develop their school readiness skills at home. We work in partnership with your family and with local schools in our communities to assist you and your child with the transition and orientation process.

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Physical Fun

This area of our program is designed to have your child lead an active and healthy life. With fitness programs such as Shake N Move, yoga & the implementation of Munch N Move. Your child will always be involved in a physical program which also develops their gross motor and movement skills.
 

At Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy we assist your child in becoming physically aware and healthy learner.
 

  • Fine motor skills

  • Gross motor skills

  • Self-help skills

  • Healthy eating and nutrition
     

This links to the EYLF Outcome 3 – Children Have a Strong Sense of Well Being.
 

  • Children become strong in their social and emotional well-being

  • Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical well-being

  • This also links to the EYLF Outcome 1 – Children have a strong sense of identity

  • Children develop knowledgeable and confident self-identities

  • Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy, and respect

  • Children develop their emerging autonomy, interdependence, resilience, and sense of agency

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Educational Program at Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy – St Clair

Building Strong Foundations for School Success at Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy

At Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy our educators develop educational programs for each room. Information is gathered from children’s interests, family input, community events, Early Years Learning Framework and bundled together to support each child’s learning and development.

Our Learning Approach

Individualised, Play-Based Programs That Inspire Lifelong Learning

Our programs are tailored to each child’s individual interests and abilities, combining child-led, educator-guided and spontaneous learning experiences every day. Guided by the Early Years Learning Framework, we use play-based learning to create engaging environments where children can explore, think critically and build important social, emotional, physical, language and creative skills for lifelong learning.

Developing Your Child’s Sense of Identity

Term 1

At Little Smarties Term 1, our main focus will be ‘Developing Your Child’s Sense of Identity” How will we help to build your child’s sense of identity?

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  • Parent information night.

  • Name recognition and name tracing.

  • Identify what they would like to be when they grow up through group conversations.

  • Remember their birthdays, address, phone number, family structure, and recognise when they’re hungry through progressive mealtimes.

  • Building your child’s sense of agency by encouraging independence in self-help skills such as washing dishes after mealtimes, making and cleaning their beds after use, putting on their own shoes, and serving their own food and drinks.

  • Create an individual philosophy.

  • Decision making and making their own choices.

  • Growing vegetables and herbs.

  • Looking after our worm farm.

  • Being aware of our environment through sustainable practices, including Garden Wardens, Power Wardens and Water Wardens.

  • Identify labels and signs within their learning environment.

  • Children continue to shape their identities and further extend their existing knowledge and skills through interactions with educators, families and peers.

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Developing Social/Emotional Skills

Term 2

At Little Smarties Term 2, our main focus will be “Developing Social/Emotional Skills” How will we help develop your child’s social/emotional skills?

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  • Turn taking.

  • Small and large social interactions.

  • Ethical values.

  • Respect, giving and sharing.

  • Be involved in our local community through incursions.

  • Through physical activities, games and fine motor skills development.

  • Role play activities through dramatic play.

  • Once a week, a primary school teacher will be invited to the service to implement kindergarten activities with the preschoolers.

  • Half yearly reports will be completed at the end of the term.

  • Parent teacher interviews.

Developing Pre Literacy, Numeracy, Math’s & Science Skills

Term 3

At Little Smarties Term 3, our main focus will be “Developing Pre Literacy, Numeracy, Math’s & Science Skills” . How will we help achieve your child’s pre literacy & numeracy skills?

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  • Visit the local library.

  • Phonics.

  • Homework.

  • Music and movement – moving to a variety of beats.

  • Number sense and counting.

  • Logic and classifying/sorting objects by attributes (e.g. colour, shape, size and pattern).

  • Science – comparing fast and slow, loud and soft music, investigating hot and cold substances, light and heavy materials, and comparing amounts (more, less and the same).

  • Art – using thick and thin lines, big and small paper, thick and thin crayons, paintbrushes, pencils and textas.

  • Maths – taking objects apart and reassembling them.

  • Exploring parts of machines and examining parts of plants.

  • Maths and time recognition – using growth charts (plants, humans, animals, etc.).

  • Following a daily schedule based on time.

  • Engaging children in rhyming games.

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Applied Literacy & Numeracy & Preparation to Transition into Kindergarten

Term 4

At Little Smarties Term 4, our main focus will be “Applied Literacy & Numeracy & Preparation to Transition into Kindergarten” . How will we help achieve your child’s applied pre literacy & numeracy skills & preparation to transition to kindergarten?
 

  • Reading and writing short texts.

  • Maths – knowing numbers and counting sequences.

  • Writing numbers from 1–10.

  • Introduction to addition and subtraction.

  • Maths – introduction to money through play and dramatic play (e.g. shops, restaurants and fruit shops).

  • Lunch box – introducing eating lunch from a lunch box.

  • Excursion to our local primary school.

  • Creating their own stories and storybooks with drawings and early literacy skills.

  • Visit the local library.

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Our Commitment at Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy – St Clair

Building Strong Foundations for School Success at Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy

Our Commitment

Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy are committed to providing children with quality child care and educational programs. The company started with The Pines Academy early learning centre approximately 7 years ago and has continued to expand as Little Smarties Montessori Early Learning Academy across Sydney Metropolitan Region. The company believes in catering to individual needs of families and their children and this remains the focus of all staff working for the company and predominately within each centre.

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Highlights

  • Highly experienced and qualified staff, all with extensive training in First Aid including Asthma and Anaphylaxis management.

  • Ongoing professional development and training for staff at each early learning centre.

  • Friendly and helpful staff who believe in working as a partnership with families to meet the needs of their children.

  • Strong sense of community with outreach programs to local services.

  • Family owned and operated.

  • High quality educational programs embedded with The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), Framework for School Age children (MTOP) and National Quality Framework (NQF).

  • Educational Leaders responsible for mentoring, training staff and ensuring our educational programs are of the highest standard.

  • Early Intervention Specialist Teacher with experience in special needs including challenging behaviours, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Developmental Delay, Individual Education Programs (IEP), Individual Family Service Plans (IFSP) and transition to school.

  • Continuity of Learning Programs including transitioning to the next age group, school readiness and transitioning to school.

  • Competitive rates and special offers.

  • Resourced with high quality educational toys, CIT equipment, and a variety of modern outdoor climbing equipment.

  • Laptops and iPads linked with WiFi in each room for educational use.

  • Long operating hours (6:30am – 6:30pm).

  • Hot nutritious meals provided daily, accommodating individual family and children’s needs (e.g. allergies, cultural requirements).

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