Les Trésors de Marie-Claire - educational and daycare child center in Kirkland. Phone: (514)697-0001

In order for children to develop harmoniously, we believe that it is crucial to use a holistic approach.

Clearly, the programs are always designed according to the age bracket involved and the individuals within the group.

Some of the numerous elements that our educators take into consideration when creating an educative program are as follows:

Les Trésors de Marie-Claire - educational and daycare child center in Kirkland. Phone: (514)697-0001

LEARNING TO DEVELOP PSYCHOMOTOR SKILLS

Different movements will be taught to help the children develop fine motor skills in order to control a pencil. This will enable the children to be more precise in their gestures (cutting out, fitting things together, stacking them), thus developing the precision that will be needed when they start to write. Thanks to the gymnastics class and games to develop motor skills, the children will develop their motricity and coordination in body movements.

Nursery rhymes, rounds, dances and transition activities will enable the children to acquire more specific skills such as an awareness of their body structure.

Activities to promote a sense of well-being (auto-massage, relaxation with music) will also be given every day between longer activities. This will allow the children to unwind, to re-focus and to feel comfortable with their bodies.

LEARNING TO STRUCTURE SPACE

The children will be helped to feel their individual places in the space known as "class," by means of routines that have been set up at the beginning of the year (putting things away and setting out the material).

The children will also learn to have a feel for other spaces such as the gymnasium, the space outdoors, etc.

By using motor games, the children will learn to use the vocabulary connected to space (above, below, beneath, under, on, against, right, left, etc.).

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS

The child will learn to understand and use words of common politeness such as “Please, thank you, hello, good-bye.” The child will learn to sit properly and to wait for a turn, in order to be better prepared for life in kindergarten and in the world at large.

Cooperative games will be played to help the child move away from his or her own centre and take into account the point of view of other children.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

When children are little, they absorb communication, so they can use it in turn. Each child is prompted by positive encouragement to dare speak and express himself or herself in front of the group.

Preparation for writing: The child’s graphic-motor gestures will be developed by means of graphic techniques and exercises that can be subdivided in several stages:

  • perceiving the graphic-motor gesture through touch and movement,
  • reproducing the gesture in space,
  • producing it on paper.

A playful approach is used for these three stages.

In this way, the child will be led to see the meaning of writing. And, little by little, the child will learn to write his or her first name.

The notebook entitled “Mes premiers mots” will help the child acquire basic graphic movements and practice forming letters.

PROBLEM SOLVING

The child will be put in basic problem-solving situations and will be encouraged to find solutions independently by feeling things out, by taking mistakes into account and then by readjusting the solutions.

This will be done by means of puzzles, parlour games, challenges and questions.

AWAKENING TO THE WORLD AROUND US

Every morning, the child will be shown the sky and encouraged to notice changes in the weather. Changes in the seasons will also be observed, as well as the phenomena that go with them.

The children will be involved in play experiences to awaken their spirit of deduction and comparison.

The workbook for this type of activity will help the child develop capacities for association: visual awareness, notions of space, fine motor skills. The workbook will encourage the child to be more observant and become familiar with math, with writing and reading, all of which will facilitate integration in the school environment.

The workbook “Pourquoi” has a series of enjoyable experiments that can be carried out in class with the children and will help them master scientific concepts such as those about floating objects, things that flow, hot and cold, objects that bounce. (These workbooks are provided by the day-care).

MATHEMATICS

We take advantage of every day situations to work on math: counting the number of classmates, counting the number of days gone by. The child will learn to read numbers in the right order; he or she will learn to do simple subtractions and additions.

Motor games will also be organized in order to help the children understand the exercises they will do in the math workbook.

INITIATION TO READING AND WRITING (4-5 year-olds)

Help the child become aware of the need to read and write in order to get information and transmit a message,
Teach the child to hold a pencil properly,
Teach basic graphics by means of exercises that are fun,
Start the first four letters of the alphabet (reading and writing)
The letters will be worked on in the notebook “Mes premiers mots,”
Learn to recognize one’s first name by little group games,
What rules need to be respected? Explanation of the class charter,
Discovering the class material, class habits, daily routines,
Presentation and work in the notebooks,
Learning the transition games that are used daily,
Feel-good activities,
Round dancing in the class.
Examples:
- reading a book based on a theme,
- crafts and artistic expression (painting),
- exercises in logic: putting together two pictures to make the body of an animal,
- recognizing colours and creating a reference for the class,
- awareness of the environment: my 5 senses.

Les Trésors de Marie-Claire - educational and daycare child center in Kirkland. Phone: (514)697-0001

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Les Trésors de Marie-Claire - educational and daycare child center in Kirkland. Phone: (514)697-0001