The Montessori EcoSchool offers a comprehensive programme which aims at the holistic education of every child. It is composed of the following elements:
Montessori work
It is the heart of the school day. During this time, your child is introduced to new subject areas through presentations by the teacher or works at his/her own pace and mostly with the help of the Montessori materials on the different areas of the curriculum: language, mathematics, geometry, biology, geography, history, art and music. Each child can decide independently how long to work on which topic. It documents each piece of work in its learning diary, stating the time of day.
Nature education
The children spend at least one morning a week in nature. They explore the forest, pond, stream and meadow or create ephemeral works of art in nature as part of land art projects. The research and observation tasks, the results of which are documented in a personal nature diary, are supplemented by cooperative, community-building games, perception exercises and movement games, each of which is embedded in the thematic context.
Music
Music is part of the regular Montessori time, but is supplemented by the offer of an experienced music teacher who works with the whole group every fortnight.
Global Learning
Montessori education is a peace education. Among other things, it aims to promote understanding between different peoples or understanding for other cultures by emphasising the commonalities without neglecting the differences. Global learning is therefore both a part of the Montessori curriculum and is deepened through regular projects carried out by speakers, e.g. from the programme "Education meets Development".
Early integration of foreign languages
Foreign language skills are an important competence in our modern, global society. We want to take this fact into account at the Montessori EcoSchool. We do not see ourselves as a bilingual school, as from our experience this claim cannot always be fulfilled in a German-speaking environment. However, we place a clear emphasis on the acquisition of English as early and naturally as possible. The language is integrated into everyday school life and systematically developed. In doing so, we rely, among other things, on the Oxford Reading Tree as a structured language course. If it is possible and makes sense from a pedagogical point of view, we aim to have at least one teacher who is a native English speaker.
Sport
We want to promote the insight that regular exercise contributes to a healthy lifestyle and has a positive effect on physical, social and mental development. It is therefore not only limited to physical education lessons, but is also supported by the long lunch break and the weekly "Nature Day". Movement games, gymnastic exercises and other sporting activities also take place in the specially arranged sports lessons, which take place one afternoon a week in the gymnasium in Niederreifenberg. Since Montessori education places special emphasis on individual development and strengthening intrinsic motivation, we try to avoid competing in competitive situations in primary school. Therefore, in sports we focus mainly on games and exercises that require cooperation and teamwork or train the motor skills of the individual.
