Research suggests that young learners can benefit from spending more time with their peers, engaging in carefully-planned, varied and relevant activities. At GIIS, the Global Montessori Plus (GMP) full-day programme, starting from Sept 2021, aims to help your child pick up important skills required for their educational and social development, through meaningful activities with substantial learning gains.
The award-winning preschool curriculum at GIIS, is a well-researched programme that combines the reputed Montessori method with new age curricula, with an emphasis on Multiple Intelligences and futuristic pedagogy. The GMP programme, based on five pillars, focuses primarily on these key developmental goals: Language development and communication, Personal, socio-emotional development, Cognitive and Numeracy Skill development, Motor skills and physical development, and Appreciation of the Arts.
In addition to the learnings and activities conducted during the half-day programme in the morning session, the full-day programme will include a daily story-telling / manipulatives time, along with planned sessions for Dance, Speech and Drama, Art, Free play/Physical Education, Creative fun/Design thinking/ Maker space activities on a rotational basis, each day of the week. There will be sufficient lunch/snack break time and a rest break during the afternoon session.
The well-structured sessions during the extended hours, open to both nursery and kindergarten students, will be provided by experienced teachers in a fun, interactive and interesting environment in our school campuses.
At GIIS we understand, as parents, even if we are busy we do not want to give any less to our child. We believe our extended preschool programme will add value to your child’s learning experience, making it wholesome and future-relevant. Here are key things to look forward to through our reasonably-priced GMP full-day programme.
1. School readiness
Pre-school is the first step to subsequent transitions in your child’s school life, which can have long-lasting benefits. Our Speech and Drama session will strengthen your child’s communication skills, boosting their confidence in public speaking, building their self-esteem all the while helping them to prepare for primary school life. Similarly the arts and sports sessions will help your child to develop their visual perception, memory of things observed, math and numeracy skills, and motor skills apart from teaching them organisational skills. Also, learning will be easy and fun when combined with such peer activities!
2. Better prepared for social interaction
Personal and socio-emotional skills help your child develop a positive attitude towards learning and foster respect for self and others. Students in the full-day programme will get more time to develop their social, communication and collaboration skills. Our dance sessions would not just help build their physical strength by building on their muscular strength but also develop their social skills as they interact and learn in a group. The supervised free play/ physical education session will allow them ample time to explore while teaching them about team building, cooperation and collaboration.
3. Improved physical and mental well-being
At GIIS, we believe that even for the youngest among the learners, both physical development and mental well-being are equally important. Children at this age need to engage in physical activities and at the same time need our support and encouragement to keep going even when they fall for their mental wellness.
Our sports classes aim at overall health and wellness, where your child learns to respect rules, peers and opponents, and increases feelings of physical and mental well-being. Physical development stimulates a child’s curiosity and enables them to explore their environment. Some of the added benefits are improvement in gross and fine motor skills with increased movements like running, jumping, hopping, skipping, etc and the ability to self-help and manipulate small objects.
4. Creative development
We believe exposing children to the universal language of art is pivotal to fuel their imagination and creativity. This enables them to try out new ideas and encourages new ways of thinking and problem solving. As they build on their personal visual dictionary, children can learn from visual and tactile experience well before they can read.
Creative growth of the child can also be unleashed through other learning experiences like using manipulatives. These learning tools are hands-on and easily grab the attention of young learners as they move, build, turn, fit or arrange them. Our story-telling/ manipulatives and Creative fun/ Design thinking/ Maker space sessions will enhance your child’s creativity, giving way to innovation and 21st century skills.
At GIIS, we believe in value-based learning, whether it is academics or developing your child’s social skills, to help your child blossom into independent, skillful and confident learners who are ready to lead the way.
If you are looking for a holistic and valuable learning experience for your child, please feel free to get in touch with our admissions counsellors.
Rema Rajiv
Ms Rajiv has been an Early Childhood educator and practitioner for the past 15 years at GIIS. She heads the Global Montessori Plus (GMP) Programme, supporting kindergarten students in their learning and holistic development to maximise the potential of every student. She has been instrumental in implementing developmentally age-appropriate curriculum that provides a strong foundation for lifelong learning. She is well-respected due to her rich experience in the field and passion for working with preschoolers, helping establish a good rapport with the parent community.