The Wildlings Early Years Montessori

In our preschool room our Ready for School programme is grounded in authentic Montessori practice where children develop knowledge and skills through purposeful, hands-on learning at their own pace.

The Montessori Cards and Counters are one of the many numeracy materials that children engage with regularly as part of our prepared environment. This beautiful material supports children in building a concrete understanding of number symbols and quantities, while naturally introducing the concept of even and odd numbers. Through repetition and self-correction, children gain confidence, independence and a deep understanding of mathematical concepts.

By providing meaningful experiences with carefully designed Montessori materials every day, we nurture a love of learning and help children build the strong mathematical foundations they will carry with them as they transition to school.

Our talented four year old Lucy, who is off to primary school soon, has been busy exploring our Montessori Movable Alphabet, using the phonetic sounds she knows to build words inspired by the names of the special people in her whānau. 💛

One thing that often surprises families is that in Montessori we don't focus on teaching children to recite the ABCs first. Instead, we introduce phonetic letter sounds—the same approach used when children begin learning to read and write at primary school. By knowing the sound each letter makes, children can start blending those sounds together to create meaningful words.

Because Lucy has a strong understanding of letter sounds, she's able to build simple words like dog, cat, mum, and dad, as well as words connected to the people she loves. This hands-on learning helps children see that letters have purpose and can be combined to communicate ideas.

Today at The Wildlings we made Matariki star cookies! 🌟

Through baking, tamariki explore measuring, mixing, and following steps while developing independence and practical life skills. In true Montessori style, this hands-on experience connected learning with culture, celebration, and creativity as we reflected on the meaning of Matariki together. ✨

Messages like these mean the world to us 💚

We're so grateful to be part of each child's learning journey and love watching them grow in confidence, curiosity and joy. Thank you for your kind words and trust in our team. 🌿✨

In a calm, prepared Montessori environment, tamariki are free to follow their interests and choose work that speaks to them. Whether drawing, creating, exploring, or simply observing, each child is supported to express themselves, develop independence and discover the joy of learning at their own pace. 🌺🖼️

What a wonderful week celebrating Vaia*o o le Gagana Samoa (Samoan Language Week)! 🇼🇸

Our tamariki enjoyed exploring Samoan language and culture through art, music, movement, stories, and kai. They learnt lanu (colours), numera (numbers), a*o o le vaia*o (days of the week), created siapo (tapa cloth) art, painted the fu‘a Samoa (Samoan flag), and sang traditional Samoan songs.

A special highlight was welcoming Poppa Mike, who shared stories about Samoa, his family, and Samoan traditions. Tamariki also enjoyed delicious Samoan kai made by Klay’s grandma including panikeke (Samoan pancakes), taro and chicken chop suey. We also baked yummy fa‘apapa (Samoan coconut bread).

It was a week filled with learning, culture, and connection as we celebrated the beauty of the gagana Samoa and culture together. Fa'afetai tele lava to all the ‘aiga who helped make this week so special for our tamariki and ngā whaea.