Christ the King Montessori Preschool

🌟 Exciting News for Parents! 🌟

It's that time of the year again! 📚✨ If you're eager to be a part of our Montessori program for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year, please contact us!

🏫 Schedule a Tour:
Experience the magic of Montessori education firsthand by scheduling a tour with us. I look forward to showing you our Montessori environment and introducing you to our dedicated Montessori guides.

📞 Give us a call at 509-713-7077 to book your tour!

Spaces are l very limited, so don't miss out on the opportunity to give your child the gift of a Montessori education.

We are all thrilled to kick off another school year together! Welcome Back to all of our CK families! ❤️
A big Thank you to Sign Gypsies-Tri-Cities for the sign!

This is my most widely shared post. And rightly so, it’s an important one. These are “prewriting patterns”, with the average (not prescribed) age at which children are developmentally ready to achieve these patterns listed below them in years and months. Being able to process visual information and produce a movement in response (e.g. copying these prewriting patterns or letter formations), is known as “visual motor integration”. ⠀
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Note that an X is not typically achieved until 4 years 11 months, and a triangle at 5 years 3 months. If a child can’t form these basic shapes...then they probably won’t be able to form letters. ⠀
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It is quite concerning then that there are 3 year 7 month olds starting formal schooling, where they’re expected to write. Not only are their visual motor integration skills not developed enough, their hands are also physically under-developed. In addition, recognising letters, understanding phonics and beginning to read are all needed in order for a child to write meaningfully, skills which children starting kindy typically don’t have. We also know that when a child learns something that doesn’t hold meaning, it‘s unlikely to stick. ⠀
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So if you have a 3-4 year old who spontaneously asks or attempts to write letters, that’s great; otherwise, there is no need to initiate or worry about this. Unfortunately there is a misconception, particularly with the way that the current curriculum stands, that earlier is better. Earlier is not always better.⠀

Source: Beery Buktenica Test of Visual Motor Integration, 6th Edition
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FINGER ISOLATION is the ability to move one finger at a time, particularly the index finger. Separating the movements of one finger from the movement of the other fingers usually develops around 6-12 months of age. ⠀

Why is it important? Because it’s required for many functional skills, like pointing, picking up small pieces of food, counting on your fingers, doing buttons, tying shoelaces and holding a pencil.⠀

Some children have trouble developing finger isolation, and the ability to differentiate between the sides of the hand, making the aforementioned functional tasks difficult (e.g. they may have all fingers extended out when trying to do buttons, rather than just using the index finger and thumb).

A small item like a pom pom can be placed in the palm of the hand for the middle, ring and little fingers to hold onto, to help with differentiation.
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Here are some activities that work on finger isolation:
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• Popping bubbles
• Pointing out pictures in books⠀
• Finger puppets⠀
• Flicking small items⠀
• Finger painting⠀
• Popping bubble wrap⠀
• Pegboard activities⠀
• Spinning tops⠀
• Eye droppers⠀
• Tongs, tweezers and chopsticks⠀
• Peeling stickers⠀
• Tearing pieces of paper⠀
• Finger rhymes like “Where is thumbkin”
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https://www.tricitiesbusinessnews.com/2020/12/ctk-montessori/

New building welcomes youngest learners A new building aims to meet the demand for high-quality preschool education in the Tri-Cities by adding three classrooms dedicated to Montessori learners at the new Ferguson Education Center in Richland.

Some people naturally need more sensory stimulation, while others need less. I fall into the "less" category. That's because I feel things MORE than others. E.g. I have a low threshold for auditory input, so I notice noise more than others (I struggle to concentrate in noisy cafes, and am frightened by unexpected loud noises) and I’m sensitive to visual input (I don’t like lights being too bright).⠀
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The idea that people are more or less sensitive to visual, auditory, touch, smell, taste and movement input is part of SENSORY PROCESSING. People who are MORE sensitive, may take measures to AVOID sensory input. People who are LESS sensitive, may take measures to SEEK sensory input. This is easy for adults to do. E.g. if I'm struggling to concentrate in a noisy cafe, I put my headphones in to screen out the noise. If the sun is too bright, I put my sunglasses on. Adults also develop coping mechanisms for when they experience unwanted sensory input. E.g. when I get frightened by a loud noise, I've learned to take a few deep breaths.⠀
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Imagine being a child with sensory under- or over-sensitivity, and not having developed the measures to cope, or simply not being able to use them, because you're in an adult-controlled environment. E.g. a child who is sensitive to noise can't do much about being in a noisy classroom. A child who is less sensitive to movement, so is constantly seeking it, may have trouble sitting still on the mat and be reprimanded for this. A child who is sensitive to proprioceptive input may have a meltdown because someone brushed past them, but that brush felt like a BUMP. Or a child who is sensitive to tactile input may not be able to concentrate on painting when there’s paint on his hand. And being in these states of dysregulation, of having too much or not enough of the sensory input their bodies need to function optimally, can be very uncomfortable.⠀
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It's important to understand that we all have our preferences, and they don't necessarily need to be "fixed". However, for children especially, we need to help them, and the adults around them, understand their preferences and how best to work WITH them. This takes time and patience.

Christ the King Montessori preschool is opening for the 2020-2021 school year. Due to Covid-19 we have lowered our class size to 10-12 children per class and are only offering AM and PM classes at this time. Our AM class is currently full but we DO have a couple afternoon spaces available. These classes run from 12:15-3 pm. Please email me with any questions. [email protected]