SP GUIDE TO PRESCHOOLS: The Abba's Orchard
You may be familiar with the phrase "Follow the child," and at the heart of the Montessori method, this principle guides every step of the journey.
In this episode of Smart Parenting Guide to Preschools, we learn all about The Abba’s Orchard, a Maria Montessori Preschool in San Juan City. This preschool wholeheartedly embraces the Montessori approach, one of the world's highly regarded educational methods.
Discover how Montessori empowers kids to learn at their own pace, kindling their curiosity and independence. Watch as little learners take responsibility for their surroundings by tidying up their classrooms. Plus, hear straight from the children themselves about their exciting educational journey.
Find out why it might just be the perfect fit for your child.
#SPGuidetoPreschools #SmartParentingGuideToPreschools #TheAbbasOrchard #montessoripreschool #SanJuanCity
In this episode of Smart Parenting Guide to Preschools, we learn all about The Abba’s Orchard, a Maria Montessori Preschool in San Juan City. This preschool wholeheartedly embraces the Montessori approach, one of the world's highly regarded educational methods.
Discover how Montessori empowers kids to learn at their own pace, kindling their curiosity and independence. Watch as little learners take responsibility for their surroundings by tidying up their classrooms. Plus, hear straight from the children themselves about their exciting educational journey.
Find out why it might just be the perfect fit for your child.
#SPGuidetoPreschools #SmartParentingGuideToPreschools #TheAbbasOrchard #montessoripreschool #SanJuanCity
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LearningTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:16 Hi Smart Parenting Team!
00:17 Welcome to another episode of Smart Parenting's Guide to Preschools in Metro Manila.
00:22 We're here at Abba's Orchard, a Maria Montessori school, and I'm so excited for Sandor to try it out.
00:28 Are you ready?
00:29 Yeah!
00:30 Let's go!
00:32 [Music]
00:38 The Abba's Orchard, a Maria Montessori preschool, is located here in San Juan City.
00:43 We visited this branch in Green Hills that caters to children aged 3 all the way to 12.
00:48 But they have a total of 14 campuses all over the country,
00:52 with their full campuses who welcome children from 14 months all the way to 18 years of age.
00:57 Hello, sir!
00:58 Hi, thank you for having me.
00:59 Thank you for joining us here at Smart Parenting.
01:01 Can you give us a brief history of the Abba's Orchard?
01:03 The Abba's Orchard started back in 1999 in Bukidnon.
01:08 My mom, when she had me and my older brother, we were going to a Montessori school here in Manila.
01:15 But then because of my dad's job, we had to move to Bukidnon, and there were no Montessori schools.
01:21 And so, faced with the challenge that there are no Montessori schools, she decided to put her own school up.
01:28 [Music]
01:32 The Montessori approach, developed by Dr. Maria Montessori,
01:35 is rooted in observing and nurturing the natural development of children.
01:39 Montessori's unique approach prioritizes observation and child-centric learning.
01:45 And the reason that it's so pivotal is because Dr. Montessori observed that children are different from how society used to view them.
01:57 Yeah, society used to think that children are blank slate or empty vessels that one has to be filled in.
02:04 But she realized that no, children are born with potential.
02:08 They have this inner guide that drives them to develop.
02:11 And what we need to do as adults in society is to identify this inner guide and support that growth and not get in the way.
02:20 Montessori classroom is very different from the traditional classrooms I think Filipinos are accustomed to.
02:26 Why is the Montessori classroom at these ages built this way?
02:30 Montessori understood that from birth, we're very sensorial learners.
02:34 So what she did was she took abstract concepts like length or weight or size and turned them into concrete materials.
02:44 And there are certain material designs that allow just an isolation of one particular aspect that we show.
02:50 But that's very important for a child's understanding of the world.
02:55 In terms of the classroom environment, we have mixed ages.
03:00 In the younger class where we have children ages 3 to 6, they're more individual.
03:06 Montessori learned that development is not linear.
03:10 And that the psychology and the developmental needs of children are actually different at each stage of growth.
03:18 So she identified four stages of growth.
03:21 We call them in Montessori four planes of development, 0 to 6, 6 to 12, 12 to 18, and 18 to 24.
03:28 These are the developmental years of the human being.
03:31 Based on a study conducted by the founder of Abbas Orchard, children who started Montessori learning at age 3 were 9 times more likely to pass the college entrance exams of the top schools in the country.
03:44 That's just intellect.
03:45 So the data proves that the longer you stay in Montessori, the better it is for your intellect.
03:52 There are other studies in the States that ask children to answer tests at around the grade 5, grade 6 level.
04:01 But then they were asked then at a certain regular intervals of their test to jot down what they were feeling.
04:09 Their scores were at par between the traditional school years and the Montessori children.
04:14 They scored the same.
04:16 What was different was their attitude.
04:18 The Montessori children were enjoying taking the test because it was actually assessing themselves and what they know and what they don't know as a method for them to understand, "Oh, I still can learn more about that."
04:30 As opposed to those who are in traditional schools who are stressed whenever they're…
04:34 They just need to pass the test.
04:35 Exactly.
04:36 Not understanding what it's for or what the relevance of it is.
04:46 In our CASA programs, we have 25 children to two adults.
04:51 The two adults will always be one trained guide, someone who's done our in-house training, and someone in a classroom assist who's there to support the main guide in watching over the children.
05:05 And do they have assignments after school?
05:07 One normally is used to in traditional schools. We encourage the children are things that they were working on in school but want to continue at home.
05:17 For example, if they're doing a family tree in school or they're reading a book, they would actually say, "Can I take this book home and read?"
05:24 But more than that, we encourage families and the children to take part in the daily lives of their… in the household.
05:31 To do chores, to contribute, to set up the table, sort laundry, fold laundry when they're capable.
05:38 Just so they get this… the experience of what it is to be part of the household.
05:46 It's more of a challenge here in the Philippines where we have an agriculture.
05:50 And usually, these things just get relegated to third party.
05:56 In the earlier years, this is just as important as your other concepts.
06:01 Like cleaning up after yourself, arranging your area, or putting things back the way they were.
06:07 It's just as important, for example, as learning your name or learning your basic information about yourself.
06:15 Yeah, it has to be part of being human, especially if we are very serious about sustainability and taking care of the environment that we're in.
06:24 It's one way we show respect to other people by making sure that the material is ready for the next person to use
06:31 because it was ready for you to use when it was there.
06:35 So there's a morality to it.
06:51 I'm a product of the Montessori method, seeing Abba's orchard set up and materials brought back happy memories.
06:57 I saw many of the same sensorial materials which kids enjoyed using.
07:02 Allowing kids to explore and learn at their own pace, especially at a young age, is an easier transition from home.
07:08 I love that kids are free to move, to decide, and to be curious.
07:12 And there's also time to learn together with others.
07:14 Sandra, say hi!
07:16 Hi!
07:18 Hey Sandra, how was school in the Abba's orchard?
07:22 Good!
07:24 Good! Do you remember some of the stuff that you did?
07:27 Yeah!
07:28 Okay, can you tell me?
07:29 Drawing.
07:32 Drawing? Okay, what else?
07:34 Is it something you walk through?
07:37 Do you remember?
07:38 Yeah!
07:39 Yeah, which one?
07:40 The baby door.
07:43 That's it for today's video. For more content like this, don't forget to like and subscribe to Smart Parenting's YouTube channel. Bye!
07:50 [Music]
07:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]