“La Maternelle”: learning to live in a social environment

With the addition of Pre-K and Kindergarten, our bilingual preschool provides children with the complete Cycle 1 of the French preschool system, a foundation for learning and thriving in their years ahead at the ISG and beyond. Our programs balance play and structured activities, using real-world projects to engage children in the community around them. A focus on expression, language and communication in French and in English helps students to develop self-awareness and social skills.

​Prioritizing Social Skills
The specially trained teachers, known as "professeurs des écoles," follow the national curriculum which itself places much importance on social skills. Children learn how to be independent, how to cooperate with their classmates, how to be responsible, and how to question the world around them. Indeed, social skills are recognized as being as important as academic skills in preparing the youngest students for their educational journey.

Creating Active Learners
French pupils begin their journey to education early, as young as 2,5 or 3 years old. Preschool in France is called La Maternelle and the objective of these introductory years is to ensure children acquire all of the necessary skills to become curious and responsible students -- in other words, active learners. The success and strength of the French educational system are due to the solid preparation that the students receive and the attention to detail they are taught in these three key skill areas: the social realm, the academic realm, and the artistic realm.

​Building a Strong Academic Foundation
The mission of La Maternelle is the same as that of French school in general: to promote a common culture, a set of values that will in turn help each child develop to his/her full potential while being an active member of the community. As such, academic skills are taught in a precise and progressive way. The French educational system is well known for its detailed attention to foundation. Indeed, children master a skill before being presented with the next one, as each skill is built upon the other.​

  • Students follow the highly regarded Maternelle program such that they benefit not only from an immersive experience in the target language, but also from a solid academic structure. This level is comprised of three major components:

    1) fine motor skills,

    2) visual observation,

    3) oral/aural proficiency.

    The primary academic goal of this level is to develop hand and finger skills in anticipation of writing. Proper form (posture and gesture) are developed through writing exercises as well as painting projects and whole-body activities. ​

    Another key goal at this level is awakening the child's curiosity (ie. interest in learning and, with time, love of learning) by guiding them in their sense of observation. Even with our students who speak French at home, we greatly emphasize proper pronunciation of sounds, syllables, and words to help eliminate the lag between oral and aural comprehension naturally common at this age. The main objectives of La Petite Section are to ensure children ...

    • learn to follow rules

    • develop their fine motor skills

    • recognize shapes, colors, spatial relationships, numbers, and letters

    • separate words into syllables

    • sharpen their sense of observation

    • exercise their memory through French and English songs and nursery rhymes.

  • This level introduces children to the joys of writing and the beginnings of reading. From tracing and forming letters to recognizing and naming them, students in time learn to associate vowels with consonants. The resulting syllables, if only comprised of two letters, open up a whole new world of possibilities to children. While not all consonants are covered at this level, the B.A.BA principle is fully assimilated.

    That being the overwhelmingly major focus of this level, parallel activities aim to sharpen the eye, hone the ear, and develop age-appropriate vocabulary. The primary objectives of the Pre-K 4 level are to ensure that children in Moyenne Section ...

    • are fully prepared to embark on the journey of reading and writing

    • discover the universe of numbers, values, and quantities

    • develop a sense of and appreciation for logic

    • acquire budding critical thinking skills

    • exercise their memory through poetry recitations. ​Beginning in Pre-K4, instruction is provided in English as well as French to prepare students for reading in both languages. To promote complete bilingualism and to bridge any possible language gap, the French and English teachers work together to ensure all of the vocabulary covered in each subject (Math, Science, Social Studies, Art History) is seamlessly assimilated in English as well.

  • Kindergarten (Grande Section) concludes the Early Childhood Program. The curriculum focuses on pre-reading and writing skills, and mathematical readiness. Students develop their language skills further as they start to “write” stories and learn letter and sound recognition. Kindergartners increase self-discipline, attention span, and listening skills to prepare for elementary school—science, art, music, theater, and physical education complete the curriculum.

    Learning to Work Together:

    Our primary objective is to teach children how to interact and facilitate the discovery of social interaction norms. They assume responsibilities according to their capabilities, account for their actions, and listen to others. They develop language skills to better exchange ideas and feelings. A wide variety of experiences helps students construct the knowledge needed to prepare them for more systematic learning in Cycles 2 and 3. Kindergarten is a necessary period of transition. Children meet the Cycle 1 goals, and the precepts of Cycle 2 are introduced to students ready for the fundamental concepts specific to the first and second grades.

    Language:

    Students engage in spontaneous verbal exchanges and express themselves in multiple situations, such as dialogue, story, explanation, justification, and summary. Teachers prompt and encourage them to provide oral accounts of their experiences. By interacting with the children, teachers encourage them to progress and apply new language constructions. Students improve enunciation, use vocabulary appropriate to purpose, and progressively learn a complex syntax structure through language games.

    Exploration of Written Language:

    Children enter the world of reading and writing through four key areas: phonology, alphabetic principle, pre-writing skills, and writing. They learn to recognize elements of handwriting in the surrounding environment and practice tracing them while creating art.

    Physical Activities:

    Physical activities enable harmonious motor skills and intellectual and emotional development. Action and language are vital components in development as children explore the space around them. Gradually, they move from handling familiar situations and learn to adapt to their expanding environment. Over time, activities gravitate toward the discovery of self, others, and the surrounding environment.

    Discovery of the World:

    Children discover the world immediately around them, both natural and human-made. They explore materials: how to use, make and manipulate them. They construct knowledge through observation or manipulation and verbalize and offer critical judgments based on their experiments. Oral expression is a significant component in discovering the worlds of science, mathematics, and the world around them.

    Sensitivity, Imagination, Creation

     In Cycle 1, children develop their sensitivities, imagination, and ability to create. The main goal is to encourage children to discover the arts and react to them emotionally. Through varied exposure to works of art, children expand their imagination and learn to express their feelings. Children take pleasure in building and inventing, and exchanging ideas, feelings, and impressions.