Montessori

Oaklea is the lovely Montessori pre-school my daughter went to. When she started school, I wanted to say thank you to Caroline who ran the nursery from a classroom at the back of her house. My daughter Sophia loved going and we made friends for life, Graham & Mandy and Michelle & Andrew (who I wrote songs for see The Big Four - Oh and Grace Kelly)

Oaklea

Caroline’s House is where I like to learn and play
It’s really called Oaklea and it’s truly a nice place to stay
We hang up our coats and bags and put our names upon the door
We settle ourselves on a cushion and sit nicely on the floor

Listening to wonderful stories and singing lots of songs
The teachers are all just lovely and everyone belongs
By the door upside-down, wellies dry upon the rack
And we all sit at the table when it’s time to have a snack

We are taught the alphabet and learn to write our names
We are able to play with lots of different and fun games
With jugs and interesting equipment, we spoon, scoop and pour
And there is plenty of paper and pencils, when we want to draw

Colours, shapes and animals we like to look at all these
We settle into the welcoming room and soon we feel at ease
We learn about our homes, the world and continents no less
And when we paint our favourite things, we sometimes make a mess!

We can set the table, pour our drinks and have lunch with all our friends
We say good bye at lunchtime to those whose session ends
Number rods, adding up beads and counting spindles into a box
Listening to cylinders and building carefully with coloured blocks

There are so many activities to do and we are all allowed to choose
We are confident with brushes and brooms and have learnt to polish our shoes
We like to build words with pictures, letters and tiny toys
Objects, animals, we sound out the word and imitate its noise

We plant seeds in pots, water them and then watch them in time grow
And once we made a snowman when the garden was covered in snow
We have some furry friends, who live outside in their hutch
Buffer the Bunny, Guinea & Trixie and they are all so soft to touch.

Each day we play in the garden with the car and on the bike
It’s a lovely space outside and no two days there are alike
Jump on the trampoline, walk on the logs or run round and hide
Then when we’re tired, with our friends, we all head back inside.

You have taught us to be special and learn everyone is special too
But at Oaklea the best people, are definitely all of you
So thank you Caroline and everyone else at Oaklea
For sharing your home, your time and love and helping me to become me!

Sophia & Ali Hoffmann
12th December 2007