What We Offer
Our Early Childhood classroom follows the Montessori model and incorporates educational approaches that stimulate independence, promote social-emotional development and support academic progress on an individualized basis.
Individualized curriculum, self-paced academics, and developmental growth allows for pride and ownership throughout the entire learning process.
Knowhow with peers, teachers, and the classroom fosters capability and confidence.
Our low-ratio, mixed-aged learning environment allows for practice in being a leader and a contributing community member.
The Early Childhood classroom is beautiful, home-like, and thoughtfully arranged. Furniture is child-sized, and low shelves are full of attractive, engaging, hands on learning materials that invite students to explore. Our learning space is tastefully decorated with things that are natural and real.
We use glasses and porcelain dishes for snack, and our furniture is made from real wood. Students learn to be gentle with delicate things and how to mindfully navigate the classroom. They practice responsibility by watering plants and feeding class pets. This is all part of our Practical Life curriculum, which is a cornerstone of Early Childhood education.
Practical Life is an avenue of study that is especially important for young children. In addition to learning how to care for their environment, our youngest students also learn how to care for themselves and others. Handwashing, buttoning a jacket, putting on shoes, cleaning up a spill, washing dishes, and opening the door for someone are all examples of Practical Life lessons.
There are three additional avenues of study in the Early Childhood classroom: Sensorial Development, Development of Language, and Preparation of the Mathematical Mind. Each avenue has a specific space in the classroom where shelves with related activities are available for students. A child can move from one subject to another and engage with materials from any avenue during the work cycle.
You will also find a designated space for scientific and cultural exploration in every Montessori classroom. Here you will often see a rotating theme of study centered around a particular biome or continent that ties in appropriate biology, geography, and history. These studies introduce children to the physical world that surrounds them, providing them with the opportunity to explore real things and learn the scientific names for plants and animals.
The goal in a Montessori environment is to create “a culture of consistency, order, and independence.” When young children do not attend school full time, their schedule is disrupted and it is difficult to restart the settling process they must go through every week. When a child is full time, they maintain excitement about work they are doing and activities they are a part of at school with peers and teachers. If there are gaps in their schedule, it is more difficult to manage that level of enthusiasm and we notice slower academic and social/emotional progress.
Change in routine can be hard for young children, as they do not yet have a firm sense of time. By providing a daily routine for them, your child is able to grow comfortable in the classroom setting and is able to dive deeper into their academic and social learning. Five day a week programming also aids in children forming and maintaining bonds with friends and developing positive relationships.
The Kindergarten year, or the third year, is the final step in our Early Childhood three year cycle. The children engage in a low ratio, multi-aged learning environment, prepared to enter first grade with individualized curriculum and assessments.
The Kindergarten year acts as the bridge between the first two years of concrete fundamentals. The fruition of advanced work then becomes the foundation for the child’s abstract understanding of learning.