The Academic Programming of Our School

The Montessori program offers children a chance to start learning about themselves and the world around them in a safe, nurturing, educational environment. The Montessori Academy is a school. Our primary goal is to give children the opportunity and the tools to discover the world for themselves—learning all the while.

Montessori Academy offers a welcoming, stimulating environment that cultivates your child’s independence, self-esteem, and social and academic potential, with an individualized curriculum that will lay the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.

A little girl is sitting on the floor and playing with some shapes.

Toddler Ages 2-3 years

The Toddler program is designed for children 18 months to 3 years of age. The children are offered a small, secure environment and given the time they need to develop inner discipline, learn to be actively independent, and improve coordination.

The Montessori Toddler program offers children a chance to start learning about themselves and the world around them in a safe, nurturing, educational environment. The Montessori Academy is a school. Our primary goal is to give children the opportunity and the tools to discover the world for themselves—learning all the while.

The classroom is divided into areas: sensorial, practical life, language, math and science. During the day, the children may choose the area in which they would like to work, and they ‘work’ within the area that interests them. Many of the ‘works’ are designed to be self-correcting; that is, a child can see for him/herself whether they have made a mistake or not. Of course, as the child progresses through the works, they become more challenging, and a teacher guides them to new discoveries.

Program Schedule

3 or 5 days per week
Half Day 8:30 – 11:30 am
Full Day 8:30 am – 3:00 pm

Program Curriculum

Sensorial

The children feel, hear, and smell the similarities and differences in our world using sandpaper, cloth, graduated-size puzzles, etc. This sets the brain up for later sorting, organization, and patience.

Mathematics

Science

Practical Life

This area is a favorite with the children. They ‘learn’ to scrub, sweep, set the table, pour without spilling, and manipulate small objects and puzzles to gain concentration and coordination. Good working habits are developed, as he learns his materials must be put away, before attempting another activity—areas of development that indirectly and directly prepare the child for other areas in the curriculum.

Language

Toddlers are just beginning to use language—some better than others. The Toddler program emphasizes beginning word sounds and letter sounds and repeating them daily. Each child brings in an object which starts with the assigned sound to reinforce their personal contribution to group learning. The use of sandpaper letters enables them to start using muscle memory for writing as they trace the letters, as well as learning what sound each letter makes.

The Montessori Academy program is a place where a toddler will develop:

Sense of Order - Important in establishing self-confidence and a positive attitude towards work and rules.
Self-Direction - Building self-esteem and good relationships between adults and children, increases the desire to try new things and to ask for help when needed
Concentration - The Montessori works to teach a child to concentrate and focus on the materials long enough to experience the work and its concepts; when body control is gained, the child is able to concentrate with their mind
Coordination - Practices moving around the room without bumping into others, beginning pencil control, and carrying objects without spilling or dropping
Cooperation - Following one and two-part directions, listening to stories without disruption, waits patiently to speak or to use materials.
Social Interaction - Doesn’t interrupt others at work; seeks adult help when needed.

Transfer from Toddler to Preschool

Most toddlers, as they reach the age of 3, will benefit from moving up to the preschool class. This move will allow the “new” three-year-old to interact with older children, to work with increasingly challenging works, and to benefit from the example of the older, more experienced children.

This move will be at the discretion of the Toddler Directress, who is most familiar with the child’s abilities in the Montessori environment, in conjunction with parental consultation. Children who are academically and socially ready for preschool must be completely toilet-trained when they move up to preschool. Pull-ups are not permitted, and although we understand that accidents happen, the preschool classrooms are not designed nor equipped to change a child on a regular basis.

Preschool Ages 3-5 years

In a Montessori environment, there is no specific, formal curriculum to be followed each day. A session’s activities fall into one or many of the following areas, which form an integrated, open-ended curriculum, one which permits each individual child to learn at his own pace and maximize his interests in specific areas.

Program Schedule

3 or 5 days per week
Half Day 8:30 – 11:30 am
Full Day 8:30 am – 3:00 pm

Program Curriculum

Language

For teaching language, we use sandpaper letters relative to sensorial experiences. A letter is traced with the fingers until the child retains its shape. He or she is then ready to use their hand and finger muscles to reproduce a letter, thus utilizing muscle control and coordination developed during the practical life and sensorial stages. Names of the various pieces of equipment in the classroom become a part of everyday speech. Vocabulary is enriched as the child works with exercises in identification and classification.

They are encouraged to converse with others in the classroom and take part in group discussions. Materials used for developing language skills are basically concrete, manipulative objects. Simple words are formed with a moveable alphabet. In conjunction with the moveable alphabet, the child uses objects, sounding out its name and selecting the appropriate letters. Once the child has mastered phonetics, he is well on his way into the abstract world of written and spoken language.

Practical Life

Practical life is best characterized as exercises in daily living. Using the child’s natural inclination as a point of departure, we structure several exercises for the classroom to help the child satisfy his need for meaningful activity. He washes clothes, polishes shoes, pours water, and sweeps the floor, as well as performing basic exercises in grace and courtesy.

Tasks considered ordinary by adults, such as vegetable preparation and washing dishes, are exciting to the child because he is allowed to imitate adults. It is through these activities in the practical life area that the child develops order, concentration, coordination, independence, and self-confidence. Absorption in these activities gradually lengthens his attention span; they become more aware of details in following a regular sequence of actions. Good working habits are developed as they learn their materials must be put away before attempting another activity. These are areas of development that indirectly and directly prepare the child for other areas in the curriculum.

Science

Science in the Montessori environment enables the child to become more aware of the world around them. They explore the mystery of living and non-living things, and the identification and classification of plants, leaf formations, and rocks. Simple experiments are used whenever possible to assist the child in his efforts to understand his environment. The child is introduced to the 5 animal kingdoms, and parts of the human body, including the skeletal system and body organs. They also learn about the calendar, seasons, and telling time. Our science curriculum is very diverse, including the solar system, cloud formations, vertebrates and invertebrates, and the life cycles of plants and animals.

Sensorial

Mathematics

Mathematics at our Montessori school begins with exercises using concrete materials. They learn to associate quantity and numerals, not only seeing the symbol but holding the amount in their hand. Access to concrete mathematical equipment in the early years enables the child to more easily and joyfully assimilate many facts and skills of arithmetic. Gradually, they move from the concrete toward the abstract, with exercises in the decimal system and mathematical operations. They work at their own rate, enabling them to fully utilize the concrete material to understand the abstract and demonstrate to themselves the basic operations of arithmetic. Learning by discovery gives them the satisfaction of self-accomplishment.

Art

Kindergarten Ages 5-6 years

The third year, the kindergarten year, is an important year in the Montessori three-year cycle. It is a time when many of the earlier lessons come together and become a permanent part of the young child’s understanding. This is the year they become leaders in their classroom. They have an opportunity to teach the younger children lessons that they have learned. When a child can teach a lesson they have mastered, it benefits both the tutor and the tutee. It takes their mastery to a different, more concrete level.

Every year thousands of Montessori parents whose children are about to move up to kindergarten face a common dilemma. Do they allow their child to remain in a Montessori environment, or do they transfer their children to a more traditional kindergarten program?

Although there are plenty of issues that factor into this important decision, most Montessori administrators, educators, and parents will agree that perhaps the most compelling factor for most parents has to do with basic economics. Simply put, their child can attend a local public school kindergarten program for free.

Although each family must make this decision on their own, we offer several thoughts which should be considered before transferring a child in the kindergarten year.

Program Schedule

5 days per week
8:30 am – 3:00 pm