The Montessori Method

Montessori classrooms provide a prepared environment where children are free to respond to their natural tendency to work. The children's innate passion for learning is encouraged by giving them opportunities to engage in spontaneous, purposeful activities with the guidance of a trained adult. Through their work, the children develop concentration and joyful self-discipline. The children are able to progress at their own pace and rhythm, according to their individual capabilities within a framework of order.

Infant Center

(Six Weeks to 24 Months)

In our Infant Center, we provide a clean, safe, warm, and home-like nurturing environment to foster the development of physical and emotional securities of our infants. Our home-like environment makes it easy for infants and parents to adjust to our settings.

Infants
Our infant teachers strive to form caring and trusting bonds with each infant under a family-like setting. In partnership with parents, the cognitive, social, and physical developments of the infants are monitored. Physical exercises to facilitate gross and fine motor development, story telling to foster language development, and nursery rhymes singing to enhance cognitive development are a few examples of the integral parts of the daily infant program activities.

Parents are welcome to stop by anytime to visit with their infants, check in with the staff, or to spend a few quiet minutes with their children in our private fenced in grass areas outdoor. As an integral part of the Montessori philosophy, self-pacing is stressed and the program is adapt to cater to the feeding, sleeping, and developmental pattern of each individual infant.

Toddlers
The toddler program continues our Infant CenterÕs emphasis on personal care. While the toddler program continues to provide the caring and nurturing relationships, there is a beginning emphasis on self-reliance. Through supportive, guided procedures the child begins to learn to develop self care skills, such as toileting, washing hands, putting on a jacket, etc. The curricula include activities on movement, manipulation, exploration, and autonomy. Children learn according to their own individual capabilities, building trusting relationships with their care givers under a secure framework of daily routines.

Montessori School

Transitional Class (Ages 2 to 3)

This classroom is designed to be a transitional class into our Montessori Preparatory classrooms. The transitional class will provide a more structured environment to facilitate your child's language and social development. Montessori equipments are introduced and daily activities are designed to provide an interactive setting where language and social skills will expand rapidly. Your child will learn to make many make simple choices, follow simple rules, and routines.

Preparatory Classroom

(Ages 3 to 5)

The childrenÕs natural curiosity and learning capacity peak at this stage. Therefore, the Montessori preparatory classroom is created to enhance this inner motivation. The environment is controlled and structured by the teacher to maximize the childrenÕs intellectual growth. The self-paced classrooms use five curriculum areas of experience: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Cultural. Each area has specifically designed materials to take advantage of the children's interests and abilities. Sensorial and Practical Life materials help develop gross and fine motor skills and coordination. Mathematics, Language, and Cultural materials allow the children to foster their intellectual abilities.

The Montessori lessons presented to the children are carefully sequenced to build a strong academic foundation. When children master one level, they can move up to the next level. Tasks are separated into the smallest possible segments so the children experience mastery at every stage. This experience of success builds a healthy self-concept and fosters independence and responsibility.

Kindergarten

(Ages 5 to 6)

At this stage, the children begin to move from the concrete to the abstract and begin to see themselves as parts of a larger whole. In kindergarten, much of the material is similar or identical to that in the preparatory class, but is used at another level, building on the previous work. In collaboration with their teachers, the children are introduced to daily and weekly goals that they are expected to complete. In addition, weekly homework packets are given to the students to help reinforce their class work. The children's experiences are further expanded by the introduction at this level of many new materials.

In kindergarten, the children are also introduce to computer skills; research strategies such as review, hypothesize, data gathering, analyze, synthesize, and conclude; and develop positive study habits.

Early Elementary (6-9)

Elementary children can be characterized by their questioning minds, their ability to abstract and imagine, and their unlimited energy for research and exploration.They move from the concrete and discovery to the abstract - thus greatly expanding their field of knowledge. In our early elementary classroom, the Montessori teacher directs the children toward activities which help them to develop reasoning abilities. Elementary studies include geography, biology, history, language, mathematics. More structure is provided in this classroom to serve as a transitional phrase into the traditional school classrooms

Enrichment Activities

Music, Spanish, and Chinese are included as part of the enrichment activities.

Extra-curricula Activities

Extra-curricula activities such as piano, violin, computer, and dance are available upon request