“The child has a different relation to his environment from ours. Adults admire their environment; they can remember it and think about it; but the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered;
they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see and his ears hear.”
– Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, p. 62.
Children ages 3 to 6, including Kindergarten students are in the Early Childhood classroom. Providing students with stimulating, individualized and developmentally appropriate learning activities during this critical period
in a child’s life is a primary objective. Children are motivated to learn and grow socially, emotionally and intellectually in a classroom filled with creative, multi-age appropriate curriculum. With a daily variety of group
and individual learning periods, children are guided by teachers to experience all areas of the classroom. Fostering independence, building self- confidence, respecting individuality and boundaries are integrated
into daily routines and expectations.
We offer half-day, mixed day and full day options for early childhood students. Activities to promote use of the senses, refine skills of discrimination and observation, strengthen memory, develop coordination, and
promote concentration are presented with varying degrees of challenge. Students are introduced concretely to the intellectual concepts of language, mathematics, geography, world cultures, and science. Socially, the
classroom provides the young student, who is ready to explore environments away from family and home, a peer group with whom he or she can relate.
Importance of Kindergarten
Children age 5 will typically be enrolled in the school's Kindergarten program. The Kindergarten year at Montessori provides the child with the valuable opportunity to be a leader of the Early Childhood classroom,
as well as an opportunity to observe and participate in some activities with children aged 6 to 12. Kindergarten students travel to the library regularly with the elementary classroom and have other opportunities to
participate on field trips with the elementary classroom.
