It is our job as educators to get to know each individual child. We observe the children through both work and play to identify interests, developmental levels, and to identify when children are most ready to learn new skills and information. Based on these observations, we develop individual goals to help each child reach his or her full potential.

• We challenge children to excel in areas of strength, while focusing on specific skills that we see the children need to practice.
• We provide a balance of child and adult guided learning opportunities.
• We encourage children to take pride in their work.
• We build strong positive relationships in and out of the classroom, during both work and play.
• We facilitate experiences by helping to transfer knowledge to new situations,
  build initiative and creativity, and participate in positive social development.

The Sensorial Area provides children with the opportunity to learn through self-discovery and the manipulation of the materials.  Each piece of equipment isolates one sense, and differs by one specified characteristic for the children to study.  The work is self-correcting, allowing the children to check their own work and problem solve independently.

In addition to developing the use of our senses, it also improves:

• abilities to process information;
• the understanding of beginning math concepts such as geometry, patterning, measurements, and dimensions.

“Our sensorial material provides a kind of guide to observation, for it classifies the impressions that each sense can receive … The senses being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge. Our apparatus for educating the senses offers the child a key to guide his exploration of the world, cast a light upon it which makes visible to him more things in greater detail.”

—Maria Montessori

The Practical Life area is designed to teach children life skills that can be applied to their everyday lives.

In addition to building a specific set of skills, the Practical Life Area improves:

• fine motor skills and coordination;
• concentration and attention to detail;
• confidence and abilities to care for oneself and others independently.

“Our goal as parents and teachers is to raise children with strong foundation skills and work habits that will one day enable them to be responsible for themselves, their own homes, families and communities.  Children who learn early in life to believe in their own abilities and to take pride in their independence and self-discipline will be well equipped for lifelong success.”

—North American Montessori Center

Our classroom environment is designed to:

• be non-competitive and inclusive,
• inspire enjoyment of learning,
• build on children’s successes,
• be calm and clutter-free, yet stimulating, and
• enable the child to develop good work habits and self regulation.

Small class sizes allow opportunities for children to work one in small groups and one on one with a teacher.

Children benefit from individualized curriculum plans.

“One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.”

—Maria Montessori

The language area is multifaceted.  The materials are designed to assess and develop skills needed to create a strong foundation for language, including:

1. Language Concepts, 
2. Sound and Letter Recognition,
3. Printing,
4. Reading, and
5. Spelling.

Our unique curriculum allows us to develop individual plans to challenge and build children’s skills in each of these specific areas of growth, as his or her development requires.

Once this foundation has been built, our curriculum expands into areas of:

• Reading Comprehension,
• Creative Writing, and
• Grammer.

Our language program continues throughout the day with storytelling, reading, public speaking, group discussions, and music.

The Math curriculum allows children to develop their understanding through hands-on materials and visual learning experiences.  The materials build on many concepts that are first introduced in the Sensorial Area, thus providing children with a deeper understanding of quantities and math functions. 

These materials provide opportunities to learn both from memory and discovery as children explore quantities and operations in units, hundreds, tens, and thousands. Other math concepts such as measurement, geometry, statistics, currency, and problem solving are part of the curriculum.

“The Montessori Math materials are not designed to “teach math” but to aid the development of the mathematical mind: an exploring mind that understands order, sequence, and abstraction, and has the ability to put together what is known and arrive at a new creation.”

—Paula Polk Lillard