An Arts-Based Montessori Curriculum
We provide instruction in the traditional Montessori curriculum areas of Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Science, Language, and Culture; in addition, we provide an arts-based curriculum with emphasis on social-emotional learning, visual art, music and movement, exposure to Spanish, and how to be a kind and joyful human. Scroll down ⤵️ to learn more about the Montessori curriculum.
To complement the traditional Montessori curriculum we have Weekly classes and concentrations:
Dance or Ballet
Yoga/Pilates
Breathing Techniques
Artist Studies
Art
Music
Movement
Cultural
Our Daily Schedule:
Work
Play
Lunch
Siesta
Exercise
Grounding Exercises
What is Montessori?
The Montessori Method was created by the educational trailblazer, Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educational theorist. As a physician, she applied the same principles of the scientific method to her practice with young children in institutional settings, and her observations of children revolutionized the field of early childhood education. She experimented with concrete, hands-on materials, building upon the work of special education pioneers Edouard Seguin and Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, and developed her own set of didactic materials that are now the shining stars of Montessori classrooms. Dr. Montessori opened her first school in 1907, and since then Montessori schools have been established across the globe-on every continent except Antarctica! Moreover, this 109-year educational tradition of child-centered, child-directed, hands-on, differentiated teaching and learning is now being supported by current research in child development and brain science.
A Montessori education is an approach that values the human spirit and the growth of the whole child, emphasizing the importance of meeting all of their developmental needs—cognitive, emotional, physical, and social. The learning environment is a unique child-accessible setting organized by the curriculum areas of Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language (phonetically based), and Cultural (including art, botany, geography, music & movement, physical science, and zoology). Peace education, including conflict resolution, grace, and courtesy, is an integrated subject in Montessori classrooms as well.
The Montessori classroom is a dynamic, multi-age learning environment where children learn on three different levels: having a formal lesson with the teacher, exploring the self-correcting materials alone, and teaching younger peers. The Montessori teacher (often referred to as a guide) spends time engaged in giving lessons as well as carefully observing each child. By taking the time to observe, the teacher can match individual lessons with individual children, and accommodate the needs of each learner in this long-standing tradition based on differentiated instruction.
In this constructivist environment, children also work independently, choosing the materials of interest to them. High-quality, beautiful materials provide a concrete, hands-on way for each child to independently explore. These self-correcting materials engage the child in sensory-motor activities that help them learn from direct experiences: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touch, and movement. Finally, this unique multi-age environment fosters and respects peer-to-peer teaching and learning where children are free to engage in work with other children. In this non-competitive space, children belong to a community of learners. This community has an incredible ability to help guide and support the efforts of others when competition is not part of the value system of the classroom, which in turn leads to motivation becoming intrinsic versus a system of extrinsic rewards and punishments.
