Our classrooms are filled with inviting, hands-on activities that are thoughtfully organized into different sections of the room based on the primary areas of our curriculum: language, math, sensorial development, practical life, and cultural awareness.

* LANGUAGE includes: 1. Oral language activities - reading aloud, Dramatic play area, one-on-one or group conversations throughout the day. 2. Reading - primary phonics, moveable alphabet, grammar symbols, sight reading cards. 3.Writing- invented writing and spelling, progressing to writing initial sounds and words children know, and then advancing to semi-phonetic spelling. Montessori materials such as sandpaper letters help students master literacy skills.

* MATH includes classic Montessori materials, which have a range of uses depending on the child’s level of development. By exploring these materials hands-on, children gain a concrete understanding of everything from number identification to addition and subtraction to multiplication and division.

* SENSORIAL materials give children an opportunity to develop an understanding of their physical environment by using their senses. These concrete materials convey such qualities as color, shape, texture, and weight, and in working with them children come to grasp such concepts as one-to-one correspondence, ordering, and classification.

* PRACTICAL LIFE materials are structured activities related to developing a sense of independence through caring for oneself (dressing, combing, etc.) and one’s environment (cleaning, washing, gardening, etc.). Control of movement (pouring, chopping, sweeping, etc.) and courtesy (greeting, helping, thanking, etc.) are also developed through these activities.

* CULTURAL SUBJECTS include Geography, Botany, Zoology, Anatomy, Social Studies, Science, Chemistry, Astronomy materials and activities. It helps children to understand the world around them. Cultural Subjects Concepts are explored through art, music,as well as through trips to the park and walks in our neighborhood.

   

Physical Activity

Our students engage in physical activity every day. In addition to their weekly movement class, classes regularly spend time outdoors.

Music

Whether it is sung, played, or danced to, music streams through our curriculum. Our students learn to sing name games, geography songs, folk tunes in other languages, and nursery rhymes, many of them accompanied by small and large movement or percussive instrument play. The correlation between music education and physical/neurological development, social growth, and strengthening of critical thinking skills has been long established; to our students, making music is just plain fun.

Art

Art is a part of everyday life at school. Our students are encouraged to explore the many art materials available at all times in the classroom: tempera paints, watercolors, pencils, crayons, chalk, found nature materials. Our students learn other art forms as well, such as weaving, collage, and papier-mâché. They study the work of various artists (e.g., Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Romare Bearden, Jackson Pollock, Eric Carle) and experiment with the media and techniques employed by those artists.