facilities

The Montessori classroom is a “living room” for children. Children choose their activities from open shelves with self-correcting materials and work in distinct work areas – on tables or on rugs on the floor. Over a period of time, the children develop into a “normalized community” working with high concentration and few interruptions.

The classroom includes the following components:
The practical life exercises enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and refinement of physical movement and coordination.

The sensorial materials enable the child to order, classify, and describe sensory impressions in relation, length, width, temperature, mass, color, etc.

The Montessori math materials, through concrete manipulative materials, allow the child to internalize the concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations, and memorization of basis facts.

The language work includes oral language development, written expression, reading, study of grammar, creative dramatics, and children’s literature. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of sandpaper letters (loose alphabet letters), and various presentations allowing children to effortlessly link sounds and symbols and to express their thoughts in writing.

Inside our Montessori Classroom: The children help with the care of the animals by feeding, brushing, and watering. Most of the learning activities are individualized, i.e. children engage in learning a task that particularly appeals to them because they find the activities geared to their needs and level of readiness. They work at their own rate, repeating the task as often as they like. Children learn at a different paces and this allows that growth to take place. Tasks are designed so that each new step is built upon what the children have already mastered. A carefully planned series of successes builds upon inner confidence in the child. By surrounding the children with appealing materials and learning activities geared to their inner needs, they become accustomed to engaging in activities on their own. Gradually, this results in a habit of initiative – an essential quality in leadership. “Ground rules” call for completing a task once begun and gradually results in a habit of persistence and perseverance for replacing materials after the task is accomplished. Self-corrective materials within the environment allow the children to learn through their own errors to make the correct decision versus having the teacher point it out to them. There is an emphasis on concrete learning rather than on abstract learning where children experience concepts in concrete “hands on” ways. The teacher plays a very unobtrusive role in the classroom in that the children are not motivated by the teacher, but by the need for self-development. Inside Views
Classroom view #1. Click on photo for enlargement.	Classroom view #2. Click on photo for enlargement.
Classroom view #3. Click on photo for enlargement.	Classroom view #4.
Classroom view #5.	Classroom view #6.
Outside our Classroom: Covered and uncovered areas allow us to eat lunch and group snacks outside in the fresh air, regardless of the weather. Kid size picnic tables are also great for completing large, messy art projects. Our new, fun play equipment is always used in a safe and supervised manner. The equipment provides a variety of individual exercise and play options. Being outside is not all about playing, though. The children care for the plants in our garden, learning respect for nature and the importance of nature to our lives. Outside Views
Outside view #1.	Outside view #2. Click on photo for enlargement.
Outside view #3.	Outside view #4.
Outside view #5.	Outside view #6.