Ragazzone
Our Primary Program is structured around the Montessori Method of education, founded on Dr. Maria Montessori’s research. This approach utilizes a carefully prepared environment to teach children in mixed-age classrooms.
Program Overview
Offering a variety of activities and ample movement, the setting is equipped with child-sized furniture to foster a sense of independence. It also includes scientifically designed materials that impart all the essential concepts of language and math.
Lessons in various subjects are provided on an individual basis, tailored to each child’s developmental stage. Children can work freely within the classroom, with the teacher serving as a guide to facilitate learning appropriate to each child’s needs, ensuring their success.
Typical Day
During a typical day, a three-year-old might be cleaning a table while a nearby four-year-old writes words and phrases with the movable alphabet. Meanwhile, a five-year-old performs multiplication using a specially designed set of beads. Although much of the work at this stage of development is done individually, children often enjoy collaborating with friends on activities.
When children can choose a lesson that meets their inner needs, they become self-directed. Allowing them to work independently without interruption enables them to process the lesson in their own way, at their own pace, and to completion. Enhancing this process is the design of the Montessori classroom, which includes self-correcting materials that promote self-esteem, empowering children to discover solutions to lessons in their own time.
The Practical Life Area
Commonplace objects found in their claim homes pull in children to the Commonsense Life region within the classroom. Through exercises including self-care and care of the classroom environment, children create concentration, coordination, center, arrange, and autonomy.
Lessons are organized from cleared out to right on the work plate to start preparing the eyes for perusing. Each child learns to carry and utilize the materials to total a errand taking after an efficient prepare, with each lesson advancing in trouble. A child may select any piece of work within the lesson that he has had a lesson in to advance self-direction, self-motivation, and victory.
“I have two daughters who currently attend this school. One when she was just 10 months old and the other at 3. They have been here 4 years now. I cannot stay enough of how amazing this school and staff are. They are so caring, loving, attentive yet professional. My daughters love their school and cannot wait for the weekend to be over to return. ”
– Rebecca F.
The Language Area
The Montessori language area isolates elements of language—such as phonetic sounds—and offers them to children as keys to unlocking the mystery of reading. Using multi-sensory, tactile materials, children engage their sense of touch, sight, and hearing to learn literacy lessons.
Lessons begin with concrete pre-reading materials and progress to the more abstract concept of reading. Sandpaper letters are traced while the sound of each letter is repeated. Eventually, children combine these letters and sounds with the movable alphabet to form phonetic words. They advance from recognizing and following letters to beginning writing exercises.
As children become fluent in reading, language lessons evolve to include their first experiences with parts of speech and functions of words.
The Math Area
The Montessori Arithmetic area can be divided into specific sections. The first focuses on numbers one through ten. Similar to the Language area, sandpaper numbers are used to help the child recognize numbers and associate quantities with their written symbols.
Next, the decimal system is introduced using concrete materials, allowing the child to see, feel, add, multiply, subtract, and divide up to 9,999. Squaring and cubing chains are also presented, with the child enjoying the process of laying out the lengthy ten chain. Through working with these concrete materials, the child builds a solid foundation for understanding the decimal system, geometric shapes, and basic arithmetic operations.
The Sensorial Area
Each Sensorial material in this area isolates one defining concept, such as color, weight, shape, texture, sound, or scent. These materials are self-correcting, allowing the child to classify, distinguish, and recognize the qualities they are learning.
Designed to sharpen the child’s five senses, these exercises help them understand sensory impressions.
In the event that you think your child would flourish in a Montessori environment, provide us a call or plan a visit online. We would cherish for you to visit our school and learn more.