Montessori at Mountain School is a welcoming
community where children are known and loved in
an ideal environment for thriving and learning.
Montessori Philosophy
EMBRACE THE MAGIC OF CHILDHOOD
Philosophy
Through a traditional Montessori curriculum, children enjoy the magic of childhood with freedom to explore
their innate curiosities in a safe and carefully prepared indoor and outdoor environment.
Children are encouraged to be independent lifelong learners and problem-solvers.
The Montessori Environment
The Montessori classroom is located on its own floor that spills out onto a spacious play yard overlooking the
awe-inspiring San Juan Mountain Range. Two large, sunny classrooms are filled with a comprehensive
collection of high quality Montessori materials and brightly colored art.
The environment is perfectly designed for children ages three to six.
Montessori Teachers
The classrooms are staffed with highly trained and certified Montessori teachers
who hold bachelors or masters degrees to provide the highest level of early childhood education.
Teachers are supported by qualified and experienced assistants.
To start your Application please click here.
To learn more about our program fees and and tuition click here.
CURRICULUM
Practical Life
Practical Life includes pre-academic exercises that help children gain independence, control of movement and coordination and provide purposeful activities to help children adapt to their environment. Most importantly, practical life exercises provide children a sense of accomplishment as they engage in real, meaningful work with tangible results. The familiar home-like environment of the practical life corner allows children to gain independence and confidence as they carry out thoughtfully prepared activities, similar to those a child would participate in at home.
Sensorial
Montessori believed that young children learn through direct manipulation of learning materials. Largely pre-academic in nature, the sensorial curriculum provides early experiences for children in discrimination of size, dimension, texture, weight, sound, smell, color, taste and temperature. Along with refining a child’s senses, the exercises introduce precise vocabulary and concepts of comparison. Once a child has worked with an introductory material, there are opportunities for progressive exercises in sorting and classifying. The curriculum also introduces concepts related to math and geometry, including plane shapes and geometric solids. Physical geography is an additional component of the sensorial curriculum.
Language
The Montessori language curriculum is designed to develop a lifelong love of reading. Beautiful books and poetry are accessible throughout the classroom and children enjoy listening to stories, poems and books that are read aloud. The sequence of the language curriculum first emphasizes the development of spoken language and the acquisition of vocabulary. Simultaneously, the teacher presents activities that provide early preparation for reading and writing with materials that develop fine motor control. Direct preparation for reading and writing begins as the child establishes sound-symbol correspondence and a sense of letter shape by moving his fingers on the sandpaper letters. There is typically a quick jump from reading and writing single words to sentences and stories. At this point, we begin a study of the English language including; vocabulary, spelling rules, and grammar. Most children completing the kindergarten year in the M@MS program will be able to read and write short phonetic words with blends and digraphs, read short phonetic primers with common sight words and enjoy a range of language activities.
Math
Montessori at Mountain School’s math curriculum is designed to support children’s natural interest in math and provide a strong foundation in numeracy through the use of specially designed math materials. Through concrete mathematical experiences, the youngest children learn about dimension, size, number, shape and sequence. Work is displayed in a progressive and sequential fashion and each activity is broken down into clear steps. With the use of increasingly abstract materials, children make the passage from concrete experience to paper and pencil exercises, all the while relying on the foundation of understanding built through their direct experiences. Every math concept is taught with a corresponding material. Once the concepts of quantity and place value are established through the repeated activities with the math materials, the child begins work with numeric operations and will practice all four operations with the use of increasingly abstract materials. Most children finishing the kindergarten year will use all four numeric operations with and without exchanging with numbers up to four digits, while those with a strong propensity for math will also work with advanced math
concepts.
Cultural
Montessori at Mountain School’s cultural curriculum includes a mosaic of activities that explore the full range of human cultural studies and activities, from art to zoology, including such traditional subjects as social studies and science. Throughout the year, teachers and assistants develop activities and projects related to art, music, movement, food preparation, geography and science. The school year is divided into seven short terms, with cultural activities, themes and materials rotating with each change. Additionally, each short term the children explore a new continent, and cultural activities extend the lessons of physical and cultural geography that are integral in the primary program.
Spanish
Montessori at Mountain School’s cultural curriculum includes a mosaic of activities that explore the full range of human cultural studies and activities, from art to zoology, including such traditional subjects as social studies and science. Throughout the year, teachers and assistants develop activities and projects related to art, music, movement, food preparation, geography and science. The school year is divided into seven short terms, with cultural activities, themes and materials rotating with each change. Additionally, each short term the children explore a new continent, and cultural activities extend the lessons of physical and cultural geography that are integral in the primary program.
