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Our Stepping Stones program is for children aged 2.5 to 3.5 years. The classes meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or Thursdays and Fridays, for the 2-day program, or Tuesdays through Fridays for the 4-day program. Classes begin at 9:15 AM and end at 11:15 AM.

Children in this age group are interested in learning about the world around them. They explore through their senses, and learn well by experimentation, exploration and observation. The classroom environment is full of materials for such experimentation and exploration. The teacher teaches by demonstrating how to manipulate the materials, and the children are then free to experience the materials fully.

Routines are important to young children. The class follows a predictable routine each day, and the children often establish a pattern of exploration for themselves. The children learn to be responsible for their own materials, returning them to the shelves when finished.

Beginning academic concepts are introduced to the children when they exhibit readiness. Matching activities, vocabulary development, as well as beginning number concepts and phoneme awareness are introduced to the children at the time that they are most receptive. Community activities such as songs, fingerplays, stories and outside play round out a very full day.

Pre-Primary and Intermediate Programs

Children aged 3 and 4 years are enrolled in our Pre-Primary programs. We offer a 5-day morning program, a 5-day afternoon program, as well as separate Full Day programs for the 3 and 4 year olds.

The 4 year olds from the morning classes who are enrolled in the Full Day program will join together for the afternoon as a group in the classroom. They will be joined by the children who are enrolled in the 5-day afternoon program for further work in the Montessori environment.

Each of the morning sessions also includes the 5 year olds, who are enrolled in the Intermediate program. The 5 year olds stay for the full school day, and join together in the afternoon as a group for further work in the academic areas.

The classroom consists of several main curricular areas. The Practical Life area offers many opportunities for the child to engage in activities that will help her refine her eye-hand and fine motor coordination, increase her concentration and ability to stay on task, further develop a sense of order and increase her ability to be independent at self-help skills and tasks. Attractive materials that invite the child’s participation are found in this area of the classroom.

The Sensorial materials further refine the child’s ability to classify objects through sensory input. He stacks and organizes sizes, colors, textures, and geometric shapes. He is indirectly prepared for the math activities by using materials that come in sets of ten.

Both verbal and written language are developed in the Language area. Matching, categorization, and labeling precede formal reading activities. When the children are introduced to the alphabet, they learn the sounds of the letters, which enables the children to synthesize the sounds into words, and conversely to analyze the sounds and decode the written symbols.

Beginning math exercises consist of many counting activities, which lead the children into the exploration and understanding of the decimal system. Young children are excited that they are able to work with large numbers up to the thousands, and such place value concepts are reinforced when the children use these large quantities in simple mathematical operations.

The world is presented to the children through work with the globes and the puzzle maps. Learning the sequence of time gives the children the beginning concepts for understanding history, explored in the Elementary years. Biology is introduced as first hand experiences in caring for classroom pets and observation of nature.

Elementary Programs

Although our children are in two separate environments, the elementary programs have one unified curriculum. In the lower elementary class, the children work on and consolidate basic academic skills such as fluency in reading, the ability to write simple paragraphs, and hone their skills in mathematical operations by the use of manipulative materials. Word study and grammar materials enable the children to use language precisely and expressively.

By the time they reach the upper elementary class, the children are well on their way to reading and appreciating literature, writing expository essays and reports as well as stories, poems, and plays. Further study in grammar gives the children a clearer personal voice in their writing, and the ability to manipulate language to present unique points of view. While using less manipulative materials for basic arithmetic operations, the children are exposed to algebraic concepts through hands-on explorations that make sophisticated concepts clear.

The heart of the elementary program is what Maria Montessori termed "Cosmic Education". Just as the children in the early years are given the larger picture of the world first before they explore the different continents and countries, the elementary children are given the "cosmic" picture with stories about the birth of the universe. As the Big Bang gave rise to the formation of the stars and galaxies, and subsequently to life on earth, the stories provide the unifying theme for the exploration of geology, astronomy, physical and biological sciences and the study of human history and culture. Each subject is studied not simply in isolation, but in conjunction with the others. Connections and correlations are made daily by the children, as they experience and learn the subjects through guided research. The results are shared with the class through oral reports, which are supported by graphics, report booklets, and later by presentation software.