Ready to have a little helper at home? The Practical Life area is essential for a strong Montessori foundation. In this area a child is learning shoe tying, preparing snacks, buttoning, zipping, and motor skill development. They gain control of movement (fine motor skills), concentration span, self-confidence, and a love of learning. The activities in Practical Life are made up of familiar objects that a child would naturally see in everyday life.

The activities are designed and chosen so that the children feel comfortable and will be able to master the activity. The activities that are chosen fall into four main categories: care of self, control of movement, care of the environment, and grace and courtesy.

Manners are a must! Friends are introduced to the idea of grace and courtesy as they learn to take turns and treat others with respect. They are given the space to moderate their own behavior when possible, for example, solving conflict at a “peace table” rather than tattling. This is another area where a mixed-age setting shines, as older students can encourage their younger peers to display grace and courtesy.

The overall idea of these activities is not only to help children gain self-confidence in their working abilities, but to expose the children to fundamental activities that will build their concentration span and help them become self-sufficient little learners.

The Language area of the Montessori classroom encourages development of early-literacy skills through the use of phonetic sounds.

In the Language area children are exposed to various types of phonetic awareness activities to build a strong literary foundation. Montessori Language activities are designed to improve a child’s vocabulary, listening skills for common sounds, and differentiating between objects and pictures.

Language activities include learning the shapes and sounds of letters, Pre-writing and pre-reading activities for the younger children, tracing and coloring, all leading up to children who can read and write; some as young as 3!

Learning the numbers 1-10, number concepts such as tens, hundreds and thousands, addition, multiplication, and subtraction.

The Math area of the Montessori classroom encompasses the use of concrete materials for the recognition of numbers and the recognition of quantity as well. Through these activities, children learn exactly how much a symbolic number stands for (i.e. the number 5 means counting the correct number of objects to make the number 5).

Mathematics activities are divided into six categories that include: counting and the decimal system, memory work, concrete abstraction, arithmetic tables and geometry. Children are introduced to more complex mathematical procedures and concepts as they are individually ready. Often times a child will complete a mathematical activity a few times until he feels ready to attempt a concept that is more difficult.

Matching colors, recognizing and naming different shades, and geometric shapes (circle versus sphere). The Sensorial area of the classroom helps children become more aware of smaller details that are often overlooked.

Each sensorial activity focuses on one important quality such as color, weight, shape, size, texture, sound or smell. Sensorial activities develop the senses of perception and discrimination for exploring and noticing small differences in patterns as well as fine motor function development in the hands.

The sensorial area builds the child’s concentration for a wider awakening of the senses and perception for distinguishing different qualities and patterns.

We have an incredibly diverse student population, with over 20 languages spoken by CH families! We celebrate our individual customs and cultures with interactive lessons and parent participation in the classroom. We also offer weekly Spanish, Music and Yoga/Movement lessons in each classroom, included in the regular tuition.

This is the “next step” at Children’s House, our own Kindergarten alternative for those children who are age 5 at the beginning of the school year, OR are close to age 5 and are academically and socially ready for a more challenging school day.

They are the leaders of our Pre-Primary classrooms for the first part of their day, then spend their afternoon in an accelerated Enrichment class. Many children who have attended Children’s House find themselves bored in a new Kindergarten at many elementary schools where students are given group lessons rather than being allowed to progress at their own pace. Montessori says, if children are ready to count to one-thousand, why stop at one-hundred? If they are ready to read a whole book, why stop at a worksheet? Focused small group lessons and lots of time with Montessori teachers allows our students to excel at their own pace, setting their own goals for achievement.

Enrichment gives them one more year of independent child-led learning, instilling even more confidence and readiness to enter traditional Kindergarten or first grade.