Preschool

About

The “Children’s House” Ages 2 years (and potty trained)- 4 years-old=

St. Matthew’s Montessori Preschool offers an enriching program designed to teach to the whole child. The class family atmosphere is centered around the Montessori culture of peace, with grace and courtesy. Students are loved and nurtured in a safe, consistent environment. This best enables growth through developmentally appropriate “work” selected during an uninterrupted block of time. Normalization, or the development of self-discipline by experiencing joy in accomplishment, is an integral aspect of nurturing a child’s “Sensitive Period”, the period of time Biologically when absorption of knowledge is wonderfully second nature to children.

The Montessori Method introduces five main subject areas bridging concrete manipulatives to abstract ideas because of the learning capacity that young children have that Maria Montessori described as the “absorbent mind”:

• Practical Life
  Practical life work fosters the child’s concentration, coordination, independence and internal order. A series of everyday tasks with beautiful hands-on manipulatives fosters creativity, builds confidence, and coordination.
• Sensorial
  Sensorial work is modeled after Maria Montessori’s methods for stimulating the child’s whole mind through the five senses. When 100% invested in the learning process children have an exceptional ability to absorb information and fundamental scientific principals. These compare/contrast manipulatives begin to develop reason and order in the child’s creative processes.
• Mathematics
  Mathematics work is a fundamental introduction to logical and numerical concepts through concrete hands-on representations of place value, number systems, and logical reasoning. Students begin with a systematic approach to value and progress to decimal and calculations in the hundreds of thousands, even in early childhood! Beautiful math manipulatives foster a natural curiosity for order and reasoning.
• Language
  Language work begins in the Children’s House by fostering the expansion of children’s vocabulary. Reading and writing fundamentals is based on phonetics, enabling a child to begin word building before they can even read. Setting up patterns for success begins to develop the life long learner that loves to read. Good habits of learning will never be forgotten!
• Cultural Studies
  Cultural Studies work is a valued aspect of the Montessori Method. Emphasis on Fine Arts as well as Physical and Social Geography are key in developing a culturally enriched child in our global age. Study of cultures, languages, and traditions shape a child’s view of the world around them.

Preschool Suggested Daily Schedules

Download this schedule as a PDF