Montessori

Little Spring Montessori Academy offers education to kids 1 1/2 to 6 years. The goal of Montessori Spring Academy is to foster social, emotional, cognitive and physical development that promotes creativity, curiosity, individuality and social growth for our lovely children. We achieve this through language development activities with Montessori method, hands craft, gross motor play, indoor and outdoor recreation, creative movement and music with our Enrichment programs.

We value each culture through story telling and holiday celebrations. Our warm, loving staff is integral to the success of our program. They are skilled professionals who offer children affection, compassion and guidance.

The intimacy of our preschool allows parents and teachers to work together in the best interest of each individual child. Little Spring Montessori has varied options to serve the diverse needs of your family.

COMPARING MONTESSORI WITH TRADITIONAL EDUCATION
Montessori Traditional
1. Teacher’s role is unobtrusive; child actively participates in learning. 1. Teacher role is dominant, active; child is a passive participant.
2. Environment and method encourage internal self-discipline. 2. Teacher is primary enforcer of external discipline.
3. Individual and group instruction adapts to each student’s learning style. 3. Individual and group instruction adapts to the adult’s leaning style.
4. Mixed age grouping 4. Same age grouping
5. Children encouraged to teach collaborate, and help each other. 5. Most teaching done by teacher and collaboration is discouraged.
6. Child chooses own work from interests, Abilities and material. 6. Curriculum structured with little Regard for child’s interest.
7. Child sets own leaning pace to Internalize information. 7. Instruction pace set by group norm by teachers.
8. Child spots own error thru feedback from material. 8. Errors corrected by teacher.
9. A balance between freedom and Structured coexists. 9. Child assigned seat and be restricted.
10. Organized program for learning are of self and self-care. 10. Little emphasis on instruction or classroom maintenance.
11. Learning from hand on materials. 11. Mostly purely lectures by teachers.

The programs and practices of Little Spring Montessori Academy are carefully designed for children to “learn by doing.” Our mission is to provide individualized educational and developmental experience that is based on Montessori principles, so students could develop well-versed skillets, independent personality and higher EQ and IQ.

Montessori Curriculum:
We provide Montessori education to children 1 1/2 to 6. Each class is staffed by a certified Montessori teacher and an associate. Classes are organized on a three-year model. Continuity of learning develops a strong foundation, which is built upon year after year. This provides a familiar setting, which encourages long-term friendships and allows for maximum advantage of the teacher/student relationship.

In our carefully designed environment there are a variety of activities. It is a calm, structured environment constructed to meet a child’s individual needs. Here, the child experiences a blend of freedom and discipline in a space especially designed for his or her optimal development.

Little Spring Montessori Academy’s primary curriculum is interdisciplinary and interactive. Activities emphasize the process of discovery, enabling each child to explore the world through multi-sensory materials. The Preschool and Kindergarten Curriculum includes the following five broad areas:

Practical life exercises instill care for self, others, and the environment. Activities include many of the tasks children see as part of their daily routine in the home such as preparing food, dusting, sweeping, and washing dishes. These purposeful activities allow the children to learn to function independently by caring for their own needs and the needs of the class environment. They learn to complete such tasks by developing their powers of control and concentration. One distinct group of Practical Life exercises is referred to as “Grace and Courtesy” which aids the development of acceptable social behavior in and out of school (greeting, thanking, apologizing, and serving).

Sensorial Area helps the children in the process of organizing their intelligence, developing classification and discrimination skills. All five senses are engaged as children learn to differentiate among sizes, colors, weights, forms, textures, scents, tastes, and musical sounds. Aristotle said, “There is nothing in the intellect which was not first in the senses.”

Language Area is designed to give children a firm grounding in perceptual-motor, pre-reading, and pre-writing readiness skills. Your child will progress through various stages to the ultimate goal of establishing the skills necessary for success in reading and writing. It provides the opportunity to develop oral language through discussions, storytelling, poetry, and vocabulary lessons. A phonics approach to reading is incorporated. The “sandpaper Letters” help children to fuse sound and symbol effortlessly, through a sight-sound-touch presentation of the alphabet. Numerous studies have found that explicit and direct phonics instruction offers significant benefits to children learning to read. The earlier children receive phonics instruction, the better. Many reading experts, as well as the National Reading Panel, stress that phonics instruction must be individualized for every child. One-size-fits-all phonics instruction doesn’t always work. A Montessori classroom offers just that: individualized phonics instruction starting in the Primary class. Writing and reading skills are generally developed consecutively. To further enhance reading development, children are taught grammar and word function within sentences.

Mathematics Area helps children learn and understand the concepts of math by manipulating concrete materials. Various activities allow the child to internalize concepts of quantity, sequence, decimal system, place value, and to explore the processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This work gives children a solid understanding of basic mathematical principles, prepares them for later abstract reasoning, and helps develop problem-solving skills.

Geography, Biology, Art, and Music are integrated in the Primary curriculum. Children learn about the earth, continents, countries, states, climates, and animals, as well as the principles of honoring all religions, cultures, and people. This helps children to obtain a sense of self and community and an understanding of where in the universe they can fit. Art programs provide the opportunity to enjoy creative activities and gain a better understanding of the great masters

Arts, Music and Physical Education is part of our Montessori curriculum.

Practical Life

Practical Life exercises instill care for self, for others, and for the environment. Activities include many of the tasks children see as part of the daily routine in their home, such as preparing food and washing dishes, along with exercises of grace and courtesy. Through these tasks, children develop muscular coordination, enabling movement and the exploration of their surroundings. They learn to work at a task from beginning to end, and develop their powers of control and concentration.

Sensorial

Sensorial materials serve as tools for development. Children build cognitive skills, and learn to order and classify impressions by touching, seeing, smelling, tasting, listening, and exploring the physical properties of their environment.

Some of the materials children work with in Sensorial are:

Colored rods – teaching size and length discrimination
Rough and smooth boards to illustrate texture
Color boxes to learn basic colors and color gradation
Knobbed and knob less cylinders – teaching discrimination of sizes
Geometric solids – teaching names of several shapes

Math
Mathematics activities help children learn and understand the concepts of math by manipulating concrete materials. This work gives children a solid understanding of basic mathematical principles, prepares them for later abstract reasoning, and helps to develop problem-solving capabilities.

Math develops concepts, quantity and number recognition by using some of the following material:

Number rods
Sandpaper numbers & objects for simple counting
Birds eye view – how the decimal system works
Addition & multiplication boards

Language
The Montessori environment is rich in oral language opportunities, allowing the child to experience conversations, stories and poetry. The sandpaper letters help children link sound and symbol effortlessly, encouraging the development of written expression and reading skills. To further reading development, children are exposed to the study of grammar. Language includes exploration of verbal and written language, learning the phonics and left to right progression by using some of the following materials:

Sandpaper letters
Movable alphabet
Name Tracing
Sound boxes
Reading, sight words

Science
We teach students about various aspects of science, earth, nature and learning specific themes.
Study of Animals
Dinosaurs
Galaxies
Earth Science
Physical Science
Art & Music
The comprehensive art and music programs give children every opportunity to enjoy a variety of creative activities, as well as gain knowledge of the great masters.

Geography & Culture
Children learn about people and cultures in other countries with an attitude of respect and admiration. Through familiarity, children come to feel connected to the global human family. Lessons and experiences with nature inspire a reverence for all life.
We teach the children about our world by using some of the following materials:

Water and sand globes
Parts of the world globes
Maps
Land and water forms
Studying cultures

Art Creative exploration
Open ended art
Structured crafts

Music
Finger plays
Movement and music Theory

Non Public School Curriculum
Our curriculum for grades Kindergarten through 8th grade is aimed to be aligned to or exceed the National Common Core. We achieve this by adapting state-of-the-art Curriculum, one on one customized education as well as constant evaluations to ensure our students are on track and on top.

Come and grow in our Spring family!