Summit Montessori School’s Children’s House provides students with a warm and wonderful environment that introduces them to multiple disciplines in the classroom. This program brings together children in preschool through Kindergarten, allowing each child to develop naturally at his or her own pace. The classroom provides opportunities for interaction, problem solving, and peer-to-peer learning.
From an academic standpoint, the goal of our programs is to ensure that students receive an education that prepares them for middle and high school, for undergraduate and graduate pursuits, and, ultimately, for life. We take this responsibility seriously and it shows! Well-rounded, thoughtful, joyful, inquisitive, and socially responsible: this is the description of a Summit Montessori student.
Children’s House
Children’s House brings together preschool through Kindergarten age students in a dynamic learning environment that addresses their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical developmental needs. (Ages 3–6 years)
Please click here for a video by the American Montessori Society about the Kindergarten Year
Curriculum
The strong educational foundation that they are given in Children’s House carries through the elementary program, ultimately shaping a child who is inquisitive, respectful, and worldly-wise.
“There is no science and no art of greater importance than that which teaches seeing, which builds sensitivity and respect for the natural world.”
—Dr. Maria Montessori
The third, or Kindergarten, year is one of completion in the Montessori Children’s House. In this year, students begin to reach internal mastery of their work, and they begin to demonstrate great competence. The curriculum provides more in-depth lessons for math, reading, and language, as well as science, geography and cultural studies. They also have the opportunity to be leaders in the classroom, mentoring their peers by reading, teaching concepts, or helping to tie shoes. Kindergartners learn to have greater independence and freedom, and they love it.
Program Highlights
- Ages 5-6 years old (5 by Sept. 1)
- Full day
- Student/teacher ratio 10:1
- Afternoon Literacy and Numeracy Program
- Specials include Spanish, Studio Art, Gym, Music
Kindergarten Literacy Program
The Kindergarten Literacy Program at Summit is comprised of two major components: Writing Workshop and Reading Workshop. The children meet two hours twice a week for an intensive hands-on approach to learning to read and write. In the Writing Workshop, children and teacher engage in Shared Writing, Independent Writing, Handwriting and Nature Study. In Shared Writing teacher and children write together, with an opportunity for children to learn phonics, punctuation and the mechanics of writing. Lessons are interactive with children being encouraged to write a word, and are reinforced as children read back their dictated sentences.
Independent Writing gives children an opportunity to write and practice what they learned. Handwriting practice involves forming letters correctly from top to bottom. The Handwriting Without Tears Program is used. Nature Study demonstrates another process for writing. Children observe a process such as planting seeds and charting their growth or journaling the metamorphosis from tadpoles to frogs. In Reading Workshop a predictable amount of time is set aside to engage in and learn about all aspects of reading including Read Aloud, Guided Reading, Independent Reading, Listening, Shared Reading.
Numeracy Program
Numeracy is a hands-on math program that will incorporate the Montessori philosophy along with best practice to introduce and work with concepts such as measurement, time, and money.
Numeracy is an enhancement to our Montessori Math curriculum that corresponds to the Common Core Standards for Kindergarten. This program provides the Kindergarten children with in-depth exposure to concepts including word problems, measurement (number lines, number grids, bar graphs, estimation), time (telling time on analog and digital clocks, the functions of the hour and minute hands), and money(identification of penny, nickel, dime, and quarter, associated values, making change, working with $1, and $10 bills). This program will complement the work that is done in the classroom and provide the children with an expanded, well-rounded, and even more accelerated Math experience during their Kindergarten year.