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Schoolhouse Montessori Preprimary Curriculum — Inspiring a Love of Learning

Schoolhouse Montessori Academy’s preprimary program provides a carefully planned, stimulating environment that helps children develop the foundational habits, attitudes, skills and ideas that are essential for a lifetime of creative thinking and learning.

Dr. Maria Montessori believed early childhood education should not fill students with facts, but instead should cultivate their desire to learn. At Schoolhouse Montessori Academy, we allow each child to experience the excitement of learning by choice and help to develop his or her natural learning tools.

Practical Life Exercises

Young children like to imitate adults doing ordinary tasks – washing dishes, paring vegetables, or polishing shoes. In this area of the classroom, children expand their coordination and pursue activities that gradually lengthen their concentration. They learn to pay attention to detail and develop good work habits.

Sensorial Exercises

Sensorial materials help children learn to distinguish, categorize, and relate new information to what they already know. This process is the beginning of conscious knowledge, spurred when the intelligence works in a concentrated way on impressions created by the senses.

Mathematics

When young children have access to mathematical equipment, they joyfully assimilate math facts and skills. At Schoolhouse Montessori, children separate, share, count and compare materials to learn basic math operations. They never sit down to memorize addition and subtraction facts or multiplication tables. Rather, children learn by performing the operations with a variety of materials such as beads. As they commit their math facts to memory, they gain a real understanding of what each operation means.

Language

“Written language can be acquired more easily by children of 4 years than by those of 6. While children of 6 usually need at least two years to learn how to write, children of 4 years learn this second language within a few months.” – Maria Montessori

In the Montessori classroom, children learn phonetic sounds of letters 
before learning alphabetical names in sequence. This lets them hear what 
they’ll later read.

Reading instruction begins the day a child wants to know what a word says or shows interest in using sandpaper letters. Students construct words with a movable alphabet, then proceed at their own pace to begin reading. Using phonics skills to tackle new words, books become a source of exploration. Games introduce students to grammar.

Physical Geography

Large wooden puzzle maps are immensely popular. At first, students use them simply as puzzles. Gradually, children learn names of countries, geographical facts, and common land formations such as islands and peninsulas.

Cultural Units

Schoolhouse Montessori students gain an awareness of the world around them 
by exploring countries, customs, food, music, climate, language and animals. 
Our students develop understanding, tolerance and compassion for all people.

Cooking and Nutrition

Students study the food pyramid and learn what their bodies need to be healthy. They also participate in small cooking exercises that are a continuation of practical life experiences and math lessons.

Art

Art feeds a great joy children find in creating. Schoolhouse Montessori students use their imaginations with a variety of mediums, learning that process is more important than the end-product.

Music and Creative Movement

Schoolhouse Montessori Academy’s creative music, movement and dramatics program is an ongoing, flexible process that integrates fully into our academics. Young children use their bodies to 
reflect and interpret music.

Science and Nature

Science stimulates curiosity through discovery projects and experiments, helping children to draw their own conclusions. Our preprimary students study the plant and animal kingdoms, developing 
a love and appreciation for all living things.

“Education demands then, only this: the utilization of the inner powers of the child for his own instruction.” -- Maria Montessori