The goal of a Montessori education is to help children become responsible, self-motivated learners competent in all areas of life.
At Sheridan Montessori School we strive to develop your child’s early education by focusing on Practical Life, Sensorial Experience, Language, Mathematics, Geography, Cultural Awareness, Nutrition, Arts, Music and Creative Movement. The following information is a small sampling of the activities from our program. We will be happy to go into greater detail of our daily activities during your tour of Sheridan Montessori School.
Our practical life curriculum involves a variety of activities; a few examples include caring for work space, caring for personal belongings, and developing a respect for others by using good manners. It also includes learning about the environment through gardening. Our sensorial experience curriculum involves a variety of activities; a few examples include listening to various types of music and noting the smells of different plants while gardening.
At Sheridan Montessori our curriculum heavily emphasizes developing a strong foundation in early reading skills, we feel language is the basis for developing all other learning. Our language curriculum covers both early and advanced language development. For children younger than three years old we sing and read to them repeating the same songs and stories to help build and develop long term memory. For children older than three, we teach them the alphabet phonetically which helps them acquire early reading and writing skills. Our mathematics curriculum includes teaching the students numbers and counting skills. For children older than four we open up the curriculum to include geography where they work with puzzles that teach them the different names and locations of continents and states in the U.S.
Since Sheridan Montessori has many international students we teach cultural awareness by exploring the customs, language, and music of other countries. Sheridan Montessori teaches cooking and nutrition. We have a variety of arts and craft materials and encourage our students to use them to explore their imagination and develop individual expression. Our music and creative movement program involves learning songs and rhythm through dance. At the end of the year we put on a much anticipated Christmas show where our students can sing and perform for their families and peers.
Following Montessori Method guidelines, the class groups are composed of children of mix ages, this provides a special environment for the child’s social and emotional development. The interactive relationship between the older and younger child is mutually beneficial. The older child learns to respect, care for and support the younger child’s learning. The younger child learns to relate to, and accept the help of the older child whom he regards as a role model.