children’s house

AGES 2.9 TO 6 YEARS

children’s house program

Our Children’s House is for children ages 2.9 through 6 years old. At Newburyport Montessori we approach each child with love and understanding. We provide our students with a nurturing and compassionate environment that enables children to: develop autonomy; establish comfortable and productive peer relations; learn basic skills and concepts necessary for intellectual development; and keep a sense of wonder and appreciation for the world.

As we observe children, we see the vitality of their spirit, the maximum effort put forth in all they do, the intuition, attention and focus they bring to all life’s events, and the sheer joy they experience in living

– Maria Montessori

program overview

In the language-rich atmosphere of the classroom, the child has many experiences of oral language including story reading, story-telling, thought-provoking conversation, poems, songs, and vocabulary enrichment. Children build important pre-reading and pre-writing skills through use of the Practical Life and Sensorial materials. Formal lessons in phonics, word building, reading, creative writing and grammar are introduced when the child is ready.

These activities of daily living are immediately and culturally relevant to a child’s life. Through purposeful work and play with the Practical Life materials the child develops concentration, independence, eye-hand coordination, and fine motor skills. Emphasis is also placed on acquiring social grace and skill, respect and courtesy.

The refinement of the senses is fundamental to the growth and development of the child. The materials of the Sensorial area are designed to meet this need. Important math and language skills are also indirectly developed as the child experiments with shape, color, sound, volume, taste, size, smell and touch.

In order to support the development of true number sense, each child is exposed to numbers and their meaning in a variety of concrete ways with appropriate materials. Through play and discovery, children start to build their mathematical minds using Practical Life and Sensorial materials which focus on one-to-one correspondence, ordering, sequencing, conservation of quantity, and geometry. When children are ready, they begin to construct their strong mathematical foundations through work with place value using the Golden Beads and work through carefully sequenced math curriculum in operations, memorization of math facts and counting.

Art is an essential part of the young child’s classroom experience. Open-ended, process-oriented art materials are available to children throughout the day. In each classroom, children choose from among a large variety of art materials and art experiences. Children are also exposed to fine art and art appreciation.

Our Children’s House Program is fortunate to have excellent enrichment teachers in the following content areas:
- Music
- Spanish
- Joppa Flats Nature Presentations

Children live together in peaceful communities, guided by their teachers. Even very young children learn to identify and express their feelings in constructive, purposeful ways. As children grow within our community, they learn empathy and practice peaceful conflict resolution. For behavior management, we use a positive approach that focuses on self-regulation, honors each person’s autonomy and emphasizes respect. Children and teachers work together to create peaceful, respectful communities.