Our school facility is approximately 10,000 square foot building with nine spacious classrooms, and a spacious indoor gymnasium (especially for those days when our Texas weather is too hot, too cold, or just plain rainy).
The school also features camera-monitoring system, which conveniently displays exactly what is going on in each of the classrooms, parents can also view their child in the classrooms through the app right on their phones. The facility is truly a one-of-a-kind Montessori school!
We also offer (as part of our monthly tuition) enrichment classes. These classes are Spanish, Music, Yoga, Physical Education, Art, and Nature Study (weather permitting). Each of our classrooms will have two guides, one Lead Directress (who holds Montessori certification) and an Assistant Guide (who has child care experience, a college degree in a related field, and/or is getting her Montessori certification).
Our school is fully committed to the development of the "child". We want to ensure they grow physically, emotionally, socially, and most importantly academically. Children are at their best in an environment, which has been designed and managed by Montessori teachers. The children are allowed to move at their own pace academically with close guidance from their teachers to ensure academic goals are being met with age appropriateness. The children are allowed to make decisions for themselves, learn to solve their own problems, learn to respect one another and actively participate in the classroom community.
Our Montessori classrooms provide the children with:
Multi-sensory Learning Experiences: Children are learning by doing as well as by seeing and hearing. The Montessori materials are designed to help the child develop an understanding of concepts; we do not have simply memorization of facts.
Personalized Instruction: Each one of our classrooms has credentialed Montessori teachers who have been through extensive training to personalize the instruction to meet the needs of each student by promoting self-paced, self-initiated learning.
Multi-age Community of Learners: The 3-year age span in toddler, primary and elementary classrooms allow the children to learn from each other as well as their teacher. The children also participate in caring for classroom fish, plants, and each other. The multi-age classroom also helps promote the development of nurturing, leadership, and mentoring skills.
Our infant program also allows for our children to receive one on one time with the Lead Directress mastering age-appropriate developmental growth. The first year of a young toddler's life brings several important milestones. From crawling to teething to talking, the young toddler is gaining control of his/her body and learning to socialize. It's an exciting time as we get to watch the young toddlers begin to understand his/her surroundings and interact. A young toddler's first year is an important stage of development. The areas of growth span from gaining control of the muscles to the development of the psyche. By the end of these first twelve months, the infant will begin to walk, understand ideas such as object permanence and begin to teethe.
In our infant 2 programs (6 months to 12 months), where crawling and newly walking babies have their hands free for exploration, our program allows for the children to use materials in the classroom for fine motor development and cause and effect. They will also gain gross motor movement and opportunities to explore their surrounding The children will also begin gaining independence by self-feeding, being able to take materials from low shelves. Our teachers provide a daily informative sheet for each child that will go home daily to inform you all about your child's day from their feedings, naps, and diaper changes.
Our Toddler Program ( 12 months to 18 months ) is for our newly walking babies and toddlers. This is a room where they will explore their surroundings, get to interact on the toddler playground. They will also have the opportunity to take materials from the low shelves and bring them to the table to practice their fine motor and gross motor skills. They will also learn to sit independently in the low table and chairs, and transition to sleeping on cots in replace of the cribs. A daily information sheet is also provided in this classroom to keep all parents informed.
Our Pre-primary / Transition program provides a Montessori experience for children aged 18 months to 36 months. The classroom has been set up to allow the children to feel the classroom as their own peaceful, special space where they have a meaningful role in their own care and the care of their classroom environment. The classroom has been carefully prepared to meet the unique needs of this age. All furniture is a size that allows for independence and the materials are designed to be attractive and inviting to the children. Social interaction with other children, development of language skills, care of oneself and the environment, physical development of the body, hands-on nature exploration, and music and movement activities are integral to the Montessori toddler experience. In our Toddler Program, the environment is arranged according to the subject area.
Our Primary program provides a Montessori experience for children ages 3yrs to 5yrs. For our primary children, a clear routine is established for each day, but within the routine, the children have the flexibility to choose their own activities and pace themselves rather than having to conform to a strict schedule imposed by the teachers. The teachers are there as their guides to ensure lessons being administered are being done and the children are continuously learning in a positive upward academic path. During the Montessori work time, the children are either working on lessons already presented to them or receiving new lessons in small groups. The Montessori materials are set out attractively on shelves for easy access for the children to select what they are most drawn to during any given work session. The Montessori teacher guides each child through the materials giving lessons in the order that ensures the best academic development. The classroom materials are set up by subject area: Language (written and spoken), Math, Handwriting, Cultural Studies, Geography, Sensorial, Sciences, Grace and Courtesy, Art and Music, and Practical Life. On a daily basis, we create a dynamic and stimulating yet warm, stable, and comfortable environment for your child. A typical day for a primary student is:
In our Elementary Program, the environment is arranged according to subject area, and children are free to move around the room instead of staying at desks. There are standardized limitations on how long a child can work with a piece of material to ensure the child covers all subject areas for each day. At any one time in a day all subjects -- math, language, science, history, geography, art, music, etc., will be studied. We do not put red marks and corrections on the children’s work. Instead, the child's effort and work is respected as it is. The teacher, through extensive observation and record-keeping, plans individual projects to enable each child to learn what he needs in order to improve and correct themselves. We do not give grades, or other forms of reward or punishment, subtle or overt. Assessment is by portfolio and the teacher's observation and record keeping. The test of whether or not the system is working lies in the accomplishment and behavior of the children, their happiness, maturity, kindness, love of learning and level of work. The teacher remains alert to the interests of each child and facilitates individual research in the following interests. There are no curriculum requirements except those set by the state requirements, for specific grade levels. These take a minimum amount of time. From age five/six on, students design contracts with the teacher to guide their required work, to balance their general work, and to teach them to become responsible for their own time management and education. The work of the 6+ classes includes subjects usually not introduced until high school or college. Education of character is considered equally with academic education, children learning to take care of themselves, their environment, each other - cleaning, gardening, moving gracefully, speaking politely, being considerate and helpful, and doing social work in the community, etc.
Our lunches are catered in from a local catering company, which focuses primarily on providing lunches for young pre-school age children. Our families have the option to purchase the school catered lunches or bring their child's lunch from home. A current lunch menu is provided each month to help you decide the program that best suits your child's needs. The school does provide morning and afternoon snacks for all full-day children and an additional snack for our extended day children.