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.

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.

Our goal is to inspire the child to feel the wonder and awe of the natural world, and to gain a deeper understanding of this amazing world.

In addition to other activities within the classroom, our science teacher explores such subjects as: simple machines; magnets; geology; and electricity.

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.