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​Discover the Montessori classroom.

Montessori Education for Your Child

The Prepared Environment of a Primary Montessori classroom revolves around tangible experiences. It is designed to stimulate each child’s curiosity and instill a lifelong love of learning.

Children work at their own pace and choose their own activities. Activities are thoughtfully designed to encourage hand movements from left to right (to prepare the brain for how we read) or top to bottom (to prepare the brain for how we solve math equations).

The Prepared Environment

Practical Life

Practical Life focuses on basic movements, fine motor skills, and independence. Development of a child's intellect and concentration help develop an orderly way of thinking.

Sensorial Learning

Sensorial experiences focus on the development and refinement of all a child's senses.

Language

Shapes and sounds of letters are explored through interactive materials that lead directly to the development of later handwriting and reading skills.

Mathematics

​Hands-on, experiential math learning creates an understanding of basic concepts, laying a foundation for later comprehension of complex mathematics, such as algebra and geometry.

Science

Science is integral to the Montessori curriculum as it represents a clear thinking approach to gathering information and problem-solving.

Geography

Starting from age 3, children are introduced to the concepts of history and geography. Our youngest children work with specially designed maps and learn continents and countries.

Arts

Art experiences offer children ways to express themselves, their feelings, their experiences, and their ideas.

Peace Curriculum

Montessori schools and classrooms are environments designed to encourage peace and tolerance and promote the development of peaceful citizens.

The Prepared Environment

Practical Life

Practical Life focuses on basic movements, fine motor skills, and independence. Development of a child's intellect and concentration help develop an orderly way of thinking.

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Practical Life

Practical Life focuses on basic movements, fine motor skills, and independence. Development of a child's intellect and concentration help develop an orderly way of thinking.

​The Dressing Frames

This series of frames highlights individual elements of getting dressed (buttons, snaps, zippers, buckles, hooks, etc.), offering the opportunity to repeat this motion and gain independence in the skill.

​Meals

Children participate in meals, by setting the table, helping to prepare food, serving themselves, and cleaning up when finished, as ways of growing their sense of responsibility and independence.

Caring for Plants

Children will develop responsibility, as they care for a living thing in their classroom, keeping up with feeding, watering, and providing sunlight to a plant.

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Sensorial Learning

Sensorial experiences focus on the development and refinement of all a child's senses.

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Sensorial Learning

Sensorial experiences focus on the development and refinement of all a child's senses.

​The Pink Tower

This series of ten pink cubes (one cubic centimeter to 10 cubic centimeters), introduces size in three dimensions. All blocks are the same color, shape, and texture. Children learn to recognize gradation in size, to construct the tower from largest to smallest cube.

The Broad Stair​

The child uses 10 wooden blocks (all 20 centimeters long, but varied in height and width from one to 10 centimeters) to learn about size differences in two dimensions, discovering concepts of thickness and thinness.

Tone Bars

Black and white tone bars correspond to the keys of a piano and feature different pitches. Children sharpen their sense of hearing, by matching pitch sounds between the different tones across the bar.

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Language

Shapes and sounds of letters are explored through interactive materials that lead directly to the development of later handwriting and reading skills.

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Language

Shapes and sounds of letters are explored through interactive materials that lead directly to the development of later handwriting and reading skills.

Sandpaper Letters​

Each letter of the alphabet is made from sandpaper and mounted on an individual board. Children are invited to trace the shape of the letter as they hear its sound.

​Movable Alphabet

Individual letter pieces are used to help the children with "word building." Short, three-letter words are represented by three-dimensional objects. Children sound out letters and seek them out.

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Mathematics

​Hands-on, experiential math learning creates an understanding of basic concepts, laying a foundation for later comprehension of complex mathematics, such as algebra and geometry.

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Mathematics

​Hands-on, experiential math learning creates an understanding of basic concepts, laying a foundation for later comprehension of complex mathematics, such as algebra and geometry.

Spindle Boxes​

This exercise demonstrates the process of associating numerals with the proper quantities. There are 10 compartments, labeled 0 through 9, and 45 spindles. The child places one spindle in the 1 compartment, two in the 2 compartment, and so on.

The Golden Beads​

Children learn the decimal system with a single bead (representing one unit), a chain of 10 beads (10 units), a square of 100 beads (100 units), and a cube of 1,000 beads (1,000 units). These geometric materials help children learn "square" and "cube" and begin to see numbers in three dimensions.

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Science

Science is integral to the Montessori curriculum as it represents a clear thinking approach to gathering information and problem-solving.

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Science

Science is integral to the Montessori curriculum as it represents a clear thinking approach to gathering information and problem-solving.

​Wooden Puzzles

Interactive, colorful puzzle pieces show children things from nature, such as the parts of a tree, the shapes of leaves, and the parts of a flower.

Nature Specimens

Actual specimens provide children the opportunity to become more observant of things that are growing around them in the world.

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Geography

Starting from age 3, children are introduced to the concepts of history and geography. Our youngest children work with specially designed maps and learn continents and countries.

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Geography

Starting from age 3, children are introduced to the concepts of history and geography. Our youngest children work with specially designed maps and learn continents and countries.

​Puzzle Maps

Geography starts with a series of puzzle maps moving from the hemispheres, to continents, to countries in progressive levels of detail and activities” offering children a tactile, three-dimensional approach to learning the concepts of geography.

Land and Water Formations​

Common land formations, such as islands, peninsulas, and isthmuses, are represented in model form in pans, and children pour water into the pans to gain understanding of the shapes. To further the lesson, children identify these geographical shapes on maps.​

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Arts

Art experiences offer children ways to express themselves, their feelings, their experiences, and their ideas.

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Arts

Art experiences offer children ways to express themselves, their feelings, their experiences, and their ideas.

Painting at the Easel

Children are encouraged to express their own personal inner artist with a variety of media and techniques.

Art Cards

Postcard-size versions of famous paintings form the basis of hands-on matching, pairing, and sorting, bringing a child closer to great art; opposite of the "Don't touch" rule found with regular works of art.​

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Peace Curriculum

Montessori schools and classrooms are environments designed to encourage peace and tolerance and promote the development of peaceful citizens.

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Peace Curriculum

Montessori schools and classrooms are environments designed to encourage peace and tolerance and promote the development of peaceful citizens.

Gaining a global perspective

Younger children begin by learning about continents and peoples of the world, in order to gain a global perspective on life and humanity.​

Creating a harmonious world

For older children, as they develop reasoning and abstract thinking, there are continued studies of the peoples of the world, as well as the fundamental needs of humans. This focus on the family of humankind and interrelationship of all life, encourages Montessori students to learn they are not apart from the world, but an integral element of creating a harmonious world.​

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The STEAM Studio

The authentic Montessori experience is enhanced by the STEAM Studio.

Make, do, tinker, and think with hands-on learning experiences and stations for science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. The studio is available to Primary program students at least once a week.

  • Science lab equipment features items such as salt, vinegar, popsicle sticks, glue, clay, straws, etc., for children to perform simple experiments
  • Technology learning experiences are highlighted by tablets and educational apps
  • Art studio activities incorporate natural elements (such as leaves) and feature various modes of art, such as pendulum painting

Not available at all locations. See the school director for additional details.

Teaching the Montessori Method

Our caring, experienced Montessori teachers spend significant one-on-one time with each child, guiding them toward self-directed activities, which helps children develop self-discipline and self-discovery. Primary and Elementary teachers receive training through MACTE-accredited training programs (Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education).

Teacher Feature

With an incredible 22 years of knowledge, Ms. Shaila is a Master Montessori Guide. She specializes in patience, kindness, and thoughtfulness within our community at the Naperville Montessori School in Illinois. Ms. Shaila is innovative, inclusive, and a great team leader who takes new assistants and newly trained guides under her wing offering them insight on their journeys as Montessori professionals. Ms. Shaila’s students are offered freedom of choice, movement, and independence daily as they navigate the self-directed learning opportunities in her carefully prepared environment. She is a wonderful, caring person loved by both current and former students and families alike. Ms. Shaila perfectly embodies the spirit of Dr. Montessori’s philosophy.

What Makes an Authentic Montessori Experience

In a school offering the authentic Montessori Method for early childhood education, you will find mixed-age classrooms to encourage collaboration and socialization; child-selected and self-guided learning experiences; teachers trained by a MACTE-accredited training program (Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education); and natural, authentic learning materials, including three-dimensional, textured objects for learning both math and language concepts.

​Montessori Programs at Our School

Infants

Infants

This wonderful and cozy environment is specially designed for mobility and to foster growing independence.

Toddlers

Toddlers

Toddlers, using their senses and emerging problem-solving skills, learn about their world.

Primary

Primary

Tangible academic lessons and community experiences engage children in learning, in a multi-age classroom.

Elementary

Elementary

Children work at their own pace in a non-competitive environment, to begin learning abstract principles.

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