The mission of Sterling Montessori is to create a diverse educational community, grounded in the Montessori philosophy and teaching practices, that fosters curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in its students. We strive to empower each student to become life-long learners who respect themselves, others and their environment.

Academy Program

Description of our Academy Program

Sterling is comprised of two separate educational entities.  The Academy serves children 3 and 4 years of age, and is a tuition-based, pre-school program.  Academy students are joined with the Charter Kindergarten students in a mixed-aged Children's House classroom.

Learn about our Academy Admissions process here.

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Dr. Maria Montessori established the first Children’s House in Rome. It was there, in 1906, that “Casa dei Bambini” or Children’s House was opened. 

 

What is Children’s House? The Montessori Children’s House program is for children aged three to six (Pre-K3, Pre-K4 & Kindergarten). All three groups work together in one classroom.

This is a mixed-aged environment, keeping with Dr. Montessori’s belief that children learn from other children. Each classroom has two teachers, one Montessori certified Lead Teacher and one Assistant both working together to meet the needs of each child. They are trained to recognize windows of learning (known as sensitive periods) that occur in young children. The teachers lead the child to specific materials when most appropriate to maximize the child’s developmental growth.

The Children’s House classroom is a place the children can call their own. When we talk about a Montessori classroom, one of the most important factors is the prepared environment. The goal of the Montessori prepared environment is to be a calm soothing place for the children away from the fast-paced adult world. The prepared environment facilitates the child’s independence, concentration, coordination, and sense of order.

All the furniture is fit for them. All items are within their reach and are always made available. When a child has a desire to work with numerals she can choose a work from the shelf to satisfy that need. When a child has a desire for movement he can choose the Red Rods or Pink Tower. The pictures on the walls are hung low so the children may view them. The environment is made and kept beautiful. This develops into their own desire to keep everything beautiful and in order.

Every day at school is much the same as the previous day. When the children arrive, they know what to expect and what is expected of them. This routine gives them a sense of well-being, with not too much change, and therefore less stress. Here, consistency allows for a feeling of calm and comfort.

This is what we strive for when preparing the environment.

This is a place where one feels secure and at ease.

This is a place that fosters independence.

This is a place that reveals success.

This is a Children’s House.

In the Children's House classroom, five distinct curricular areas constitute the prepare environment:

Practical Life enhances the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and coordination of physical movement. Each Practical Life material is designed to foster a child’s ability to concentrate and build fine and gross motor coordination. Lessons are presented and arranged from left to right, top to bottom, in preparation for reading and writing.

Students find true citizenship within our classroom, for they learn to care about the classroom environment by watering plants and putting their own materials away. Through Practical Life work, children learn to dress themselves, set out their snacks, and tie their own shoelaces, thus providing the basis for independence at the Primary level.

Sensorial works enable the child to order, classify, and describe sensory impressions in relation to length, width, temperature, mass, color, pitch, etc. Sensorial work increases a child’s ability to observe, compare, differentiate, reason, decide, solve problems, and all around appreciate the world at large. Materials provide children with a system, through which each child can form a basis for order and logic. The experience of order is gained through observing, touching, sorting and categorizing these Sensorial materials.

Mathematics makes use of manipulative materials to enable the child to internalize concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations, and memorization of basic facts. With Math work, children are introduced to concrete counting concepts and numeral recognition at a young age. The unique Montessori math materials provide a solid foundation to introduce math concepts. The children begin associating numeral symbols with quantities, and continue on to work with the decimal system. The didactic materials are used to illustrate how numbers can be manipulated through the math operations.

Language arts include oral language development, written expression, reading, grammar study, and children's literature. Capitalizing on how the classroom environment flows with speech and vocabulary, Language work is designed to help children with listening, reading, and writing skills. Children begin with exposure to pre-reading work, such as sound games, rhyming, and synonym / antonym concepts. Students then learn letter sounds while tracing the Sandpaper Letters, which reinforces fine motor skills needed for writing. As the lessons progress, children blend words, and then read small paragraphs while simultaneously learning to spell phonetically.

As students master their ability to control a writing utensil they will have a chance to journal and experience formal handwriting lessons.

Cultural activities expose the child to basics in geography, history, and life sciences. Music, art, and movement education are part of the integrated cultural curriculum. Through the exploration of nature, people, and geography of each continent, children learn to appreciate cultures and the needs of others. Cultural Studies work introduces children to the concept of places and times around the world, by working with globes, puzzle maps, flags, and integrated animal study. Basic classification skills and nomenclature are learned through scientific lessons drawing on botany, biology, science and zoology. An early emphasis on cultural studies and peace education is a guiding principle of the Montessori Philosophy.

CHILDREN'S HOUSE SCOPE & SEQUENCE
NC Child Day Care Law & Rules