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Sunset Hills Montessori School - Programs
A New Person: The plane of development that children reach at the age of 12 brings powerful changes in the way they engage the world physically, mentally and emotionally. As their physical growth accelerates, they seem at times unsure of just whose body there are occupying. Their view of themselves continues to evolve as they become simultaneously more independent and even more reliant on their peers for reassurance and approval. And their mental activities and abilities explode as they become every more capable of synthesizing, abstracting and acquiring new information in ever more diverse ways.
Facilitating and supporting this exciting period of growth and discovery, and assisting with the hard work of helping the 12 to 14 year old relearn who they are as they go through these changes is the mission of Sunset Hills Montessori Middle School. As with our other programs in the school, we have designed our curriculum to meet the specific needs of children at this plane of development, to not only help them learn about their world, but about themselves in the process. Our goal is to not only help children continue to learn how to learn, but to solidify the foundational work they have done in Pre-Primary, Primary, Lower Elementary and Upper Elementary in discovering their own best way to learn. We want each of our students to graduate from Sunset Hills confident in the knowledge that each of them Montessori the best way for each of them to learn as individuals.
Our Goals: At Sunset Hills Montessori School we want our students to have every opportunity to learn and practice the skills they will need not just in high school, but will serve them throughout their lives. Among the goals we have for the students, the following were designed to meet the specific needs of the middle school child, and illustrate our commitment to his/her social as well as academic education:
- Intellectual development
- Self-expression
- The development of a personal identity
- Community building
- Learning to build and maintain healthy relationships
- Service to others and the community
- Relating to adults
- Developing business skills
- Assuming responsibility
- Participation in productive physical labor
- Becoming a responsible young adult and citizen
The Whole Child: Our Middle School program is designed to meet the needs of the whole student, academically, physically, and socially. We believe that helping our students learn to become productive members of the community, to live responsibly and thoughtfully, is as important as exploring their academic potential. These are very sensitive years for children, with a mind that is able to imagine far more than ever before, including ideas that may cause anxiety and self-doubt, and with a desire to build social skills that will help them begin to build meaningful relationships based on mutual interests and goals.
Our program will facilitate this growth, following Dr. Montessori’s guidelines, with a multi-age classroom, academic projects, exploration of environment “locally, regionally, nationally and internationally” and close examination of values and strategies that lead to a successful, purposeful life. We want to help the students achieve a well-rounded education of depth, where they learn not just facts and statistics but too look more deeply into what the world offers, and begin to understand what they will do to be part of that world as a productive, educated, thinking citizen.
At Sunset Hills Montessori School, we are dedicated to educating the whole child, and our curriculum reflects our commitment to a well rounded, cosmic education. We want to be you and your child’s oasis of learning, where the child comes first, education and learning are celebrated, and lifelong learners are born.
Pre-Primary Program
Overview
The Pre-Primary program is designed for children 18 months to 3 years of age and will meet four days a week, on 3-day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 8:45 - 1:00 and 5-day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 8:45 - 1:00.
The benefits of enrolling your child in our Pre-Primary program are many. As Dr. Montessori observed, children in this age group are in a “sensitive period” for the development of independence, movement, and language. Designed specifically to meet the needs of toddler age children, the class provides the opportunity to develop positive school and group behaviors, overcome separation fears, and explore their burgeoning desire for independence.
We believe that this program offers an exceptional opportunity for parents to introduce their children to the Montessori method of learning, one in which the needs and development of each individual child is the central focus of the class.
Classroom Environment
The children in the Pre-Primary are in their own enclosed, serene environmment, including their classroom, play yard and bathrooms. All of the materials and activities are chosen specifically for this age group, and chosen to guide the children through the beginning phases of montessori education.
There will be an emphasis on the careful use of the materials, appropriate choices and respect for the work and feelings of the others in the class. With a 1 to 6 teacher – child ratio the Pre-primary classroom allows the development of independence, concentration, and pride in one’s work, and prepares the younger child for the transition to the Primary classes.
Typical Day
When the children arrive at school, they will be greeted and brought directly into their classroom. Each child will have a place to hang his coat, backpack, and lunch. After changing into slippers, they will enter and gather with their friends for a short morning circle. After circle the children will begin work time. It is at this time, the children will be able to choose  work from the materials on the shelves and in the room, or be invited to lessons with the teacher. These lessons are designed to introduce new work, or reinforce previous lessons. This allows the teacher to individualize the child’s path through the room, and continue to present new materials as each child is ready. After work-time, the children will clean their room, and return to circle for snack time. Our snack time together will also be a time to share in group conversation, and practice the skills of listening and taking turns. Following snack, there will be music, stories, or special activities. Then children spend time outside on the play yard, while the room is prepared for lunch. Once the children have finished lunch they will enjoy another recess on the play yard, and prepare for dismissal.
Twice during the morning there will be scheduled bathroom breaks, for all the children. The bathrooms will always be accessible to the children who are already independent. We will work with the parents to actively encourage and help any potty training. Those still in diapers are changed as needed.
Curriculum
The Pre-Primary classroom offers the young child a curriculum designed for their needs and sensitive periods. The areas in the classroom include practical life, sensorial, language, math, and art. The practical life curriculum fosters independence and fine motor control while the sensorial area  helps the child recognize and categorize according to size, shape, and color. There is an emphasis on beginning language skills in all areas of the class but we also introduce the sounds and formation of the sandpaper letters and the identification of beginning sounds in words. in the Math area, the approach is to recognize, sequence and match the symbols to quantities. The classroom provides many opportunities to develop gross motor skills, with balance beams, and a variety of manipulative materials to climb, jump onto, toss, and roll. The art area is set up for daily exploration of painting, cutting, and designing as well as seasonal projects throughout the year. These activities will be introduced with a special enphasis on using and seeing the beauty in natural materials.
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Primary Program
A Typical Day in a Primary Montessori
The child arrives, hangs up his/her coat and backpack, is greeted by the Montessori teacher with a handshake and some words of welcome and is invited to  choose some work to begin the day or to come to the “circle”. Some teachers start the day with circle time, some start with individual work until all children have arrived. At orientation your child’s teacher will talk to you about the way he/she prefers to start the day. Circle time may include introduction to new materials, group games, singing, grace and courtesy lessons, storytelling, etc.
The child then spends most of the next one to two hours working individually, with a friend, or in a small group. The times with guidance from an adult, from all the activities in which he/she has had a “lesson”. A child may ask for a lesson and children may give lessons to one another. If a child asks for a lesson on an activity that is too advanced, the teacher will guide the child to work which is the foundation for the work he/she wants to do. The important thing is to set up the child for success. The length of time spent on individual work depends a great deal on the children.
 At the beginning of the school year there may be a short work period followed by a circle time or outdoor time and then another work period. In January and February we find that the children’s work is so important to them that they do not want to put their work away.
The children assist in preparations for lunch by arranging and setting the tables in formation that allows everyone to sit as a whole group (family style) or in groups of two to four. Children also assist in the clean-up after lunch. When clean-up is finished all has been put away they usually have outdoor time after which the preschool children nap or are dismissed to go home.
The afternoon for the older children consists of continuing indiviual work that was started in the morning, and group activities - particularly in nature studies, advanced geography work, and art appreciation. Depending on the makeup of the group, competitive games may also be introduced at this time. The smaller group size in the afternoon allows for more individual attention with the advanced work and gives more space for some of the larger projects done by the older children, such as murals of the solar system.
Dismissal is accompanied by a handshake and parting words.
Curriculum
The Primary classroom is designed in a manner that allows children to work independently and at their own developmental pace. The curriculum consists of the following areas:
- Practical Life: Activities such as spooning, pouring, sweeping and buttoning, to promote small motor control, care of the environment and care of the self.
- Sensorial: Activities dealing with shape, size, color, weight, sound, etc, which promote further development of the senses.
- Language: There are two language areas: comprehension, which includes activities such as matching, classifying, and sequenceing; and phonics and reading activities ranging from simple sound games to whatever reading level the child attains.
- Math: Activities range from one-to-one correspondence and object-to-numeral matches to whatever level the child attains. The emphasis is on using manipulatives to give the child a concrete foundation for the abstract math work he/she will do in later years.
- Geography: Activities include puzzle maps, materials that have an international aspect such as matching shoes from other coutries or spooning rice with a Chinese soup spoon, books about the cultures, and international snacks. These form an introducction to physical and cultural geography.
- Art: Activities to show the care and use of art materials, to encourage creativity, and just to have fun! Sometimes we put out only red, yellow, blue, blac, and white paint so the children mix their own colors for their paintings. Jr/Sr Kindergarteners also begin studies of artists such as Monet, Matisse, and Cassatt.
- Science: Activities include nature related lessons such as living and non-living parts of a tree, weather, and the solar system.
Specialty Classes
- Spanish: Once a week the Primary children spend 40 minutes participating in Spanish lessons. During these lessons the children receive a basic introduction to the Spanish Language as well as culture.
- Music: Once a week the Primary children enjoy a half-hour of musical instruction outside of the classroom. In this class they are introduced to many songs, rhythm, beat, musical notation, composers and a history of music.
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Elementary School Program
The Elementary Child
The six year old embarking on an elementary education is a very special child. No longer satisfied with just the tasks of absorbing the world through her senses, she has begun to show a deep interest in the how’s and why’s of the world around her.
The elementary age child’s physical body is changing and maturing at the same time that she is beginning to display infinite imagination and intellectual curiosity. The information and knowledge she seeks is acquired not just with concrete answers to questions that ask “What is this?” but now take on the deeper intellectual specificity and abstraction of “Why is this?” and “How?”
The elementary child’s deeper questions offers us as parents and teachers the exciting opportunity to participate in the child’s quest by helping her find answers, and by so doing, perceive new worlds of possibility and exploration. Those newly opened worlds, in turn, open exponentially into the universe of knowledge.
The Montessori Method
Our efforts at Sunset Hills Montessori Elementary are focused on facilitating the individual child’s ability to discover the answers to these deeper questions. We do this by bringing the world into the classroom, and by escorting the child out into the world. Daily, each child arrives eagerly, prepared to meet the challenges that his own curiosity offers.
As certified Montessori teachers, we are trained to guide, advise and help the student to find answers not through lectures and memorization, but through his own research and discoveries. Our goal is to teach our students how to learn, how to find answers on their own, how to satisfy the curiosity that burns brightly inside them.
The Prepared Environment
The Montessori elementary classroom is like no other. Every detail - from the choice of furniture and its placement, to the educational materials’ arrangement on the shelves, to the color of the walls and carpet on the floor - has been attended to with a specific thought in mind: “How will this best serve the needs of the child?” It is a place for work and discovery, a space for learning and a place for imagination.
Through the use of concrete educational materials developed by Dr. Montessori, the computer, and our classroom and public libraries, the child discovers the how’s and why’s behind each new learning quest. In the process she acquires not only answers to specific questions but, just as importanty, an understanding of the underlying nuances of meaning in those answers.
The order and the beauty of the classroom allows the child to teach herself, and to come to realize that it belongs to her and her fellow students. With the teacher as mentor and guide, the prepared environment offers the child the opportunity to begin to build the confidence she needs for a productive, satisfying life.
Putting it All Together
The learning that goes on in the Sunset Hills Montessori Elementary classroom is not just an abstract concept. It is learning that is intricately connected with the world. Our children are free to explore how the world works, both in the global and the local sense. Our teachers guide and motivate them to achieve the ever higher goals they set for themselves. In addition to giving them a foundation in the curriculum skills they will need throughout life, the Montessori method offers them a precious gift: the chance to discover themselves. It allows the child the space needed to discover who he is and where he fits in, both among his peers and out in the world. It gives the child confidence, self-assurance, and the courage of his own ideas and beliefs. Ultimately, it gives the child the universe, and in doing so, it gives him himself.
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Lower Elementary Curriculum
The following is a general summary of the sequenced lessons covered during the first three Montessori elementary years.
- Mathematics:
- Decimal system including concept of number and quantitative relationships
- The four fundamental operations with whole numbers, fractions, and decimal fractions
- Memorization of math facts
Introduction to algebra
- Problem solving
- Time
- Money
- Measurement
- Geometry:
- Nomenclature for geometric forms
- Lines
- Angles
- Polygons
- Introduction to congruency, similarity and equivalence
- Language:
- Reading taught through a combination of phonics and sight words: reading for comprehension, vocabulary development, interpretive reading, and beginning library and research skills.
- Jr. Great Books for 2nd & 3rd years
- Writing strategies including development of mechanical skills, creative writing of both prose and poetry, and beginning research skills
- Grammar studies
- Reading and sentence analysis
- Spelling
- Physical & Cultural Geography:
- Continents and oceans
- Countries and states
- Flags
- Landforms: e.g. peninsula, gulf, bay, etc.
- Introduction to physical geography through mapping, geographical features, and creation of imaginary islands
- Astronomy and cosmology
- Structure of the Earth: the geological history
- Biomes
- Fundamental needs of humans
- History:
- Concept of time
- Natural history
- How past cultures through time have met fundamental needs
- Science:
- Zoology
- Botany
- Astronomy
- Introduction to chemistry
- Energy studies: e.g. electricity, friction, and introductory physics
- Earth sciences/geology
- Art:
- Seven elements of design (color, line, shape, form, texture, space, and value)
- Composition and perspective
- Introduction to various media
- Art appreciation
- Music:
- Orff-based approach to music, which integrates music and movement using a full range of pitched and unpitched instruments
- Uses literature to frame music and movement
- Incorporates world music in conjunction with our geography studies
- Spanish:
- Conversation
- Vocabulary building
- Grammar
- Culture
- Physical Education:
- Helps children to develop an initial positive feeling for vigorous physical activity while learning group games and “sports” of a competitive and cooperative nature
- Field Trips:
At Sunset Hills Montessori, we take the children on many and varied field trips including the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, Greenspring Gardens, Luray Caverns, Calvert Cliffs, Rock Creek Planetarium and the National Building Museum as well as regularly scheduled trips to the public library.
Recommended reading about Montessori elementary:
Montessori Today
by Paula Polk Lillard
Library: 372.1392L
ISBN: 0-8052-1061-X
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Upper Elementary Curriculum
The following is a general summary of the sequenced lessons covered during the first three Montessori elementary years.
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