Evergreen Montessori House is a small center that provides individualized education and care to children enrolled in one of our programs. In the multiage classroom, 10 children are able to move independently at work at their individual capacity and pace within the prepared environment. The teacher acts as a nurturing guide and facilitator, ensuring children learn from activities and develop a sense of independence.
Toddler
The curriculum at Evergreen Montessori House is derived from the Montessori Method, as developed by Italian physician Maria Montessori. During the first three years of life Montessori observed that children go through the sensitive periods for language, order, movement, and attraction to small objects. During a sensitive period children experience a special sensitivity to a particular impulse or activity. Therefore, the classroom, or prepared environment, is structured to meet the needs and is attractive to each child, and provides learning opportunities specifically for children in the sensitive period.
The prepared environment is central to Montessori philosophy. The environment promotes order and concentration, and is child- centered. Montessori strongly believed that all learning comes through sensory exploration, and therefore she promoted a multi- sensory approach to learning. She felt that children should have considerable freedom in developing according to their own unique nature, and that they would reveal that nature to adults. Thus, though the environment may appear unstructured, it is, in fact, highly structured and allows children to make decisions for themselves.
We assist children to grow toward independence, social awareness, respect, and the development of motor skills and language skills. Maria Montessori asserted that human beings develop with the greatest intensity during the first three years of life; therefore, the classroom is designed to provide nurturance, security, and challenge in an orderly environment.
Preschool and Kindergarten
Instruction at Evergreen Montessori House is guided by an understanding of how preschool children learn. In the classroom, instruction consists of large-group activities, small-group activities, and individual activities. Because young children are active learners, a significant amount of instruction and the majority of children’s work are completed in classroom activity areas. Thoughtfully planned curriculum activities are implemented with the following considerations in mind: the activities’ importance to children’s overall development, the children’s progress in meeting set goals, how the environment can be structured to promote these activities, what strategies can be used to enrich and extend learning, and how these activities can be coordinated with the experiences parents provide in the home.
All curricula at EMH are individualized to meet each child’s needs through the use of assessment tools. In addition to the individual curriculum, a class wide curriculum is developed each year to meet the collective learning needs of all children enrolled in the program.
Our Montessori curriculum is based on a set of guiding principles formulated by Maria Montessori:
- The students are engaged in active learning;
- The environment is carefully structured to provide relevant, appropriate and stimulating experiences for each age group in the multi-age classroom;
- The students are given freedom within the structured environment to choose spontaneously and follow their own interests;
- Learning is integrated across all stages of curriculum;
- The contents of the curriculum reflect the beautiful mix of cultures in our great country;
- The teacher is flexible and bases decisions on observation and assessment, thus ensuring the developmental needs of each student are met;
- The teacher aims to develop autonomy, independence and self-discipline in each student;
- The teacher acknowledges sensitive periods of learning;
- Through the use of Montessori teaching tools, the teacher develops a solid foundation for children to build on in later learning; and
- In a Montessori classroom, there is mutual respect where the administrators, teachers, students and parents work together.
Enrichment Program
The enrichment program at Evergreen Montessori House was developed to enhance the learning experience through fun and engaging activities. To foster a sense of community, all children enrolled at Evergreen Montessori House are enrolled in the enrichment program.
The enrichment program includes activities that can easily be modified for each age group in the multiage classroom. Activities include piano lessons and music, sports and physical activity, science experiments, growing and caring for a school garden, puppet storytime, theater, and cultural and natural exploration.
Extended Day
Evergreen Montessori House provides before school care daily from 8:00am – 9:00am, and after school care from 3:00pm – 5:00pm. The extended day program is educational and fun. Children enrolled in this program participate in fun activities that supplement school day activities.
Summer Program
Studies have shown that after the summer vacation, it can take children up to two months to catch up to where they were before the summer break. You can prepare your child for the next school year and prevent summer learning loss by enrolling in the summer program at Evergreen Montessori House.
At EMH, we recognize that summers should be fun. Our summer curriculum makes learning fun and engaging by focusing on enrichment activities and projects for children 15 months to 6 years.