Wheaton Montessori School

Preschool and Kindergarten

2.5-6 years


Wheaton Montessori School can provide a home for your child from toddler age through the freshman year of high school. Wheaton Montessori has four preschool classrooms. The school offers both part-time and full-day preschool options as well as “wrap-around” care for working families.

A Day in the Life of a Preschool Student

Preschool, or primary, students spend their days working with the teacher either individually or in small groups within the larger mixed-age classroom. Each child works at their own pace as is encouraged and inspired to repeat the work as often as necessary for mastery. Children move freely about the classroom throughout the school day, with a thoughtful balance between freedom and limitations established by the environment itself as well as the classroom teacher. Outdoor recess and physical freedom within the classroom are fixtures of this age group’s day, helping lay the groundwork for healthy and active lives.

Preschool Program

The Preschool Program at Wheaton Montessori is truly a gift to your child. Also known as the “Children’s House” and designed for children between the ages of 2.5 and 6 years, it is an opportunity to nurture their individual development within the context of a group setting. The result? Self-confidence, joy, and a lifelong love of learning.

Practical Life

Through these activities, children acquire many daily living skills. They prepare food, fasten their clothing, and take care of their environment. These activities help with motor skills, concentration, coordinated movement, and sense of belonging.

Sensorial Activities

Through interaction with sensorial materials, which isolate one quality, such as color, shape, or texture, children experience and explore our world with their senses. This helps establish a physical and mental foundation for further learning and exploration. Sensorial activities and “work” hone and strengthen your child’s powers of observation and knowledge of their world.

Language Activities

Our classrooms are language-rich environments. Each classroom community is alive with real-world communication as children interact with one another throughout the day, not just at lunch or recess. Through a variety of language activities and materials, they become familiar with sounds and symbols and begin the process of writing, which naturally leads to reading. You will be amazed at your child's delight in their early literacy skills.

Mathematics

At Wheaton Montessori School, children begin to explore mathematical relationships by manipulating concrete materials such as number rods that are designed to isolate a concept and prepare the children for abstract reasoning. The goals of these activities are for each child to develop a love of numbers, problem-solving abilities, computational skills, and, most importantly, confidence in using numbers in everyday life.

Cultural Activities

Art, music, and geography are integrated into the whole language experience. Living plants, animals, and other materials are part of the classroom, allowing children to develop skills in scientific observation and comparison.

Social Activities

The mixed-age group allows each child’s strengths to contribute to the community as a whole. Our students benefit from being both leaders and observers. Within the mixed-age environment, children experience a balance of individual freedom and concerns for the larger group. They learn responsibility for their own behavior, respect for others, collaboration, cooperation, and communication.

It’s a Mixed-Age Classroom

Because the curriculum is individualized, children can work at their own pace while participating in a mixed-age classroom community. Younger children learn by observing the behavior and activities of the older children, while older children gain self-confidence, leadership skills, and responsibility by setting an example for their younger friends. Nobody has to wait for the rest of their same-age peers to advance.  Each child is challenged.

The Gift of Choice

Your child is introduced to a broad range of concepts and activities in individual and small-group lessons. The real learning, however, occurs through independent work as they choose to explore, repeat, and perfect those concepts and activities. 

A Deep Connection Between Teacher and Child

Our AMI-certified teachers choose this career because of their love for children and dedication to education. Their depth of training and knowledge is amplified by the joyful and deep relationship they develop with your child throughout the multi-year journey together. Each student remains with the same community and teacher through the end of the kindergarten year. Each child is well known!

Child Centered, Not Teacher Centered

In conventional classrooms, all children are expected to pay close attention to the teacher. Our school does the opposite—the teacher is trained to closely observe your child’s interests, tendencies, skills, and needs. You won’t see the teacher standing at a chalkboard at the front of the classroom; rather, she will be down at the children’s level, engaged with one student or a small group, expertly yet subtly assessing their current activity in order to plan your child's next lessons.

Beautiful Hands-On Materials Help Your Child Learn

The scientifically designed Montessori materials help your child learn through hands-on use and exploration. Through continued use, they develop a concrete understanding of abstract concepts, explore mistakes and corrections, and build upon introductory and advanced lessons. These engaging materials provide a solid foundation for future lessons.

Group Activities and Play

While most of the day is spent in side-by-side, individual or small-group work, there are times for whole-class activity and play as well. Each day the teacher gathers the class to sing songs, read books, or tell stories about a cultural, scientific, or historical theme of interest. Ample time is also given to run, dig, explore, and play with friends outdoors every day.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Instead of following a top-down curriculum based on age, our teachers are trained to respect each child’s unique potential and connect them with the lesson best suited at that precise moment of development. Your child will be challenged according to their ability, not held to a generic standard. A traditional school curriculum is easily surpassed when each child is taught individually.

The Children's House

Our teachers put tremendous care and attention to detail into the classroom with low shelves, beautiful artwork, books, and cultural items to pique your child’s interest and stimulate their senses. Each item and placement is intentional. The children respond by developing a sense of classroom ownership and a drive to care for it, further deepening the bonds of the community and their quest to learn.

Essential Skills for a Successful Life

Wheaton Montessori School is designed to help children become their best selves. Through “grace and courtesy” activities, we teach your child how to resolve conflicts, act politely in social situations, and be kind and helpful to friends. These lessons are ongoing and proactive. Wheaton Montessori adults take great care to model, support, and guide as needed.

Kindergarten Included

Montessori is a continuum of education that allows children to build upon experiences each year. Your child will stay in the mixed-aged primary classroom for 3 to 4 years, including the traditional “kindergarten year”—when the seeds of learning come to fruition. Reading and writing come to life from sounds and symbols. Students are introduced to all four math operations into the thousands. They learn about geometric figures and the countries of our world. They leave the program with a strong set of academic skills and, far more importantly, with the attitude that learning is fun, exciting, and boundless. At this point, they are ready to move up to the Elementary Program for children ages 6 to 12.

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