A Montessori classroom for 3-6 year olds is called a "Casa," which means a house, home or family in Italian. Our classroom is designed so your child feels as though they are at home. The shelves, furniture and materials are your child's size. The beauty of the materials speak to your child's developmental needs and encourages them to take pride in caring for their space with their classmates. A Casa created with a child's needs in mind provides them a world where they can move, work, play and live with ease and confidence.

As musicians and retired organic farmers, our program includes daily exposure to music and a deep appreciation for the natural world. Along with beginning lessons on piano and violin, our daily schedule includes singing and dancing as well as ear training. Violin, trombone or ukulele played by one of our staff will certainly be heard on a regular basis. Our outdoor classroom includes plants that the children can help cultivate, tend and harvest as the seasons allow. Daily walks in our neighborhood will expose the students to the changing seasons and natural world around us, and our classroom lessons will include units centered around some element of biology.

Snacks and the lunch option are focused around our love of vegetables; we believe in cooking from scratch and involving children in the process, which helps them be adventurous with their palates. We are also passionate about the importance of knowing more than one language, and offer daily exposure to Spanish through vocabulary building, conversation and song. This is an excellent introduction for those English speaking students who might go on to one of the Spanish DLI elementary schools nearby. For those of our students for whom Spanish is their first language, we offer the ease of ready communication and support as they continue a multilingual journey.

What makes the Montessori educational approach unique from other settings? In a word, concentration. Dr. Montessori observed the peace and joy children experienced when they could choose their own work and focus on it for as long as they wanted. Adults know this state as flow—a feeling of well being that comes when the mind and body are deeply united in doing something creative. Our Montessori classroom and its accompanying materials encourage your child to practice concentration on a daily basis, and the day is organized to help them direct their learning according to their own changing interests. When children construct their growing brains around the habit of concentration, the long term benefits to their personal and academic life are profound. In a modern world where we can be over-scheduled and often-interrupted, Simple Gifts Montessori provides a peaceful haven where your child can learn to tune into what it is they need to challenge themselves effectively.

Another important element of the Montessori approach to education is a deep respect for the child's process of self-education. The adult and child are linked in the common work of discovering what the child needs next to keep growing. The work is carefully scaffolded so that a child can build the skills they need to pass successfully on to the next goal. As a result, you can trust that your child will receive the individualized education at Simple Gifts Montessori that helps them thrive.