Children’s House
Primary 2.5/3-6 years
The Children’s House serves children during their primary years, ages 2.5/3 through 6, including kindergarten, in a mixed-age classroom environment.
The Children’s House is a place for children to develop and grow during a period of insatiable curiosity, innate independence, and nearly limitless learning potential. Each classroom environment is beautifully prepared to engage and challenge young minds while facilitating self-direction, confidence, competence, and a sense of belonging.
The Culminating Year
Enrollment in the Children’s House implies that the child will complete the full cycle and remain enrolled during the kindergarten, or culminating, year. This is a crucial year for the child. It is the chance to become a leader in the community, to assume a role of greater responsibility and be an example for the younger children.
It is the chance to synthesize everything they have learned during their time in the Children’s House, and take on the new, more challenging work that prepares them for elementary school.
In Montessori we call this the Culminating Year because it is truly the culmination of these very important years in a child’s life.
We encourage independence in the Children’s House; we provide endless opportunities to work and accomplish tasks independently, without adult-imposed barriers.
We allow them to explore and to make mistakes. The children gain confidence through the experiences of doing for themselves. Because they are allowed this confidence, they begin to learn they are competent. That competence inspires further confidence, and a virtuous cycle begins.
The role of the adults in the Children’s House is to follow the child’s lead.
Our guides develop individual relationships with each child, learning their interests, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and particular developmental needs. Each child is offered an ever-growing body of knowledge through formal lessons with the guide, and is allowed the freedom to explore and work at an individual pace.
The Children’s House facilitates the child’s desire to continue to learn independently and to develop a sense of competence, confidence and responsibility as they progress through the program.
What curriculum is covered in Children’s House?
Woodland Montessori School offers a Children’s House that focuses on the advanced Montessori curriculum. Here’s what we teach:
1 | Practical Life
The exercises of Practical Life allow the children to develop both fine and gross motor skills as well as working to build concentration, lengthen attention span, and develop logical thought patterns.
2 | Sensorial
The Sensorial materials allow the child to make sensorial impression of abstract ideas and include botany, geography, music, and geometry. These materials help the child to become aware of details and isolate one defining quality.
3 | Language
In the Language materials, the child discovers both reading and writing at a very young age. By expanding the child’s vocabulary, working with sandpaper letters, and exploring the movable alphabet, the child comes to understand the formation of words and how written and spoken word can be used to express thoughts and ideas.
4 | Mathematics
The Mathematics materials allow the child to learn using concrete materials during the years when the child enjoys manipulating equipment and gives a concrete understanding of the hierarchy of numbers and the operations of Mathematics.
How to Get Started
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Inquire
Get the conversation started by filling out our contact form. We’re excited to speak with you!
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Schedule a Tour
After you inquire, the next step is to schedule a tour of the school, which is needed before applying.
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Enroll Your Child
Parents come to a scheduled observation, paperwork is completed, and then you’re set!
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School Starts
Happy first day of school! We can’t wait to have your child at Woodland Montessori School!
Common Questions, Answered
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The ideal age to start in the Children’s House is 2.5 or early 3 years old. Because the Children’s House environment is mixed-age, children who start at 3 years old are given the full advantage of the progression into becoming the leaders of their communities.
Enrollment in the Children’s House implies that the child will complete the full cycle and remain enrolled during the kindergarten year, the Culminating Year.
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In order to reap the full rewards of the Children’s House, children must be able to use the toilet independently and be able to communicate their basic needs. For most children, this happens at the age of three. Three is the ideal age to start in the Children’s House. If your child is a month or so shy of their third birthday and has attained these abilities, please let us know and we can discuss the possibilities.
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Children who are 5 years old may be admitted on a case-by-case basis.
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Children will have an outdoor recess after lunch every day in almost every type of weather, including light rain and snow. We do not go out during extreme weather events, heavy rain, or thunderstorms. The time during cold weather is shortened. Children who stay for late care are given lots of extra time to play outside after school.
All children in the Children’s House should have outerwear and footwear for all types of weather, as well as hats and mittens.
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Yes. The children eat together as a community but bring their lunches from home.
When choosing a lunch box and planning lunches, please keep in mind our goal of encouraging and facilitating the child’s need for independence.
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Children in this program must be able to use the toilet independently and must be fully out of diapers and/or pullups during waking hours.
We understand that accidents may happen, and we ask that you send changes of clothing for those times.
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Oftentimes, children will join the local school in the district they live in. Some of our children attend the local private schools while others attend the public schools. They are all not only prepared for school, but for life when they move on from Woodland.