Our school consists of multiage children ranging from the ages of 2 to 6 years old. Our younger children look up to their older peers and learn language and social skills. They also observe what the older children are able to accomplish in the classroom and want to emulate them. The older children build a healthy self esteem by being good examples to the younger children as well as assisting them in the classroom. Everyone makes friends for the friends and interests – not by their ages.
Our school has a practical life area which helps develop fine motor coordination, hand-eye coordination and independence by using different items for spooning, pouring, scooping, etc.
The sensorial activities provide the opportunity to explore all their senses. The children can see the activity, hear it, feel it, sometimes taste it and/or smell it. They learn smallest to largest, thinnest to thickest, colors, geometric shapes along with many other activities related to their senses.
There are a variety of language activities to build vocabulary skills. We teach phonetic skills to encourage reading ability. We provide a wide range of activities to encourage writing skills.
There are extensive mathematic materials to build counting skills along with simple to complex activities to encourage addition and subtraction.
A Spanish and Mandarin program are offered at circle time
We have multiple cultural areas to encourage global awareness as well as the environmental awareness.
The children also have experiences in science, art, music, and story time.
We offer a soccer program for children ages 3 – 6 once a week in the Fall and Spring.
Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs continue with the preschool program. The State of California defines transitional kindergarten as “the first year of a two year kindergarten that uses a modified kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate.” At Edison Montessori School, we will follow the California Common Core Content Standards for English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies/History, Physical Education, and Health and Safety for both the Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs. In order to accomplish these standards and goals, we will use a wide variety of Montessori materials and follow the Montessori principles and philosophy.