Program Information

Little Blossom Montessori School is proud to offer programs from eight weeks of age through Kindergarten, with a consistent Montessori curriculum to children from two years on. Each Little Blossom program builds upon the previous program and provides a foundation for the next. By Kindergarten graduation, children at Little Blossom have experienced the myriad of advantages a comprehensive Montessori education offers. We believe that our Montessori approach provides an exceptional and liberating foundation for children as they prepare for life.

The Infant playroom boasts decor and equipment that allow the babies to improve their motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Activities are based on infant's developmental ability and are selected with specific skills in mind. Stories and songs are part of every hour of the day. The Infant Program has a separate Nursery room where babies have their own assigned crib or bassinette. Infants are never given a bottle in their cribs as required by state regulation.

At 12 months, the infants are encouraged to explore, discover, invent and experiment while they gain an understanding of the world around them. They have moved out of the nursery and now have their own nap mats in the Infant Room II. This room is well equipped with educational play materials that encourage babies to safely explore the physical world.

Each infant has a log book that documents their day. Records indicated how the child ate, slept, interacted, and played as well as diapering. We encourage parents to share their thoughts and concerns by writing any comments in the log. Each child has their cubby for their personal items and clothing. Parents provide diapers and wipes. The ratio for the infant program is one teacher for every four children.

The Toddler Program offers more challenging equipment and introduces children to art materials, manipulative, puzzles, blocks, lots of books, educational toys, soft tunnels and fun activities which help improve their fine and large motor skills. Fun and educational activities and materials are provided to foster your child’s language development and social, emotional and cognitive growth.

The emphasis during the toddler years is on simple materials, a gentle pace and a deep respect for each child to ensure your toddler will truly love the school and environment and develop a deep and long lasting love for learning. Sense awareness is learning about dimensions, shapes, colors, tactile, auditory, taste and smell and the primary language development is the acquisition of the language connected to their observations and sense training. The environment includes child-size furniture and the materials are meticulously maintained and carefully chosen to meet the developmental needs of the children at this age. The child gets opportunities for individual and group activities, while integrating a caring and nurturing environment.

Each toddler has a log book that documents their day. Records indicated how the child ate, slept, interacted, and played as well as diapering. We encourage parents to share their thoughts and concerns by writing any comments in the log. Each child has their cubby for their personal items and clothing. Parents provide diapers and wipes. There is one teacher for every five children.

The program involves a series a sequential, developmental, manipulative, and sensorial activities that are designed to ultimately bridge the gap between concrete and abstract learning.

Classrooms are meticulously prepared to meet the developmental needs of the children. The children use learning materials, created by Dr. Montessori, that are multi-sensory and sequential. The material acts as a facilitator of learning and role models. Holding a worldview of education, Little Blossom graduates are self-motivated, joyful learners, creative problem solvers, and confident young adults prepared for the inevitable challenges of life.

The Montessori classroom is divided into six basic categories

PRACTICAL LIFE
This is the area where the child may first choose independent work. The practical life area contains many attractively displayed object familiar to the child, including a variety of items commonly used in the tasks of daily living, such as eating, dressing, and cleaning. This area develops independence and a sense of order through the use of practical life materials.  This area includes lessons in grace and courtesy, the care of the environment, care of self, as well as a variety of activities that facilitates development of fine and gross motor skills and eye hand coordination. Through repetition of the practical life exercises, the child attains a sense of order, concentration, coordination and independence as well as establishing a foundation for future learning. 

SENSORIAL
The basic sensorial exercise inspires careful observation and calls attention to specific qualities requiring identification of similarities and contrasts. This area contains materials which aid in the development of the intellectual senses.  The materials are designed to advance the child’s ability to define qualities such as color, size, sound, texture, and shape.  In addition, they strengthen the visual, auditory, and tactile senses.  Often described as self-correcting and diagnostic, the sensorial materials are concrete representations of abstract concepts. 

LANGUAGE
Language development is a concern of the entire Montessori classroom. With different activities the children improve vocabulary development, communication skills, writing and reading readiness. 
In the language area we will find a large variety of reading readiness materials, including materials for phonetic analysis, word attack skills and reading, as well as materials for the refinement of motor control for writing. The language materials and strategies develop visual and conceptual memory through sorting, classification, matching, rhyming, and language games.  The classroom environment is designed to incorporate language into every activity.  Language development is encouraged through freedom of conversation by enabling language to become an integral part of the life of the classroom.  There is a continuous encouragement of self-expression and communication, child to child, and child to teacher. 

MATHEMATICS
The central purpose of the Math materials in the early years is to lay the foundation for later cognitive development and to prepare for the gradual transition to abstract thinking. This offers the children a concrete mathematical experience with numerals.  The Montessori materials allow children to build a concrete foundation for abstract mathematical concepts.  The manipulative materials build upon the child’s solid understanding of what makes a number.  Once a firm grounding in the concept of numbers from one to ten, has been established, the child can explore the concepts of addition and subtraction, building a conceptual image of the process of manipulating numbers. 

If you'd like more information about our Montessori programs, enrollment or would like more information about our school, please contact us!