Casa Program

The children’s house (3-6 y.o.)

Montessori education is designed to identify and meet the needs of children at every stage of development from the earliest years to the adolescent. This cohesive approach supports the child in acquiring the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in today’s world. Keeping track of children’s progress and growth over time is a critical task for Montessori teachers and deeply intertwined with the work of guiding children through the breadth of the Montessori curriculum. In Montessori, continual assessment is organically built into the essential functioning of an authentic classroom. Daily observation, the inherent ability of the learning materials to reveal a child’s understanding along with rigorous record keeping enable Montessori teachers to closely follow their students’ development.

The Montessori prepared environment addresses the needs of the young child. The emphasis on natural peer-to-peer social interactions support unfolding social-emotional development. An intense concentration on spoken language and cultivating the foundation skills of literacy support the child in learning how to understand and communicate with others. The teacher’s task is to observe and support each child in their individual journey. The multi-aged grouping within the classroom supports each child in this task by exposing them to a variety of social roles.

  • Ratio: 1:10 (teacher:child) for (Mixed Ages 4-6)

  • Staff: 1 AMI-trained teacher guide + 1 Assistant.

  • 7:30-9:00AM Morning Care (Childcare) + Arrival Window

    9:00-12:00AM : Morning Learning Cycle / Individual Work / Group Work + Snack

    12:00AM-12:30PM Lunch

    12:30-1:30PM Outdoor Recess / Physical Education

    1:30-3:00PM Afternoon Learning Cycle

    3:00PM-3:45PM Outdoor Recess / Physical Education

    3:45PM-4:00PM Dismissal (car pickup-line) /or/ Snack time for children in extended care.

    4:00-5:30PM Extended Care Option - Open Play (Childcare)

Important information:

School Day:

  • 9AM - 4PM (covered by basic tuition)

  • Arrival/Car Drop-off Line: 9AM (Arriving after 9:30 is marked as late)

  • The school for first-year Casa level students (age 3) will start in November 2024, while older students (ages 4 to 6) will begin in September 2024.

Extended-Care:

  • Morning-care: 7:30-9AM Open play in the classroom

  • After-Care: 4PM - 5:30PM Open play in the classroom

Enrollment Options:

  • Full-time (5-days/week) only (Montessori requirement)

  • 10 months OR year round with summer camp

Additional Notes:

Children at the Casa level must be FULLY bathroom independent and potty-trained before the first day of school.

Snacks are provided by the school. Lunch comes from home. All lunch items and snacks must be nut-free. Parents will be alerted if there are any additional life-threatening allergies.

Now accepting students for the 2024-2025 academic year!

Learning at the Casa Level

The Casa classrooms will meet each student’s need for the development of the senses, movement, language and order or precision through morning and afternoon work cycles and outdoor play. These environments will be rich in learning materials and structured one-on-one lessons with opportunities for repetition and choice-making. To nurture students’ needs for movement and to prepare them for work of an academic nature, concentration will be honed through practical life exercises that begin with large muscle, whole body movements such as table washing and window washing and progress to more fine motor tasks such as pouring, spooning, and sewing. Sensory exploration through color, sound, and other materials will support classification, categorization, and the precise development of vocabulary. Language exercises in English and French will help students move from phonemic awareness to fluent writing and reading of words and books. Mathematical exercises will include concrete materials that help students associate symbols and quantities and form a foundation in number sense that leads to the four operations with numbers through the thousands. Additional areas for exploration and work will include botany, zoology, geography, music, and culture.

Student progress will be measured and shared through regular developmental assessments, record-keeping, reports, and parent-teacher conferences. There are five areas of learning in a Casa classroom:

Practical Life

Thanks to Practical Life activities, children learn how to take care of themselves, others and their environment and while feeling they belong to a small community that they take part in keeping beautiful. Grace & Courtesy lessons support the children’s social development by giving them the proper language to use in different social settings.

A big part of practical life is Art. Children are introduced to different media and are given the opportunity to develop fine motor skills and express themselves creatively. This includes visual arts, sewing and culinary arts.

Sensorial

Activities in this section allow the children to refine each of their senses. Thus, they learn to appreciate color or texture differences, organize their thoughts and objects in their environment and refine their sense of pitch from the music they may hear around them.

Another major part of Sensorial materials is geography. By engaging the children’s senses, they learn about earth, land and water, continents and then they focus on their own country. Through this learning, children grow to respect other cultures and feel connected to the bigger world.

Mathematics

Math materials and activities are a sensorial experience that introduce the child to concrete and accurate representation of quantities and numbers. Almost all math activities include some kind of movement or manipulation.

The child first learns to count from 1-10 by equating a number symbol to a specific amount. Through the manipulation of these materials, the child will learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and truly understand the mechanics of each operation. The Montessori method of teaching offers the child a strong and solid foundation in the understanding of mathematics.

Language

The main goal of language materials and activities in Montessori is to help the children express themselves both orally and in written form, read fluently and gain a deeper understanding of French and English. The children are taught language through a specific progression of lessons where they first become aware of the different sounds in a word. They then learn the language phonetically until they are ready to be taught the different “rules” in a given language and the exceptions to those rules they will need to know in order to spell and read fluently.

Culture

Geography, Biology, Botany, Zoology, Art, and Music are presented as extensions of our sensorial and language activities. Children learn about people and cultures in other countries with an attitude of respect and admiration. Through this familiarity, children develop a sense of connection to the global human family. Lessons and experiences with nature inspire reverence for all life.

Our comprehensive art and music programs offer children numerous opportunities to engage in creative activities and gain knowledge of the great masters.