Fun with Letters: Teaching your Child the Alphabet

The Montessori School of Flagstaff takes pride in teaching children about letters because reading is the key to learning about everything else. We recommend that you begin teaching your children the alphabet early because that will give them a headstart at almost everything they will learn later. To help you get started, we came up with some great ideas that you can use at home.

Montessori Philosophy: Creating Life-Long Learners

Montessori philosophy is a special way to educate children by immersing them in activities and experiences which teach fine motor control, self-expression, and encourages children to explore topics they are interested in. As Montessori educators, our goal is to prepare children for a lifetime of learning rather than a few hours of instruction.

Montessori Reading Tips for your Preschooler

The world has moved into a digital age where words on a screen are inescapable. In order to give your preschooler the best advantage later, helping them learn to read at an early age is important. The student guides at school will do their best to help out, but reading often begins at home.

Indoor Science Activities: Fun with your Preschooler!

It is never too soon for your children to start learning how science works. Preschoolers may require a little help and a lot of supervision when they perform simple science experiments, but watching their efforts produce visible results is a great way to get them interested. The experiments described here require common household ingredients, a little time, and a lot of observation and discussion.

Fall Crafts to Try with your Kindergartner

Fall is an amazing time for crafting with your kindergartner. Fall introduces new colors with the changing leaves, new activities such as harvesting vegetables, and this season has several exciting holidays. Together, these create a lot of fun opportunities for your little one to get involved in crafting and connect with the season. Many fall crafts also fit within the classroom, such as Montessori schools, where the craft project can be part of a larger activity learning about the background theme of the crafts.

Preschool Stress: Helping your Child Focus in School

Stress is a major reason for preschoolers to have trouble focusing in school. Another common reason is attention disorders such as ADHD. In both cases, the child is unable to keep the desired center of attention and may easily lose interest altogether. This problem is not as pervasive in a Montessori classroom where keeping children active and engaged is at the core of the program, but it is still a problem from time to time. Keep in mind that your child does not have to have an attention disorder to become bored and restless.

Creative Kids: Learning through Art

Art takes an important role in early childhood development. The importance of creative art cannot be understated as it relates to many aspects of education and personal growth. Promoting creative kids and learning through art has many benefits which should be encouraged, including:

·        Improving Fine Motor Skills

·        Increased Language and Vocabulary

·        Abstract Skills

·        Innovation

·        Cultural Diversity

Positive Effects of Daycare on Children

While daycare is sometimes seen as a lesser alternative to sole care by a child’s parents or primary caregivers, a nurturing, quality, and structured daycare environment, such as those that Montessori schools provide, can create significant positive effects for a child’s development. Montessori school’s self-directed learning and social-emotional growth can lead to greater language development, social skills, and preparedness for later school environments.

Educational Games to Play this Summer

Your preschooler may have the notion that learning ends after the school year, but you know that summer vacation just holds a different type of learning for them. There are many ways you can extend their Montessori preschool experience and put together educational games throughout the summer for your child to play. They may not even realize they're educational! Here are a few ideas for educational games for your preschooler to play this summer.

What is a Prepared Environment?

In Montessori education, the prepared environment is an important tool. From child-sized furniture to a colorful, exciting room decor, everything is arranged to make the child more comfortable and encourage them to be more open and interested in the process of learning and discovery.

Help your Kindergartner Get Organized

Visiting a different country can be startling. Suddenly ordering a meal and negotiating traffic have become difficult tasks. Yet, with enough time, those tasks would become as straightforward as they are at home.

Being able to organize and interpret information into recognizable patterns allows us to forget about how much information we receive every day and focus on what we are trying to get done. Being a kindergartner must be a lot like stepping off the plane in a new country, a world overflowing with new information. Organization, like any other skill, is teachable to kids but requires practice, support, and patience. Here are a few ideas to help your kindergartner get organized.