Curriculum - General

Montessori Education – A Key to Academic Excellence

The core educational program includes all academic subjects, plus a Montessori-based religious formation program.

Independence, self-discipline, and hands-on learning are well-known hallmarks of Montessori students. The Montessori graduate leaves school with excellent academic skills, a comprehensive world-view, and the abilities to work through in-depth research and engage in high-level critical thinking. Standardized test scores indicate that, nationwide, Montessori students master basic skills well beyond their grade levels. Not revealed through test scores but seen in the everyday life of the Montessori student is the quality of learning and character development that accompany a Montessori education.

The Montessori classroom, with its brilliant hands-on learning materials, enables the child to develop as a self-learner. The Montessori teacher, trained to observe and guide each individual child, helps the child excel to his or her full potential. And the Montessori curriculum, broad in scope and rich in content, inspires the child to develop a sense of gratitude for what has come before him, and a sense of responsibility to make his own contribution to the ongoing development of humankind.

The Arts

The fine arts are fully integrated into the Montessori classroom through formal study of art history, practice of the fine arts in a variety of media, and field trips. Art projects are a natural extension of classroom work, and generally relate to and complement integrated studies of history, geography, language, science, and mathematics.

In addition to the Montessori based musical materials in the classroom, the Queen of Angels curriculum includes supplemental music instruction. Beginning in 2003 at the elementary level, supplemental formal art instruction also will be available.

Service

Queen of Angels fosters an atmosphere of service to community through school-wide collections for sponsored children through the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, and other service projects throughout the year at age appropriate levels.

A Sense of Gratitude and Responsibility

The Great Lessons inspire a sense of gratitude in the child. God has provided innumerable gifts through the natural world, through the history of human civilizations, and through the history of salvation. Recognizing these, the child’s natural response is one of gratitude for all that we have inherited. At the same time, the child develops a sense that he, too, has a responsibility to contribute to the continuing stream of human progress. Thus Montessori elementary experience provides the foundations for life commitment through moral and social responsibility.

Field Trips – Beyond the Prepared Environment

No classroom alone can provide a complete education for children. Queen of Angels Montessori encourages “going out” of the classroom to extend the classroom curriculum. Visits to farms and nurseries provide a natural extension to the study of plants and animals, a trip to a local fish hatchery may supplement fish study, while a visit to the planetarium facilitates the study of the universe. While field trip destinations change from year to year depending on the curriculum, trips to the zoo, museums, and fossil- digging are perennial favorites.

Additional Information

This website is intended to provide only an introduction to the richness of the Montessori curriculum. For more complete information, we invite you to visit our classrooms and take advantage of our school lending library, or visit other websites devoted to Montessori education, such as www.montessori.edu, www.montessori.org, or www.montessori-namta.org.