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Montessori Curriculum at the Rockland

Rockland Montessori School began as the Rockland Nursery School, providing the finest traditional preschool education in our community for over 63 years. Rockland has always followed the philosophy of a Montessori education, providing the most nurturing and supportive environment for each individual child with the knowledge that each child is a small miracle who will forever change our world with their unique talents and abilities, and will have a profound effect on all they come into contact with during their lifetime!

We are very proud to announce the inclusion of Montessori Curriculum into our already impressive and reputable preschool education over a period of two years. It took the school 10 years to be able to compile the resources to purchase the very expensive and beautiful Montessori curriculum materials, and to support the Montessori teacher education training, which is being done through the prestigious Northeast Montessori Institute. The Director holds a Master’s degree in Montessori Early Childhood Education as well as an Early Childhood Credential from the American Montessori Society, in addition to a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education and a Director II Certification from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. The teachers at the Rockland hold Advanced Teaching Certificates from the Northeast Montessori Institute as well as Teacher Certifications from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care.

By including the Montessori materials in our curriculum, we are able to enhance our own program even further by enabling children to learn how to use their minds to think on a higher level,to learn concentration, coordination, independence, and order. Through the sensorial materials,they will learn how to use their five senses to discriminate, differentiate, grade, distinguish, and make fine observations of the world around them. In mathematics, they will learn linear counting, the decimal system, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing by units, tens, hundreds, thousands. In language, our own incredible whole language and phonics curriculum will be supplemented by Montessori materials which teach vocabulary, phonograms, parts of a sentence work, journaling, and correct expression.

Have we eliminating any part of our current program., such as our famous “CIRCLE “, our special events such as our Holiday Pageant, Duckling Walk, etc? The answer is NO! Unbelievable as it may seem, we are merely enhancing our curriculum with the splendid Montessori materials that it has taken us so very long to acquire.

We will of course provide parents with much more specific information during the school year about the Montessori curriculum that we will be working with, and with observation days for parents to see their children working with these materials.

Dr. Maria Montessori spent her life creating this curriculum and designing these materials over 100 years ago. Montessori schools are considered the finest on the world, and are located in nearly every single country. The most impressive underlying principal of a Montessori education is that a child will develop their ability to be an “independent thinker” who is capable of controlling and designing their own destiny in life! To quote Dr. Montessori in her book, “Education for a New World”, talking about children learning in a Montessori environment growing into adulthood will produce “The raising of a new man (person) who will not be the victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society”.