Following the teachings of the remarkable Dr. Maria Montessori, Cedar River Montessori School prepares children for life by providing a thorough Montessori education in a nurturing academic setting. Students grow into self-confident thinkers, creative problem-solvers and lifelong learners. By starting out with the classic Montessori hands-on materials, students eventually discover how to apply abstract concepts to real situations. Through the use of Montessori materials, teacher guidance and local resources such as books and the internet, children learn to research their own answers to work they undertake. They learn to depend on themselves to ask their own questions as well as to seek their own answers. Our teachers provide guidance and present exciting, mentally stimulating lessons. We give them the ability to do their own learning. Because of our positive attitude towards their abilities, students develop a strong sense of independence and self-discipline. They are universally successful when they complete the entire program.  Back to top

      From the very first day, your child discovers that learning is fun as well as challenging; that gaining knowledge is a rewarding accomplishment. Each classroom is a prepared environment with a wealth of intriguing learning materials. The children enthusiastically try every activity in all of the curriculum areas until they have mastered each lesson and the skill required.  Our students flourish in multi-age classrooms where they remain with the same friends and teachers for three years before moving up. This allows for very close relationships with classmates and teachers. Parents really get to know their child’s teacher and the teachers really get to know their students. Additionally older students in those same classrooms can mentor younger ones. It is an early lesson in leadership and something the younger students can’t wait to do when they are older. With the right amount of nurturing and gentle encouragement from their teachers and classmates, Cedar River Montessori School students quickly find that learning is, indeed, exciting and fun! Back to top

         Children are instructed by Montessori trained and certified (and in the case of the elementary-State certified) teachers. Our ratio of teachers to students is normally 1 to 10. Lessons are given individually, in small groups and in some large group settings. Most of the time children are allowed to choose appropriate lessons in any curricular area. Typically the teachers will do a presentation of the lesson the first time and then the student can work with it as much as is needed to master it. Should the child care to he or she may return to the lesson for review or enjoyment. The individualized pace of instruction keeps the children from experiencing stress since we know they are working with lessons they are capable of mastering. They are universally successful. Eventually the students work through all of the curriculum. They are allowed an intellectual freedom unheard of in most educational settings. Most lessons are self-correcting and offer immediate feedback and opportunity to correct errors.  As a Full-Affiliate of the American Montessori Society we encourage you to visit their website for further information on Montessori education.

     When children enroll in the early childhood program at ages 3 or 4 it is with the expectation that they will remain with our school until graduation at the end of sixth grade. Our entire early childhood program is meant to prepare students for the even more demanding requirements of our elementary program. Back to top

The Early Childhood Program (age 3 to end of Kindergarten)

Montessori Early Childhood Program consists of five major curriculum areas that are integrated into one another:

- Practical Life – Learning to work together, developing eye/hand coordination and small muscle control; encouraging independence and competence in daily life through the use of household materials; teaching acceptable social behaviors for group dynamics.  Back to top

- Sensorial – First exposure to the concepts of volume, mass, depth, width, sizes and other sense dependent lessons. Back to top

- Mathematics – Concepts of numbers and numerals; place value leading to addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. Back to top

-Language – Prewriting; writing; and reading experiences. Back to top

- Cultural – Geography, History, Art, Music, Botany, Zoology, Physical Science, Geology and Astronomy. Back to top

    The Elementary Program

Building on what has already taken place in the Early Childhood Program, older children learn within the structure of similar curriculum areas but at a higher intellectual and developmental level. Additionally students are exposed to research techniques such as use of book resources and the internet. The major elementary curricular areas are:

- Geometry – Starting where the Early Childhood Sensorial curriculum left off, students learn Euclidian geometry including concepts of point, line, area, angles and so forth.   Back to top

- Mathematics – Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, money, time, decimals, fractions, negative numbers, algebra, trigonometry and calculus. Children work with Montessori materials until they no longer need them and can work abstractly.    Back to top

- Language – Reading comprehension, letter formation and writing, sentence structure, grammar, literature, writing styles, creative writing and so forth. Back to top

- Cultural – This consists of two parts – Social Studies: Geography, history, art, music and drama and Science: botany, zoology, physical science, geology, astronomy.  Back to top

- Physical Fitness – Small and large motor skill development, organized calisthenics, dance and some outdoor games.   Back to top

  The Summer Program  

Cedar River Montessori School offers a summer program to currently enrolled students and children from the surrounding Community. The summer program’s main purpose is to provide children with a fun filled, educational outdoor program that includes craft activities, weekly themes and daily swimming lessons. Our summer program enrolls children ages three until the end of sixth grade.

Summer Program Brochure

Summer Program Application

APPLICATION

Due to the lack of security that can occur with emailing, and the highly personal nature of our  registration form, we ask that you download this document and send it via standard mail for the security of you and  your child.

This document has been created using Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format. To view this document, you will need Acrobat Reader.

Before and After Care Program   

 For the convenience of parents we provide before and after care programs for currently enrolled students at any time during the school year that school is in session. Before care starts at 7:00 a.m. and concludes at 8:45 a.m. After Care starts at 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. It is solely for use by currently enrolled students.