Hopkins Montessori School

At Hopkins Montessori School we allow each child to learn at his or her own pace. We focus on the total development of the child's personality: social, emotional, intellectual and physical, so he or she will be better prepared to adapt to life and to adjust to the changing conditions of his or her environment.

The child in a Montessori environment is exposed to four traditional areas of education: practical life (care of self and the environment), sensorial, language and mathematics. Spanish, music, art, science, geography and yoga are also an integral part of our classroom.

Consistency is a very important part of the program. We offer three, four and five day a week sessions, with the choice between morning (9am-noon) or afternoon sessions (12:45-3:45 pm); or a full-day session, 9am-3:45 pm. All children can sign up for Lunch Bunch from 12-12:35pm. We have options for morning (8:00am-9:00am) and afternoon extended care(3:45pm-4:45pm) for families who may need some extended care.

A Montessori session is unique in that it allows the child to create his/her day, guided by the teacher and other children. The child's experience builds upon a previous day's experience. The child proceeds from one activity to the next, learning how to learn by engaging in and repeating work that is interesting to him/her. Socialization in this context is fun and useful - not only is the child constructing oneself by the building up of activity, the classroom of children are building up a community of learners.

It's often the case that a teacher will observe a child planning out his/her day's activities. The skill in developing ones own motivation for learning cannot be overstated, and is more apt to happen when all the children are present all five days.