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The Montessori Classroom centers on the child’s needs as the pivot for their education. During a child’s early years (birth to 3), he is constantly bombarded with sensory impressions that provide a basis for formation of his intellect. By the age of 3, the child has a need to put order, exactness and language expression to these stimuli in order to have logical communication with others. Dr. Montessori felt that the child needs not direct help, but rather a special environment to perfect his faculties and fine control of his physical being. This is called the “prepared environment.” Our environments are divided into communities by age; our Toddler Cottage serves children who are 18 months to 3 years; our Primary Program serves children ages 3 through 6; our Elementary Program serves children ages 6 through 11. This environment contains scaled–down furniture and other apparatus; materials that contain some capacity of movement; order and exact usage to aid the mind in logical, sequential organization and language experiences in all areas to augment the content and organization of the child’s mind. Although all WEMS classrooms share these characteristics, each Program is carefully constructed based on the child’s developmental stages.
“It is not that we do what we like; it is that we like what we do.” – A Montessori child
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