Lexington Montessori School will offer the following programs for the school year. All programs are provided five days per week. A non-refundable registration fee ($250) is required to enroll a child. Feel free to contact us for more information of fees and tuition.
Early drop-off from 7:30 – 8:00 A.M. is available at no charge.
* ALL Students must be toilet trained before acceptance.
*Extended-day kindergarten students are generally those who have completed two years of Montessori education and who will be five years old before August 1st.
Programs:
For 2 1/2 to 5-yr-olds
Morning academic program | 8 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Morning academic program plus rest until 2:45 p.m. | 8 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Morning academic program plus rest/recreation until 5:30 p.m. | 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
For 5-yr-olds eligible for Kindergarten
*Extended-day academic program | 8 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Extended-day program plus rest/recreation until 5:30 p.m. | 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
For elementary children
Lower Elementary | Grades 1-3 | 8 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Upper Elementary | Grades 4-6 | 8 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Grades 1-6 Moring program plus after-school recreation | 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
primary
The Primary program at LMS focuses on the whole child teaching approach and allowing children to develop at their own pace. Teachers guide the children through materials in the areas of: Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language, Science and Geography. The children have a three hour work cycle each morning allowing teachers the opportunity to work individually with children as they progress through the Montessori curriculum. All of our Primary students have Spanish with our Spanish teacher and Music with our Music teacher each week as part of our core curriculum. LMS has two Primary classrooms with two Montessori trained teachers leading each class. Our classrooms provide children a safe and nurturing environment to grow and develop in an individualized way.
The Primary curriculum is designed to help the child develop physically, socially, cognitively and academically.
Practical Life activities allow the child to practice everyday skills that help with the development of independence. Tying frames, zipper frames, sweeping, pouring and washing dishes are some examples of activities that allow the child to become proficient with self-help skills. Practical life activities also refine both fine and gross motor skills.
Sensorial materials help sharpen the child's senses. Materials requiring tactile, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and eyesight discrimination are used to enhance the refinement of each sense. These materials also provide an indirect preparation for math.
Language activities give the children opportunities to acquire new vocabulary by giving them exact names of things that interest them and their components, including insects and flowers. Reading is taught via a phonetic approach, initially teaching the letter sounds rather than the names. This allows the child to blend sounds together and read more easily. While in the primary class, the child learns blends, sight words and is given lessons on the functions of words and how to analyze sentences.
Math materials are a concrete representation of the abstract concept they are trying to teach. The child manipulates rods, beads, and spindles to understand the concept of numbers, the decimal system and math operations. Cultural Subjects are presented as an extension of the sensorial and language activities.
Geography is introduced through puzzle maps, pictures, stories, songs and artifacts representing a specific country or continent.
kindergarten
The Kindergarten program at LMS provides the best Montessori has to offer. The Kindergarten children are in the morning work cycle each day with the younger students. This provides the opportunity for these children to develop leadership skills as they are the oldest in the classroom and are able to help the younger students. In the afternoons our Kindergarten children have a specialized time with two of our Montessori teachers where they focus on higher learning in each area of the classroom. In Language students learn things such as: parts of speech, capitalization and punctuation, emphasis on handwriting as well as higher concepts in Math, fractions, time, money, etc. These students, in addition to Spanish and Music, also attend Art class with our Art teacher. Kindergarten students participate in PE activities on Friday afternoons completing our curriculum of focusing on the whole child.
Lower and Upper elementary
The Elementary class at LMS consists of Lower Elementary that covers First through Third grades and Upper Elementary that covers Fourth through Sixth grades. Our average class ratio is no larger than 12:1. The way this classroom is structured allows more flexibility in allowing each student to be given work based on individual capabilities with very little focus on age or grade level. Independence, time management and personal responsibility make up the core foundation of the Elementary classrooms.
In addition to the Montessori curriculum specials complete the program for our Elementary students. Each week our students receive Spanish, Music and Art with specialized teachers. Our Elementary students also enjoy PE on Friday to ensure our curriculum covers all areas of development.
The art portion of the curriculum for elementary students includes both design and drawing, with projects in pencil, ink, paint, oil pastels, and clay. In addition to these formal art lessons and lessons in art history, projects relying on arts and crafts complement the history, geography, and science units.
The music lessons for the Elementary Class include elements of music theory, voice, movement and dance, Orff percussion instruments for grades 3 through 6, and ukulele for children in grades 1-6. The children participate in musical performances at the end of each semester.
The elementary students learn Spanish in small groups. The emphasis in these lessons is on vocabulary, conversation, and introduction to grammar and written work.