The Del Ray Montessori School is a non-profit Montessori School located in the quaint Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia, we are associated and recognized by AMI/USA (Association Montessori International). Founded in 2011, we serve children ages 18 months through age 12 and their families in the DC metropolitan area.
Concentration at Work
The primary program is for children between the ages of 3 and 6 years. The classroom is carefully curated to meet and engage the needs of the primary child that possesses a once-in-a-lifetime ability to simply absorb information that Dr. Montessori coined as the “absorbent mind,” while helping them meet their innate and intense desire to make choices themselves.
In the Primary classroom, the teacher is a caring and nurturing guide to the children who offer individual lessons to each child using sequenced materials that are designed to increase their level of skill, concentration, and independence. Once the child has received a presentation they are free to work with it any time they like. This mixed-age class offers many wonderful benefits for students’ including socialization skills with various ages and learning at their own pace. Children remain in the same classroom until they transition into the Elementary classroom. When they are ready to transition they are independent thinkers with a love of learning. They are gracious, compassionate, poised, self-confident and self-assured.
The children are greeted at the main entrance of the school and invited to enter into their classrooms between 8:05-8:20. Once in the classroom, children hang up their jackets and bags and put on their slippers while enjoying a few minutes of morning socialization with classmates. At 8:20 the children start the day in their classrooms for a 3-hour uninterrupted work cycle which ends at 11:20. During this work cycle, the children work independently with materials, receive independent lessons, and enjoy a healthy and nutritious snack brought from home which is available to the children throughout the work cycle. This allows the children to eat their snack at their convenience when they are hungry, rather than as a group at a predetermined time. At 11:20 the children who leave at noon transition to the outdoor environment to play and explore before they leave. The children who stay for the entirety of the school day begin to prepare for lunch in the classroom at 11:20 when they all enjoy their lunch together. By 1:00 the younger children prepare to enter the resting room for naptime while the “afternoon children” return to their classroom for a 2-hour work cycle. Children who do not stay for aftercare are dismissed at 3:15 pm. Those who remain for aftercare travel down the hall to the Aftercare Room.
Practical Life - Designed to help the child develop practical skills to care for themselves and their environment while strengthening concentration and fine and gross motor skills. Some examples of lessons are:
Food Preparation - peeling, slicing, pouring, serving, baking
Care of Self- Buttoning, zipping, snapping, buckling, tying, wiping nose
Care of the Environment- cleaning, sweeping, mopping, flower arranging, washing dishes, cloth washing, polishing
Grace and Courtesy- role-play activities emphasizing respect, empathy, and politeness
Sensorial - Material and activities designed to aid the child in fine-tuning their senses, exploring physical properties, and gaining a deeper appreciation for their sensorial world.
Comparing and contrasting dimensions: The pink tower, red rods, brown stairs
Isolating the senses: sound cylinders, baric tablets, thermic tablets, smelling jars, tasting bottles, the bells
Activities highlighting geometry: geometric cabinet, geometric solids, geometric form cards
Mathematics- Concrete material and activities to represent abstract mathematical concepts.
Counting numbers and recognizing symbols 1- 100: number rods, teens board, number chains,
Writing numbers: Sandpaper numbers, chalkboards, number writing, computation,
Introduction to the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division: collective exercises with the golden beads, stamp game
Memorization of math facts: subtraction and addition finger charts, small and large bead frames, multiplication bead bars, division boards
Language- Formal material lays the foundation for writing and reading, as well as informal activities to broaden spoken language experience aiding the children to explore language and communication.
Developing spoken language: Vocabulary Enrichment Cards, Sound Games
Phonetic and phonemic awareness: Sandpaper Letters, Moveable Alphabet, Phonetic Object Box, Phonetic Commands
Reading: Phonograms, Object Boxes, Puzzle Words
Word study and sentence analysis: The Article, Noun, and Verb; Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction Games
Geography - Understanding the world around us by exploring materials that are concrete representations of our planet using puzzle maps, flags, and land-water forms, such as islands, lakes, peninsulas, bays, and capes. There is also a focus on learning about people and cultures from around the world to create “global citizens”.
Art - Materials offering self-expression through the use of different medium, as well as the appreciation for cultural phenomena and history of its expression. The children learn about different art styles as well as artists.
Drawing- Crayon, Pastel, Charcoal
Painting
Sculpting
Collage
Sewing
Music - Materials and activities that introduce pitch, reading, and writing music with the bells. The activities offer experiences in music history and theory. Other instruments are introduced as well as rhythm activities.
Movement - The entire classroom offers the child the freedom to move around the room with flexible seating as well as fine and gross motor development materials. In addition to outside play, we offer a variety of movement-based opportunities to the children who elect this kind of activity during the work cycle in the mornings or afternoons. These activities include materials that foster balance, strengthening, coordination, and gross motor movement using equipment such as scooter boards, exercise balls, and balance disks. Providing our students with multiple opportunities for movement within their classroom environments allows our students to take movement breaks when needed, rather than only during outside play times.
The Bluebell Team
The Sunflower Team
