About Our School
Our School
Our Classroom
When you enter Little Door Montessori you come in our big front door or the children’s favorite, the little door…hence the school name. Once in, you can see it all spread out beautifully in front of you. Our classroom is an open-plan layout in which all the children and teachers are in one large space together. We have spaces for each of the areas of our classroom: Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language/Writing, Geography, and Science.
As you move throughout the classroom you will notice a plethora of materials in all of the areas. These materials are based on the Montessori Method and are staples in all Montessori schools. The materials are called works rather than toys or activities because they are designed to support purposeful engagement, concentration, and independent learning. Maria Montessori believed that children are naturally driven to work in a way that fosters intellectual, emotional, and physical development.
As you continue to explore our classroom you will feel big, as everything from the furniture, to the toilets, to the sinks, and drinking fountain are child sized. Maria Montessori believed that children thrive when they can move freely and interact with their surroundings without unnecessary adult intervention. This design encourages self-sufficiency, allowing children to independently choose their work, clean up after themselves, and develop practical life skills. A child-sized environment also reinforces the concept that they are capable individuals actively engaged in their own learning.
**We invite you to come tour our school and see it all for your self. Contact us through the form on this page to schedule a tour.
Our Playground
Our Playground
Our playground is a perfect balance of space, activities, and nature. We have a concrete path around the whole playground that is often occupied by children riding Strider bikes and scooters using their helmets they keep at school in the “Helmet Shed”. We have a huge sandbox with trucks, shovels, funnels, tires, blocks, and more for the children to dig, create, and have fun in. In warm weather, we sometimes put the hose in the sandbox and let the children make a river. In the winter months, you can find the snow piled up at the edge of the sandbox for small-hill sledding and playing on. We have a play/climbing structure that is perfect for the climbers, sliders, and explorers. To one side of the climbing structure we have a tire swing and on the other side is a three-level monkey bar. Towards the back of the playground you will find a large grass area that is great for sports, block building, gymnastics, and all other general running and playing. In the back corner is our Nature House that aids in nature exploration of the playground. The children love to find bugs, collect leaves and sticks, and explore their natural surroundings.
Our Schedule
Our Schedule
Little Door Montessori is a full day only program. We offer 5 and 4 consecutive day options (Mon-Thurs or Tues-Fri). We enroll children from the age of 2.5 to 6. **2.5 year olds need to be fully potty trained. With 30 children enrolled and 4 co-teachers in the class at a time we maintain a low teacher to student ratio.
We serve children from 8:15 – 3:45 with the option to add AM or PM care. Our full day schedule allows freedom and flexibility within the day. The full day flexibility is beneficial because some days we have longer outside play time and sometimes we have longer work periods.
We are open from August to May and follow the St. Vrain Valley School District Calendar for most all things.
A Day in the Life
We start our days outside as long as weather allows, which is a majority of the time in beautiful Colorado. During the morning outside time the children get to move their bodies via the many activities on our wonderful playground such as riding Strider Bikes or digging in the sandbox. They also get some social time in with friends while playing. Next, we go inside for our morning work period. We have two work periods each day that range from 1.5 - 2 hrs each. The work periods allow children to have independent exploration of materials, small group lessons, and one on one lessons. When the morning work period is over the children join a teacher at Line Time, where a range of songs, activities, lessons, games, and more take place. Following Line Time we all sit down and eat lunch together, following lunch, all the children rest. Rest Time is a time for the children to relax, listen to calming songs and stories, and nap if they choose. Following rest, the morning cycle repeats again for the afternoon cycle: outside time, work period, line time.
We use morning and afternoon car lines for drop-off and pick-up. Morning car line is from 8:15-8:30 AM and afternoon car line is from 3:30-3:45 PM.
We provide a morning and afternoon snack and you pack a lunch for your child.
Additional, Optional Hours
AM Care: Children who need care before 8:15 AM can join our AM Care as early as 7:30 AM. AM Care is a time for children to have a small breakfast (if they choose), do classroom works, there are toys used only for AM/PM care they can play with or they can help the teachers set the classroom up for the day.
PM Care: Children who need care after 3:45 PM may stay as late as 5:00 PM. PM Care begins with a snack, inside or outside depending on weather. Following snack they play outside on the playground if the weather is nice. If inside, they can play with the AM/PM Care toys and the classroom works are also always available.
Kindergarten
Our Kindergarten Program
We have a Kindergarten program, that is the third and final year of your child’s schooling at Little Door Montessori. Our Kindergarten program is open to current Little Door Montessori preschool students only. In this year they will continue their Montessori education while also refining their knowledge and skills to prepare them for first grade. Our program is aligned with The Common Core Standards to ensure the transition to first grade is as smooth as possible. By being at our school for three years, the kindergartners have grown into kind leaders in the classroom. They can often be seen giving lessons to their peers, aiding teachers in a number of situations, and helping our students with a variety of things. The kindergarten program also includes special projects, science experiments, and field trips just for kindergarten students. Our kindergartners use what we call “Assignment Books”; the teachers write assignments for each kindergartner 2x daily. These assignments take place in all areas of the classroom, include lessons on new works, giving lessons to peers, and allowing them to make independent work choices. This is one of the ways we ensure our kindergartners are set up for success in first grade.
**As a note: We do not participate in the Universal Preschool Colorado Program (UPK).