Preschool in Centreville, VA 20121
We are delighted that you are considering our Montessori environment as your child’s “home away from home”. We appreciate the trust you are placing in us, and we shall strive our utmost to make your child’s most formative years happy, safe, loving, challenging, and exciting!
We will be working to develop an independent, self-directed, self-confident, caring and happy child, and we will try to stimulate curiosity and to expand his or her intellect and knowledge. We also hope to help your child learn to live as a friendly and considerate person; placing emphasis on learning not just for excelling in school, but also life.
Montessori Children’s Center (MCC) is a family owned and operated cluster of centers situated across the Northern Virginia metropolitan area. Specifically, we are located in Falls Church, Herndon, Centreville and South Riding. Fiaza Haniffa, a dedicated Montessori Directress, founded the first center in Falls Church in 1983. Haniffa earned her Montessori degree from the Association Montessori International Training Center, completing her training with the highest distinction; in fact, subsequent to her graduation, Haniffa went on to serve as a lecturer at the institution. While a student, Haniffa chief instructor and subsequent mentor was a directress who actually worked with Madam Montessori. In late 2007 Haniffa led a group of senior MCC administrators to the Dr. Maria Montessori 100 year Anniversary Conference, held in Rome, Italy.
In 2008 the Falls Church center celebrated its 24th year of service, the Herndon center its 11th year, and the Centreville center its 9th year, and Montessori Childrens Center feels extraordinarily fortunate and privileged to have been a part of the lives of so many children, parents and families over the years. The last 25 years have been wonderful, we hope and expect the next 25 years to be even better!
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The Montessori philosophy places paramount emphasis on educating students holistically. This in that, there is as much instructional emphasis on students developing skills of socialization, common sense, practicality and individuality, as there is on students developing intellectually and academically. The Montessori philosophy not only recognizes, but embraces, the fact that each child creates themselves according to their own blue print- no two children are identical, and no two children grow at the exact same pace.
MCC provides an environment structured for independent growth and advancement, while at the same time fostering community. Pre-school aged children for instance share mixed age group classrooms (ages 2 – 6 ), and in this environment equipped with specially designed floor plans and unique Montessori materials, the children move freely, with the older ones learning from and helping the younger ones- and vice versa. Work materials or lessons are distributed throughout the classroom ,and students are free to select whichever one they are interested in, provided they have been taught how to use it appropriately. These lessons are specially designed to foster and improve the development of certain skills- for instance practical life, sensorial, math, science, language etc. The Montessori philosophy fundamentally differs from typical schools and teaching methods, which tend to treat students as empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. In the Montessori method, students are treated as equals, and they are respected as individuals with their own unique thoughts, ideas, perspectives, and talents.