Khalsa Montessori
Preschool in Phoenix, AZ 85004
The mission of the Khalsa Montessori School (KMS) is to:
- Integrate a challenging Montessori education and a caring, responsible community to provide for the academic, social, physical and emotional growth of students in central Phoenix;
- Offer children a holistic education in which teachers see the children as unique individuals, understand their multiple intelligences, respect their ideas, and encourage their enthusiasm for learning.
- Create an environment that offers young people opportunities to reach their highest potentials:
- academically, through appropriately high expectations, and a rich, self paced learning environment that provides the cognitive tools to achieve mastery and build confidence;
- creatively, through the integration of a variety of avenues for creative expression such as visual arts, creative writing, drama, music and public speaking.
- physically, through the integration of fine and gross motor movement within the curriculum, and through activities to encourage physical fitness, cooperation, nutritional awareness, mind/body discipline, and yoga;
- socially, through an environment where children may develop independence, personal meaning, and responsibility for themselves, others, and our world;
- Build a partnership of students, families, teachers and administrators who create an environment that lays the foundation for those habits of mind that support happiness and success both in school and in life.
- Child Ages:
- 2.5 years - 12 years
- Licenses & Accreditations:
- Arizona Department of Health Services Division of Licensing Services
- Preschool:
- Yes
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The Montessori Method is both a philosophy of child growth and rationale for guiding such growth. The children experience a prepared environment of hands-on learning materials and exercises, which develop their intellectual, physical and psychological abilities. This environment is designed to be responsive to the sensitive periods of the child, such as language, order, movement, and culture. Classrooms encourage the absorption of the rich environment by being peaceful and relaxed, being filled with attractive and activity-oriented materials, and by allowing children the freedom to choose from the varied and carefully presented Montessori materials. Cross-curricular activities and materials are developed in accordance with integrated thematic units.
A multi-sensory sequence of manipulative materials in all areas of the classroom give children concrete experiences that form a firm basis for their conceptual knowledge. Self-correcting materials provide the immediate feedback required for self-discovery, and teacher demonstrations allow for learning through observation. Montessori programs are individually paced. Material presentations are one-on-one or in small groups to ensure that the child is neither held back nor overwhelmed by the pace or level of other children. Using the Positive Discipline Approach, the school facilitates the development of age-appropriate communication skills and creative conflict resolution, the building of empathy and respect for others, and the ability to balance individual needs with the needs of others.
Multi-age classrooms allow for peer learning. Children learn especially well from the observation of slightly older children, while older children are able to demonstrate their mastery of materials by teaching younger students. Multi-age classes provide: the stability of three years in the same environment; a three year student/teacher relationship which provides a deep understanding of a child’s learning style; opportunities for chronologically older children to become leaders and examples for newer students; opportunities for children of similar skill levels, but different chronological age levels, to work together; and an environment conducive to the Montessori spiral curriculum, in which similar concepts and tasks are presented at varying levels of complexity at several times during the three-year curriculum cycles.
