Montessori Program

SCSP Pre-Kindergarten is a blended Montessori and traditional education program. The Pre-K environments are housed within the St. Clare Convent building and are a part of the SCSP Primary Campus at 2215 N. Washington Ave. Scranton, PA. The Pre-K offers a 3 year old program and a 4 year old program.

What is Montessori Education?

Montessori is a method of education named after Dr. Maria Montessori. She was a woman ahead of her time, becoming the first woman in Italy to attain a University Degree in Doctor of Medicine. Through a doctor’s vision, Maria looked at education with a scientific prospective. She believed that education should prepare a child for ALL aspects of life. Her techniques and self-created materials would promote a natural, intrinsic love for learning within children. These materials are common in all Montessori classrooms. As children work hands-on with these materials, patterns are formed that children carry over naturally to reading, writing and mathematics. Each skill is developed to inter connect with another.

The Montessori Education is a child centered approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. Montessori’s method has been time tested over 100 years world-wide with great success. Her approach values the human spirit with a development of the whole child; physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively.

Each child is valued as a unique individual.
Each child develops order, coordination, concentration, and independence.
Children are a part of a whole, a caring community.
Children enjoy freedom within limits.
Children are guided and supported to become active seekers of knowledge.

At SCSP Pre-K, Montessori’s approach has been incorporated into the program for more than 20 years. The Letter People Series is also utilized to enhance the literacy component of the language arts area. There are 6 main areas to both Pre-K environments:

Practical Life (zipping, folding, pouring, cleaning, washing tables and small motor control)
Sensorial (using their senses to learn about the world around them)
Language (rhyming, opposites, matching, letter recognition, initial letter sound, short vowel sound and blending)
Math (number recognition, counting, one to one correspondence, teen numbers, skip counting, numbers to the thousands)
Geography (7 continents, 5 oceans, countries, flags, presidents)
Science (through observation and many hands-on experiments)

Given the freedom and support to ask questions, SCSP Pre – K children are guided to become confident, enthusiastic, self-directed learners. They are able to perform critical thinking and work collaboratively which are all skills they will carry with them through life.