St. James Catholic Montessori Center is certified by KHDE and by the International Montessori Society. We serve children from the age of 2 1/2 to 5 years of age. We offer morning, afternoon and all day sessions.
We believe that the child is not just a physical body or personality, but a spirit.
Through daily observation, the teacher becomes aware of each child’s true nature.
We control the environment and not the child. We use the IMS technology of eye contact, proximity, questioning, reflective language, clear direction, distraction, repetition, patient waiting, cooperative touching and imagination provisioning as a way to reach the child’s true nature.
We respect the twenty protocols of working with young children: well-being of total environment, least amount of adult involvement, no negative attention to misbehavior, don’t correct the child, basic of interest, model good behavior, eye contact before talking, don’t interrupt, concentration, get acquainted, enhance independence, same routine all the time, etc.
Through daily observation, the teacher becomes aware of each child’s true nature.
We control the environment and not the child. We use the IMS technology of eye contact, proximity, questioning, reflective language, clear direction, distraction, repetition, patient waiting, cooperative touching and imagination provisioning as a way to reach the child’s true nature.
We respect the twenty protocols of working with young children: well-being of total environment, least amount of adult involvement, no negative attention to misbehavior, don’t correct the child, basic of interest, model good behavior, eye contact before talking, don’t interrupt, concentration, get acquainted, enhance independence, same routine all the time, etc.
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is part of our daily routine. This is a Montessori approach to guiding the child to encounter and discover Christ. We plan our lessons following the Liturgical Calendar. These lessons include: setting the altar and prayer corner, the land of Jesus, the prophesies of the coming of Jesus, the historical narratives of the birth of Jesus, the parables, etc.
Our classroom has many areas: practical life, sensory, math, language, geography and botanic. We include in our environment a special area for our prayer corner and “The Good Shepherd” materials.