Curriculum | Parkview Montessori

What Your Child Will Learn

Rigorously trained teachers carefully observe their children in the Early Childhood environment, identifying their interests and abilities and developing personalized learning plans tailored to each child’s needs. They guide the learning, introducing new lessons and levels of difficulty as appropriate. The teacher offers the encouragement, time, and tools needed to allow children’s natural curiosities to drive learning, and provides choices that help them learn, grow, and succeed.

The Montessori Early Childhood curriculum follows a 3-year sequence. Because the teacher guides your child through learning at their own pace, their individualized learning plan may exceed the concepts they would be taught in a classroom environment in which all children learn the same concept at the same time. As children move forward, they develop the ability to concentrate and make decisions, along with developing self-control, courtesy, and a sense of community responsibility.

In Montessori schools, academic growth is seen as just one part of children’s healthy development. The method nurtures their social, emotional, and physical growth, ensuring that they are, as Dr. Maria Montessori put it, “treading always in the paths of joy and love.”

We are proud that all Parkview Lead Teachers hold AMS or AMI credentials!

The Curriculum

0-18

Infant Class (6 weeks -18 months)

A Montessori classroom for infants, sometimes referred to as “The Nido” (Italian for "nest"), accommodates non-mobile or crawling infants in a peaceful classroom environment. Here, the infant safely explores, feeling secure in the presence of loving adult caregivers. The environment includes developmentally appropriate furniture and materials. Safety is paramount, but equipment that limits a child’s freedom of movement is avoided. Instead, specially designed furniture supports your child’s budding independence, including bars for pulling up, mirrors to reflect body movement, and a sleeping area with individual floor beds/mats, and child-sized tables and chairs rather than high chairs.

18-36

Toddler Class (18 - 36 months)

A Montessori classroom for toddlers safely supports your child’s drive to do things alone, developing confidence and a sense of competence. The environment is language-rich, with adults using proper nomenclature rather than baby talk so that the children are exposed to and develop a broad vocabulary. Adults also support toddlers in communicating with each other. A range of books allows children to explore on their own or read aloud with an adult.

In this learning environment, children work independently, observe others, explore freely, and express their curiosity and creativity. A self-care area fosters toilet awareness and independence in maintaining personal hygiene (such as learning how to wipe one’s nose and wash hands independently). A sleeping area with individual floor beds/mats that allows toddlers to exercise autonomy in preparing for rest and allows them to get up independently once rested. There is also an area for gross motor activities to help children coordinate their movements, and low tables that enable them to help prepare, serve, eat, and clean up their snacks and meals.

3-6 y

Early Childhood Classroom
(3 - 6 years)

A Montessori classroom for preschool-aged children (ages 3–6) is a dynamic, engaging environment where curiosity and independence flourish. During this important three-year cycle, children experience the full breadth of the Montessori curriculum: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Cultural Studies. Materials are thoughtfully sequenced to allow each child to progress at their own pace, with the teacher guiding and observing rather than directing every step.

This mixed-age classroom fosters peer learning—older children naturally model leadership, empathy, and advanced skills, while younger children are inspired and supported by their peers. The carefully prepared environment offers child-sized furniture, open shelves with beautiful, self-correcting materials, and defined work areas that encourage focus and respect for the work of others.

Children practice real-life skills such as food preparation, plant care, and cleaning, building responsibility and self-confidence. Language development is enriched through storytelling, writing, and reading activities, while math concepts are explored with concrete, hands-on materials that lay the foundation for abstract thinking. Cultural studies—including geography, science, art, and music—invite children to explore the wider world.

The result is a warm, respectful, and stimulating space where children develop independence, concentration, coordination, and a deep love of learning—skills that prepare them not only for the next stage of education but for life.