Montessori Sparrow Creek School

Information may not be reliable

THE KINDERGARTEN YEARS
The three-year cycle of the Montessori primary class is completed in the kindergarten year. Based upon the skills the children have gradually built up during the previous two years, they now have an opportunity to maximize the development of self-esteem and self-confidence. They learn important lessons about leadership by helping the younger children. The exploration, concentration and self-discipline experienced within the prepared environment of the Montessori classroom teaches independence and prepares children for academic learning in the Kindergarten year in the areas of math, reading, writing, botany, science, history, time, music, geology, carpentry and fine arts. As a special preparation for first grade, the kindergartners meet as a group each afternoon. They write books and explore the peoples, animals, and plants of the world.

The school is in session from 8:45 AM to 4:00 PM, five days a week, September through June. There is a separate summer school program. Vacations parallel the Sausalito Public School District's schedule.

ART AND FANTASY PLAY
Each day there are special group times set aside for listening and the telling of stories, for movement education and for musical activities. An entire section of the classroom is devoted to art. The children may choose to express themselves through many different mediums such as collage, painting, printing, drawing and carpentry. Some of the children may choose to entertain themselves and their friends with the puppet house. Still others may enjoy imaginative free play with dolls, blocks, and other materials. The art and fantasy equipment inspires children's imagination and aids in their development

Our classroom opens out onto a year round garden and fruit orchard, giving children the opportunity to make their own joyful discoveries while playing and working in nature.

SPARROW CREEK SCHOOL
Our school is a small, intimate, creative environment, ideal for young children 3 to 6 years of age. We offer a traditional Montessori program with special emphasis on the arts, gardening, movement, outdoor informal play and social graces.

THE MONTESSORI APPROACH
Montessori practical-life materials involve children in precise purposeful movement, allowing them to concentrate, to work at their own pace uninterrupted and to complete their work. Children have the satisfaction of performing "real" activities: cooking, sweeping, washing, and polishing. The tasks appeal to children because they are fun and they recognize them as having importance in the community.

DEVELOPING THE SENSES
The young children discover, classify and order their world through their senses. Children need well-developed faculties for concentration, observation and discrimination. Through the Montessori sensorial materials, children educate their senses by matching and sequentially ordering objects of different dimensions, shapes, colors, sounds, smells, tastes, textures and temperatures.

Parents are asked to participate in bi-annual conferences and classroom observations. Parents are expected to participate in workdays and fund-raising events.

The school maintains a lending library of books and videos relating to the Montessori teaching method to loan to the parents.

Sparrow Creek School is committed to a diversified community. The school offers scholarships to approximately one third of the enrollment. Scholarships are offered to insure a culturally, socially, and economically integrated school population. Scholarships are given based on need on first come, first serve basis. Applications are available on request.

Sparrow Creek School is a non-profit public benefit corporation established to serve the children of Marin County.It is operated on a non-discriminatory basis according equal treatment and access to services without regard to race, color, sex, religion and national origin or ancestory.