Chandler, AZ
Montessori Day Schools

"Educators and families working to teach and \"grow the child\"
At Montessori Day Schools (MDS) we strive in every way to uphold Montessori’s view of education and the principles for teaching children that she set forth throughout her lifetime.

Maria Montessori’s philosophy of education is based on “a harmonious growth of all potentialities of the child, mental and physical, according to the laws of its being…” (Montessori, 1945)

She states that children have natural tendencies toward learning; that stages of learning exist for which there should be corresponding educational environments and trained teachers who “prepare the environment.” Children learn independently using the materials within the environment. The teacher coaches and observes as the children choose their own activities. Therefore, the teacher becomes the link between the child and the environment. The learning environment cultivates individualization, freedom of choice, concentration, independence, personal responsibility, problem-solving abilities, social interaction, interdisciplinary breadth, and competencies in basic skills.

We believe that everything we do should reflect a respect for each child, their potential, their individuality and their humanity. Like Montessori we believe that education is “an aid to life” and its end result is a mature, healthy adult. In our approach to education we seek to help children become independent, self disciplined, internally motivated, and enthusiastic learners through the curriculum we use, the environments we design and the methods of guiding development and behavior we employ.

Montessori said the children’s play is their work. In that same spirit, we believe that children learn through doing, through experimenting, through making choices and by making mistakes. In this way they gain mastery of their physical bodies, their emotions, and their minds. When children gain mastery in these areas, they come to exemplify our belief that acquiring information is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Thus, they learn to use knowledge as a tool in the process of becoming independent thinkers and creative problem solvers.

We believe that a school should be a community-a community of educators and families working in partnership to create the best environment possible for children’s growth and learning. As members of a community we help and support each other in all ways that we are able through our knowledge, our labor, our time and our creativity.

Finally, we believe that quality education should not drain families’ financial resources nor waste the resources of our planet. Thus, we are committed to providing the highest quality educational programs and services for children and parents that we can for the lowest possible cost. In order to do this successfully, we must have assistance and cooperation from every member of the school community to keep costs down and quality high. This is true at every level of program and every area of school operations, whether private or chartered.
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Excerpted from the preschool's website

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