Programs

Toddler & Twos Program | 18 Months – 3 Years ( Full Day Only )

Beginning in the toddler classes, children work to develop critical thinking skills, independence, and self confidence by completing work that they have chosen.

The toddler classroom is equipped with a child-sized sink, potty, and a variety of Montessori and other age-appropriate materials displayed at the toddlers’ eye level. Learning materials consist of high quality Montessori materials, each with a distinct purpose for the child in areas such as language, math, art, and many others. Rugs and tables designate activity space; music, dancing, singing, and yoga are also a regular part of this classroom. Just outside the toddler door is a separate age-appropriate playground for children under three. Some of the children’s favorite activities include caring for plants, working side-by-side with their peers, visiting the gym to sing and dance, and finding success in completing tasks independently, such as putting on their own coats and going potty. The environment is carefully prepared to facilitate exploration and discovery.

Phonemic Awareness is an important part of the toddler classroom. Before introducing symbols, children need to hear the sounds that make up words. This is done in a variety of ways and activities, including gross motor movements to appeal to a variety of learners. Toddlers love learning letter sounds, letter names, and beginning to recognize phonetic patterns that make up words. For math, children learn to recognize numerical symbols, and they begin to associate quantities with the symbols.
As part of our emphasis on the whole child, toddlers and twos have a daily gym time with a designated movement instructor. Activities vary daily to keep children engaged, active, and trying new things. Some activities include dance, yoga, music, obstacle courses, and creative games. Each day includes an outdoor recess time where teachers supervise free play, allowing children to reap all the benefits of fresh air and the socialization of free play.

Early Childhood Preschool Program | 3 – 5 Years ( Full And Part Day Options )

Dancing Moose focuses on developing childrens’ academic abilities and 21st Century Skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence) through intentional instruction. The Preschool classroom is structured with multiple work areas to facilitate ongoing curricular objectives.

Language
Literacy is a cornerstone of our program. Our goal is to not only have children with the ability to read, but to love and understand what they are reading. We strive to nurture lifelong readers. This begins with teacher read-alouds and finding joy from reading beautiful and engaging books with students. It then continues through a balanced literacy approach that teaches reading in a variety of ways. After our youngest 3-year-olds learn a few letter sounds, site words and punctuation symbols, they jump right into reading short sentences based on those few letter sounds. While a child progresses through the alphabet and decoding words, they are introduced to early reader books to learn how context clues can support their reading through a variety of interesting texts. Writing is threaded throughout all curricular areas as practical life and sensorial activities help strengthen pincer grasps. Often a child’s fine motor skills prevent them from developing their reading skills at the same rate as their writing skills. To assist in this, Montessori uses wooden letters to write words and sentences while a child works on refining their path of movement for writing. This language program gives a strong jump-start to a child’s ability to love reading.

Math
Montessori Math may be one of the strongest differentiators across other learning methods. Through the use of concrete materials, children understand what math looks like and what math means. Young children work with materials that present complex math operations but they feel like they are playing a fun and simple game. This will allow children to have greater understanding as they mature through more abstract math in their later years. This is done with a variety of concrete materials—all designed to build children’s conceptual awareness. Once a child can associate quantity and symbols of one to ten, they learn place value through golden beads. They learn what a unit looks like, a ten bar, a hundred square and a thousand cube. They can then build complex numbers and equations using these materials. There are several boards and other activities to teach the 4 operations beginning in the early childhood program. Research shows this method leads to better math outcomes in the long run.

Sensorial
The sensorial area of a classroom focuses on developing the senses of young students. These engaging activities focus on one sense at a time such as visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and gustatory. These activities are the foundation for complex areas such as math and assisting children to see a sense of order in the world around them. The lessons also lengthen a child’s attention span in a world filled with distractions. The engagement that occurs as a child works with these materials and the many complex extensions is also a key way that we intentionally build 21st century skills such as critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence.

Practical Life
Children have an innate desire to be independent and helpful in their environments. Practical Life allows children to have intentional lessons about everyday tasks that adults often overlook teaching. Children love engaging in the lessons of this area which are often tasks reserved for adults in their environment. This not only teaches life skills to children but also allows them to build 21st century skills such as independence, confidence and collaboration as they help each other with tasks. It is also a critical way to build patience and attention span as they struggle through lessons that grow in complexity.

Cultural Studies, Science & Art
Exposing children to embracing and loving diversity is a key component of a Montessori classroom. Dancing Moose does a deep dive of a different continent every two months. This allows for a variety of lessons on how other children around the world live. It also gives young children a global perspective.

Science is focused on giving children real, hands-on experiences with the wonder and beauty of science around them. Teachers focus on a monthly science theme and share lessons with parents so they can provide supplemental resources at home if desired. Afternoon circles are reserved for science and cultural lessons.

Art is integrated into all areas of the classroom. A process art shelf allows children to create whatever their heart desires. It is through this process that children develop 21st century skills such as creative innovation and confidence. Art is also introduced in cultural and science studies as extensions to the lessons learned.

Gross Motor
As part of our emphasis on the whole child, children with full-day schedules participate in daily movement activities in our gym with a designated movement instructor. Activities vary daily to keep children engaged, active, and trying new things. Some activities include dance, yoga, obstacle courses, and creative games. Each day, children with full and part time schedules enjoy an outdoor recess time where teachers supervise free play, which allows children to reap all the benefits of fresh air and free play socialization.

Elementary Program | ( Kindergarten – 2 or 3, grade depending on location )

All of our elementary programs are offered with a full day schedule. By the time children reach elementary grades, teachers work with small guided reading groups and provide individualized instruction in math concepts. Children are exposed to core curricular goals on a regular basis, and they provide opportunities for small group collaboration. A 1:12 ratio allows students to receive individualized lessons while still having time for important subjects such as science, art, movement and cultural studies. Classrooms are communities of learners that care about each other. The varied abilities in each room allow for students to build 21st century skills such as communication and collaboration as they truly care about each other and seek to support one another.

Language
Literacy is a cornerstone of our program. Our goal is to not only have children with the ability to read, but to love and understand what they are reading. This is our goal of creating lifelong readers. Our elementary reading program continues the same program children used in their early childhood classroom so they can jump right in at their level. It continues with daily guided reading lessons with their teacher. It is during this elementary program that children begin to make the shift from learning to read to reading to learn. Children begin reading on their own to gain knowledge. Writer’s Workshop and journal writing is a daily activity where children begin to find their own voice and learn how to express their thoughts. Words their Way Spelling introduces children to spelling tests and refining their spelling skills. Grammar is taught through beautiful, hands-on Montessori materials. Regular teacher observations and assessments assure that each child is progressing through our reading program at their own pace. A reading culture is cultivated through a large variety of texts that are available to children to pick-up and enjoy whenever they would like. Research is also introduced in our elementary program so children learn how texts can support their journey in acquiring knowledge about a certain subject.

Math
Montessori Math may be one of the strongest differentiators across other learning methods. Through the use of concrete materials, children understand what math looks like and what math means. Elementary students continue using the concrete materials introduced to them in their early childhood program but begin making more abstract connections on paper. New concrete materials are also introduced to bridge the gap between concrete to abstract. Math Expressions is a supplemental math program that is a sound, research-based program that correlates with Common Core Standards and supports individualized ability levels. It prepares our students for what they will see upon graduation from Dancing Moose.

Cultural Studies, Science & Art
Exposing children to embracing and loving diversity is a key component of a Montessori classroom. Dancing Moose does a deep dive of a different continent every two months. This allows for a variety of lessons on how other children around the world live. It also gives young children a global perspective.

Science is focused on giving children real, hands-on experiences with the wonder and beauty of science around them. Teachers focus on a monthly science theme and share lessons with parents so they can provide supplemental resources at home if desired. Afternoon circles are reserved for science and cultural lessons.

Art is integrated into all areas of the classroom. A process art shelf allows children to create whatever their heart desires. It is through this process that children develop 21st century skills such as creative innovation and confidence. Art is also introduced in cultural and science studies as extensions to the lessons learned.
Elementary students enjoy a weekly rotation where specialty teachers expose them to a deeper dive of subjects such as history, science and art.

Gross Motor Gym
As part of our emphasis on the whole child, our elementary students participate in daily movement activities in our gym with a designated movement instructor. Activities become more complex at the elementary age as they learn and participate in team sports as well as collaboration challenges. Other activities include dance, yoga, obstacle courses, and creative games. Each day there is also an outdoor recess time where teachers supervise free play, which allows children to reap all the benefits of fresh air and free play socialization.