319-260-2208
Enrollment for 2025/2026 School Year will open to the public the second week of February, 2025. You can contact us and get on our wait-list.
Pre Primary
Ages 2 - 3 years old (working on potty training)
“The development of the child during the first three years after birth is unequaled in intensity and importance by any period that precedes or follows in the whole life of the child.”
– Maria Montessori
In the Toddler program at Prairie Rose, we aim to turn your child’s natural curiosity into positive learning experiences. In a prepared Montessori environment your child begins their journey of learning in the Montessori Method.
We utilize exercises and activities so children can learn by doing, this encourages their natural desire for independence.
It is during these first few years of life that the roots for a love of learning are established. Dr. Montessori recognized the sensitivities of this age in the areas of independence, order, movement and language as the key elements in the child’s growth and development during this period.
For many children this is their first experience separated from their primary care giver. Care is given to assist the young child and parent in handling separation and in making this a positive and healthy experience. A typical day for your child would consist of individual indoor work time, snack time (a favorite of most), outdoor playtime, music, reading stories, lunchtime, nap time and other enrichment activities.
In this language-rich environment, teachers support and guide children as they explore order and disorder, and refine their emerging motor skills.
The aim of the Pre-primary program is to accomplish the following:
- Evolving from 2-year old children playing and working next to one another into 3-year old children playing and working together
- Allowing the students freedom within limits for exploration and curiosity
- Sewing the seeds for self confidence and greater independence
- Aiding in the potty training process
- Focusing on fundamental language and communication skills
- Introducing the root elements of the 3.5-6 year old Children's House
- Learning the skills that will develop independence and preschool readiness
Research shows that providing your children with a positive preschool program has beneficial long-term effects on their long-term education. Experts have found that children who attend high quality preschool programs have better vocabularies and more advanced literacy and math skills than children who don’t.
In addition, children in preschool programs have advanced social skills and are more adaptable to changes and new situations.
Children's House
Ages 3.5 - 6 years old (Potty trained)
Montessori Primary education is an integrated, holistic approach that is designed to help each child reach his or her full potential. Children aged 3.5 to 6 are sensorial explorers, forming their intellect by absorbing their environment, their language and their culture. The Children's House provides a prepared environment that allows the child to respond to their natural tendency to work.
"School does not have to be scary, Prairie Rose Montessori is truly a joy filled educational experience."
- Miss Gretchen
The Montessori Curriculum offers children five key areas of study: Practical Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language, and Cultural Studies. Each area of study is made up of a set of educational materials that increase in complexity. Children progress through the Montessori Curriculum at their own pace based on their stage of development and interests.
Montessori educators present key lessons to introduce children to the name and learning outcomes of each Montessori material. After a Key Lesson, the children work with the Montessori material independently to practice, explore, and make connections to the key learning outcomes.
During this time, Montessori educators stand back, observe how the children are learning, and document their progress. An educator will only intervene if needed, to encourage children’s independence, as there is a direct link between children’s sense of empowerment and their ability to learn and retain new skills and information.
New, individual lessons are provided when a child is ready to progress to the next stage. Through repetition and practice, children master the progression of the Montessori materials, and develop a fundamental understanding of each curriculum area.
Key curriculum areas:
- Practical life: Independence, social skills and care for the environment
- Sensorial: Colors, shapes, textures, weights, dimension, discrimination and distinguishing between smells, taste and sound
- Mathematics: Numbers, quantities, counting, addition, subtraction, decimal system, multiplication and division
- Language: Oral language, phonics, letter formation, sentence structure, vowels and consonants, writing, reading and early literacy skills
- Culture: Geography, botany, zoology, science, history, music and art
Summer Camp 2025: "Exploring" National Parks/STEAM
Registration is open!
Seasonal fun for your kids!
Morning program or All Day program
Morning Camp: Mon - Fri 8:30am - 11:30am
Full Day: (Morning Camp and Montessori Classroom Afternoon)
Mon - Fri 8:30am - 3:00pm
Wrap around care available (7:15am -5:30pm)
You will be able to sign up by the week, you do not have to commit to a full month in the summer.
What is our Montessori Summer STEAM camp?
This summer we will journey across the United States to visit and learn about our National Parks and a few of our favorite State Parks. Learning about the diverse terrain and biomes we have here in the United States. Including forests, deserts, grasslands, and wetlands.
Your child will explore science, technology, engineering and mathematical concepts in addition to the arts and humanities.
We will spend the morning outside on our natural playground. Creating, learning, making friends and having fun.
- On Wednesdays we will have a visiting guest who will provide a fun "surprise" lesson.
- On Fridays we will have a water fun day to cool off in the Iowa Summer heat!
- The students will have a healthy snack in the morning and end the camp with an ice pop.
- Students who stay all day will bring a cold lunch from home and have a rest time following lunch.
- Then they will get to do more exploration in our Montessori classroom.
We will be using both our indoor and outdoor classrooms, serving snacks and having a summer full of joy and learning with friends!
The tempo of our summer camp is adapted to our students. Rain and shine, we will create a memorable summer experience.
You choose which weeks your student can attend, payments will be made at the beginning of each month.
There is a one time $50 registration fee, each student will receive a Prairie Rose Montessori Summer camp T-shirt!
Please contact us through the website and we will send you the registration through the App "Brightwheel"
Our Curriculum
List of Services
-
Practical Life
The Montessori Practical Life Curriculum incorporates exercises and activities that children observe in daily life. These activities develop children’s independence, concentration, and fine motor skills. Typical practical life activities involve transferring, food preparation, lessons in grace and courtesy, and cleaning.
Example materials and activities include:
- Spooning
- Tonging
- Threading
- Sweeping
-
Sensorial
Sensorial activities teach children to refine their senses of sight, touch, sound, smell and taste so that they are able to organize sensory impressions and their understanding of the world. Through sensorial materials, children learn about similarity and difference, dimensions, colours and shapes, and distinguish between smells, taste and sound. Sensorial work also prepares children for mathematics, language and geometry by teaching children how to classify and sort.
Example materials and activities include:
- Pink Tower
- Color Box
- Geometric Solids
- Trinomial Cube
-
Math
The Mathematics Curriculum teaches children to understand abstract mathematical concepts and relationships through hands-on learning experiences. Children learn to count, identify and match numerals to their quantity, relate decimal quantities and symbols, and become aware of the functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by using the Montessori materials.
Example materials and activities include:
- Numerals and Counters
- Hanging Bead Stair
- Teen Boards
- Hundred Board
-
Language
Language: Oral language, phonics, letter formation, sentence structure, vowels and consonants, writing, reading and early literacy skills
The vibrant conversations in the classroom lead to the formal teaching of reading. Reading is taught phonetically, following the natural sequence of oral language acquisition. The child progresses from spelling words to constructing sentences.
The formal structured reading curriculum is supported by:
Storytelling
Poetry
Reading
Singing
A joy and desire to understand the written word is thus fostered.
-
Cultural
The work of classification and language are extended in the Cultural area. Materials are available to enable scientific exploration of:
- Zoology
- Botony
- Geography
- History
- Physical Science
- Music
- Art
We have a "cosmic" approach which allows maps, flags, booklets, and models of land and water formation to be used by the children to explore the world’s continents, oceans, peoples, and customs, thus leading to an appreciation of the human family.
-
Cosmic Education
“The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.”
- Maria Montessori
Cosmic Education is a cornerstone of the Montessori Philosophy.
Dr. Maria Montessori believed that Cosmic Education was vital to early education because it provides children with a framework to understand their world and their place within it. Cosmic Education teaches children to become aware of the interdependence of all things, and develop a sense of gratitude that comes from that awareness.
Within the Montessori classroom, the first plane of development (0-6), Cosmic Education introduces the child to the natural world through experiences with nature and the sensorial learning materials. These experiences teach children to refine their senses, and thus the way they process and understand their world. These skills aid the child’s development, and confidence with themselves, their society, and their world as a whole.
