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Our Mission and Approach to the Montessori Method

MISSION

We are a peaceful, nurturing Montessori school in partnership with families and our larger community, where students grow in lifelong purpose through curiosity and meaningful exploration.

VISION STATEMENT

Our vision is for Durango Montessori students to reach their full potential and develop a love of learning rooted in self-respect and respect for one’s community and environment. We envision DMS graduates becoming independent, engaged global citizens. 

 

VALUES: We Strive to Educate by: 

● Providing a Montessori educational environment guided by Montessori principles and practice. 

● Offering a holistic curriculum, including mathematics and geometry, global social studies, language, the sciences, geography, fine arts and music, physical education, practical life skills, and social-emotional education.

● Engaging in outdoor and indoor learning environments that expand our curiosity and connection to place.

● Providing the child with an uninterrupted, focused work period in a prepared Montessori environment. 

● Using Montessori materials for a kinesthetic, hands-on learning experience to increase student engagement and provide an access point to abstract concepts. 

● Attracting and retaining inspirational and impactful teachers passionate about child-centered education. 

● Promoting virtues and qualities within our whole school community, such as respect, generosity, order, independence, morality, honesty, self-discipline, the intrinsic motivation to learn, and diversity spanning cultures, languages, and economics.

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Maria Montessori found through her research as an educator that children:

  • Are curious by nature​

  • Have a thirst for knowledge

  • Seek to understand the world and their place in it

  • Need to actively pursue knowledge

  • Learn by doing

By interacting with the environment, their peers, and with materials, students in Montessori classrooms establish learning practices that lead to overall comprehension. Children learn by active participation through the manipulation of materials, therefore the Montessori classroom is full of precisely engineered materials designed to teach concepts in a cohesive, concrete manner.

Through their experiences at Durango Montessori School, children develop incredible skills, including: 

  • Academic success

  • Love of learning

  • A positive self image

  • The capability to overcome challenges

  • Problem solving ability

  • Excellent communication skills

  • Ease at adapting to change

  • Respect and appreciation for the community

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Core Montessori Components

At Durango Montessori School, we offer a well-rounded curriculum in the spirit of Montessori education and utilize a wealth of Montessori materials and tools. Furthermore, we incorporate additional learning tools and strategies for comprehensive, engaging education, for best practices in mathematics and Daily Language Instruction (DLI). As we prepare our children for an ever-changing, evolving world, we find teaching inspiration and ideas through the adoption of new philosophies along with Montessori methods, which were not meant to be static. We also offer a robust program of “specials” education, including Spanish instruction, physical education, peace works, and music.

The American Montessori Society recognizes 5 components as critical to high-fidelity implementation of the Montessori Method:​

  1. Montessori-trained teachers

  2. The multi-age classroom

  3. Using Montessori materials, specially-designed for a hands-on approach to learning

  4. Child-directed work: students are given the agency to self-select work, leading to intrinsic motivation and sustained attention.

  5. Uninterrupted work periods that enable students to focus deeply and work at their own pace

You can read more about the components of a Montessori education at the American Montessori Society.

Durango Montessori School
1309 E. 3rd Ave., Unit #6
Durango, CO 81301
970. 769.3590
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