COVID-19 Update​

​Our phase 3, 4 and 5 plans are ready!   We are closely monitoring and following CDC guidelines.  Children and staff will wear face coverings while indoors daily and the illness policy has greatly changed. We will keep you informed of any changes. See our current COVID-19 precautions plan by clicking the following link that says, "Little Hands Action Plan 2020/2021" or by contacting us!:  

Little Hands Montessori
- Where little hands build a big future -

Little Hands Montessori is a Children’s House that reflects Maria Montessori’s original design.

Our Mission
To thrive as a warm bilingual environment that fosters children’s natural development; sustains children for three years; prepares them for first grade; forms a love of learning; and lays a foundation for life.    

At Little Hands Montessori, We Believe in and Provide:

The Montessori Method​
​Maria Montessori was an Italian doctor who created the Montessori Method based on her scientific observations of children, first in the streets of Rome and then across the world.  She started the first “Children’s House,” as they are called for children ages 3-6, in 1907.  The director/lead guide of Little Hands Montessori is trained in AMI, Association Montessori International.  AMI is the same throughout the world, closely maintaining Maria Montessori’s teaching.  It has remained the same for over 100 years.  Although culture changes, the way children’s brain develops does not.  The method is proven to follow children’s natural development and maximize their academic skills and love of learning.  Maria Montessori found that children have an “absorbent mind” and learn sensorially through heightened sensitive periods.  Thus, Montessori teachers are guides that prepare an environment and lead children into having rich experiences with it in five categories: practical life, sensorial, language, math, and culture.
Supportive Community
Montessori believes in and operates best with a balanced mixed age group of children ages 2 year 9 months- 6 years old.  The children create a society of their own within the prepared environment, helping each other clean up accidents such as spilled flowers vases, preparing snack for one another and modeling work (what their lessons are called instead of play) to one another across all levels.  In addition to creating a natural Montessori community within the room, Little Hands Montessori strives to support the community at large in Richland.  This community works best when children start between 2 years 9 months and 3 year 6 months, 5 half days a week.  We understand that it may not always be the best fit for your family, and we are connected and prepared to share other excellent options with you and your family if needed, please ask!  We participate in helping the community through Rotary and love to share community events and support Richland. 
Creative independent learning
​A key Montessori phrase is, “Help me to help myself.”  Maria Montessori discovered that children teach themselves through their own experiences.  We cannot talk them into learning through lectures in the same way that adults or older children can be taught.  Young children must be given the freedom to independently learn tasks themselves.  We have materials that help them learn to dress themselves (do buttons and zippers, change their shoes etc.) and we use beautiful, breakable materials so that they learn how to care for it.  Children use glass and ceramic place, wash their own dishes and clean their own spills.  They receive individual lessons, make their own work choices and follow their own interests.  In the end of a three-year cycle, many are capable of reading, writing, identifying nouns and prepositions in sentences and doing multiplication and division.  They develop a love of learning and learn at their own pace (which can be faster than other settings allow).  This forms a foundation for life and a love of learning.  They become creative, innovative adults that are passionate about their professions.
​Bilingual literacy in English and Spanish
Little Hands Montessori is a bilingual school.  Lessons are presented in both English and Spanish.  A one-to-one language model of instruction is used, dully immersing the children in both languages daily across multiple subject areas.  There is at least one adult who is a primary speaker of each language.  If the lead guide needs to change languages, a visual cue is often used.  Learning/exposure to a second language during these critical years of brain development helps children develop skills that will make them more receptive/capable of learning any other language at the same time or in the future.  These skills may not be seen immediately, as comprehension is what often comes before production, but they will help children excel in language acquisition, other creative subjects, openness to the world around them and job prospects in the future.  The children will hear full sentences and conversations and they will acquire language naturally, as they did their first language.  This means that they are not being instructed using a traditional second-language approach and might not produce common phrases immediately.  They are likely to sing authentic songs from Latin America though! 
 
Children here learn letters sounds (not names) in both English and Spanish simultaneously and are not confused.  In fact, research has found confusion or mixture in literacy to be a sign of resourcefulness.  Children have a permanent memory, Montessori called it “mneme,” that retains what they learn before the age of 6 for life (often unconsciously).  If literacy instruction in a second language is delayed until after the age of 6 years old, literacy acquisition might not be effortless or stick with them for life.  Thus, we present literacy and oral skills simultaneously in two languages.  Children receive cognitive benefits from bilingual instruction as well; they have been found to be more creative and better at solving complex problems. 
Articles:
​https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259822414_Bilingualism_in_the_Early_Years_What_the_Science_Says 
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=2
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=2
https://n.neurology.org/content/75/19/1726.abstract
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/advantages_of_a_bilingual_brain ​
Cultural and religious engagements
Little Hands Montessori does not shy away from cultural and religious engagements.  Rather, we embrace the richness that they bring to all.  Holidays are big here.  We celebrate various holidays that exist around the world and discuss their meaning.  The lead guide/director of Little Hands lived in the Dominican Republic for nearly four years and celebrates holidays with the children and her daughter because of that, such as Three Kings Day.  Lee Sanchez is a Christian and loves to share stories and songs about how that is celebrated here and in different cultures.  Maria Montessori was Catholic and started creating a Montessori way to share some of the stories Lee shares.  However, Maria and all those who teach the Montessori method, have realized that children should be exposed to multiple faiths and practices to make their belief choices deeply rooted.  Learning religious stories about subjects, such as children’s stories about Hindu gods, and cultural practices, such as high tea, make a rich environment that leaves children with a thirst to learn more about the world around them.  We are sensitive to authenticity and do attempt to explain every culture or religious tradition to children, but we continue to learn and share the breadth of what we are able. We encourage and invite parents to share holidays, travel, facts or experiences with the children!  We have been blessed by the sharing of multiple traditions around the world!

We Also Incorporate the Acclaimed Bilingual Music Program:

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Little Hands Montessori: A Bilingual Schoolhouse (Spanish and English) for Children ages 3-6 in ​Richland, Michigan