Located on Grumman Hill, the Montessori School offers educational programs for children from toddlers to sixth grade.…More The school's mission statement, to raise "passionate and compassionate citizens of the globe," is accompanied by the slogan "Culture of Gratitude," and both are indicative of the school's emphasis on education as an exercise in philosophy and self-reflection.<br /> <br />The Montessori School was founded in 1964 and merged with the Norwalk Day Nursery in 1979. Under the administration of school director Mary Zeman, the Montessori School (which is closely associated with the Montessori Middle School in Norwalk) follows a curriculum designed around the Montessori Method of education founded by educator and philosopher Maria Montessori. The Montessori Method, considered an "alternative" educational practice, is characterized by emphasizing "self-directed" activity on the part of the child, while the teacher's primary responsibility is clinical observation. This allows the teacher to better adapt the child’s learning environment to his or her development level. The idea is that the child learns with as much independence as possible, while the teacher acts as a guide for the child's educational development, rather than as a source of facts.<br /><br />An important aspect of this method is a child's physical activity, which enables the child to absorb abstract concepts and learn practical skills. This philosophy of juxtaposing the abstract and the practical is reflected in the curriculum; reading, for example, is taught via both phonics and the "whole language" system advocated by Chomsky and Goodman.</p> <p>Originally designing her method for disabled children, Maria Montessori later advocated her educational methods for all children, advising teachers to provide students with "sensorial materials" (materials designed to appeal to the senses) that would encourage children to seek out their own ways to educate themselves; the method is based on the premise that children will instinctively pursue the skills they will later need in adulthood.<br /> <br />The Montessori School is located at 34 Whipple Rd. in Wilton, and can be contacted at 203-834-0440 or <a href="mailto:info@themontessorischool.com">Info@TheMontessoriSchool.com</a>.</p>

Located adjacent to the School Sisters of Notre Dame facility, the Belden Hill Montessori School offers classes for…More children from 2 1/2 to 5 years of age.</p> <p>The school was founded more than 20 years ago and was taken over in 2007 by Director Sara Flanagan. Flanagan says her main educational goals are teaching children independence, a sense of order, sequential thought and concentration. According to its mission statement, the school is designed "to provide a nurturing and enriching environment full of diverse and multi-aged children."</p> <p>The school offers preschool and full-day kindergarten programs. The programs are set up to focus on six different areas, which include practical life, sensorial, math, language, cultural and arts education.</p>

Town & Country Montessori School was founded in the early 1980s in Minnesota by Montessori-trained educator…More Claudia Vestal. As Vestal relocated across the country to Connecticut (first to Redding, then to Ridgefield, and then to Wilton), she brought Town & Country with her. Today's incarnation of the school, which has been located in Wilton since 1993, still has some of the same supplies from the Minnesota school, while newer materials are often donated by parents of current and former students.</p> <p>The school teaches children 3 to 6 years old and offers a teacher/student ratio of one to ten. The school has three co-directors: Karen Wiffen, Tina Donaher and Asan Kizilbayir. There is also a board of directors run excursively by parents. The school keeps parents involved with the students' education by holding monthly "parent education evenings."<br /> <br />The curriculum is dominated by four major fields of study: practical life (motor skills), sensorial, language (in which children learn to associate phonetic sounds to written symbols) and mathematics (which, in addition to basic numbers and operations, includes such concepts as decimals, fractions, time and currency). Geography, science, cultural exploration, art, music, Spanish and yoga classes round out the curriculum. The children's education is further enhanced by such events as monthly visits from experts in various fields.</p>