MSW

About

Our Programs

"A person’s respect for another shows itself best when… he makes himself equal. And this is precisely what the Son of God did when He preferred to come into the world as a child."

Maria Montessori

Nido Classroom

Parent/Infant Program

0-2.5 years

The Parent/Infant program is for parents with children 0-2.5 years of age. It is an introduction to Montessori for you and your baby. You attend once a week for 1.5 hours with your child – your baby gets to explore a safe, beautifully prepared environment while you see the Montessori approach in action. The environment is adjusted to include Montessori materials and activities for crawling, sitting babies, and beginning walkers to meet the needs of these inquisitive little learners.

Toddler 1 & 2 Program

Ages 15 months-36 months

In a beautifully prepared environment, our guides connect children to a learning experience that encourages exploration and purposeful activities. Furniture and learning materials are specifically crafted to suit the developmental needs of this age group, to support the intellectual, sensorial, social and physical development. The Toddler community offers activities to promote independence, concentration, self-confidence, and a positive attitude towards learning. The Toddler Program is an excellent preparation for Primary.

Primary Classroom

Ages 3-6 years
Half-day (8:30-11:30 AM) or Full-day (8:30 AM-2:30 PM)
Monday-Friday

Maria Montessori discovered that the 3-6 year old child develops through using their senses to absorb their environment, language and culture. Our Primary program takes place in a purposefully curated environment for the developmental needs of 3-6 year olds. When children come into their classroom the beauty, order, and accessibility of the materials designed just for them is so engaging that children want to work and learn.  

Our Primary has a Guide and an Assistant who present the materials and set the peaceful tone of the environment. They assist the children in forming a community of love and care for each other as the children learn important social skills. Each child works at his own pace as they develop concentration and formation in five distinct areas. 1) Practical life where children learn to take care of self and the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and coordination of physical movement. The 2) sensorial materials help the children in learning to order and classify by touching, seeing, smelling, tasting, listening, and exploring. 3) Mathematics helps children to understand abstract concepts by working with concrete manipulatives. The 4) language area teaches oral and written language, vocabulary, reading, and grammar. The 5) culture area is rich with works in geography, botany, music, and art.

Our Primary children also spend time weekly in an Atrium where the child’s spiritual development is nurtured through Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a method grounded in prayer, Scripture, and the liturgy. All children have access to working in our outdoor classroom and spend time exploring nature and moving in MSW’s beautiful outdoor grounds every day.

Elementary Classroom

Ages 6-9 years
Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM – 2:30 PM

Once children reach the age of 6, they become interested in the questions of “how” and “why” about everything — from stars and planets to rivers and trees to the cycle of life. Montessori Elementary education encourages these explorations through the Five Great Lessons, stories that encompass the breadth of human knowledge. They move from the creation of the universe to the coming of plant and animal life to the arrival of humans. The beauty of a Catholic Montessori school is that these stories incorporate the best of our scientific and historical knowledge with the truths of our faith, as Dr. Montessori intended. We then focus on the fruits of human innovation: language and mathematics.

Through the years, these lessons are learned with increasing complexity, until the student is not only able to pass them on to younger students, but also move into more abstract thinking and self-initiated projects. This development can occur at the child’s own pace because of the multi-age setting. Older students are guided through the intricacy of research and group projects laying a framework for collaboration and intellectual pursuit that will serve them throughout their lives.

Enrichment & Community Programs


Parent Education Series

Recognizing that parents are a child’s primary educators, MSW is committed to offering parents and members of the broader Steubenville community the chance to hear from wise and experienced Montessorians and CGS catechists. Lectures and Q&A sessions are held at venues throughout Steubenville during the school year.