Little Genius Montessori School (LGMS) is a one-of-its-kind Chinese immersion Montessori program located in Rockville, Maryland. Established in 2003, LGMS has since then served as one of the most popular early learning centers in Montgomery County. We welcome children between the ages of 18 months and 6 years.
Our main objective is to provide stimulating intellectual, creative, and developmental experiences for all of our students. By the time they graduate, all of our students will have received a thorough grounding in Chinese, music and arts, as well as the classic Montessori skills that will serve them well for life as well as the rest of their schooling.
In our bright, beautiful classrooms, learning is individualized and self paced. Under the direction of a qualified teacher and assistant teachers, children engage in a variety of activities designed to develop concentration, attention, coordination and well-ordered thought processes. Each classroom activity is executed from beginning to end with careful attention to the accuracy of sequence and procedure. Following is a brief description of the objectives and positive impacts on children in each area.
The child develops an independent approach to personal care and care of his or her environment. Practical Life activities include many of the tasks the child sees as part of the daily routine at home, such as food preparation and clean-up, housekeeping, and sewing. He learns to pay attention to details as he follows a regular sequence of actions. Through this, he develops good work habits.
A young child meets the world around her through the constant use of her senses. This age group is an ideal time to give the child experiences that sharpen the senses and enable her to understand the sensorial impressions she receives on an hourly basis. Each set of sensorial materials defines one quality, such as color, weight, size and sound.
Language-building skills make for a more enriching atmosphere. The children are given names for everything in the environment and, through tactile and auditory experiences with sandpaper letters, are introduced to individual letter sounds. After acquiring sounds, the child continues his language development by forming words using the moveable alphabet. The curriculum also includes reading skills such as word decoding, comprehension, and grammar.
If a very young child has access to concrete mathematical equipment, they can easily assimilate many facts and skills of arithmetic. Sensorial mathematical materials help the child through manipulation and repetition. The program provides the child with the keys to enable him to continue his own exploration in abstract number concepts.
The objective of the social studies program is to increase the child’s awareness of his own cultural environment and the environments of other people and places.
The objective of the science program is to increase the child’s awareness of the world around him. It is built on the child’s natural curiosity and helps them discover “Why?”
Chinese language and culture are a part of the daily curriculum. The children receive lessons and communicate entirely in Chinese during class time. The environment of immersion allows him to absorb the Chinese vocabulary and culture easily. The goal is to teach each child to understand, speak, read and write in Chinese.
Music is a critical part of the early childhood program. At LGMC, music is incorporated throughout the school day. The music program exposes children to different musical styles, both Chinese and Western, by various composers, and introduces the ideas of rhythm, beat, pitch, and notation. We let the children explore many kinds of musical instruments and make their own music using instruments available in the classroom.
An integral part of the LGMS curriculum is Art. It is incorporated throughout the day, blending instructional and creative techniques. Children learn about famous artists and their works. Art experiences include following a set procedure for projects as well as free expression using watercolor, finger paint, clay, pencils, markers, crayons, and more.