Pre-K3 – K4

Overview

We Inspire Toddlers to Explore, Discover and Learn
COMING SOON! Will be announced for the year 2025-2026

Research shows our brains blossom through active use, and toddlers, like little scientists, are eager to explore.

Our Montessori program invites children on a daily adventure in a safe, secure environment. Tailored to each child’s needs, we give toddlers time and opportunities to immerse themselves in four areas that go beyond what a traditional daycare can offer:

South Florida School of Excellence

Preschool Academy Environment

Toddlers are introduced early and exposed daily to the core components of the Montessori educational philosophy, including:

Practical Life Skills

Toddlers develop a sense of self while learning to be independent. We strive to teach independence and confidence at this young age through simple everyday activities like:

We are also one of the few Montessori, preschool alternatives that offers Toilet Training support, through cooperation between parents and staff.

Motor Skills

Students’ fine motor skills, concentration, and eye-hand coordination develop through activities such as pouring, spooning and grasping. They also learn to organize objects spatially. Outdoor playtime and classroom movement exercises promote large motor skills through activities such as jumping, running, dancing and walking.

Language Development

The explosion of verbal language is a hallmark of the toddler years. We help children gain a rich vocabulary through daily conversations and an exploration of literature via books and finger plays. Pre-reading activities include matching, counting, and understanding sequence of events. Children also learn to use and read facial expressions.

South Florida School of Excellence

Preschool Academy Environment

Toddlers are introduced early and exposed daily to the core components of the Montessori educational philosophy, including:

Toddler Program

Pre-Kindergarten – 4 Years Old

Will be Announced for the Year 2022 – 2023

School pre-primary program provides a carefully planned, stimulating environment that helps children develop the foundational habits, attitudes, skills and ideas that are essential for a lifetime of creative thinking and learning.

Language Curriculum

In the Montessori classroom, children learn how letters sound, phonetically before they memorize the alphabetical names in sequence. This lets them hear what they’ll later read.

Reading instruction begins the day a child wants to know what a word says or shows interest in using sandpaper letters:

• Students construct words with a movable alphabet, then proceed at their own pace to begin reading.
• Using phonics skills to tackle new words, books become a source of exploration.
• Games introduce students to grammar.
• Through sensorial exercises and activities designed to enhance vocabulary and language foundations, children prepare for Early Elementary Education

Mathematics Curriculum

When young children have access to mathematical equipment, they joyfully assimilate math facts and skills. At South Florida School of Excellence, children separate, share, count and compare materials to learn basic math operations.

They never sit down to memorize addition and subtraction facts or multiplication tables. Rather, children learn by performing the operations with a variety of materials such as beads. As they commit their math facts to memory, they gain a real understanding of what each operation means.

Sensorial Exercises

Sensorial materials help children learn to distinguish, categorize, and relate new information to what they already know. This process is the beginning of conscious knowledge, spurred when the intelligence works in a concentrated way on impressions created by the senses.

Sensorial activities at this stage build on what children learned in INFANT and TODDLERS phases, integrating the same types of activities into the rest of the curriculum.

Examples include:

Practical Life Exercises

Young children like to imitate adults doing ordinary tasks – washing dishes, paring vegetables, or polishing shoes. By promoting such activities in the classroom, we help children improve their coordination and focus their concentration. They learn to pay attention to detail and develop good work habits.

Students study the food pyramid and learn what their bodies need to be healthy. They also participate in small cooking exercises that are a continuation of practical life experiences and math lessons.

Physical Geography Curriculum

Large wooden puzzle maps are immensely popular. At first, students use them simply as puzzles. Gradually, children learn names of countries, geographical facts, and common land formations such as islands and peninsulas. By starting with the big picture and then working down to include smaller details, we create a love for the concepts of geography in our students.

Cultural Units Curriculum

South Florida School Of Excellence students gain an awareness of the world around them by exploring countries, customs, food, music, climate, language and animals. The mission of Montessori education is to help students develop understanding, tolerance and compassion for all people.

Arts Curriculum

Art feeds a great joy children find in creating. South Florida School of Excellence students use their imaginations with a variety of mediums, learning that process is more important than the end-product.

School’s creative music, movement and dramatics program is an ongoing, flexible process that integrates fully into our academics. Young children use their bodies to reflect and interpret music.

Science and Nature Curriculum

Science stimulates curiosity through discovery projects and experiments, helping children to draw their own conclusions.

Our pre-primary students strive to:

Scholarship

Pre-Kindergarten – 3 Years Old

School readiness programs have been designed to prepare children for school, particularly those from income-eligible families. These programs are intended to serve as a preventive measure for children at risk of future school failure. Priority for school readiness program participation is given to: children whose parents are economically disadvantaged, children who have been determined to be at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, and children with special needs.

DADE County Residents Only

Pre-Kindergarten – 4 Years Old

VPK stands for the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program. If your child turns 4 four years of age by September 1, your child is eligible to participate in Florida’s FREE Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) education program, including children with a disability.

School Year VPK online registration is a two-step process.

Registration Documents

Documentation needed to determine a child’s age: Parents/Guardians must bring a copy of ONE of the following documents to one of the registration sites to verify their child’s age.

Proof you live in Florida – Parents must bring a copy of ONE of the following documents to verify they live in Florida: