Montessori Hale O Keiki
100 Kulanihakoi Street, Kihei
874-7441
MHOK is a community committed to providing a sound, secure, and stable environment in which each child may achieve his or her potential. A high-quality Montessori education, combined with contemporary methods and materials, lays the foundation for children to become self-motivated, personally and socially responsible, life-long learners.
SCHEDULE A PARENT VISIT TO OBSERVE THE CLASSROOM
The best way we have found to see and experience the power of our Montessori Hale O Keiki community is to visit the classroom you are interested in. This visit is only for adults and consists of a 15-minute classroom observation, a campus tour and an opportunity to learn more about our innovative programs.
Kristen Schiffman
Director of Admissions
808-874-7441
MONTESSORI PHILOSOPHY
The Montessori philosophy provides a curriculum and environment in which each child will develop physically, intellectually and spiritually to his or her fullest potential. Children are introduced to the joy of learning at an early age and provided with a structured framework in which intellectual and social discipline goes hand-in-hand.
The classroom offers a “Prepared Environment” possessing a certain and specific order, which allows children to learn at their own speed and according to their own capacities in a non-competitive atmosphere. The teacher prepares the environment, directs the activity and offers the child stimulation; but it is the child who learns through structured activity (work) and is motivated through success to complete a given task. Each child has his/her own plan designed specifically for that child’s interests and needs. The plan follows the child so that each child progresses at his/her own level of accomplishment and potential.
The result is the acquisition of an inner discipline by which learning is accomplished. Patterns of concentration, “stick-to-itiveness” and thoroughness are established producing confident, competent learners.
PRIMARY PROGRAM
Ages 3-6
Preschool – Kindergarten
The primary classroom (ages 3-6) objective is to cultivate the child’s own natural desire to learn. Maria Montessori observed that children who are allowed to learn based on their own choice and freedom to explore, become life-long learners. In our Primary Classroom, the environment is prepared with care by the Primary Guides, who ensure that the activities available entice student curiosity and encourage self-discovery and purposeful work. In such a prepared classroom, students learn quickly that they are trusted to do lessons and develop the responsibility for meaningful activity. The classroom layout is arranged in specific Montessori learning sections, where teachers present new lessons in math, language, practical life, sensorial, botany, and geography with concrete materials. Physical Education, Music and Art are integrated into the core curriculum. Students truly experience the “joy of learning” in the primary classroom.
LOWER ELEMENTARY
Ages 6-9
1st – 3rd grade
This classroom is an organized purposeful setting where students (ages 6-9) are encouraged to ask questions and then they are given the skills to find the answers. The journey to finding the answer is joyful and learning becomes exciting while creating a sense of accomplishment. Students are permitted to move from one academic area to another and work individually or in small groups. Teachers present new lessons in math, language, science, history, and geography with concrete materials. They work at their own pace and they learn accountability, independence and social graces. PE, Music and Art are integrated into the curriculum. The teacher uses the marine science curriculum to bring the ocean to the classroom and the classroom to the ocean.
UPPER SCHOOL
Ages 9-14
4th – 8th grade
Students at this level are becoming independent thinkers and they are ready to tackle more varied and rigorous academic work. Teachers present new lessons in math, language, science, history, and geography with concrete materials and then move to abstract concepts when students are ready. Students learn through hands-on experiments, project-based work and creative presentations. PE, Music, and Art are integrated into the core curriculum so they do not learn anything in isolation. Monthly snorkeling trips with the school’s naturalist permit the students to conduct scientific research in the real world. This classroom is Accredited with non-traditional Montessori age groupings.
Living Montessori: The Parent Perspective from American Montessori Society on Vimeo.
The educational nature of Montessori Hale O Keiki is designed and prepared with the focus on students’ learning, not on teacher’s teaching. The key philosophy which undergirds our Montessori program is reflected in the phrase, “follow the child.” This phrase sums up our instructional/learning environment where the child is presented with activity choices and progresses at his/her own rate of cognitive/neurological and emotional development. With multi-age classrooms which stretch over a 3-year age span (5 years at the Upper School level, students have the opportunity to move through activities and lessons which have increasing difficulty or complexity at a rate consistent with the child’s comfort level or mastery. Each child may have differing developmental and mastery rates depending on the program area.
