(additional $25/month fee for potty training) Our educational vision is based upon the emergent curriculum principles of the world-renowned Montessori Method founded in 1907 by Dr. Maria Montessori. The Montessori Method of education emphasizes hands-on, individualized learning within mixed age groups in a child-friendly setting. Her teaching strategies and her discoveries about the process of learning revolutionized the field of education. As a school community, we are committed to values based on an image of children as curious, competent and capable of co-constructing knowledge. Our journey begins as our staff asks questions, listens to children, works with them and documents their work. As children discover and explore, they work on investigations that may last a few days to a few months. All projects must be meaningful to them and their world. By creating a classroom environment that allows for open-ended learning and discovery, we give children a chance to express themselves and understand their world. We also believe that learning is a cooperative venture which includes other children, their teachers, their families and our larger community. Literacy, math, social studies, science, music and arts are all emphasized through a framework of hands-on experiences. The child has a deep love and need for purpose and work. He works, however, not as an adult, for completion of a job, but for the sake of an activity itself. It is this activity, which enables him to develop mental, physical and psychological aspects in himself. At DMS we follow the Montessori curriculum which cover five areas such as: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics and Cultural Studies.