Our Montessori goals for each student are that he or she develop four basic skills:
* independence - initiates own activity, ends own activity, evidences self-help
* sense of order - returns work to shelf, cares for the environment and materials
* concentration - works at own speed and for as long as attention lasts (10 minutes is considered good concentration for a 3 year old), can tune out some background noise
* coordination - small muscle dexterity in handling objects, pouring, using pencils, etc., large muscle coordination in walking, carrying trays, scrubbing, etc.
* socialization - respect for other's work and person, participates in work and play with peers and adults

All materials and procedures of the school have these goals as their underpinning. The materials also add academic content, such as phonics or numerals - but even if there were no academic content, just the basic skills above are valuable. And of course everything does add academic content.

Finally, we are committed to the belief that children learn best in an atmosphere which allows them to work together with the materials (treating them and each other with respect), and which allows pretend play to occur naturally along with the structured lessons of the materials.