Academics
Coed Montessori
Our Approach
Our Approach
Visitation Academy’s coeducational Montessori program is the first of its kind in the St. Louis area, opening its doors more than 50 years ago. What makes the Viz Montessori classroom different from the rest? Our longstanding program is based on the established and proven principles of Maria Montessori:
List of 4 items.
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Adopting a Whole Child Approach
A primary goal is to help each child reach full potential in all areas of life. Physical, emotional, social, aesthetic, spiritual, and cognitive needs and interests are considered inseparable and equally important. -
Allowing the Teacher to Facilitate Learning
The Montessori teacher is the designer of the environment, resource person, guide, role model, demonstrator, and meticulous observer and recorder of each student’s behavior and growth. The preparation of a Montessori teacher is specialized and extensive. -
Creating a Prepared Environment
The room, materials, and social climate all support the learner, creating an atmosphere of exploration and discovery that allows students to experience the joy of learning, promotes the development of self-esteem, and fosters respect for one’s self, for others, and for the environment. -
Using Montessori Materials
Montessori’s observations of the kinds of activities that children enjoy and go back to repeatedly led her to design a number of multi-sensory, sequential, and self-correcting materials that facilitate the learning of skills and lead to learning of abstract ideas.
The benefits of a Montessori education are undeniable:
- Children attain high mental and moral development at an early age
- Children learn reverence, respect and gain a foundation for a spiritual life
- Teachers have realistic expectations while challenging students to succeed
- Time-tested methods harmonize with modern technology and educational thinking
- Children learn practical, living skills and develop muscular coordination, physical independence, and powers of concentration
In Visitation Academy Montessori classrooms, children learn by doing and develop when they are ready, beginning as early as age two. They are presented with opportunities to touch, handle, and rearrange; to explore, experiment, and observe; and to discover the world and themselves. Children in the Visitation Montessori Program:
- Develop independence
- Learn through step-by-step activities
- Become confident, competent learners
- Respect and get along with others
"We truly believe that each student who enrolls at Viz has their own special set of talents and gifts, and it is our job as educators to nurture those talents and gifts."
Tracey Allen, Montessori Directress
Visitation Academy is an independent, private Catholic school offering a coeducational Montessori preschool and Kindergarten program, the area's only all-girl elementary program for Grades 1-5, and an all-girl middle school and all-girl high school.
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