Specialty Classes
Outstanding specialty classes are integrated with the academic curriculum to teach children to think creatively and express themselves. All students at Desert Montessori receive weekly instruction in Art, Nature, and Spanish, and we offer a variety of after-school athletic programs.
Art
The Art program encourages children to observe their external world, access their intuition, think creatively, and express themselves. We engage in various media including drawing, painting, textiles, ceramics, glasswork, sewing, digital media, and 3-D mixed-media to create self-portraits, animal and nature representation, still life, and abstract art.
Our Art program operates as a standalone yet curriculum-integrated class for our elementary students, and as a rich and immersive program for our primary students.
Spanish
Our Spanish immersion program is designed to spark interest in language and culture and enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills. Spanish is taught by a native Spanish speaker through play, music, arts and crafts, food, cultural celebrations, and games.
Our Spanish program is often integrated into the classroom, with our Spanish teacher communicating with children of all levels in Spanish during normal school-day activities and operations.
NATURE
In conjunction with Montessori Education, we are implementing a nature-based classroom
program based upon the Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature by Jon Young. Students participate in environmentally centered activities, stories, songs, and games that engage body, mind, and spirit.
Our nature classes will be held outside. For an outdoor classroom there is no bad weather,
only bad clothing!
Athletics
Students of all ages at Desert Montessori are encouraged to participate in athletics to increase their physical, social, and emotional development, learn leadership and self-discipline, and have a good time. Go Bobcats!
In 2022, we’re excited to be offering after-school Soccer as well as a Family Mountain Biking Club, in addition to our usual offerings of Ski Club and Swim Club.
Swim Club teaches children to learn and refine their technique in Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly.
The culmination of weekly practice is participation in the City-wide Swim Meet held in April each year at The Chavez Center.
Our team, The Bobcats, received third place for small schools in 2019 with many individual medals and lots of personal bests!
Ski Club is a five-week program during the height of ski season that accommodates all levels of skiers and snowboarders under the direction of Ski Santa Fe professional ski teachers.
Students and parent chaperones travel to Ski Santa Fe and spend a day learning skills and techniques.
Beginning students learn how to turn, control their speed, and skiing essentials. Experienced skiers will focus on technique improvements so they are comfortable in powder, bumps, or the terrain park.