About Santa Fe

Desert Montessori School (DMS) offers excellent Preschool, Kindergarten and Elementary school education in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We offer a loving and secure learning environment for our youngest students in Preschool and Kindergarten. Our Elementary age students receive a strong academic foundation for success at Santa Fe’s best private or public middle schools. Most DMS graduates continue their education at Santa Fe Prep or Desert Academy. Over the last 4 years 95% our 6th grade graduates have gained admission to the school of their choice.

Our Preschool and Kindergarten is a Montessori based curriculum, while the Elementary curriculum is traditional with strong Montessori influence.

Our school has mixed-aged classes for students ages 2-12, dedicated to and inspired by the innovative educational principles of Dr. Maria Montessori. All areas of learning are mastered prior to moving on to a new classroom. All rates of learning are respected, whether a student masters a core set of ideas quickly or slowly. Due to our small class sizes, all children receive the level of instruction they need in order to succeed.

Our classes have two and three-year age groupings creating a feeling of family and allowing a child to progress with fewer social transitions. Mixed-age groupings give the mature younger child someone to emulate and the older child refines social skills and practices leadership by serving as an example for younger children.

Our two and three-year sequence of progressively challenging work allows children to progress independently at their own pace leading to a strong sense of security, accomplishment, and joy. The works are designed to lead a child in discovery from the simple to the complex, and from concrete to abstract concepts.

Conflict resolution skills are taught as a third language at our school. We have found that fluency in problem solving deepens as a child practices voicing concerns, mediating conflicts, achieving compromise, and making decisions.

Our program includes:

• Practical, daily living skills and refinement of the senses.
• Communication and conflict resolution skills.
• Reading, writing, and research skills.
• Math, number recognition/manipulation skills.
• Introduction of geometry language and algebra concepts.
• Science and exploration of the natural world.
• Inter-cultural studies and geography.
• Storytelling and poetry.
• Visual arts, art history, and crafts.
• Field trips that tie to currriculum; in-class guests and workshops.
• Inner awareness and development of positive emotional language.