The Head of School’s Message

Claudia Krikorian

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Peninsula Montessori School. Each day at our school is an exciting new opportunity to enrich the minds of our students, and we hope your child will join us.

Peninsula Montessori School welcomes students regardless of race, gender, national and ethnic origin, and is non discriminatory in all our policies. We accept children between the ages of 18 months and 12 years.

There are no specific academic entrance requirements; however, we base admission decisions on many factors, especially your child’s age and suitability for our program.

Please contact us regarding availability for your child, and to schedule your personal tour of our school. We will be happy to answer your questions and provide additional information about our educational programs.

Kind regards,

Claudia Krikorian
Head of School

Montessori Principles

Peninsula Montessori implements the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori as embodied in the following principles.

⇒ Mixed age grouping
⇒ Freedom of choice with responsibility
⇒ Self teaching manipulative materials
⇒ Character and personal development
⇒ Children progress at their own rate
⇒ Richly prepared environment
⇒ Control of error built into lessons
⇒ Teacher is a guide
⇒ Build positive self-image
⇒ Logical consequences for behavior
⇒ Self discipline through work
⇒ Interrelated curriculum
⇒ Children learn to care for themselves and their environment
⇒ Encourages left and right brain integration
⇒ Movement necessary for neuro-muscular development
⇒ Individual as well as group interactions
⇒ Sensitive periods of learning
⇒ Self-control through lessons in grace and courtesy
⇒ Sensory based learning
⇒ Non-judgmental approach
⇒ Appreciation of all life

Montessori education offers children and families an alternative to traditional or charter schooling.
Each classroom at Peninsula Montessori School creates an environment based on a respect for the child, and each child’s unique individual needs.

“My vision of the future is no longer of people taking exams and proceeding on that certification… but of individuals passing from one stage of independence to a higher one, by means of their own activity, through their own effort of will, which constitutes the inner evolution of the individual.”

– Maria Montessori

Campus Life at Peninsula Montessori

Peninsula Montessori School has many enriching activities, programs, and events throughout the school year. Be sure to stay connected and informed by visiting this section from time to time. If you would like more information about a specific item within Campus Life.

Art At Your Fingertips

Art at Your Fingertips brings affordable visual arts education to our Transition and Elementary classrooms. AAYF’s paramount objective is to help every child feel comfortable using art as a means of expression.

Begun in 1975 by parents dismayed by the loss of school art programs, AAYF sends volunteer docents into public and private classrooms to teach carefully selected projects combining art techniques, art history and aesthetics to more than 7,000 Palos Verdes Peninsula students each year. AAYF seeks to:

• Enhance each child’s creative and mental growth through meaningful art experiences in a non-judgmental environment.
• Improve each child’s visual perception and awareness.
• Make community resources in the arts more available to children.
• Support the Palos Verdes Art Center and Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District’s arts education plan by providing visual arts experiences aligned with California State Visual and Performing Arts Standards.
• Provide training to its docents so these volunteers have the tools and knowledge to deliver a quality, grade-appropriate art experience.

Each spring, more than 1,000 pieces of student art from all participating schools and grade levels fill the Art Center exhibition galleries in a month-long exhibition.

Mae Franco

Art At Your Fingertips

Program Chair

Art At Your Fingertips is a program available to all of our Transition and Elementary students. We encourage parents to participate as Docents and/or Helping Hands if they are able.