Readiness Checklist

Our 20/21 Yearbooks are now $55 and can be purchased while supplies last.  Visit MSB for more information.

2021/22 CHARTER WAITLISTS
The 2021/2022 Lottery was held on March 1, 2021. Updates to the waitlists will ONLY be made when there are changes to report. Placement of students in the 1st–8th grades will begin when the current school year ends in mid-June. Please note that Sterling will continue to make offers of enrollment through the first 35 days of school.

ADMISSIONS INFORMATION

PRESCHOOL APPLICATIONS

(3 and 4-year old programs available)

2021/2022 Preschool Application

Be sure to view our virtual classroom tour and sign up for a Zoom Informational Session before you apply.

CHARTER ADMISSIONS

(Kindergarten-8th Grade)

For general information about Sterling Montessori's admissions and lottery process, please visit our Charter Admissions page.

READINESS CHECKLIST FOR KINDERGARTENERS

 Kindergarten-readiness does not just happen. While learning comes naturally, young children do not automatically acquire all the knowledge and skills they need for a positive kindergarten experience. The readiness to learn that each child brings into the kindergarten classroom comes directly from the experiences she or he has had-or has not had-in the years before.

Below you will find a checklist of the basic knowledge and skills that all young children need for a strong start in kindergarten and elementary.

Work Habits

• Listen attentively to a book being read aloud to a group of children for at least 10 minutes
• Complete an age-appropriate activity during a sustained period of time, at least 15 minutes, with minimal supervision
• Follow multi-step directions

Social and Emotional Development

• Care for personal needs, such as using the bathroom independently, dressing oneself, using appropriate table manners, etc.
• Recognize and greet familiar people by name
• Follow rules established for specific settings (public spaces like a bookstore or grocery store, for example)
• Follow the rules of simple games
• Play cooperatively with other children, taking turns and sharing toys as necessary

Language

• Give and respond to full name
• Clearly communicate needs, desires, and feelings
• Speak in sentences that are, for the most part, grammatically correct
• Carry on a simple conversation with an adult, taking turns, staying on topic, contributing to the conversation by answering and asking questions, etc.
• Sequentially describe a personal experience
• Ask and answer questions
• Understand and use words pertaining to position in space, such as “under/over,” “in/on,” “up/down,” etc.
• Understand and use words pertaining to time, such as names of the days of the week, “morning/afternoon/evening,” “today/tomorrow/yesterday,” etc.

Literacy

• Recite familiar nursery rhymes from memory
• Identify rhyming words in familiar nursery rhymes
• Give the beginning sound heard in spoken word
• Answer questions about what is happening in a book that is being read aloud
• Retell a familiar story in child’s own words
• Pretend to read a book, pointing out the words on a page, where to start reading and in what direction, turning the pages correctly, etc.
• Give the sounds of the letters in his or her first name
• Draw and copy simple lines and marks
• Write first name, even if some mistakes are present
• Cut straight lines with scissors
• Dictate thoughts and ideas to an adult.

Math

• Identify whether objects are the same or different
• Complete puzzles with 8-15 pieces
• Rote-count from 1=10
• Count up to 6 objects correctly
• Compare groups of objects, using words like “more,” “less,” “equal,” and “the same.”
• Compare the size of objects, using words like “large/small,” “long/short,” “thick/thin,” etc.
• Categorize objects according to a single characteristic, such as color, shape, or size.
• Continue a pattern of objects
• Identify some numerals.

General Knowledge

Recognize and name:

• parts of the body
• colors and shapes
• household items
• food and clothing
• animals and their habitats, such as farm, ocean, jungle, desert