Welcome to Fort Montgomery Elementary School where the classrooms are true early childhood classrooms with teachers who understand young children and work every day to make learning experiences enriching and fun for the children!

The Fort Montgomery Elementary School opened its doors in 1930 as the little school on the hill for the children of the Hamlet of Fort Montgomery.  The original building still stands with additions that enlarge its capacity for more children.  Over the years the school has evolved into an early childhood school for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades.  Across from the school is a lovely pond, Garrison Pond, that is the home of beautiful white swans.  Each year, we watch as new sygnets hatch and join their parents swimming on the pond.  What a fitting symbol for our school!  As our young swans enter kindergarten, we take on the responsibility of nurturing their growth and development as the youngest students in the district.  The transition from home, pre-k or daycare to a school and classroom setting can be a difficult one filled with new routines, expectations and skills.  Our kindergarten teachers and aides bring years of experience to foster this growth.

The goal of our 1st grade program is twofold:  (1) turn the children into readers who can communicate what they have read and express it in writing and (2) develop the ability to know, understand and use numbers as they relate to every day living.  When children can actually take a book in hand and read, we see a true miracle.  Who can explain it?  It just doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work and that is what our experienced 1st grade teachers do each day with the children. They integrate phonetics, word knowledge and literature to develop the skills to be that independent reader.  They use blocks, shapes, clocks, rulers and other manipulatives to build the mathematical foundation to understand the use of number in our lives.

When the foundation is laid, the house begins to take shape.  In 2nd grade the teachers’ goal is to take the beginning readers and mathematicians and help them use this knowledge and skill to deepen understanding, develop thinking skills and make reasoned connections.  They are now reading to learn.  The teachers involve the children in interdisciplinary units of study that incorporate reading, writing, science, social studies and mathematics.  They have many, many opportunities to deepen their understanding and sharpen their skills through engaging topics.