Children of three to six years of age continue to have a tremendous power to absorb information from the environment, and at this point, they begin to actively engage with their surroundings, seeking out experiences that call to them. Their interests expand and intensify, new cognitive capabilities come online, and they yearn to exercise their autonomy and independence. This is a period of incredible growth, and our Primary program leverages this to enable young children to establish for themselves a strong foundation for future learning and development.

The Primary level consists of a three-year cycle, with children of three, four, and five years of age together in the same classroom. This allows young students to learn from their older peers, older students are able to take on more responsibility as classroom leaders, and relationships are deepened over three years together. Guides get to know their students very well, including their strengths and weaknesses, and then have ample time to cater their learning experiences to them.

The classroom environment enables student independence; children are able to engage with the materials and one another in a way that does not require constant adult intervention. In addition to building independence, the design of the materials in the classroom also encourages children to grow their sense of order, coordinate their movements and thoughts, and develop their ability to focus for extended periods of time, skills that are important for the more difficult activities that they will encounter by their kindergarten year in the program, and also for life. In addition to fostering independence, the Primary program also allows students to take ownership over their time, and builds their confidence to take on future challenges.

Practical Life

The Practical Life area is generally where the child is first linked to the environment that will be their classroom for three years. Here, they develop the skills and abilities which will help them to be able to continue to engage with, and benefit from, their classroom environment as they age. Further, it is in the Practical Life area where the children are introduced to and become part of the classroom culture, which ultimately becomes theirs to uphold. Children learn interpersonal skills, how to care for and engage with one another and the environment, and they begin to further refine their gross and fine motor coordination.

Sensorial

“There is nothing in the intellect which was not first in the senses.” This quote, attributed to Aristotle by E.M. Standing, encapsulates succinctly why the Sensorial portion on the Montessori curriculum is so important. Sensorial activities isolate and strengthen the senses, helping to lay a very important groundwork for a person to be able to better engage with and make sense of the world around them. Among other things, the Sensorial activities strengthen the grip and coordination of the hands to begin writing, create a runway to reading, and give impressions of number sense, which then gently segues into mathematics.

Mathematics

The mathematics portion of the curriculum begins by teaching children number symbols 0 through 9, and separately number quantities 0 through 9. After they have been mastered separately, they are combined in an activity. In fact, throughout the curriculum, number symbol and quantity are taught separately at first before they are used together to ensure student understanding. Topics covered include introduction to number, teens and tens, the decimal system, and memory work. Across the three year program, the materials move from concrete to abstract, first showing children physical demonstrations of concepts before relying on symbolic representations, in order to deepen understanding.

Language

Being able to understand others and express oneself through language, aurally, orally, and in a written manner, requires very complex processes comprising many sub-skills. The Montessori Curriculum appreciates and incorporates this fact. Montessori’s Language Curriculum begins by laying a fundamental groundwork of skills, upon which further language abilities are built, piece by piece. Areas of the language portion of the curriculum include enrichment of vocabulary, development of writing skills, introduction to reading, and functions of words. As children move through the trajectory of activities, they build the many skills needed to understand and communicate ideas which we as adults do as second nature.

Science

The science portion of the curriculum lends itself well to child curiosity and exploration. Topics covered may include classification of different living and non-living things, magnetic and non-magnetic objects, and items that sink and float, for example. Children also receive specific language around these topics to be able to refer to, or describe something precisely.

Geography

The geography activities begin with the Earth, and first cover the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. From there, a class may cover any number of topics. Children may learn of the continents and the countries within them, the Sun and its importance for us and our food, landforms, the solar system, our place in space, and our place within our communities. The class may also delve into the cultures associated with different regions of the globe.

Art

Art allows children to explore and create, with no expectations for what the finished product should be. Children tend to be more interested in the process, and the art area lends itself to this perfectly. Art activities allow students to be creative and express themselves, among many things, in addition to giving them the opportunity to improve their hand strength and fine motor coordination.

Kindergarten Year

The three year cycle culminates in the kindergarten year. All of the work of the first two years of the program allows our kindergarteners to step into leadership roles in the classroom. On the most basic level, this includes modeling behavior and processes for the younger students. In more involved cases, kindergarteners may give lessons to younger students and are charged with responsibilities around the classroom the others are not yet able to take on, requiring perhaps more physical strength, more coordinated movement, the ability to follow multi-step processes, and demonstrated ability to use sound judgement to make decisions on their own.

Older students also benefit from an additional work period in the afternoon. With a smaller student-to-teacher ratio, students are able to take deeper dives into more conceptually complex topics, work individually or together on challenging activities, and continue to advance their learning across the curriculum.