Preschool

Primary Montessori classroom is designed in a multi-age mix from 2 ½ – 6 years old which allows for both individual and social development. Classroom is set up in an open style, with work areas throughout the room and materials available on accessible shelving. Most lessons are given to individual children or small groups while other children are working independently.

Basic Principles

Children need to be free to repeat an action as many times as they wish.
Children are encouraged to make discoveries and solve problems on their own.
Children will only learn subject matter that they care about. Anything that’s forced upon them will be forgotten.
Do not disturb. When the child is concentrating on an activity, he or she shouldn’t be interrupted.

The Purpose of Montessori Education

Dr. Maria Montessori believed that no human being is educated by another person. She/he must do it themselves or it will never be done. A truly educated individual continues learning long after the hours and years she/he spends in the classroom because she/he is motivated from within by a natural curiosity and love for knowledge. Dr. Montessori felt that the goal of early childhood education should not be to fill the child with facts from pre-selected courses of studies, but rather, to cultivate her/his own natural desire to learn.

Primary Curriculum for 2 ½ – 6 Year Olds

A Prepared environment: uses concrete, hands on materials. Experiencing these materials enables the child to progress towards the understanding of abstract concepts. (“The brain retains 70% of what it experiences and only 30% of what it sees and hears.”)

Practical Life: entails the skills of daily living, where the children learn to take care of themselves, each other and their environment. These activities develop concentration and coordination. To children, there is something very interesting and special in doing what adults find ordinary. Practical life exercises like sorting, pouring, washing dishes or polishing shoes absorbs them completely.

We recognize this as the beginning of control and coordination of mind and body, so here, learning revolves around tangible experiences.

Our Primary Program includes:

• Sensorial Activities: provide specific opportunities for exploration which refines the senses.
• Language materials: foster spoken, reading and writing skills.
• Mathematical materials: offer an exciting, concrete experience of number concepts and operations.
• Cultural subjects: which include biology, science, geography, history, art, nature, music and movement, are a broadly based and integrated part of the curriculum.