Primary Classroom (3-6 years old)

Our three-year-old children will join a mixed age classroom called the Primary Classroom. Children ages 3 through the Kindergarten year work together forming a community. Children choose their activities from open shelves with self-correcting materials and work in distinct work areas – on tables or on rugs on the floor. Over a period of time, the children develop into a “normalized community” working with high concentration and few interruptions. Our program offers this age group work in the garden each week and hiking to Westwood Hills every other Friday.

The classrooms include the following components:

The Practical Life Exercises enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and refinement of physical movement and coordination.

The Sensorial Exercises enable the child to order, classify, sequence and describe sensory impressions in relation to length, width, weight, temperature, mass, color, sound and shape.

The Montessori Math Materials are concrete manipulative materials, allowing the child to internalize the concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations and memorization of basic facts.

The Language Materials introduce the child to each written letter by its sound and encourage muscular memory through the touching of Sand Paper Letters. Various presentations allow children to link effortlessly, sounds and their written symbols and ultimately to write; Dr. Montessori recognized that writing as a coding skill comes before reading, a decoding skill.

The child is also provided with materials for Geography, History, Life Sciences, Music, Art and Drama education.

Each primary class has an elliptical line on the floor. This is generally used for “walking on the line” activities that help children develop grace, balance, follow simple instructions and for the “silence game” where an individual child can practice sitting without making a sound.

The children also have the opportunity to play, cook, garden and make wonderful projects. The children’s work continues in the afternoon, with individual and small group choices.

“Montessori is an education for independence, preparing not just for school, but for life”

We can’t wait to share the joy and beauty of our infant and toddler communities with you!