Primary Program (Ages 3-5)

In considering Maria Montessori’s sensitive periods, the primary child from 3 years to 6 years is very in tune with their senses, receptive to increasingly sophisticated language development, more capable in their retention of advanced math concepts, and responsive to lessons in social growth and grace and courtesy.

The Montessori primary program is based upon the child’s desire for stimulation and to challenge themselves. The child has already been exposed to and continues to develop the foundation, but then takes those fundamental skills and constructs new knowledge in vast and advanced concepts.  

The philosophy behind this 115-year-old, yet seemingly innovative, method is that a child at any age is capable of understanding complex ideas, when the learning is made accessible to them. The accessibility of such an expansive, but detailed curriculum is in the Montessori materials and the child’s own desire to explore them and find understanding through their teachings.

The younger primary child, still an extension of the toddler, is driven by the process of their work rather than the product. This promotes repetition with the materials and encourages self-motivated mastery, with concepts being naturally received by the child.

As the child grows older and continues through the Montessori primary program, they become slightly more focused on the result with which they work towards, but still attentive to following even more detailed procedures and driven by an internal desire to achieve personal growth.

The primary child also flourishes in their new found sense of self, cultivated by the freedom of choice offered and the ownership they take in their own learning. This consciousness of the responsibility they have for making decisions about their own lives, creates a sense of duty within them to challenge themselves and find their own forms of success. This innate draw towards intrinsic reward remains with the child, creating a true love of learning.

The primary child takes the accountability placed on them as a toddler to care for themselves and their environment and relates that to the larger picture of life. The child then works towards something greater than their own benefit, but begins to associate themselves to their world and discover their place in it.

The Montessori primary program supports the child in personal achievement based on individual needs and promotes worldly views that encourage the child to think critically, be inventive, and always seek opportunities for discovery.