Toddler, Primary & Elementary Admissions

Toddler Program…

The Montessori School offers a Toddler Program for children between the approximate ages of 14 months to 2-1/2 years.  Children are accepted into the program on the basis of age and on the basis of parental commitment.

As the term Assistants to Infancy implies, the purpose of this work with very young children is to aid their development according to the specific needs of each stage.  Acquisition of language and the perfection of movement are major efforts of very young children.  In a warm and trusting atmosphere, children may work/play, exploring through special materials and activities, to help themselves move, speak, and function independently and joyfully.  The children’s sense of self and understanding that they are part of a caring community are fostered.  The social development of the children is impressive as they show a much greater awareness, tenderness and helpfulness with each other than is usually credited to such young children.

We have been impressed by the social development of the children, who show a much greater awareness, tenderness and helpfulness with each other than is usually credited to such young children.

The Toddler Program is a 5-day per week program, from 9:00a.m. until noon.  A lunch and afternoon naptime extension to this program are also available.

Primary Program…

The Montessori School’s Primary Program has children between the ages of 2 ½  and 6 with children typically entering the program between the ages of 2 ½ and 3 ½ .  These classes are designed around Maria Montessori’s philosophical observations of what children need in order to develop natural tendencies towards self motivation, control, relationship with others, mastery of their environment and independence.

The Prepared Environment, the teacher, and the exquisitely attuned sensitivities of the child produce together a community of self-sufficient, curious and joyful children who eagerly participate in the Montessori education.   The classroom is divided into four main areas: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, and Mathematics.  Grace and Courtesy and the cultural subjects of art, science, foreign language, geography and biology are also offered.  The environment includes children from the ages of 2-1/2 – 6 for very special reasons.  Maria Montessori observed that the child is highly motivated to learn certain things at certain times.  These periods of great receptivity are identified as Sensitive Periods.  There are periods of special sensitivity to order, the acquisition of language, mathematical concepts, and many others.  Montessori felt that the children learn from each other and from their own use of materials with more depth than from being taught.  And that in an atmosphere which has a low level of adult authority, the child’s independence, self-motivation, and satisfaction from work done, increase dramatically.

During the three or four-year cycle, a child grows from being the youngest, to being in the middle, to being a community leader.  Central to this process is the opportunity to experience, to learn and then to abstract and solidify knowledge through teaching, working, sharing and cooperating with others.  At the completion of the Primary Class, the child is ready to graduate to our Elementary Program or to first grade. 

Elementary Program…

The Montessori School’s Lower Elementary Program includes children between the ages of 6-9 (first through third grade) and its Upper Elementary Program includes children between the ages of 9-12 (fourth through sixth grades).  The Montessori Elementary Program responds to the child’s insatiable desire for knowledge, which moves to a heightened level of sophistication at this next stage of development.

As the child changes, so must the method of education.  Lessons for the child from six to twelve years of age are no longer exclusively individual.  Now the group lesson predominates.  In addition, the categories of work expand.  The four divisions of the Primary environment become seven at the Elementary level.  These divisions are geography, history, mathematics, geometry, language, botany and zoology.  Art and music are woven into all areas of investigation and all subjects are tied together with grand lessons.

The story of the beginning of the universe and of its continual evolution is an example of a grand lesson to the Elementary child.  This lesson, presented in story form, provides a basis for the geography, history, botany, and zoology work that follows.  Grand lessons do more than interconnect fact.  They capture the child’s imagination, spark the child’s curiosity, and generate concentrated work.  The older child has entered a period of heightened receptivity to intellectual learning.  For this reason, the Elementary curriculum stresses a rigorous academic program.

The work of the Elementary child is social as well as academic.  Driven by a desire to become part of society, the older child needs an environment that allows for social development.  Lessons that encourage the children to work together in a non-competitive atmosphere allow them to practice creating and functioning in a harmonious world and to participate actively, enthusiastically, and responsibly in the world around them.