Primary

A Love of Learning Starts Here

The Montessori Primary program is an opportunity to nurture your child's individual development within the context of a group setting. They will emerge with a set of skills - social, emotional and academic - while, more importantly, knowing how to function within a group. Our Primary program is licensed under the PA Department of Education and the Department of Human Services.

The Primary classroom, for children between the ages of three and five, is designed to meet the needs of your child in this crucial phase of her life. The child's experience in the classroom affects not only the amount of knowledge and skill he or she will have at his or her command, but, more importantly, his or her attitudes toward themself, their world, and learning.

It's a mixed-age class.

Because the learning is individualized, your child can work at her own pace while participating in a mixed age classroom community. Younger children benefit from example, and learn from the activities of the older children, while each older child gains the self-confidence that comes with responsibility and leadership.

The children are very independent.

Often, children who don't do things for themselves simply don't know how or haven't been given the chance. Here children have both. We carefully teach your child how to care for her own needs and provide opportunities to practice and improve. When she can successfully care for herself and the environment in which she lives, her demeanor becomes one of self-accomplishment and self-confidence.

The classroom is child-centered, not teacher-centered.

Unlike traditional classrooms, where your child is expected to pay rapt attention to the teacher, in the Primary classroom the teacher is trained to observe each individual child.

You won't see a Montessori teacher standing in front of the classroom writing on a chalkboard, but rather down at your child's level, engaged with her or a small group.

The curriculum is highly individualized.

The teacher is trained to recognize and respect the unique potentials operating within your child, and strives to connect him to the activity best suited to him at that moment. The art of being a Montessori teacher is in finding the activity that combines both interest and the right level challenge - not too hard and not too easy. In this classroom, your child will become engaged with an activity, increasing her ability to focus and concentrate.