Primary

Our Programs

We offer two programs, both built around the same idea: children learn best through real, hands-on work they choose themselves, guided (not directed) by their teacher.

Primary Program — ages 3 to 6
Elementary Program — ages 6 to 10

Primary Program (ages 3-6)

In our Primary classroom, your child chooses their own work from a shelf of hands-on materials — pouring, sorting, tracing letters with their fingers, counting with physical objects — each designed to teach one concept at a time and let a child correct their own mistakes without a teacher stepping in.

Children work for long, uninterrupted blocks of time (we call this the "work cycle"), moving freely around the room rather than sitting at a desk all day. Mixed ages (3, 4, and 5-year-olds together) mean younger children learn by watching older ones, and older children build confidence by teaching what they already know.

By the time a child moves on to Elementary, they've typically built real independence: dressing themselves, cleaning up after their own work, reading and writing at an individual pace, and a genuine comfort with choosing and finishing a task on their own.

Timing and Preparation

Some characteristics teachers notice in a child as they approach readiness for the Primary environment are:

the child’s ability to verbally articulate their needs,
the child’s independence with self-care activities such as hand-washing, dressing, undressing, and the toilet learning process,
the child’s ability to follow simple instructions, concentrate on a task through completion, restore work to the shelf when finished, and a child’s tendency to repeat activities again and again in concentrated cycles of activity,
the child's ability to respect others, take turns, and cooperate.

You can also help your child get ready for the Primary community by focusing on improving independence, social maturity, and concentration. These activities (and many others) can help:

Engage your child in conversations at home. Speak to them like you would an adult; no baby talk.
Expect and encourage your child to use words, especially around their feelings and needs. Gradually transition them to using phrases and sentences.
Support socialization. Create opportunities for them to have unstructured, child-directed playtime with other children and moving from "parallel play" into more collaboration and cooperation with others.
Support concentration. Provide them with activities that require them to complete multiple steps. Create unstructured individual playtime where they can self-direct as well as engage uninterrupted for long stretches.
Provide tools for independence at home (e.g. a step stool, a cup and pitcher, a small broom, low shelves for kitchen items, a clothes dresser). Give them enough time to complete these tasks independently. Do not rush them.
Support self-awareness of body cues and independent toileting. With this one, practice makes perfect. Stay positive. A few accidents are bound to happen!
Choose clothes and food the child can independently manage. Example: No shoes with shoelaces.

School Hours

Half Day: 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Full Day: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM

Elementary

Elementary (ages 6-10)

Elementary students keep learning hands-on, but the work grows up with them. Instead of separate periods for math, reading, science, and history, our curriculum is built around five great lessons — how the universe began, how life developed, how humans came to be, and the histories of math and language — that give children a sense of their own place in a much bigger picture, and a reason to care about each subject.

From there, a lesson about the history of math naturally opens into a real math problem; a lesson about early humans opens into a research project on ancient tools. Children see how subjects connect to each other, instead of experiencing school as a series of disconnected class periods.

As in Primary, children work in long, self-directed blocks, in a mixed-age classroom (roughly ages 6–12 together), with a teacher who guides rather than lectures.

Parentally placed private school student with a disability does not have an individual right to
receive some or all of the special education and related services that the student would receive
if enrolled in a public school under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as
amended.

School Hours

Full Day: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM

How this Differs

From a Traditional Classroom

In a traditional classroom...

The whole class moves through the same lesson at the same pace
Subjects are taught separately, period by period
Children are generally grouped by a single age
A teacher directs most of the lesson

In a Montessori classroom...

Each child works at their own pace, at their own current challenge level
Subjects connect to each other through real projects
Children learn from each other in a mixed-age classrooms
A teacher observes, guides, and introduces new work when a child is ready

Come See for Yourself

Reading about Montessori only goes so far — it's best understood by watching a child at work. Schedule a Tour to see our environment for yourself.

Schedule a Tour

The child who has felt a strong love for his surroundings and for all living creatures, who has discovered joy and enthusiasm in work, gives us reason to hope that humanity can develop in a new direction.

- Dr. Maria Montessori