The Montessori primary classroom offers a carefully prepared environment designed to meet the developmental needs and abilities of a group of children ranging in age from approximately three to six years. Within this framework, each child becomes a member a community of children and adults where he or she learns to choose activities, perfect skills, and pursue individual interests.
The Montessori-trained classroom teacher ensures that the classroom is appealing and inviting to the children, to draw the children into contact with the specially designed Montessori tools for learning, and to carefully observe the children at work. She watches as the children spontaneously pursuing their individual interests without interference or the fear of being corrected or rushed, and notes the growth of each one's personality.
The three to six year span represents a unique period in the child's life during which particular interests are awakened and stimulated by the teacher’s lessons. It is critical to the child's progress that parents appreciate this fact and allow their child to complete the three year programme. The School and its teaching staff is wholly committed to guiding each child's growth during these three important years.
During the first year, the children work primarily with the practical life and the basic sensorial materials. They develop an interest in and respect for Montessori materials, learn to work in an orderly fashion, realize personal achievements and begin to cooperate with others. Emphasis is placed on independence, self-confidence, self-motivation, self-discipline and, of course, in the joy of learning through their own efforts as well as working with others.
During the second year, the children’s work habits, social awareness and emotional stability build on earlier development. They explore the advanced sensorial materials and learn to make connections between classroom discoveries and the world beyond the classroom. The children begin to learn phonetics and may compose words using the letters of the moveable alphabet. Some children may read, though this usually occurs later during the third year. In mathematics, they progress through the concepts of numbers from 1-10 to the decimal system including addition and subtraction. They receive more geography, biology and zoology, music and art lessons.
The third year is marked by an intense interest in the arts, sciences, mathematics and language work. Children enjoy doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems and often explode into reading everything from one word labels to books. They show an ability to accept responsibility, cooperate with peers, be dependent of the adult and further develop leadership qualities. The "seasoned" five year olds spontaneously care for the classroom environment and demonstrate concern and compassion for others. This is the happiest year in the Montessori primary programme. The children mature socially and emotionally and acquire the basic skills to begin elementary research in science, zoology, biology and geography.
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