Ithaca Montessori School

Primary Program (3 to 6 years of age)
The Primary classroom is an atmosphere of calm, order and joy, as children ages 3-6 learn together in the same setting. The younger children are guided by the teacher and by observing and working with older students. Children learn to work at a task from beginning to end and develop their self-discipline and capacity for total concentration. Respect for others, courtesy and grace develop naturally as the children grow within the Montessori environment. Montessori is a unique philosophy that allows the child to direct his/her path of learning.
Kid Picture
Practical Life: Designed to allow children to practice life skills. Each activity in this area focuses on increasing the child’s independence, concentration and coordination.

Sensorial: Designed for exploration of the senses. Here the children interact with textures, sound, weight and color. This area develops the concept of grading materials from largest to smallest in a left to right manner in preparation for reading.

Language: Beginning with informal conversation, the child is introduced to various vocabulary-building activities such as picture matching, object discrimination, sequence stories and go-together cards. The language area progresses on to reading folders and sentence building and develops the child’s writing through metal insets, stencils of various shapes designed to teach the child the formation of letters.

Math: Starts with the child building a strong foundation using many 0-10 activities, then on to tens, hundreds, thousands and so forth. Linear counting, decimal system, addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division are also introduced at a developmentally appropriate time.

Geography: Introduces the concept of land, air and water. The globe of the world is introduced in two forms, one as land, air and water, the other more specific to continents and bodies of water. There is a detailed puzzle map of every continent. When a continent is introduced, countries within the continent are discussed along with animals, food and clothing.

Science: Is a very broad area of study. It is an area that often is directed by the interest of the children. The common areas of study are plant/animal, vertebrate/invertebrate, study of life cycles of plants and animals, mammals, reptiles, etc. Physical Science is also incorporated into the science curriculum.

Art: Includes the study of various artists and practice using various mediums, cutting, gluing and painting.

Music: Is incorporated through song, dance and introductions to different instruments.