After going through the important Sensitive Period of learning how to walk, our Primary children are encouraged to explore their world. This new found freedom of movement is balanced with emphasis on the respect of others and the environment, verbalization of needs and the practical life skill of caring for themselves. Challenging tasks are gradually introduced that will enable them to master basic movement, develop vocabulary, acquire social skills, and to gain independence. It is here that the child begins to learn many of the pre-Language and pre-Math skills that they will need throughout their lives.
  
Practical life skills continue to be an important part of their day, as they improve social skills and interaction with the classroom environment. This is the age when they begin to develop more awareness of others in their environment and begin to experience the ideas of community and responsibility. Toilet training is an important developmental step for these children and we work with parents in making this process a natural part of development.
  
At this stage of their lives, children are realizing that they are capable of doing many things by themselves, and they are encouraged to use this realization to learn new skills. As Dr. Montessori said, "The hand is the prehensile organ of the mind", and the prepared environment of the Montessori classroom offers them many opportunities to use their hands to greet each new phenomena that they encounter. Reading and writing skills are expanded through use of sandpaper letters and learning to sort and differentiate. The children are taught a proper pencil grip, and engage in exercises that strengthen the muscles used in writing. Phonetics begins here with exercises in rhyming sounds and tonal recognition. This is when their ability to communicate verbally explodes, and the teacher directs them to lessons that will challenge and expand their vocabulary. At the same time, they are beginning to learn how to map these verbal skills to written skills through the use of Montessori materials.
  
Math skills begin with concrete concepts such as proportion, sorting, seriating, and size. Logic is not a characteristic of a child of this age, so the use of Montessori materials that offer concrete examples are needed to lead them to the more abstract aspects of numbers and number operations.

The ages of the children in this class are from 3 to 6, and they must be potty trained prior to entering the class. TK children generally stop napping at age 4, or shortly thereafter. The range of lessons that are offered to these children is exceptional, and their success is now based on the high degree of self-confidence that they have in their abilities. More and more they learn how to work and play with each other, whereas before they had only worked and played around each other. Gradually they learn to reflect on their actions rather than react to the stimulus of the moment. The children begin to be able to plan what they will do for the day, and this self-regulation is the prelude to the explosion in learning that occurs between ages 4 and 6.

Our Transitional Kindergarten program focuses on developing socialization skills, emotional growth, physical awareness and academic readiness. Like building the foundation of a building, we start with the basic phonetic sounds and let them construct their own language skills at a pace that expands as each new concept is learned, practiced and mastered. Many of these children are beginning to read by the time they begin their Kindergarten year. In the area of math, the teachers focus on actively involving the child with materials that contain pattern recognition, numeral recognition, shape identification, classification, estimation and number concept development. Mathematics concepts are taught sequentially, from the most concrete to the more abstract ideas and operations.

In addition, the TK children are involved in creative works in drama, singing, storytelling, and numerous art projects. As their skills improve, they are better able to expand their ideas of the environment through experimentation. The creative nature of the child is nurtured by the active nature of the classroom and the freedom that the child has to explore, conceptualize and to create. They go on a variety of field trips to help in expanding that knowledge of the world, and are exposed to geography and the wonder of other places and cultures.

Montessori Kindergarten is truly a unique opportunity for a child to grow!  The children move from becoming emergent readers and writers to being able to read to the class and to write creative stories.  This is a varied and positive experience for the children as they enter the “sensitive period” in their lives where the desire to learn explodes at a rate that is not matched again in their lifetimes. That is why it is critical for a child to be in a classroom environment that will facilitate this growth through the freedom to explore new phenomena, and the emphasis on honing Montessori skills. The Montessori Method is based on the three-year cycle, and the Kindergarten year is the culmination of all the child has experienced in school so far, and is the sounding board for what is to come.

In addition to emergent reading and writing, the focus of this group in language arts is on phonemic awareness, vocabulary growth, penmanship, oral language and listening.  These children are more able to use written language to communicate ideas and needs, and to expand on skills and knowledge previously introduced.  Math skills continue with pattern recognition, numeral recognition into the thousands, classifications, problem solving, estimating, place value, and operations.  Their work moves from being simple and concrete to more complex and abstract.  They continue their earlier work with globes, continent maps, and flags by connecting these places with meaningful language experiences.  It is during the kindergarten year that the pieces of the puzzles come together for the children, and they are able to use all the information they’ve gained in many ways, including teaching the younger children.  Kindergartners have additional responsibilities, including some homework, and are real leaders in the classroom and the school.

Music and Art: An essential part of a good education is a diversified program, and music and art are keys to this goal. Each class participates in a weekly Music Around Program, which incorporates all areas of music. We imbue in the children an interest and love of music by encouraging them to actively participate at their own pace. It is important to remember that tonal recognition is an important part of language development. Dr. Montessori said that children who could not differentiate between musical tones would likely have a problem discerning tonal differences in language. By actively adding music to our program we seek to circumvent language challenges.  Art is also an integral part of each classroom, and each child is encouraged to develop his or her own creativity.  

Spanish: Children in all classes are exposed to Spanish through a weekly class. These classes are lead by a trained teacher from the local organization, Play Spanish. Lessons from these classes are incorporated into the regular curriculum.

• Discovery Place
• The Raptor Center
• The Charlotte Trolley
• Lazy 5 Ranch
• The Nature Museum at Freedom Park
• The Public Library-Uptown
• The Children's Theater
• The Mint Museum