What Do You Know About Montessori Kindergarten?
An authentic Montessori kindergarten is often misunderstood among parents and even teachers at traditional schools. Many of us have experienced kindergarten as the first year of being with older students, perhaps taking the bus, and often sharing lunch with classmates. Yet even in more traditional settings, the kindergarten programs have many differences—a separate orientation, fewer hours, dedicated buses, additional support staff, and more. This is due to the developmental differences in children of kindergarten age from their younger and older peers. The uniqueness of the kindergarten age was observed by Dr. Maria Montessori over 100 years ago as she pioneered a new approach to early childhood education, now referred to as “the Montessori philosophy.”
Kindergarteners are not “little elementary kids.” Kindergarteners (children older than 5 and younger than 7) have reached a capstone year of development—they’re able to succeed at all the skills they have been working hard since toddlerhood to achieve: their developed large and small motor skills make things like running, skipping, and manipulating pencils, paper, and scissors much easier for them than their younger peers, but these skills still requiring more work and concentration than for a typical first or second grader. At Around the Sun, kindergarteners spend half their day in a classroom they have experience in, and they are with teachers they know from previous years. This means they are comfortable and can “hit the ground running” when their kindergarten year starts.
Going from Montessori preschool to traditional kindergarten can rob students of the chance to solidify their preschool learning. Montessori kindergarteners are leaders in the Montessori primary (preschool) classroom. Until kindergarten, older peers and teachers have been helping them complete many practical and academic skills. At Around the Sun Montessori, our kindergarteners spend half their day in the primary classroom with younger children, demonstrating mastery of the materials and skills required by helping the younger students learn. In a kindergarten-only room the other half of the day, they continue working on honing fine motor skills, reading, and developing longer attention spans with other kindergarteners.
Montessori kindergarten sets children up for success in many school environments. Many families of Montessori kindergarteners find they must move their children to a more traditional school in first grade. These students typically have an excellent foundation in mathematical concepts due to the hands-on nature of Montessori math materials. Their reading and writing are on par or above most peers. At Around the Sun, we also offer a mixed-age elementary classroom for grades 1 through 6, where kindergarten students from the previous year encounter many of the same materials, procedures, and students they remember from their primary classroom. This gives students the chance to further grow and master the skills and academics they first experience in the primary class. Most students who exit a Montessori elementary program after grades 5 or 6 go on to be high performers in their upper elementary and middle schools.
References:
Please Stay…Here’s Why | The American Montessori Society
Why-Montessori-for-the-kindergarten-year.pdf
The Kindergarten Year – A Critical Time to Stay with Montessori | Montessori Foundation | Montessori Family Alliance
Montessori Kindergarten: Essential & Empowering (video)
For more information on the primary program, including kindergarten, or the elementary program, which comes after kindergarten, please click on the links below.
Kindergarteners are not “little elementary kids.” Kindergarteners (children older than 5 and younger than 7) have reached a capstone year of development—they’re able to succeed at all the skills they have been working hard since toddlerhood to achieve: their developed large and small motor skills make things like running, skipping, and manipulating pencils, paper, and scissors much easier for them than their younger peers, but these skills still requiring more work and concentration than for a typical first or second grader. At Around the Sun, kindergarteners spend half their day in a classroom they have experience in, and they are with teachers they know from previous years. This means they are comfortable and can “hit the ground running” when their kindergarten year starts.
Going from Montessori preschool to traditional kindergarten can rob students of the chance to solidify their preschool learning. Montessori kindergarteners are leaders in the Montessori primary (preschool) classroom. Until kindergarten, older peers and teachers have been helping them complete many practical and academic skills. At Around the Sun Montessori, our kindergarteners spend half their day in the primary classroom with younger children, demonstrating mastery of the materials and skills required by helping the younger students learn. In a kindergarten-only room the other half of the day, they continue working on honing fine motor skills, reading, and developing longer attention spans with other kindergarteners.
Montessori kindergarten sets children up for success in many school environments. Many families of Montessori kindergarteners find they must move their children to a more traditional school in first grade. These students typically have an excellent foundation in mathematical concepts due to the hands-on nature of Montessori math materials. Their reading and writing are on par or above most peers. At Around the Sun, we also offer a mixed-age elementary classroom for grades 1 through 6, where kindergarten students from the previous year encounter many of the same materials, procedures, and students they remember from their primary classroom. This gives students the chance to further grow and master the skills and academics they first experience in the primary class. Most students who exit a Montessori elementary program after grades 5 or 6 go on to be high performers in their upper elementary and middle schools.
References:
Please Stay…Here’s Why | The American Montessori Society
Why-Montessori-for-the-kindergarten-year.pdf
The Kindergarten Year – A Critical Time to Stay with Montessori | Montessori Foundation | Montessori Family Alliance
Montessori Kindergarten: Essential & Empowering (video)
For more information on the primary program, including kindergarten, or the elementary program, which comes after kindergarten, please click on the links below.
