Primary Program
“Montessori Country School is a place where kids are free to be themselves, where wonderful teachers treat every child with respect and kindness. I love that my kids are learning from a young age to be global citizens who care about their community and environment. Seeing the kids at the Country School, joyfully learning together, gives me so much hope for the future.”
- C.S., MCS Parent
“Montessori Country School is a place where kids are free to be themselves, where wonderful teachers treat every child with respect and kindness. I love that my kids are learning from a young age to be global citizens who care about their community and environment. Seeing the kids at the Country School, joyfully learning together, gives me so much hope for the future.”
- C.S., MCS Parent
Class Size
22
Adult / Student Ratio
1 / 11
Age
3 - 6 Years
Schedule
Age: 2.9 to 3 Years
Monday -Thursday Morning Session: 8:15 - 11:30
-or-
Monday - Friday Morning Session: 8:15 - 11:30
Age: 4 Years
Monday - Friday Morning Session: 8:15 - 11:30
Lunch option for 4 years+: 11:30-12:30
Age: 5 years (Kindergarten year)
Monday - Friday: 8:15 - 3
Extended Day option upon turning 5 years: 12:30 - 3
Lunch Hour Option*
An optional lunch hour (11:30-12:30) is available for our Primary children who are 4+ years old. Lunch is brought from home and the children enjoy this special time with the lunch guides and their MCS friends.
*Availability of lunch hour option is limited
Extended Day & Kindergarten Schedule
All Extended Day and Kindergarten students are registered Monday through Friday from 8:15am-3pm. Children bring their lunches from home and enjoy this social time with their classmates.
The full days afford the students the benefit of more time with the Montessori materials, small group instruction, and the opportunity to delve deeply into a project for a longer period of time. It is wonderful to see the “big work” the children often choose.
Visitors to the program will notice a calm hum of activity. Children of mixed ages are learning and growing together - counting, scrubbing tables, feeding the fish, writing stories, creating art, singing songs - finding ways to engage in learning that is as natural as breathing.
The Primary program includes the Kindergarten year.
The Environment
Dr. Montessori believed no one is educated by another person; we must do it ourselves. The goal of education is not to fill children with facts, but to cultivate their natural desire to learn. The primary classrooms are dynamic, wonder-filled spaces that are designed to meet the needs of the young child. The classrooms are beautifully prepared, keeping in mind the child’s emotional, social, physical, and intellectual development. We address the child’s need for beauty, order, movement, independence, and the freedom to make choices and discoveries for him/herself.
Materials
The Montessori materials are ingeniously designed to give the child the opportunity to explore and learn about the world. Each area of the classroom supports this:
- Practical Life: Self-education begins with everyday tasks: washing dishes, folding laundry, preparing snacks. Through these exercises children develop independence, coordination, concentration, and confidence—the very foundation on which intellectual development rests.
- Sensorial: The materials help children organize their sensory impressions of the world, developing concepts of size, color, shape, and weight, and training the mind to observe, compare, and reason.
- Mathematics: Children work with concrete materials—like the golden beads—before written symbols, joyfully absorbing quantities, the decimal system, and the operations of arithmetic through their hands.
- Language: Language is woven through every part of the day. Children learn phonetic sounds through the sandpaper letters, compose words with the moveable alphabet, and move into writing and reading each at their own pace. Writing nearly always precedes reading, and each child's timetable is respected. The greatest gift parents can give is reading aloud daily—even after a child begins to read.
- Geography and Culture: Beginning with the globe and puzzle maps, children explore the countries, customs, food, music, and animals of the world, developing appreciation for our global community.
- Art, Music, and Movement: Creative expression is available every day, with emphasis on process over product. Children sing, move, and explore rhythm daily, including a weekly session with our music Specialist.
- Science and Nature: Children are born scientists. Our woodland setting makes hands-on nature study an integral part of the curriculum, fostering wonder, love, and responsibility for the natural world.
Mixed Age Classes
The three-year age span of these classes helps to create a community in which children feel a strong sense of belonging. Cooperation and collaboration flourish as children of various ages work together. At the same time, children are given the freedom to choose to work on their own. The Kindergarten children take on a leadership role in their final year in the program. Through the experience of mentoring the younger students, they develop confidence in themselves as leaders and as learners. The younger children learn a tremendous from their older classmates.
Three Year Program
The Primary program is a three-year program. The curriculum is designed to meet the developing needs of students from three years through the Kindergarten year. It is expected that students will stay at MCS through their Kindergarten year.
The Kindergarten Year
The Kindergarten year at MCS is encompassed in the 3-6 Primary Program. It is the culmination of the preparation the children have had in the preschool years. During this important year, when the child is moving from concrete to abstract learning, the program provides beautiful materials with which to explore and learn concepts through a hands-on approach. The Kindergartners' excitement for learning is obvious to anyone spending time in the classrooms.
Confident Learners
As class mentors to the younger students in class, our Kindergartners develop a strong sense of themselves as leaders within the learning environment. The Kindergarten children leave the Primary Program as confident learners filled with a joy of learning and a sense of their importance within the community.