Before You Choose Kindergarten, Read This

One of the most common questions we receive is about Kindergarten.

In traditional education models, preschool and kindergarten are often viewed as two distinct steps. Preschool is play-based and social. Kindergarten becomes more academic, more structured, and more teacher-directed.

In recent years, some independent schools have introduced what is often called “Transitional Kindergarten” — a bridge year designed to offer smaller class sizes and a gentler shift into academic expectations. For many families, the appeal is understandable. Smaller classes can feel more personalized. The structure can feel reassuring.

And yet, what often remains consistent in those environments is a standardized, teacher-driven curriculum. Scope and sequence are predetermined. Benchmarks are fixed. Instruction moves forward as a group.

In Montessori, we approach it differently.

Kindergarten is not a bridge year.
It is the culmination of a three-year developmental arc.

Our Primary classrooms are intentionally structured for children to remain for three years. During the first year, children absorb the environment and build foundational skills. In the second year, those skills deepen and solidify. By the third year, something powerful happens.

The child who once observed now leads.
The child who practiced now masters.
The child who depended now guides.

The Kindergarten year is not a repeat year. It is a consolidation year.

Let’s look at a few examples of language and literacy progression first, shall we?

NOTE: Images in the next three slideshows are captioned and best viewed on a desktop. If you are on mobile, rotate your screen and scroll on each caption to read in full, or please revisit from a desktop a a later time.

Tracing Sandpaper Letters (Year One)

Three-year-olds begin by learning the phonetic sounds of the alphabet, understanding how we actually read. “Mmmm” instead of “em.” They also build the muscle memory of correctly forming and tracing letters, which lays the foundation for confident, fluid writing later on.

Writing Emerges

After a child has worked extensively with the sandpaper letters and other materials that strengthen the hands for writing, we introduce chalkboards so they can practice, practice, practice, refining both form and flow. The chalkboard allows for repetition without pressure. Mistakes can be erased easily, encouraging confidence and risk-taking.

Eventually, writing on paper emerges naturally. It begins with single letters, repeated often, then progresses to two- and three-letter phonetic words. Children genuinely love this stage. They crave repetition because repetition builds mastery, and mastery builds confidence.

Moveable Alphabet

Once a child knows roughly 16 phonetic sounds and has practiced sound games, sounding out words like “mmm…o…ppp,” they begin exploring writing, yes, writing before reading. They create the most beautiful little lists about what matters to them. “Let’s write bird.” It may look like “brd,” because phonetic spelling comes first and spelling rules come later. We do not correct. We allow them to write and write and write.

Through chalkboards and moveable alphabets, they focus, stretch sounds, and build one-to-one correspondence. Other children begin reading their work. Younger students observe the process. Writing becomes joyful. It becomes powerful.

They learn that written words are a transfer of thought.
Another way to communicate.
And over time, it naturally grows into more complex and confident expression.

Sandpaper Phonograms

Once the child knows the individual letter sounds, we begin introducing sandpaper phonograms, key letter combinations that represent blended sounds. This deepens their understanding of sound patterns and supports more complex writing and reading connections.

Phonogram Exploration

How many words can you think of with “ow”?

So many ways to make this sound...

Children explore and practice correct spelling patterns such as words with “er,” “ir,” and “ur.” While these all represent the same sound, they require careful attention to choose the correct spelling.

This example is known as r-controlled vowels. As children grow in their reading confidence, we begin focusing more intentionally on these spelling patterns, helping them move from purely phonetic writing toward conventional spelling.

Silent “e’s.”

Isn’t that just the loveliest little pair of words? Look at that tiny globe.

When children are three, we fill baskets with small objects and play sound games, identifying beginning sounds, ending sounds, and all the sounds in between. They must be able to isolate and stretch those sounds in order to write and eventually read.

Here you see a four-and-a-half-year-old taking it to the next level. Silent e. Long vowels. Choosing an object from the display, a small globe, writing about it independently. Then writing the word hope.

From sound to symbol. From object to idea.

We just love this progression.

Puzzle (sight) Words

Reading often emerges quickly. As children begin blending sounds, it happens naturally alongside writing with the moveable alphabet and reading their work to others.

Soon after, we introduce puzzle words and practice them through playful, engaging games that build retention. Over the second year (preschool. 4 year old) and third year (kindergarten, 5 year old), children move through more than 120 of these high-frequency words.

We continue working with the moveable alphabet and a wide variety of games and lessons, strengthening spelling, recognition, and fluency in both cursive and print.

Puzzle Words

And even more.

This can look like a spelling test, but it is far more dynamic. The Guide may dictate words, children build them with the moveable alphabet, and then they check their own work or a friend’s. The ownership is theirs.

We also build “at a distance.” A child reads a word, walks across the classroom holding it in their mind, and then replicates it from memory. Movement is essential. They are crossing the room, navigating other materials, tuning out conversations, and strengthening focus.

In doing so, they are not just spelling. They are building working memory, concentration, and long-term retention.

Labeling the Map of Africa

Everything is interconnected.

You might see a child learning the countries of Africa. It begins sensorially, through puzzle maps and hands-on exploration. Then comes spoken language. Eventually, they label with the moveable alphabet. Later, they create their own maps using colored pencils, paint, even clay.

One day, they read those labels independently and begin correcting their own spelling.

It is all about the process. Each layer builds upon the next. And over three years, that layering becomes mastery.

Watercolor Texas

A child paints Texas and carefully labels it, eventually creating a beautiful handmade book or even framed artwork featuring all 50 states.

Phonetic Reading Scavenger Hunt

One child, or sometimes a small group, can often be found in the classroom on a little scavenger hunt. They might write their own clues, create word lists, or read from a prepared list to find objects, or even friends, around the room.

There is always something purposeful and playful unfolding in the environment.

Labeling Polygons

Polygons are no different.

The learning is cumulative and intentionally structured for each individual child. It begins sensorially, handling the shapes, tracing them, comparing them. Then comes spoken language and lots of movement-based games. Concrete always comes before abstract.

Children label the shapes. They count the sides. They identify and name the parts. They learn precise definitions. They compare, classify, and refine.

It keeps building.

What begins as a hands-on exploration of form becomes language, then understanding, then abstraction. Over time, they are not just memorizing vocabulary. They are internalizing geometric relationships.

Labeling Geometric Solids

Word Study

Word study begins as early as three and four through spoken language and rich, playful games. We explore homonyms, singular and plural, antonyms, synonyms, rhyming words, beginning and ending sounds, compound words, and parts of speech. Language is everywhere, and it is joyful.

Children build words with the moveable alphabet. They read them. They write them. They practice spelling naturally through repetition and play. From ages three to six, words and syntax are genuinely fun. These lessons often lead to giggles and contagious smiles.

By kindergarten, children love testing their own knowledge and recall. They delight in quizzing friends, encouraging one another, and stretching themselves further. Language becomes not just a subject, but a source of confidence and connection.

Definitions in Three Stages

Here you see a child working with definitions in three stages, reading the parts of a tree and matching the first complete definition independently. This is what we call “total reading.” Decoding, comprehension, and meaning all coming together.

Botany, like everything in Montessori, moves from concrete to abstract. It may begin with polishing leaves in Practical Life. Then gardening outdoors. Tasting the fresh herbs they grow. Learning leaf shapes through hands-on classification. Observing trees closely. Drawing them. Writing about them.

Eventually, they read classified definitions and create their own books.

Science is not a separate subject. It is woven into everything over the three-year cycle: language, math, sensorial exploration, geography, art. Layer by layer, experience by experience, knowledge becomes understanding.

Starfish Anatomy

Take a look at this beautiful art extension of a starfish anatomy lesson. This is exactly what we encourage. Explore through art. Express yourself. Bring purpose and life to what you are learning.

Imagine the pride this child felt creating this.

Parts of the Fish!

LOVE.

Stingray

Classified nomenclature begins in our Young Children’s Community and continues into Primary, increasing in depth and complexity as vocabulary expands.

For our younger three- and early four-year-olds, this might look like sorting and naming types of fruit, types of transportation, community helpers, landmarks, land and water forms, or parts of animals. As language grows, so does precision. Children begin distinguishing between garden flowers and Colorado wildflowers. They classify mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds. They explore vertebrates and invertebrates. The categories become richer. The language becomes more exact.

In this photo, a child who had moved into reading and writing chose to create their own book of sea creatures. That month, they were particularly fascinated by the ocean. So we leaned in.

Imagine being deeply excited about the ocean, but the predetermined unit that month is desert animals. In many traditional or transitional kindergarten settings, the curriculum is set in advance. The theme is the theme.

In Montessori, we listen to the child. We lead with curiosity.

Yes, desert animals will be explored. But so will oceans, habitats, geography, art, songs, maps, writing, and research, if that is where the child’s interest lives. We follow the spark.

There is something powerful about being seen in your learning. About not having your curiosity paused because the pacing guide says otherwise. About not being prescribed content by a screen or a standardized outline.

Imagine being able to dive deep into what fills your cup.

That is the difference.

Monarch Butterfly

Art, language, and time outdoors, always, merge around every corner.

Baking!!!

They bake in Primary.

It begins with foundational skills. Three-year-olds measure, pour, scoop, stir. They learn to concentrate. To control their movements. To follow a sequence.

As their literacy grows, they begin reading recipes. Eventually, they create their own.

This child discovered a fortune cookie recipe in one of our classroom books and was determined to try it. He invited a friend, gathered the ingredients, and got to work. It took a few attempts, as real learning often does, but he persisted. He even wrote his own little fortune.

Around Lunar New Year, his enthusiasm sparked something bigger. Soon the whole class wanted to bake them together as a group activity.

Practical Life. Math. Reading. Writing. Culture. Community.

All connected.

Landmarks and Geography

This is where travel dreams begin.

Over the three years, children learn about the Earth, the planet, the continents, the places, and the many things we all share. They explore architecture, history, culture, and daily life around the world.

They study pictures. Sing songs. Listen to stories. Welcome special guests. They create their own maps and wish lists of places they hope to visit one day. They ask thoughtful questions about people and traditions beyond their own experience.

Curiosity expands. Perspective widens.

It is simply wonderful to watch.

Animals of Africa

Again, classified nomenclature that begins in spoken language at three and four naturally evolves into reading and writing.

In this photo, a child independently chose to explore the animals of Africa that morning, reading the labels, matching definitions, and deepening their understanding through language. The child then invited a small group of younger children to share the specific names and fun facts about the animals. Vicarious learning…. constant building blocks through the mixed aged classroom.

Writing

Reading

Language & Math

Spanish and numbers… a super fun and deeply rewarding morning of connection, language, and math.

Scavenger Hunt

A child decided to create a scavenger hunt for items around the classroom, en español!

Individualization Beyond Class Size

Smaller class sizes can certainly feel attractive. But true individualization is not created by reducing numbers alone. It is created through individualized pacing within a mixed-age community.

Our classrooms are intentionally multi-age. A five- or six-year-old is not confined to a grade-level curriculum. If a child is ready to move into advanced reading, dynamic multiplication, early grammar analysis, or extended project-based research, they do. If they need more time in a concept to ensure deep mastery, they are given that time.

We follow the child, not a standardized pacing guide.

Academically, this means there is no artificial ceiling placed on growth. Children often progress well beyond traditional kindergarten benchmarks because they are not limited by age-based grouping.

Socially, the mixed-age Montessori classroom offers something a same-age transitional model cannot replicate. Younger children learn by observing older peers. Older children step into authentic leadership. Collaboration replaces comparison. Confidence grows from contribution, not competition.

Kindergarten in Montessori is a leadership year, not simply an academic year.

Third-year students:

• Give lessons to younger peers

• Model grace and courtesy

• Assist with classroom responsibilities

• Practice conflict resolution

• Develop confidence through authentic contribution

Teaching others reinforces mastery in a way worksheets cannot. Leadership strengthens empathy, communication, and higher-order thinking. By the end of the third year, children do not simply know more. They see themselves differently. They see themselves as capable.

Below is what we like to call a series of “Can you help me?” and “Would you like some help?” moments. In these photos, you’ll see preschoolers and kindergartners (Primary children), supporting one another. Children become comfortable with frustration, with mistakes, with big feelings, and choosing to ask for help. You’ll also be able to image that caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation that happens over three years: the child who once needed support becoming the one who offers it. Care. Community. Confidence. Support.

Imagine a world where we all learned these life skills young. Where asking for help felt strong, not weak. Where offering help felt natural. This does not end in the Primary classroom. It becomes part of who they are.

Friends Work Together On the Map of Europe

A child leads group time.

This is one of those magical moments that cannot be left out of this blog post. How many adults have tried to captivate a group of young children without constant wiggling? And yet here stands a third-year, Kindergarten Primary student, reading, acting, or singing with confidence while their peers are fully engaged.

Over three years, that confidence is built intentionally.

They lead nature walks. They read poetry. They even read chapter books with expression and intonation. They guide show-and-share. They present their work. They speak clearly and proudly in front of a group.

They become the teacher.

And in doing so, they become leaders.

Can you help me read this large number?

May I help you with your grammar lesson?

Children read, retrieve, label, and symbolize words, highlighting articles, adjectives, and nouns. They often work in pairs or small groups, and it quickly becomes one of the most joyful lessons in the room.

They act out verbs, hopping, skipping, and jumping across the classroom. They explore adverbs, experimenting with what it means to “gently stomp” or “whisper loudly.” It is full of laughter and movement.

But beneath the giggles is deep learning.

They are moving toward total reading, reading with intention, writing with clarity, and truly understanding the function and power of words.

Teaching a Lesson

Teaching solidifies mastery.

In this photo, an older child is guiding a younger one through the process of washing cloths. It may seem like an unusual activity in the age of washing machines, but this work is not about laundry. It is about executive functioning.

Traditional cloth washing requires gathering materials, filling the basin with water, adding soap carefully, fully submerging the cloth, scrubbing with steady pressure on the washboard, rinsing thoroughly, wringing with control, hanging to dry, and restoring the workspace. Each step must be remembered and completed in sequence.

For a young child, that is powerful cognitive work. And for the older child teaching it, the learning deepens even further.

Tea with Friends

A small group of children enjoying tea together. Not staged. Not teacher-directed. Simply chosen. In many traditional TK or kindergarten classrooms, children move as a whole group through a set schedule, and a spontaneous, self-managed tea with friends would be unlikely. But here, after three years of practicing grace and courtesy, they know how to prepare a tray, pour warm tea carefully, invite a guest, converse calmly, giggle softly, and then clean up independently before returning to work. This is not about tea. It is about self-regulation, executive functioning, social awareness, and care for their environment. It is about children who are trusted, capable, and grounded in community.

Analyzing Sentences Together!

In this photo, children are engaged in reading analysis, working together to break down and truly understand a sentence. Rather than simply decoding the words, they are identifying parts of speech, analyzing structure, and asking, “What is this sentence really saying?” They may be labeling nouns, verbs, adjectives, or articles, or determining how each word functions within the whole. This work strengthens comprehension, grammar awareness, and critical thinking. It moves them beyond surface reading into intentional, analytical reading, where language is not just read, but understood.

Recess Together

Teaching a friend how to make a natural artwork out of seed pods and leaves.

Helping a Younger Child

Socks and shoes can be tricky for young children. Older students in the classroom gladly offer help, modeling mastery of their own movements while gently encouraging and guiding their younger peers.

Want to bake with me?

Children learn to bake in pairs or small groups. Sometimes the whole class bakes together, but often this is big, individual work. Reading a recipe. Measuring precisely. Applying math. Decoding language. Sequencing steps. Executing a plan from start to finish.

And when mistakes happen? They learn.

What happens if you grab baking powder instead of baking soda? What happens if you mismeasure and bite into a salty blueberry muffin? You experience it. You reflect. You adjust. It is process. It is accepting failure as part of growth. It is perseverance. It is creativity.

Maybe next time you swap blueberries for raspberries. Maybe you adjust the sweetness. Children explore. They experiment.

This is not a teacher scooping and pouring for them. It is not always a prescribed recipe. It is not constantly adult-directed.

It is an older child who can read stepping into the role of chef, with a younger child as sous chef. It is preparation. It is collaboration. It is cleaning up afterward.

It is not a traditional preschool snack poured from a box onto a napkin.

It is real work.

Saying a poem together before enjoying lunch.

Snack Together

Academic Outcomes: Depth Over Acceleration

In many traditional kindergarten classrooms, academics are introduced quickly through whole-group instruction, worksheets, and increasingly, technology-supported learning. Tablets, smartboards, and computer-based literacy programs are common.

In our Montessori Primary classrooms, there is no technology. No screens. No tablets. No digital learning platforms.

Instead, children build neural pathways through movement, touch, repetition, and hands-on materials carefully designed to move from concrete to abstract thinking.

From a brain development perspective, this matters.

Between ages three and six, the brain is forming critical neural architecture for executive functioning, language acquisition, mathematical reasoning, and self-regulation. Research in early childhood development consistently shows that multi-sensory, hands-on learning strengthens synaptic connections more effectively than passive or screen-based input. Movement and material manipulation build durable cognitive pathways.

By the third year of the cycle, Montessori Kindergarten students typically demonstrate:

• Fluent early reading grounded in phonetic awareness and true comprehension

• Strong writing skills supported by years of fine motor preparation

• Concrete-to-abstract mathematical reasoning, including place value and operations

• Sustained concentration during extended work cycles

• Executive functioning skills such as planning, sequencing, and task completion

• Internal motivation rather than reward-driven performance

Rather than accelerating academics artificially, we deepen them developmentally. Preparation has been happening all along.

The slideshow below is a glimpse into the second and third years of Primary, where everything begins to crystallize. This looks very different from a traditional preschool, transitional kindergarten, or worksheet-driven kindergarten classroom. It is not centered on screens, AI tools, or adult-prescribed pacing. It is centered on the whole child.

This is the unveiling of concrete to abstract. What begins in the hands becomes organized in the mind. Repetition becomes mastery. Foundations peak. Perseverance strengthens. In the final year of Primary, skills solidify and confidence expands. The “keys to the world” are no longer introductions, they are internalized.

What you are seeing in these materials and moments is the strengthening of focus, memory, problem-solving, self-regulation, and independent decision-making. Language deepens. Mathematical reasoning sharpens. Identity as a capable learner crystallizes. This is not simply preparation for first grade. It is the careful building of a lifelong love of learning.

Formation of Numbers

Children move from concrete materials to abstract representation of quantity through joyful group games. We might call out, “Find one thousand, two hundred thirty-six,” and a child runs to the rug, holds that number in their mind, and retrieves the correct numeral. They then match it to the corresponding concrete materials, strengthening memory, place value understanding, and true number sense.

Symbol and Quantity

The best games to introduce symbol and quantity association as well as concrete practice with all four mathematical operations.

Concrete Memorization of Multiplication Tables

Concrete Introduction to Memorization of Multiplication Tables

Testing Memorization

Moving into abstraction, children work with materials that support memorization of essential division combinations. They test themselves. They correct themselves. There is no AI grading platform and no teacher marking a score. They seek understanding for themselves. They notice errors, adjust, and repeat, not for a grade, but for mastery and the genuine joy of learning.

Memorization of Division

The child tests their memorization by working with a blank chart.

Stamp Game Division

Long Division with Stamp Game

Long Division

Racks and tubes are incredibly exciting for the children and require significant manual coordination to manage the tiny beads and divide them accurately. Precision, focus, and steady hands are essential as they work carefully through each step.

Division Word Problems!

Mixed Word Problems

The child must first decipher what type of equation they are interpreting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, and then determine how to solve it. Sometimes they choose to use a material to support their thinking. Other times, they solve it mentally, which signals to the Montessori Guide that the concept has been fully internalized.

Subtraction Memorization

Passage to Abstraction

The Large Bead Frame helps children transition from concrete materials to more abstract multi-digit operations while reinforcing place value and mathematical accuracy. It supports addition, subtraction and multiplication with large numbers, strengthening both conceptual understanding and fluency.

Fractions

They begin with whole numbers and gradually move into fractions, learning to name them, understand equivalencies, and apply all four operations. The depth of this work expands depending on the child’s readiness or continues in Elementary. When they are three and four, these foundations are introduced through spoken language, hands-on materials, and art exploration, laying the groundwork for later abstraction.

Memorization of Addition Facts

Repetition and exploration of the commutative law. Children love this material because it is highly visual and helps them see patterns in essential combinations, building both understanding and fluency.

The TEST!

A blank chart to complete all math facts equations for addition. The child will check their work once completed.

Second- and third-year students work with the long bead chains to practice skip counting and receive indirect preparation for squaring and cubing. They label each chain and compare them side by side, seeing quantity unfold before their eyes. This is the chain of six cubed. The chain of ten cubed can wrap around an entire classroom. Imagine the focus, determination, and precision required to lay it out, count it accurately, and complete the work.

Chain of six cubed

Hierarchy Materials

Unit, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million. To scale. Plus the numbers to associate. 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000.

Words Become Complete Thoughts

Writing, in English or another language, grows from single words to full thoughts and stories in the second and third years of Primary. Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are introduced once a child is truly writing, not because of a timeline, but because they want to communicate their ideas clearly and creatively.

Nomenclature Abstraction

The moment when all of the spoken language nomenclature suddenly connects to real flowers in the environment is pure magic. Lily. Chrysanthemum, such a long and satisfying word. Vocabulary comes alive when it is attached to something tangible and beautiful.

Labeling Flower Arranging Materials

They once learned each step of flower arranging and the names of the tools through spoken language. Now they can write about the process and present it to a group of friends. Often, they collaborate, planning, preparing, and sharing their work together.

Love for Learning

Notice the simple heart left behind by a third-year student.

Notice, too, the long chain of eight stretched across the patio, skip counting and cubing unfolding outdoors. Work connected to nature. Freedom within the flow of the environment.

Botany Sewing

Sewing an ovate shaped leaf.

Superlatives and Comparatives

Those same sound cylinders that once refined auditory perception at age three, pairing and grading sounds from loudest to softest, now reappear as language work. The child labels them using comparative and superlative language while still listening carefully. They all look the same on the outside, which requires deeper attention. What began as sensorial exploration becomes refinement, mastery, and heightened awareness expressed through words.

Superlatives and Comparatives

Just like the sound cylinders, the Pink Tower reappears in a new way during the third year. What once introduced early geometry and refined the ability to discriminate dimension is now labeled and analyzed through language. The concrete foundation remains, but abstraction has taken root.

Conjunction Lesson

In this photo, children are reading and symbolizing parts of speech, articles, adjectives, nouns, and conjunctions. They are discovering the power of words and how meaning is shaped when those words come together. Through movement, acting things out, and physically connecting ideas, grammar becomes alive and purposeful.

Land and Water Forms

Children begin with concrete experiences of land and water forms, learning precise names and definitions. Here you see an archipelago and a system of lakes. They identify them on maps and the globe, build their own with sand and water, and later write about and illustrate them, moving naturally from hands-on exploration to abstraction.

Practical Life - Sewing

Simple patterns at age three evolve into intricate sewing designs and creative expression in later years. Children sew all sorts of purposeful projects, strengthening precision, focus, and manual dexterity along the way. These fine motor foundations matter. You cannot develop this level of coordination from a tablet!

Labeling Asia!

First learned through spoken language in their first and second years in Primary!

Painting a Map

Again, everything is interconnected. When they are three and four, they learn art techniques and the names of color spectrums. Those early skills resurface later when painting maps in geography or applying precision to other detailed work you have seen throughout these slides. Skills layer. Connections deepen.

Sewing a North America Pillow

Geometric Solids

Labeling and associating three-dimensional shapes. What fun!

Let's read poetry!

MUSIC!

Children explore both the diatonic and chromatic scales with the bells, refining pitch as they pair, grade, and name each tone. They are introduced to the musical staff and begin reading simple notation. Over time, they can even compose their own music and play it.

Building the trinomial cube layer by layer helps children internalize algebraic relationships concretely, strengthening spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, and preparation for later abstract math.

Art Study

Telling Time!

Serving Coffee and Tea to Guests

Children learn how to greet and serve guests who visit to observe!

Strawberry Lemonade?

This was entirely her idea this day.

Gardening For Purpose

In a child’s third year, they become deeply aware of their responsibility and ownership of the classroom gardens. They are no longer simply planting seeds for the joy of the process. They are tending with intention, observing changes, journaling growth and weather patterns, and anticipating the harvest. They begin planning how the produce will be used, salads, herbs, and other culinary creations to share with their friends and community.

Straight from the Garden!

Baking and food prep elevate. New ingredients and skills are introduced.

Radish from the Garden

And homemade butter the children churned!

Elevated Snack

At MSIMS, children participate in preparing their own snack, and it is always fresh and seasonal. They wash, slice, arrange, and serve with care and intention.

Caring for Class Pets

Charcoal Art

Art technique in the Primary years builds from foundational skills to increasingly complex work across multiple mediums, layering precision, creativity, and confidence over time.

Art and Zoology

Part of the Bird

Dressing Frames

Children begin with buttoning, zipping, and fastening Velcro, gradually progressing to tying and lacing. Here in Colorado, they also practice gearing up independently with snow pants, ski boots, winter coats, mittens, and all the necessary fasteners. It is functional independence in action, confidence built one clasp, knot, and zipper at a time.

Why Completing the Three-Year Cycle Matters

When a child leaves after two years to attend a traditional kindergarten or transitional program, they often miss the very year that integrates everything.

The third year is where academic abstraction accelerates naturally because the foundation is secure.
It is where executive functioning becomes visible.
It is where identity as a learner crystallizes.

The Montessori Primary cycle is not preschool plus kindergarten. It is a cohesive developmental journey grounded in brain science, child development, and respect for the whole child.

Children who complete the three-year cycle leave not only academically prepared for first grade, but cognitively organized, socially grounded, and internally motivated.

We protect childhood.
We prioritize depth over speed.
We trust the developmental process.

Kindergarten belongs in Primary because it is not the beginning of something new. It is the beautiful completion of something intentionally built.