The Montessori Primary program provides an environment for children (between 2.5-6 Years) to develop The Skills and habits needed for a lifetime of learning & happiness.
We create Self-Driven Learners
Developing Executive functions
Recent research shows that executive functions (such as self control, organisation, time management) are more highly correlated with school and life success than even IQ. The Montessori Primary Program purposefully develops these skills.
When a child has to wait for a material another child is working with, or when he stands calmly to observe a friend at work, he practices impulse control. By executing multi-step processes, such as making lemon juice, and by always completing a full cycle of work—from taking a material from a shelf, to doing the activity and replacing it in its proper spot—the child learns organisation and problem solving.
Building concentration & Attention span
Dr. Montessori noted that the child’s reasoning mind needs specific training and preparation, and that the first step is to help the child develop the habit of focusing and concentrating for sustained periods of time. Being able to purposefully direct one’s attention for an extended period of time is a capacity at the foundation of all learning. This is a capacity that doesn’t arise automatically: it cannot be “taught” by expecting children to do it on demand.
Concentration is an inner quality that arises and grows naturally when given the chance to remain focused on an activity of interest in a conducive environment—one where children find materials that engage them fully, one where their activities are respected and never thoughtlessly interrupted, one where there are long time periods for child-led, deep exploration. This is precisely the reason we offer 3 hour “work cycles” in the Early Learning Program, an extended block of time for the child to develop this invaluable skill.
Developing PerseverancE
In Montessori, work and play are not opposites: work is enjoyable, it’s fulfilling and it’s chosen joyfully. At the Primary Program, we engage closely with students to help them discover the joy of doing “hard” things. Children learn quickly that failure is not looked down upon; it is merely a stepping stone on the way to success.
As children spend time in our environment, they begin challenging themselves with increasingly difficult activities that require a lot of effort to master: it is not uncommon to see children work on the same material for weeks before they have convinced themselves that they “know” it!
We Offer a broad Curriculum
Practical Life
Practical life activities provide the child with skills for self-care, caring for the classroom environment, and all-around independence. As the name indicates, these are activities related to everyday life: pouring juice, polishing shoes, sweeping and dusting, buttoning clothes, folding napkins, watering plants, pounding spices and so on.
By engaging in practical life work, a child is able to do many things related to self-care independently, and can start contributing meaningfully to the community. Further, they help child develop concentration, build fine motor skills, improve hand-eye coordination and develop problem-solving capabilities while working on everyday tasks.
Sensorial
The mind has a natural ability to extract the essential, intangible attributes of various objects that the body encounters -- colour, dimension, odour, texture and so on. This is a tremendous feat of abstraction that no other animal’s intellect can perform. However, for the mind to create these abstractions, it is helpful if the child first has a sensory experience with different objects that individually represent these attributes in an orderly fashion. This is the key insight of Montessori sensorial materials.
Sensorial Montessori materials isolate a defining quality, such as colour, size, sound, texture, or shape. They help to develop the child’s visual, auditory, and tactile senses — key inputs to the child’s brain development at this age. Further, enable the preschool child to develop the capacity to be active-minded, to sustain concentration over long periods of time, and to exercise sharp powers of observation. This creates a firm cognitive foundation for the child to become a careful observer and an independent, conceptual thinker.
Math
The Montessori approach to math focuses on building a deeply conceptual understanding of numbers. Our goal is to enable our students to truly understand the connection between real quantities on the one hand, and mathematical symbols and processes on the other.
Rather than introducing introducing arithmetic as a set of abstract operations to be memorised even if not understood, our students master the basics of arithmetic using concrete materials, and they therefore acquire a deep understanding of the meaning of arithmetic operations over time.
Advanced students could even progress to learning division by the time they finish the program. Most importantly, however, by progressing at their own pace, all students learn to enjoy working with numbers and are well prepared to enthusiastically embrace math in elementary school.
Language
For child in the Primary Program, building vocabulary and learning to read and write are among the most important academic skills to acquire.
In the Montessori approach, these skills are broken down into a series of carefully planned activities that the child progresses through. These activities build upon the child’s repeated practice of practical life and sensorial activities.
By carefully structuring the language program, we enable our students to joyfully learn to write and read long before they enter elementary school – and spare them the fear and frustration that too many kids experience when learning these critical skills too late.
We Expose Children To The Real World
Field Trips
To help children understand the world around them, they are invited to join field trips (multiple times a month) to destinations in close proximity to the school. These are “everyday places” - such as the local nursery, furniture shop, car showroom, restaurant, fruits stall, fire station, dentist and so on.
By being exposed to a wide range of experiences, we sow the seeds from which future curiosity and learning can grow. We further follow up these explorations by creating related custom-made Montessori materials that the child can work with (in case they wish to go deeper out of their own interest).
Arts, Culture & The World
An important difference between students who flourish in later elementary school, and those who may struggle, is the amount of knowledge they have of the world. Thus, in the Primary Program, our students are exposed to many areas of knowledge: geography, science, history, the world, and so on. Given how absorbent the child’s mind is at this age, we also introduce scientific vocabulary relating to plants, animals and geographical forms.
Art is integrated throughout our classrooms: there is no clash between academics and creativity. Our students learn key art skills – such as using scissors, gluing, holding a pencil properly, colouring between lines – all while independently exploring the process of creating something beautiful from beginning to end.
Enquire about the Primary Program
Eligibility
Between 2.5 years - 5 years at the point of enrolment
Locations
PEP Schoolv2, HSR Layout, Bangalore
Ribbons PEP Schoolv2, Varthur, Bangalore
ACCEL PEP Schoolv2, Whitefield, Bangalore
PEP Schoolv2 House of Montessori, Kokapet, Hyderabad
Timings
3 hours - 5.5 hours | Monday to Friday
Daycare & Transport
Available on request