Maria's Garden - Program


	Kindergarten (5 years old) Kindergarten is a time of transition from the immediate, practical viewpoint of Early Childhood to the abstract, global learning of the Elementary child. Although Kindergarten-aged children are still a part of the Early Childhood classroom, their role is changed. They become the mentors of the whole group, cognitively, communicatively, and socially. Work is available to Kindergarten students through which they can master the basics of writing and reading and mathematical concepts such as the decimal system, arithmetical operations, and geometry.
As Montessori materials are introduced on an individual basis, Kindergarten students are not held back by the younger children in the group- on the contrary, the complexity of their work becomes a part of the learning environment, giving the younger children a taste of what's to come, and setting the benchmark of learning in the Early Childhood classroom. At Kindergarten age, children become adept at discussing, questioning, and theorizing about what they've witnessed in the world. They become leaders in representing their insights through many languages- conversation, writing, drawing, painting, dramatizing and mapping what they know or are trying to understand. In Kindergarten as in Early Childhood, emerging themes are explored, with more of an emphasis on written recording and fine documentation on the children’s part. They are invited to explore and extend their questions through this documentation and reflection. Kindergarten students are also given increased accountability for the planning of their day and are provided with more experiences that require long-term thinking and follow-through than the younger children in the Early Childhood classroom. Click here to see our tuition schedule.