WHY MONTESSORI?

By tapping into how children learn best, Prime Foundation Montessori helps them grow into innovative thinkers, lifelong learners, compassionate leaders, and responsible citizens. Prime follows the highest standards of the pioneering learning approach known as Montessori, which prepares children for bold and confident futures.

A Prime Foundation Montessori education is proven to work.

Today MRI imaging is confirming that the Montessori approach we’ve been using at Prime for 10 years makes for the most effective and authentic learning for children. Prime education taps into how children’s brains naturally develop and grow, building on their innate curiosity and remarkable ability to absorb new understanding. We also do away with some of the trappings of the traditional classroom; there are no desks in a row, no tests, no grades, and no strict schedule. The result? Children here love to learn, and their passion and inquisitiveness continue far beyond Prime Foundation Montessori.

Today, Prime past and present students have moved on to great success, accepted into higher grade levels than their actual age grade levels in private and public schools due to exceptional academic performances/advancements, attending schools for the Highly Gifted, Center for Enriched Studies, honors schools and developing extraordinary talents.

Montessori education is tailored to each child.

Our teachers are trained extensively to closely observe the learning style, interests, and progress of each child. They know how to help students develop their potential, how to keep them deeply engaged, and when to challenge them to advance to the next level. Progress is dictated by the child’s development, not by a rigid curriculum or a state mandate.

A Prime Foundation Montessori education inspires a passion for learning.

Stop by, and you’ll see students bounding into school, eager to get started. Here learning is an adventure, not a burden. Curiosity is encouraged, not stifled. Lessons are welcomed, not dreaded. Because much of the learning is self-directed, children gain an immense sense of satisfaction from taking on new challenges—a complex math problem, a long book, an independent research project.

A Prime Foundation Montessori education prepares students for a promising future.

Learning continuously, communicating persuasively, leading with vision, adapting with agility, understanding how to perceive emotions, and seeing solutions where others do not—such abilities are crucial for success in today’s innovation economy. They’re also the abilities that students develop through Prime’s distinctive and comprehensive approach to learning. Prime Foundation Montessori prepares students for life on many levels—intellectual, physical, emotional, and ethical.

Montessori has shaped the most innovative minds of our time.

The Montessori approach that Prime Foundation Montessori uses is carefully designed to help children build a strong foundation for the rest of their lives. It makes a difference. The founders of Google, Amazon, and Wikipedia are all Montessori graduates. Thousands of other Montessori graduates around the world are leading and succeeding—in middle and high schools, in college, in their communities, and in the global marketplace.

CORE CONCEPTS

Montessori education is different from the traditional modern approach. The best way to see how it works is to visit and see Prime Foundation Montessori in action, but the following below are some of the core concepts that define our program

Responding to Student Interest and Readiness

Montessori's method is designed to address the needs of the child according to his plane or stage of development. Children at different stages absorb specific types of learning at a rapid pace, with joy and determination. Awakenings to new interests and capacities are monitored constantly through the well-trained observation of the Montessori faculty.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THESE STAGES

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FROM BIRTH - 6
From Birth to 6 years, children are sensorial explorers, constructing their intellects by absorbing every aspect of their environment, their language and their culture.
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6 - 12 YEARS
From 6-12 years, children become conceptual explorers, They develop their powers of abstraction and imagination, and apply their knowledge to discover and expand their worlds further.
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12 - 18 YEARS
From 12-18 years, children become humanistic explorers, seeking to understand their place in society and their opportunity to contribute to it.
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18 - 24 YEARS
From 18-24 years, young adults become specialized explorers, seeking a niche from which to contribute to universal dialogue.

Not only does each level's curriculum cater to an age-specific stage of development, but our communities give individual students room to move at their own pace with faculty support. If your child is driven to pursue a certain subject, new lessons and challenging materials are made available to meet that interest. If your child needs more time to focus on a difficult concept, he will have the time and the help necessary to work on it until he is satisfied with his mastery of the subject.

Building Responsibility through Independence

Children in Prime Foundation Montessori's prepared environment take their education seriously in part because they have the power to choose their own work, focusing on what fascinates them for up to three hours without interruption - and moving freely from one lesson to the next as they complete each activity.

We call this the uninterrupted work period. This key concept is one of the most important distinguishing characteristics of Montessori education. By letting students revel in what interests them for long periods, and not forcing them to loiter when they have lost interest, Montessori not only preserves but expands each child's love of learning.

Respecting the Burgeoning Capacity to Concentrate.

In our Montessori communities, interruption is minimized to allow each child to focus and enjoy her own successes - and not just through the uninterrupted work period. One of the most-referenced imperatives Montessori gave us was to "follow the child." What this means at Prime Foundation Montessori: our Montessori faculty are observers much more than they are lecturers, watching to see when new lessons are needed and allowing each child to overcome failure without unnecessary intervention.

This philosophy is supported by the carefully designed Montessori materials in our classrooms. Montessori materials were created to be self-correcting; when a child going through a Montessori lesson makes a mistake, he gets immediate, impersonal feedback to let him know that something is amiss. When he then discovers how to correct himself, a number of great things happen: the triumph is his (not an adult's), his concentration has not been interrupted, and he will think of future setbacks as steps along the way to success.

Fostering Grace and Courtesy

Lessons in Grace and Courtesy pervade the Montessori curriculum from the earliest levels. These lessons are integral to the Montessori method's focus on learning about and respecting cultures from around the world and Montessori education's universal goal of bringing about peace in the world through better education.

Some of the results of this work within Prime Foundation Montessori are immediately obvious in the politeness of our students. When you visit Prime primary community, for instance, one of our three-year-old students might approach you to introduce himself and offer you tea or coffee. You are also likely to have doors held for you and to hear "please" and "thank you" consistently from students who are unusually young, in our society, to have internalized these behaviors.

There is depth to these lessons that might not be immediately apparent as well. Each Montessori community features a Peace Table, or a space dedicated to conflict resolution among students. Students ask each other to accompany them to this space when tensions or disagreements need to be worked out among them, and are coached by faculty in how to speak to each other to bring about a peaceful resolution.

Also, starting in our Toddler community, students are taught to respect each other's personal and work space. This creates an early awareness of others' bodily autonomy and the importance of consent in social situations.

Deepening Learning through Mixed Age Communities

Montessori communities each include students from a range of ages, typically of around three years. This mixed-age format confers a number of advantages upon students.

In a mixed age classroom, the Montessori faculty has an opportunity to get to know each student over the course of several years. She also has a much larger curriculum to present a child who is devouring one subject at a rapid rate, giving students a substantive opportunity to learn at an accelerated pace.

Also, Montessori classrooms provide the incredible opportunity for students to learn from and teach their friends. In looking up to older students, they become eager to learn the lessons they have not yet reached. In seeing younger students working, they have a chance to reinforce their expertise on concepts they have already learned through repetition. All students benefit from older students mentoring their younger classmates.

There is also an established classroom culture, shaped by the returning, older students. This culture easily absorbs new students and minimizes the adjustment and community-building period for the entire class at the start of each new school year.

Creating Engaging Environments for HANDS ON Learning

Montessori observed that students are more likely to engage with hands on learning and work in a prepared environment created to suit their needs, and that this prepared environment worked best when it was both home-like and beautiful to students.

Each Montessori community at Prime Foundation Montessori has furniture specifically scaled to the size of its students. Pictures are framed and hung at student eye level. Shelves are within student reach. Spaces are made engaging, comfortable, and inspiring to children as they determine how to spend their time. Sometimes, this makes these environments less hospitable to adults - but a Montessori classroom is designed, above all, for its children.

✺ MONTESSORI VS CONVENTIONAL ✺

Families often ask us about how Montessori differs from conventional or traditional methods of educating children. Here are some of what differentiates the Montessori pedagogy by age group. Plase, click on each age group on both sides to view the differences side by side.

Emphasis on concrete
The teacher has unobstructed role, the child is an active participant in learning.
Environment and method provide self-discipline.
Instruction adapts to each student’s learning style.
Non-competitive.
Three-year age span.
Children are encouraged to teach, collaborate, and help each other.
Child chooses own work from interest and abilities.
Child formulates concept from self-teaching materials.
Child works as long as he wishes on chosen project.
Child sets own learning pace.
Child detects errors through self-correcting materials.
Learning is reinforced internally through repetition of an activity and feelings of success.
Child is free to work where he is comfortable; group work is voluntary.
Organized program for parents to understand Montessori and participate in learning.
Materials used in sequence with presentations.
Work for joy and sense of discovery.
Hands on learning manipulating objects.
Reality oriented; no fantasy/animated characters in the classroom (lunch boxes, backpacks, etc).
Recognition of individual sensitive periods.
Child free to discover alone.
Individual learning.
Carefully organized environment.
Multi-sensory materials to develop specific skills.
Self-respect of child foremost.
Emphasis on free choice, initiative
Teacher assists and guides
Learning materials are self-correcting
Learning materials are hands-on
Student can go as far as capable
Moving from independent work to group work
Emphasis on independence
Emphasis on free choice and initiative as a working group
Teacher gives comprehensive lesson and assigns long projects without grades
Students keep individual work journals
Learning materials hands-on and developed for groups
Emphasis on self-responsibility to manage multiple work projects to completion
Teacher assists with critiquing and student assessment of work
Emphasis on continuous improvement
Student can move beyond grade level individually

Emphasis on abstract.
Teacher has a dominant, active role in the classroom; children have a passive role.
The teacher enforces discipline.
Instruction conforms to the adult’s teaching style.
Competitive.
Same age grouping.
Teaching is carried out by teacher and collaboration is discouraged.
Curriculum structured for child with little regard for child’s interests.
Child formulates concept through teacher’s instruction.
Child given specific time limit for work.
Instruction pace set by teacher.
Errors pointed out by teacher.
Learning is reinforced externally by rewards and discouragements.
Child assigned own chair; encouraged to sit still and listen during group sessions.
Voluntary parent involvement, not participants in understanding learning.
Materials used with no prior instruction.
Work because they are expected to.
Seek help from teacher.
Much role playing and fantasy.
Play materials for non-specific skills.
Community needs take precedence.
All children treated alike.
Materials placed randomly.
Fewer materials for sensory development and concrete manipulation.
Respect of teacher foremost and enforced.
Emphasis on following directions
Teacher gives information
Learning is corrected by teacher
Learning materials paper and pencil
Student stays at pace with class
Moving from group play to group instruction
Emphasis on compliance
Emphasis on seat work and individual achievement
Teacher gives daily bits of instruction followed up with homework and grades
Teachers keep track of progress
Learning material in workbooks, worksheets, and individual work
Emphasis on completion of classwork and homework assigned by teacher
Teacher assists with preparation for testing
Emphasis on grades
Students grouped by ability

Research

Helpful Studies and Articles

New Research Highlights The Long-Term Benefits Of A Montessori Education

New research on the long-term benefits of Montessori education on an individual's psychological health and well-being.

All Things Montessori Podcast

Welcome to the All Things Montessori Podcast, a podcast devoted to discussing everything Montessori. From classroom management to self-care, Montessori at home to staying inspired in this work; we cover it all. Hosted by Jamie Rue and Rachel Larson.