Primary Class

Curriculum overview:

Peaceful Pathways Montessori's Primary Program offers each child an environment to begin practicing what it means to be a citizen. The mixed age classrooms allow children to learn from and help one another as they progress from being a novice to becoming a mentor.

Children work in small groups or independently and receive direct instruction from their teachers in ratios from three-to-one to one-on-one. This provides each student unparalleled opportunities to advance through curriculum at their own and optimal pace. Children in our primary classrooms learn to read, write, understand math concepts, and explore science, history, music, art and enjoy outdoor time.

In a P.P.M.A. classroom, academic learning occurs in situations that allow the necessary freedom and accountability to help young children build the qualities of character that are necessary for success in both school and in life. Every day offers limitless life “practice”, whether it is through learning fractions or having the privilege of offering a snack to fellow classmates.

Grace and courtesy are encouraged and consistently reintroduced to the children. These lessons include: how to interrupt, what level their voice should be, the steps of a work cycle, how to push in a chair, how to roll a mat, how to welcome a visitor, how to solve conflicts, how to sit on line, and how to greet others. Grace and courtesy is essential to ensuring a smooth work cycle and sets the framework of a successful working Montessori classroom.

Practical life prepares the child for life. It is the foundation of the Montessori environment and nurtures the needs of the early childhood student. The four main goals in practical life activities: order, concentration, coordination, and independence.

Children learn through their senses. The sensorial materials train and sharpen the senses of the child and bring awareness to learning in other areas. Through practice with the sensorial materials, children learn to discriminate between sizes, shapes, colors, textures, smells with language woven throughout the sensorial lessons. Language activities build self-confidence by expanding the child’s vocabulary and ability to communicate thoughts more precisely.

Montessori philosophy indicates that our ability to understand math can be sourced to our innate intelligence and the quality of the environment in which we are placed. Montessori practice begins with concrete experiences that will intrinsically lead to abstraction when the child is ready.

Geography, history and science are interrelated ideas and materials. The lessons are introduced with a leading question, then the child works with the materials and draws his/her own conclusions/inferences. The purpose of this work is to provide the children the opportunity to understand their own relationship to the planet. 

Bible:  Peaceful Pathways is non-denominational Christian Montessori program. Children are encouraged to explore God's world and hear how important God thinks each living thing is. We celebrate Christian holidays. Our Christian views are brought up spontaneously as they occur as well as in purposeful prayer each day.