Kindergarten Year
The Leadership Year
After two years of building a strong foundation in the classroom and with their teachers and materials, the Kindergarten year in Montessori is truly a unique, culminating experience that cannot be missed. The skills your child has mastered in all areas of the Montessori curriculum allow them to step into a mentorship role for their younger peers with pride and confidence. It is a true testament to the three-year cycle of learning.
Much like a seed that has germinated and is now rootbound, too big for its little pot and ready to be planted in the field with the rest of the colorful flowers, your child is finishing up the first plane of development and transitioning to the second. Your Kindergartener will begin engaging in more higher-order thinking: understanding why things happen, what the implications might be, and enjoying analytical conversations.
Additionally, having already experienced the first and second years in the classroom, your child has reached the point where teachers are showing them how to give lessons to younger peers. This greater responsibility builds a deep sense of community and belonging in your child. Kindergarteners in the Montessori classroom become the role models their first and second year classmates aspire to be, giving younger friends so much to look forward to as they move through their own three year cycle of learning.
Expanding the scope from classroom to community
Taking part in exciting field trips and engaging with other classrooms around the school, your Kindergartener has earned the privilege of going out into their community and making connections between what they’ve learned in the classroom and what they’re experiencing in the world. This is the year that daily Art, Homesteading, and Spanish enrichment begins, as well.
Enrichment classes and field trips both require your Kindergartener to leave the comfort of their classroom and engage with their school community in a bigger way. We introduce these changes during the third year because by this time, your child has mastered the classroom norms and cultivated a deep connections with their teachers and peers over the past two years. A strong foundation now in place, your Kindergartener has become adept at handling transitions with grace and ease, having been practicing the important skill of emotional self-regulation. There's no stopping your child's capabilities as they engage with an expanding circle of new experiences.