Primary Academy

3 to 6 years old

The little child’s first movements were instinctive.  Now, he acts consciously and voluntarily, and with this comes an awakening of his spirit…

— Dr Maria Montessori

Most children are welcomed in the MBA Primary Community at the age of 3 and stay in this environment until they are 6 years old. Having created the foundations of their personality, children arrive in this environment ready to perfect and expand their newly developed abilities. They now grow themselves through conscious experiences and activities, the exercise and control of their will, the refinement of their senses and their continuous quest towards independence.

Children evolving in the Primary Community develop a great sense of joy while performing their work, and thrive through opportunities for concrete, hands-on and self-corrected learning; through the freedom to choose their activities according to their own needs, interests and learning pace and style; and through optimal support of the development of their capacity for concentration and self-discipline. With emerging powers of reason, imagination and sociability, they move towards social independence, navigating social situations and transitions on their own and contributing their unique perspective and interests to the group.

The teachers guide Primary children through a challenging curriculum of lessons, where hands and mind work together making the learning experience one of doing and exploring, ultimately leading to both practical skills and abstract knowledge. The curriculum is organized around practical life activities that develop both independence and social skills; sensorial activities that refine sensory perception; the development of spoken language, writing and reading skills; and mathematical activities that develop fundamental mathematical concepts; as well as activities that stimulates competency in geography, history, botany, science, music, and the arts. The individual lessons are offered based on observations of the child and his readiness, and learning is reinforced internally through the child’s own repetition of an activity. As the child progresses through the years, the Montessori materials and integrated curriculum allows him to revisit any given concept in a different way, and to tie it to studies of the physical universe, the world of nature and the human experience.

The involvement of parents in supporting their child during this period of great changes and the commitment to the 3 years program are important. The child in his last year within the MBA Primary Community is what the foundation for a peaceful future would look like.

I CAN DO
IT MYSELF

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

AREAS OF GROWTH

LEARNING HIGHLIGHTS

Schedule: 8:20am – 3:30pm

Class size: 24 children

2 AMI trained adults: 2 teaching Guides

English with consistent exposure to Portuguese and French

AMI approved Montessori materials

Garden, mini farm and outdoor playground

Forest School Fridays (Monsanto Forest)

All school materials and healthy snacks included

Working memory, and executive function skills

Classification of all things

Expressive and creative language

Mathematical mind

Cultivating respect for oneself, other people and environment

Independence, care of self and the environment

Leadership and social development

Self-mastery, emotional regulation, improve focus and attention span

Highly sequential, mastery-based experiential curriculum and learning materials

Younger children developing literacy skills, learning letter sounds while older children are independently reading and writing, creating projects and stories, learning grammar and spelling

Younger children are developing a sense of numeracy and patterns, while older children are exploring complex mathematical operations, learning fractions, the decimal system, and geometry

Collaboration and teamwork

EXPERIENCE
MONTESSORI BRIGHT ACADEMY

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