Primary
The Portland Montessori School offers a three-year program for children aged 2.5 to 6 years. This program carries the child through their kindergarten year. These are our Primary classrooms.
Classrooms are mixed-age environments, and they remain in the same class for their whole time in the Primary program. Children build strong bonds with their peers and guides. Older children serve as mentors, modelling behavior and giving lessons to younger members of the class. Younger children benefit from having experienced role models as they move towards mastery during their time in the classroom. These relationships provides children a special opportunity to develop compassion, leadership skills and an attitude of service as they grow and learn.
Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) certified guides help children develop a strong academic foundation built on language skills, math, geography, science, music and art. They also help them acquire practical life skills such as caring for themselves and their classroom environment. By design, the Montessori classroom sparks curiosity, while promoting learning, self-discipline, independence and responsibility.
A guide and a dedicated assistant lead each Primary classroom, working together to provide each child the individualized guidance they need to reach their fullest potential. At the end of their kindergarten year, children transition naturally into our Elementary program.
"We always knew that our daughter’s curiosity and tenacity led her to love exploration and learning, but since she’s been with The Portland Montessori School we've seen her develop personally in ways we hadn't imagined. She is all the better for the love, respect, friendship and encouragement she receives there."
"I could write an essay on how my daughter joined PMS in the last year and graduated from her primary class reading chapter books and doing long addition and subtraction with multiple numbers. She’s well beyond her kindergarten peers, and my younger son's pride in his work and love of learning has grown beyond expectation."
"The outdoor play area offered at The Portland Montessori School is by far the best we saw in the city, and is a daily source of inspiration for imaginative play for our son. It is a beautiful, secluded-feeling wonderland and the children use it daily, rain or shine!"
"My wife and I can’t thank the school enough for helping not only our son, but also us as we try to provide a consistent learning environment in our home."
"At The Portland Montessori School, our kids learn to use buttons, tie their shoes, juice an orange, crack nuts and cut bananas, clean up after themselves, identify odd and even numbers, sew, set their place at the table, pour their own milk, understand the value of numbers into the thousands, and identify continents and countries on a map—and have fun doing it all!"