Our Programs
“Teach me to teach myself.”
Primary (ages 3-6)
Elementary (ages 6-12/grades 1-6)
Hours
Primary (“Morning children”: first two years) 8:30 AM to 12:00 noon
Primary (“Extended day”: third year) 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM
Elementary 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM
General
Anami Montessori School serves children ages 3 to 12 years old.
Montessori programs each cover at least a three year age span. Each of these mixed-age classrooms is carefully prepared with developmentally appropriate learning materials. Individualized instruction and guidance is offered by a Montessori trained teacher.
Primary (ages 3-6)
Most children enroll in Anami Montessori School at age three.
The Primary classroom includes an area devoted to “practical life” activities which includes exercises designed for washing tables, polishing, preparing food, opening and closing fasteners (zipping, buttons, buckles, snaps, etc.) and more.
Another area contains the “sensorial materials” which help the young child explore a variety of sensations including size, color, shape, texture, scent, sound and more.
The Primary-aged child is introduced to Language with the “sandpaper letters” which allow him to learn the sound and shape of each letter by tracing it. As the child progresses, he will use these letters to “write” stories with the “movable alphabet” even before he has a facility with holding a pencil. This process leads easily to reading. Montessori children often leave the Primary class as competent readers and writers.
The Primary aged child explores the area of Mathematics by starting with a concrete understanding of the relationship between quantity and symbol with the numbers one to ten. He proceeds with counting work, the hierarchy of numbers in our decimal system through thousands and the four operations.
Several materials offer a peek into the wider world. Puzzle maps are a popular piece of material allowing the child to become familiar with the name and location of each country in the world. Collections of pictures of and artifacts provide an orientation to plants and animals, artwork, cultures of the world, and more.
Elementary (ages 6-12)
Most students enter the Elementary program from Anami’s Primary classes (ages 3-6), although the school does accept a small number of outside students, with appropriate educational backgrounds.
While the Primary child explores his world through his physical senses, the Elementary child explores the universe through his imagination. The teacher tells stories (“Great Lessons”) which provide a framework for the organization of knowledge and then encourages the child to investigate further details.
Elementary classrooms open the child’s universe to all of human knowledge: the history of ancient civilizations, the mechanics of language, classifications within biology and geology, physical and political geography, and the methods of mathematics.
The Elementary classroom encourages exploration by individuals and small groups who then report back to the whole community. The children create a rich culture of discovery.
The elementary aged child is keenly interested in ethics and fair play. He investigates grace and courtesy, rules of behavior, and roles in a group. The class meets regularly to work out social problems in a fair and reasonable fashion. The skills of compromise and diplomacy that they learn at this age in the Elementary classroom serve them well for years to come.