Primary Program
Ages 3 – 6
Half day students attend from 8:00am to 11:30am Monday-Friday for ages 3 to 5 years
Full day students attend from 8:00am to 3:00pm Monday-Friday for ages 5 to 6 years
The Foundation
The Primary Montessori curriculum is an integrated, holistic approach that is designed to help each child reach his or her full potential. Children aged 2 ½ to 6 are sensorial explorers, forming their intellects by absorbing their environment, their language and their culture. The Primary classroom provides a prepared environment that allows the children to respond to their natural tendency to work.
Practical Life
Practical life offers children the opportunity for care of self and the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and coordination of physical movement. The sensorial materials aid the children in learning to order and classify by touching, seeing, smelling, tasting, listening, and exploring.
Language, Reading, Grammar
The language area teaches oral and written language, vocabulary, reading, and grammar. The written word is integrated throughout Montessori programs, coupled with the sensory experiences at the foundational level of tracing letters with one’s hand, to sounding out all the letters of the alphabet.
Mathematics
Mathematics helps children to understand abstract concepts by working with concrete manipulatives. The ability to problem solve is essential and adds core skills to their ability to break down concepts into workable areas.
Religious Education, Atrium
At Siena Academy, our Primary environment has an adjoining Atrium where the child’s spiritual development is nurtured through the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a method grounded in prayer, scripture, liturgy, and the Montessori pedagogy.
An Authentic Catholic Montessori Education
The Primary program also incorporates the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Montessori-based catechesis that aids the child’s encounter with God and prepares him or her for a life of full participation in the Catholic Church.