The early years of childhood are the most critical. The young child is engaged in the enormously important work of developing an orderly mind, a skillful hand and body, a sense of self-confidence and self-esteem, thereby laying the foundation for a healthy and constructive social life. This great task of self construction is accomplished by the child through his own activity within the world about him. At JMS the child is provided with a developmental environment that is carefully prepared to meet his physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic needs.
A primary student explores the possibilities of her creative nature. ©2007 The Judson Montessori School. All rights reserved.
Within this environment an expert faculty guides the child to follow his own inner guide for development, while harmonizing his activity with the needs of those around him. The practical-life activities of the primary level provide the young child with much help towards independence, social awareness, and adaptation to the world. Activities such as dressing frames, sweeping, polishing, hammering, and gardening stimulate concentrated attention upon tasks that call for ordered and sequenced movements. Through these tasks the child gains a sense of empowerment by becoming independent and effective in the world and by making a contribution to the physical and social environment of the classroom.
The sensorial materials provide a wide array of activities that isolate different sensory experiences and assist a young child in ordering the myriad sensory experiences that have been gathered and stored in the mind since before birth. Working with these materials assists the young child in developing order and what Dr. Montessori called the " mathematical mind. " The cultural and intellectual materials assist the young child in developmentally appropriate ways to gain knowledge and skill in reading, writing, mathematics, geography, history, and science.
A Strong Foundation
Most children emerge from the JMS primary level with very high cognitive abilities, developed not by teachers pushing them through an inappropriately advanced course of study. The JMS music program, which integrates Orff and Kodály music education with movement education developed by Phyllis Weilkart, begins in the primary years with the very youngest children and extends through the middle school. The primary music program integrates rhythm, melody A perceived need of many children to have more motor activities has led the faculty to develop a strong motor skills program. Primary children receive gross motor development classes as well as free-play times on a daily basis.
