The primary classrooms at Ridgewood Montessori School are traditional Montessori mixed-aged classrooms for children ages 3 to 5. These classrooms are organized to encompass a 3-year age span.

The multi-age classroom is the practice of teaching different ages together in the same classroom without dividing the student's curriculum. Children progress from doing simple tasks to doing and using more complex material at his or her own pace. They make continuous progress which is assessed and recorded by the same teacher rather than being promoted to the next grade at the end of the school year.

Dr. Montessori believed that learning should occur in a multi-age classroom where children at various stages of development learn from each other. Her developmentally appropriate approach was designed to fit each child instead of making each child fit the program.

You must understand that the responsibility of the teacher rests with the teacher, but in a multi-age class, older students naturally want to help younger students and frequently do so.

They are sensitive to the needs of those who are younger and want to help them adjust. They show them where everything goes, help them to hang up their jackets, help them to problem solve and to socialize. It is obvious that the older children tend to self-regulate their behavior in order to provide a good example. The older students also practice being leaders in the classroom, and this helps to alleviate the pressure between older students competing for the role of "boss."

The teachers are very aware of each student as an individual, they focus on what each student knows and what their needs are. Children remain with the same teacher for their primary years. This is a wonderful opportunity to build a stable and strong connection with each child.

Our broad-based primary program includes science and nature, music and movement, social and emotional development, grace and courtesy, history, cultural activities, geography, language arts and mathematics.

This classroom has up to 22 children with two teachers and has the benefit of a mixed aged classroom. Children in our primary classrooms can come mornings, afternoons or full day and this is a five day a week program.

For children, there is something very interesting and special in doing what adults find ordinary, practical life exercises like washing, polishing silver, sorting or pouring absorb them completely. We believe that these exercises are vital and recognize them as the beginning of control and coordination of mind and body.

“There are many things which no teacher can convey to a child of 3, but a child of 5 can do it with the utmost of ease.”

- Dr. Maria Montessori

Contact us today for more details on our primary school programs.