Primary Program

The Primary Program at The Discovery School promotes learning and leadership in your child through social interaction, self-awareness, and a deeper understanding of the world around them.

Day in the Life of a Primary Student

Whenever possible, our Primary program is intended to be experienced in a 3-year cycle. The Primary program includes the Kindergarten year, during which students among the five Primary classes spend time as a group, away from the younger Primary students, experiencing programs established just for them.

The multi-age classroom allows for an everyday setting where younger students are able to learn from their experienced peers. This arrangement benefits the older children by providing them with a leadership opportunity; the younger children benefit by having daily positive role models which extend beyond the teachers.

The classroom is equipped with materials for a variety of academic levels at this age range, regardless of the child's "grade level." The students are able and encouraged to concentrate on their own progress.

Primary Montessori & IB Framework

Social/Emotional

In the Montessori/IB Primary classroom, children learn how to function in a child-centered environment using grace & courtesy, respect, and kindness while navigating social situations, by being provided:

An introduction to youth philanthropy.
Opportunities to be leaders for peers.
Development of social values.
Opportunities to gain independence and self-confidence.
Intercultural understanding and respect.
An awareness of self.

Language

The Primary classroom is designed in such a way that all activities gear themselves naturally toward the development of the five essential components of reading: phonemic & phonological awareness, phonics, spelling and reading comprehension. The children learn to communicate, read, and write through the development of the following early literacy skills:

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness
Alphabetic Principles
Fluency, Vocabulary, & Comprehension

To enhance the language experience in the Primary classroom, Spanish enrichment is part of the program.

Math

Math in the Primary Program uses concrete, hands-on materials for children to grasp the concepts of numbers. Throughout their time in the primary classroom, learners explore the concepts of number and operations, measurement, and geometry at varying levels moving from the use of concrete materials to increasingly more abstract concepts by the end of their Kindergarten year. Students develop an understanding of:

one-to-one correspondence and the concept of conservation.
number words and numerals to represent quantities.
operations to compute quantities with concrete materials.
sequencing and the comparison of objects.
the characteristics and names of shapes.

Science

Science is a mixture of Montessori and International Baccalaureate curriculum in the Primary classroom. Montessori materials introduce children to physical science, earth science, and life science. Through the IB framework, children learn to inquire about the world around them and:

gain an appreciation for living things by taking care of classroom pets and plants.
develop an understanding of scientific inquiry. Classify things (living/nonliving, plant/animal, vertebrate/invertebrate, types of plants, classes of animals).

Montessori Lesson Videos

Specific goals for the 3 to 6 year old Primary program are as follows:

To provide an environment that allows each child to develop at his/her own pace and to his/her fullest potential.
To encourage care of oneself and the environment.
To aid the continued development of respect for others and the materials.
To foster a love of learning, creativity, logical thinking and skills for life.
To aid the growth of the child into a complete social, emotional, and intellectual being.
To build continuity between home and school through parent education and parent-teacher conferences.

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