Three Year Cycle

One of the key principles of the Montessori Primary program is the importance of the three-year cycle, from ages three to six. Many of the concepts and materials your child will work with in their first two years, serve as indirect preparations and create a strong foundation for the third year. During the three-year cycle, the lessons build on themselves and move from concrete to abstract, allowing your child to develop a deep understanding of important concepts and build concrete knowledge. 

 

 

There is also a particularly important social component to the three-year cycle. By having a mixed age group, each child benefits from those children that are older and younger. The older children serve as role models for the younger children, setting an example of how to behave in the classroom and allowing them to see the materials they can forward to working with. The younger children allow the older children to develop leadership skills and gain mastery over certain tasks as they show the younger children how to do something.