The age 5 is a time of mastery, and the kindergarten program at Greene Towne assists this development.  This is the time when the children put all the impressions from the language, math, and cultural areas into a more conscious format.  The 5-6 year old is ready to consolidate and integrate detail, information, and experience.  He/she starts to make comparisons and later can move more readily into abstract thinking.

For example, a 3 or 4 year old can look at a set of geography cards picturing people from different countries.  The younger child can realize that the people are different, but it is the 5 year old who begins to realize what is different.  It is this developmental readiness that enables our Kindergarten program to provide the opportunity to discover and learn about different cultures and life-styles, draw geography maps, label names of countries, etc.

Moreover, the three-year (or four-year) Montessori program is designed to help children progress from stage to stage in this developmental sequence without interruption or loss of continuity.  We build upon what came previously!

Besides allowing for continuous development, the Kindergarten year provides mastery of self.  It is one of the few times in life when children can be “top dog” in the classroom and feel the great pride in that esteemed position.  The children feel great competence, serving as teachers to the younger children, either directly or by example.

This competence is partly the result of having experienced their own progress in the same setting.  They once were the little ones coming into the classroom, learning how to pour juice and roll mats.  But now they are the Kindergarten children, who write stories and count the 1000 chain. 

This is the age when children master their socializing skills of cooperating, sharing, and taking turns.  The Montessori classroom is a community where every child is important.  Often, visitors to Greene Towne comment on how kind the older children are to the younger ones.  It is a common occurrence to see a 5-year-old helping a 3-year-old with his coat and boots.

When a child leaves this environment after his/her second year and does not continue on in the Kindergarten Year, he/she loses time in this developmental sequence.  The energy put into mastery now must be put into adjusting.  The transition means adjusting to a new school, new friends, new routines, etc.—and thus interrupts and delays the developmental sequence.

This delay tends to reduce the feelings of mastery and competence at this age.  Again, the consolidation of impressions is left at random at this point if a transition occurs.  The esteemed position of “top dog” is delayed until the end of grade school since children in other Kindergartens are regarded as the “babies” - they are the youngest, not the oldest.

A child naturally is ready for new challenges at 6, when entry into 1st grade typically occurs.  This need to “move on” comes naturally from within the child of 6, while the need at the age of 5 is one to “finish”.  The Montessori Kindergarten differs in content and process from other kindergarten programs.  In the Montessori program, children learn through concrete materials and through the senses.  It is learning by doing, with verbal input integrated into the process.  In other programs children are more involved with verbal instruction and much time is spent in helping them listen and follow directions.  Greene Towne children have already acquired these skills so they have the opportunity to move on and build upon what has been accomplished in the previous years.