Crabapple Montessori School

PROGRAMS > Primary - 3(+/-) to 6 years

“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.” - Dr. Maria Montessori

Montessori child  working on practical life skills

Program Options

The Priamary Program is offered 5 days per week. The following options are available:


  • Half-day: 8am to noon
  • Extended-day: 8am to 3pm
  • All-day: 7:30am to 6:00pm (care provided to All-day students for an additional 12 days during the academic year)
Child working with the Montessori Golden Beads math material

Primary curriculum: developmental leaps

In a Primary classroom at Crabapple Montessori School, you might see a child building the cube of the trinomial with colorful blocks – a preparation for the algebra that will be learned at the elementary level.


You may see children tracing geometrical-shaped objects and coloring the inside spaces with a back and forth motion. This is to improve eye/hand coordination and develop the fine motor skills needed to learn handwriting.


You might see the teacher giving group lessons on how to interact with peers and adults with grace and courtesy. These very young students practice the training outside the classroom too! It’s often said that if you see a child in a restaurant sitting and eating food calmly, most likely he or she is a Montessori child.

Child working with Montessori Knobbed Cylinders

The Sensitive Period is a time of remarkable development

Ages three to six is the second phase of what Dr. Maria Montessori called the “sensitive period,” when children have a desire to learn basic skills that give them independence and an ability to live in the world. This is a time of enormous developmental leaps, when children are ready to expand their vocabulary, grasp math concepts, and develop habits for working with others.


The Crabapple Montessori School classroom is equipped with research-based materials, and the curriculum is carefully designed for children to delight in a dynamic process of learning. It’s also a calm, structured space constructed to meet a child’s individual needs. Here, the child experiences a blend of freedom and discipline in a space specially prepared for his or her optimal development.

Montessori child watering the school garden

An interdisciplinary and interactive curriculum

The Montessori preschool curriculum at Crabapple Montessori School is interdisciplinary and interactive, encompassing five broad areas:


  • Practical Life exercises instill care for self, for others, and for the environment. Activities include many of the tasks children see as part of the daily routine at home such as preparing food and washing dishes. The exercises of Practical Life allow the children to learn to function independently by caring for their own needs and the needs of the class environment. They learn to complete these tasks by developing their powers of control and concentration. One group of Practical Life exercises referred to as “Grace and Courtesy,” aids the development of social relations such as greeting, serving, accepting, apologizing, and thanking.
  • Sensorial Area focuses on the development of sensory perception. All five senses are engaged as children learn to differentiate among sizes, colors, weights, forms, textures, scents, tastes, and musical sounds. Aristotle said, “There is nothing in the intellect which was not first in the senses.” Writing and reading skills are generally developed consecutively. To further enhance reading development, grammar is taught in the primary class.
  • Mathematics activities help children learn and understand the concepts of math by manipulating concrete materials. Various activities allow the child to internalize concepts of quantity, sequence, decimal system, place value and to explore the processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This work gives children a solid understanding of basic mathematical principles, prepares them for later abstract reasoning, and helps develop problem-solving capabilities.
  • Geography, Biology, Botany, Zoology, Art and Music are integrated in the primary class curriculum.
  • Children learn about people and cultures in other countries with an attitude of respect and admiration.
  • Art programs give children every opportunity to enjoy a variety of creative activities and gain knowledge of the great masters.
  • To enrich the music program Dr. Montessori designed a set of bells corresponding to the keys on the piano. Teachers are trained to use “The Bells” to teach the children the pitch of musical notes. This type of ear training early in life is excellent preparation for any further pursuit in music.
  • Each classroom has an adjacent outdoor environment where children garden and explore nature. Caring for a garden is a way of developing environmental awareness.

What Our Parents Say

"I came looking for a very specific environment for my oldest son. I knew more than the average parent about Montessori from my oldest daughter’s experiences in other Montessori schools as well as from my sister who is a trained Montessori teacher. I visited several Montessori schools and top area day care programs. All the schools listened to me explain my son’s “special needs” and gave me a tour of the school and discussed what they could do to support him (he was 3.5 y/o at the time).


Crabapple Montessori went a step further; they set up a meeting with me and the potential teacher. My main goal was to find a teacher and a classroom that was calming and quiet with a certain routine he could depend on. He not only adjusted and adapted to his teachers, he began to flourish! The difference for me was that his teachers LOVED him. I think they loved him as much as I did. There is simply no substitute for someone who cares as much or more about your child.


He is more than prepared for Elementary school and I could not be happier with what this school & staff have done for my son."


–TRISHA

If you think your child would thrive in a Montessori environment, schedule a phone tour. We would love for you to visit our school and learn more.

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