The Mission Montessori Primary class is a mixed age grouping of 3 to 6 year old children. Our classrooms offer a variety of opportunities for children to experience freedom within a secure, attractively structured and welcoming environment. This blending of ages is based on Maria Montessori's philosophy of a multi-age educational society. She recognized the spontaneous interest that arises within each child at this age. It is through the child's interest and active engagement that the love of learning arises.

In each of our classrooms there is a degreed teacher who is also a certified Montessori teacher. Each teacher has two assistants. The teachers observe and record each child's individual progress. They know when to introduce a new challenge and when to allow a child to work with genuine interest.

The child is greeted warmly by their teachers as they begin their day of lessons in the areas of:

Practical Life
Gardening, cooking, self care, care of the environment including plants and animals, grace and courtesy, and the development of coordination of movement.

Sensorial Exercises
Colors, dimension, sound, tactile impressions, and comparisons of smell and taste.

Language Development
Self-expression, writing, letters and sounds and reading.

Mathematics
Montessori manipulatives for introducing numbers, shapes, mathematical operations, and the decimal system.

Cultural Life
Geography, map skills, continent recognition, cultural practices and traditions, global similarities of the needs and desires of people.

Science
The study of science is pursued through real life objects in the classroom. Plants and animals are studied in the classroom and experiments with magnets, water and plants are undertaken as a group or individually. Cards for studying botany, zoology, and physiology are also used within the classroom coupled with our gardening classes and outdoor environment.

Specialty Teachers
Work with the children on a weekly basis in the areas of music, Spanish, sign language and gardening.

Additional enrichment classes
Available for enrollment once a week in dance, stretch-and-grow, gymnastics  and yoga.

Lunches
Provided through a monthly catering service or the children can bring their own as each classroom is equipped with a refrigerator and microwave. The catered lunches provide a varied menu published monthly for the parents and students to place an order. Every Friday is Pizza Day, which can be ordered separately from the monthly menu or is automatically included with a monthly menu order.

Children entering the Montessori Primary Program at age three typically stay in the same classroom with the same teacher for the entire three years. This promotes a familiar environment for the young child and a quicker introduction into the classroom work when the child returns to school each fall. Conferences are scheduled twice yearly to discuss the child's progress. Our primary classes meet the needs of Preschoolers in Scottsdale, Fountain Hills, North Phoenix, Tempe, Cave Creek, and other nearby areas.