Our sun-soaked classroom and enclosed courtyard garden is set up to accommodate the many creative and focused moments throughout the child's day. Set back within the St. Patrick's school building, there is peace and accessibility for our staff and children, a place both beautiful and functional.  

The Montessori Primary classroom, or Children's House, is made up of children ages 2.5 - 6 years old. The three-year cycle and mixed-age classroom follows the developmental stage, or plane of development, of the young child in the most miraculous time of learning she will ever experience. 

The absorbent mind of the young child will take in everything in her environment, receiving the world through the five senses. Children move independently between different areas of the classroom guided by lessons given by our trained Montessori Guide and Assistant.

The five areas of the learning environment are practical life, sensorial, language, math, and cultural which blends both geography and science.  Each builds on the other so that the child receives not just an academic foundation but "an aid to life." 

We have an Atrium which offers Catechesis of the Good Shepherd right in our classroom, and the students are invited to spend time in this area every day, encountering Jesus themselves as the Good Shepherd.  

The children experience explosions of learning as they hit developmental sensitive periods, most notably language and numeration.  Since this does not happen at the same time for every child, the teacher is guided by her observation and patient awareness of each child's individual readiness for particular lessons.  

An essential element to the Montessori environment is grace and courtesy, that beautiful piece of the curriculum practiced in every area of the classroom so that the child learns to care for and respect herself, others around her, and the environment.