Year Three

Kindergarten in the montessori Classroom

One of Maria Montessori's great insights was that a child’s role in the primary classroom evolves as the child matures. The classroom environment is designed to support the success of first, second, and third year students. Third year students at Fairbanks Montessori are our kindergarteners. As the most developmentally capable and mature students, they naturally lead their younger classmates.

Rather than attending a separate classroom, third year students have the extraordinary benefit of completing the Montessori primary education cycle. They model appropriate classroom behavior and enjoy special responsibilities. These students have attended FMS as three and four year olds, and remember looking up to kindergarteners in years past. They then enthusiastically embrace this leadership role that they have so looked forward to.

Many families choose the third year at Fairbanks Montessori to cap off their Montessori primary education and find that their students enter first grade prepared and confident. Students who miss the public school kindergarten cut off (students who do not turn age 5 until after September 1st) enjoy an advanced academic program within our classroom environments, with individualized learning tailored to provide the right amount of challenge and success for each older student.

Although we accept kindergarten age students who have not previously attended Fairbanks Montessori, the status of Kindergartener is usually reserved for a student who is in their third year with us.

Dual Enrollment Information for Kindergartners

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Additonal Notes

Our child care license allows us to educate children who are 6 years old; children older than age 6 not eligible to attend FMS. If it is emotionally and developmentally appropriate for an individual student to remain at FMS after they turn 6, the Director, the student's teacher, and the student's parents will discuss the student remaining in our program.