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CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY PROGRAM

The Cambridge Primary Program is designed for children turning four through age seven. Children join our primary program when they have reached key milestones which demonstrate their ability to participate fully in the next stage of their learning process.

FOCUS ON INDEPENDENCE/THINKING ROUTINES
The primary program is a multi-age group focused on the exchange and development of ideas, an introduction to thinking skills and routines, and encouragement of opinion and debate. It is during this time that the children begin to explore projects and interests.The children in the primary program are becoming more independent, are beginning to assert themselves, can follow multi-step directions, and work fully at the cooperative level of play. These children can engage in dialogue and spend time in deep conversation about a shared experience.

KEY LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Children in the primary stage are immersed in daily activities which are designed to foster their curiosity, encourage problem-solving, and enable them to perform increasingly complex tasks with more than one possible outcome. We believe that younger children engaging with "knowledgeable others" (typically an older child who helps scaffold a younger child's understanding of a concept or idea) is a truly meaningful way to help children learn concepts efficiently and deeply. Likewise, we see a significant opportunity for older, more knowledgable peers to solidify their understanding of a concept or idea when they are given the opportunity to teach/explain what they have learned to children who are in the process of understanding.

READINESS
As children develop readiness, they will also begin to read and decode words, demonstrate invented spelling and become often prolific artists! In math children often begin to compare, develop an understanding of one-to-one correspondence which leads to the more difficult operations such as addition, subtraction multiplication and division.

INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING APPROACH
At this stage of our program, each child is learning through a highly individualized process. We not only document their learning on a regular basis, we also provide individualized projects of great personal interest and meaning. These projects provide multi-sensorial avenues to learning using language, music, movement, mathematics, science, dramatic play, and cultural explorations which provoke, engage, and inspire the child to grow exponentially.

DAILY SPANISH LANGUAGE IMMERSION
Each child in our program is exposed to/immersed in Spanish throughout the day (depending on their level of aptitude and program intensity level). We have seen our children learn significant amounts of language from weekly exposure to Spanish and now prepare them to take the next step - immersion with native speakers.