To inspire academic excellence;

nurture curiosity, creativity, and imagination;

and awaken the human spirit.

Our Elementary Montessori Community

Montessori children never lose the joy of learning.

Elementary Classes are Multi-Age Group Communities

Elementary Montessori classes continue to bring children of different age levels together. Classes span three age/grade levels, with the common divisions being ages 6 to 9 (grades 1-3) and ages 9 to 12 (grades 4-6). Some schools may follow a somewhat different scheme of grouping their children.

There are many reasons why Montessori classes group children of several grade levels together:

Since Montessori allows children to progress through the curriculum at their own pace, there is no academic reason to group children according to one grade level.

In a mixed-age class, children can always find peers who are working at their current level.

To accommodate the needs of individual learners, Montessori classrooms include a curriculum to cover the entire span of interests and abilities up through the oldest and most accelerated students in the class. This creates a highly enriched learning environment.

In multi-level classrooms, younger children are stimulated by the interesting work in which the older ones are engaged

• At the same time, in multi-level classrooms, older students serve as tutors and role models for the younger ones, which helps them in their own mastery (we learn things best of all when we teach them to someone else) and leaves them with a tremendous sense of pride.
• By working with children for three years, teachers get to know them extremely well.
• And, finally, there is a strong sense of continuity in the elementary Montessori class because two-thirds of the children return each August for either their second or third year with the same teacher(s). Most of the children know one another and understand the culture of the class. This makes it much easier to orient new children to the class.

Elementary Montessori Educators Serve As Mentors, Guides, and Friends

The best elementary Montessori teachers tend to be renaissance men and women; individuals who are equally interested in mathematics, the sciences, the arts, architecture, literature, poetry, psychology, economics, technology, and philosophy. Elementary Montessori teachers are generalists, guides, rather than subject matter instructor. They provide a blend of structure to ensure that the “basics” are mastered while encouraging and guiding the children as they explore topics and ideas that capture their imagination.

The elementary Montessori curriculum is very demanding and requires teachers to have a broad and thorough education of their own. With lessons that range from the history of mathematics to the physics of flight, mineralogy, chemistry, algebra, geometry, linguistics, and literature, to name just a few, the average teacher would be lost.

But beyond this, elementary Montessori educators need patience, understanding, respect, enthusiasm, and a profound ability to inspire a sense of wonder and imagination. Such teachers are very rare but absolutely magical!

Becoming an elementary Montessori teacher requires a full year of graduate study and thousands of hours of hard work to gather or create the curriculum materials that constitute a prepared elementary Montessori environment.

The Montessori Materials and the Passage To Abstraction

At the elementary level, learning continues to be a hands-on experience, as students learn by trial, error, and discovery.

The advanced elementary Montessori materials move on to more complex and abstract concepts in mathematics, geometry, and pre-algebra. The goal is to lead students away from a dependency on concrete models that visually represent abstract concepts towards the ability to solve problems with pen and paper alone. Part of this is made possible by the growing child’s brain’s ability to grasp abstractions, but it has been greatly enhanced over the years by countless hours of work with the concrete materials that made the abstract real and helped him visualize the abstraction.

Similar hands-on materials help students understand grammar, sentence analysis, geographical facts, and concepts in science.

Learning How to Learn

Community Service

Montessori schools strive to create global understanding

• They tend to attract teachers from all over the world.
• It is normal to find an international student body in a Montessori school anywhere in the world.
• Montessori schools normally teach at least one foreign language, and commonly offer intensive programs in several languages.
• World geography, international cultural studies, and world history are central to the elementary Montessori curriculum.
• Elementary Montessori students begin to understand the global economy.
• As more and more Montessori schools are developing strong upper elementary and middle school programs, they are beginning to sponsor travel-study programs. Some participate in the Montessori Model United Nations or even foreign exchange programs.

Is Montessori opposed to competition?

No. Dr. Montessori simply observed that competition is an ineffective tool to motivate children to learn and work hard in school.

Traditionally schools challenge students to compete with each other for grades, class rankings, and special awards. For example, tests are graded on a curve developed from the permanent of the students in that class. Students are constantly measured against their classmates, rather than considered for their individual progress.

In Montessori schools, students learn to collaborate with each other rather than mindlessly compete. Students discover their own innate abilities and develop a strong sense of independence, self-confidence, and self-discipline. In an atmosphere in which children learn at their own pace and compete only against themselves, they learn to not be afraid of making mistakes. They quickly find that few things in life come easily, and they can try again without fear of embarrassment.

Dr. Montessori argued that for an education to profoundly touch a child’s heart and mind, he must be learning because he is curious and interested, not simply to earn the highest grade in the class.

Montessori children compete with each other every day, both in class and on the playground. Dr. Montessori, herself an extraordinary student and a very high achiever, was never opposed to competition on principle. Her objection was to using competition to create an artificial motivation to get students to achieve.

Montessori schools allow competition to evolve naturally among children, without adult interference unless the children begin to show poor sportsmanship. The key is the child’s voluntary decision to compete, rather than having it imposed on him by the school.

Homework, tests, grades, and competition

Many parents have heard that Montessori schools do not believe in homework, grades, and tests. This is a misunderstanding of what we do and believe.

Because Montessori believes in individually paced academic progress and encourages children to explore their interests rather than simply complete work assigned by their teachers, we don’t assign grades or rank students within each class according to their achievement.

Whenever students voluntarily decide to learn something, they tend to engage in their work with a passion and attention that few students will ever invest in tasks that have been assigned.

Providing structure – setting high but individually tailored expectations

This doesn’t mean that they can do whatever they want academically, possibly electing to learn to read and possibly not. Montessori students have to live within a cultural context, which involves the mastery of skills and knowledge that we consider basic. Montessori gives students the opportunity to choose a large degree of what they investigate and learn, as well as the ability to set their own schedule during class time

Montessori children normally work with a written study plan for the day or week. It lists the basic tasks they need to complete while allowing them to decide how long to spend on each and what order they would like to follow. Beyond these basic individually tailored assignments, children explore topics that capture their interests and imagination and share them with their classmates.

Montessori children usually don’t think of our assessment techniques as tests so much as challenges. Most elementary teachers will give their students informal oral exams or have the children demonstrate what they have learned by either teaching a lesson to another child or giving a formal presentation. The children both take and prepare written tests to administer to their friends.

Standardized tests

Montessori educators frequently argue that standardized testing is inaccurate, misleading, and stressful for children. Further, they argue that it is unnecessary since any good teacher who works with the same children for three years and carefully observes their work knows far more about their progress than any paper and pencil test can reveal.

However, in our culture, test-taking skills are just another practical life lesson children must master.

Most Montessori schools regularly give students quizzes on the concepts and skills they have been studying. Many schools use standardized tests annually or every other year with students over first grade.

Standardized tests do not offer a terribly accurate measure of a child’s basic skills and knowledge. Many issues include how well a given test captures a sense of someone’s true skills and knowledge. Any given testing session can be profoundly affected by the student’s emotional state, attitude, and health, and to a large degree, they demonstrate how well a student knows how to take this kind of test.

The problem with standardized tests is that they have often been misunderstood and misinterpreted in other schools rather than challenging students to demonstrate skills and knowledge. When tests are used as a feedback loop, indicating that a student needs a new lesson and more practice instead of a mark of shame and failure, they can be quite useful.

Children will face standardized tests throughout their education, and they certainly need to develop good test-taking skills.

Homework

Homework in an elementary Montessori class rarely involves busy work assignments but extensions and enrichment of the curriculum. Some classes will allow the children to freely pursue projects that interest them at home, while others prefer to give children a number of optional assignments or challenges. In either case, the Montessori version of homework will rarely be boring. It will normally challenge students to think, explore, and pursue tangible projects that give them a sense of satisfaction.

Here are just a few examples of typical assignments:

• Plan and prepare dinner for your family, which is typical of what the ancient Greeks might have eaten.
• Read together with your mother or father one of the books on the following list
• Visit a place of worship of a different faith than yours. Meet the rabbi, priest, or minister and learn as much as possible.
• Buy some stock a follow its course over time. Pretend that you have ten thousand dollars to invest.
• How many square feet of carpet would cover your entire house? Convert this number into square yards. Call two carpet dealers. What kinds of carpet do they offer, and what would it cost to carpet your house?
• Build a square model of the floor plan of your house out of cardboard, one floor at a time. Be as careful and exact as you can.
• Develop a pen pal in a Montessori school in another city in the USA or in another country.
• Prepare a list of all the things that you would like to do with your life: your career, cities that you would like to visit, mountains to climb, and things you would like to learn about.
• Build a model of the Parthenon, an aqueduct, or some other historical structure.
• Build a bridge out of popsicle sticks with carpenter’s glue that will span a three-foot chasm and support several bricks.
• Interview your grandparents about their childhood. Write a biography or share what you learn.

The elementary Montessori curriculum is organized into three elements:

1. Mastery of Fundamental Skills and Basic Core Knowledge

A Rigorous European Curriculum: Montessori evolved out of the European tradition of academic excellence, and offers a rigorous course of study even in the elementary years. Elementary Montessori students explore the realm of mathematics, science and technology, the world of myth, great literature, history, world geography, civics, economics, anthropology, and the basic organization of human societies. Their studies cover the basics found in traditional curricula, such as the memorization of math facts, spelling lessons, and the study of vocabulary, grammar, sentence analysis, creative and expository writing, and library research skills.

Sometimes, because Montessori places so much emphasis on cultivating children’s sense of curiosity and wonder, parents may get the impression that students can simply do whatever they wish, avoiding subjects that they dislike. This is certainly not the case in any well-run class.

2. Dr. Montessori’s “Great Lessons”:

The Great Lessons are five key areas of interconnected studies traditionally presented to all elementary Montessori students in the form of inspiring stories and related experiences and research projects.

The Cosmic Curriculum: The Great Lessons include the story of how the world came to be, the development of life on the Earth, the story of humankind, the development of language and writing, and the development of mathematics. They are intended to give children a “cosmic” perspective of the Earth and humanity’s (and their own) place within the cosmos.

Traditionally presented every year in the elementary class as an inspiration to new and older students alike, the lessons, studies, and projects surrounding each of the Great Lessons normally span many months and the questions that the children pose and their efforts to find the answers to their own questions may continue for many years.

3. Individually Chosen Research:

Elementary students are encouraged to explore topics that capture their imagination. Most former Montessori students look back on this aspect of the elementary program with particular fondness in later years.

Montessori is a library research-based curriculum. Elementary Montessori students rarely use textbooks. The approach is largely based on library research, with children gathering information, assembling reports, teaching what they have learned to their fellows, and assembling portfolios and handmade books of their own.

Beginning by simply using an encyclopedia to find the answers to a list of questions prepared by their teachers, Montessori students are taught how to use reference materials, libraries, and even the Internet to gather information and uncover the facts. Their oral presentations and written research reports grow in sophistication and complexity every year.

Learning By Doing: Elementary Montessori students make their studies come alive through a host of hands-on projects and activities. For example, a small group of students who are interested in Greek mythology might build a model of ancient Athens, make and decorate their own Grecian vases to illustrate a particular story, prepare dioramas of a scene from mythology, or write and produce their own play for the rest of the class. It is quite common to find children constructing models of ancient buildings, or learning ancient skills, such as flaking flint to make stone tools.

Elementary Montessori Curriculum:

Mastery of Fundamental Skills and Basic Core Knowledge

An International Curriculum: Montessori evolved out of the European tradition of academic excellence, and offers a rigorous course of study even in the elementary years. Elementary Montessori students explore the realm of mathematics, science and technology, the world of myth, great literature, history, world geography, civics, economics, anthropology, and the basic organization of human societies. Their studies cover the basics found in traditional curricula, such as the memorization of math facts, spelling lessons, and the study of vocabulary, grammar, sentence analysis, creative and expository writing, and library research skills.

Sometimes, because Montessori places so much emphasis on cultivating children’s sense of curiosity and wonder, parents may get the impression that students can simply do whatever they wish, avoiding subjects that they dislike. This is certainly not the case in any well-run class.

Dr. Montessori’s “Great Lessons”:

The Great Lessons are five key areas of interconnected studies traditionally presented to all elementary Montessori students in the form of inspiring stories and related experiences and research projects.

The Cosmic Curriculum: The Great Lessons include the story of how the world came to be, the development of life on the Earth, the story of humankind, the development of language and writing, and the development of mathematics. They are intended to give children a “cosmic” perspective of the Earth and humanity’s (and their own) place within the cosmos.

Traditionally presented every year in the elementary class as an inspiration to new and older students alike, the lessons, studies, and projects surrounding each of the Great Lessons normally span many months and the questions that the children pose and their efforts to find the answers to their own questions may continue for many years.

Individually Chosen Research:

Elementary students are encouraged to explore topics that capture their imagination. Most former Montessori students look back on this aspect of the elementary program with particular fondness in later years.

Montessori is a library research-based curriculum. Elementary Montessori students rarely use textbooks. The approach is largely based on library research, with children gathering information, assembling reports, teaching what they have learned to their fellows, and assembling portfolios and handmade books of their own.

Beginning by simply using an encyclopedia to find the answers to a list of questions prepared by their teachers, Montessori students are taught how to use reference materials, libraries, and even the Internet to gather information and uncover the facts. Their oral presentations and written research reports grow in sophistication and complexity every year.

Learning By Doing: Elementary Montessori students make their studies come alive through a host of hands-on projects and activities. For example, a small group of students who are interested in Greek mythology might build a model of ancient Athens, make and decorate their own Grecian vases to illustrate a particular story, prepare dioramas of a scene from mythology, or write and produce their own play for the rest of the class. It is quite common to find children constructing models of ancient buildings, or learning ancient skills, such as flaking flint to make stone tools.