Maria Montessori recognized that the needs of children between the ages of 6 to 12 are different from the needs of preschool aged children or children that are older than 12. The mind of the 6 to 12 year old is moving from the absorbent mind into a newly, reasoning, abstracting and imagining mind. During this age span, the elementary child is happiest working with their peers. There is a capacity to learn an enormous amount and build their understanding of the people and cultures of the world. There is never another time in the life of the child when conscious learning will be so intriguing and important. It is at this time that Montessori believed that we plant the seeds for all of the sciences. During the elementary years, it is the age of reason and of values marked by the child’s interest in right and wrong. The child needs situations where he can be free to choose from a number of safe, constructive choices and utilize his own reason in decisions. In our classrooms, children hold class meetings that they run themselves.
The role of the teacher is different in the elementary classroom. We strive to appeal to the child’s imagination, abstraction and reasoning power by presenting a vision of the whole universe. The children are presented the Montessori Great Lessons with the purpose of sparking the child’s interest. These lessons show the interconnectedness between the subject matter of biology, geography, history, geometry, math and language into a meaningful exploration of life on earth. Over the course of the three year cycle, students will explore each of these areas in greater detail.
When new material is presented, children may be given the choice of what direction to take their research from the main concept. Children learn to track their time each day in planners, thus learning to use their time constructively. Field trips become an important part of their learning. Children take on the responsibility of the planning of trips and fundraising to cover the cost of their trips.
The Montessori classroom adapts to the child’s more expansive needs. Many of the materials are still sensorial which convey concrete experiences and lead to easy abstractions; but gone are some of the freedoms the child had in the 3-6 classroom. Since this is the time to perfect his tools of reading and writing and using time constructively, he does not have the choice not to work. Work he must; choice is what kind of work to do at a given time.
The Three Year Cycle of Lower Elementary Curriculum consists of the following:
Language
- Learning to Read: sound/symbol relationships, phonograms, sight words; using decodable and level readers to teach reading fluency, comprehension; vocabulary, and spelling
- Language Skills: word study, parts of speech, parts of a sentence
- Communication skills: listening, storytelling, shared literature, oral presentations
- Writing Skills: handwriting (print and cursive); writing process for narrative, persuasive, expository
Mathematics
- Numeration: number quantities, symbols, place value, even/odd, rounding
- Computation: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division concepts and operations; memorization of math facts
- Fractions: concepts of fractions, vocabulary, equivalency
- Measurement: linear, time, money, temperature and weight
- Geometry: concepts and vocabulary of geometric solids, lines, polygons, quadrilaterals, and triangles; with hands-on exploration
- Problem Solving: word problems and critical thinking problems; graphing, patterns, and estimating
Cosmic Studies
- History: concepts of time, timelines, Montessori Great Lessons
- Science: sun and solar system; work of water; work of air; the Five Kingdoms of Life, external and internal parts and body functions, classifications
- Geography: land and water forms; seven continents, countries, biomes, fundamental needs; map skills
The Three Year Cycle of Upper Elementary curriculum consists of the following:
Mathematics
- Numeration: Place value from millionths to millions, prime numbers, rounding
- Operations with whole numbers: Reinforcement of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, factors/multiples, ratio/proportions, exponents, order of operations
- Fractions, decimals, and percents: Equivalencies, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, simplifying fractions, converting improper fractions to mixed numbers
- Measurement: Standard and metric, conversions, time, weight
- Geometry: Angles, equivalencies between polygons, area, perimeter, volume, surface area, congruency, similarity, use of ruler, protractor, and compass, circles, classifications of polygons
- Pre-Algebra: Solving single step equations, variables, squaring
- Problem Solving: Word problems, data analysis, patterns, money
Language
- Reading Comprehension and Fluency: Reading for pleasure, reading for information, literature circle, poetry, plays
- Grammar: Parts of speech, tenses, phrases and clauses, sentence analysis
- Writing: Non-fiction writing, fiction writing, persuasive writing, poetry, sentence structure, conventions, organization, punctuation, transition sentences, outlining, note-taking, summarizing, drafting, revising, editing
Cosmic Studies
- History: 7 continent studies, ancient civilizations, world history, US history
- Geography: Physical geography, political geography, mapping
- Science : Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy, Earth Science
