Elementary Program at Montessori Children's House - Introduction
Elementary Articles
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The Elementary Program is located in the building directly behind our main building. It has a maximum of 15 students in a class which combines Grades 1-3.
Montessori Elementary gives children the opportunity to continue to progress at their own pace in an environment that nurtures the love of learning. Children take responsibility for their own learning and have daily opportunities to make decisions and make choices in a child-centered classroom. They are exposed to many complex concepts at an early age through the use of wonderful concrete learning materials.
The majority of children in Montessori elementary programs achieve high level academic standards because they are highly motivated and have worked on an extremely broad and integrated curriculum. Each child is an individual. A Montessori teacher challenges each according to his or her developmental needs and abilities.
The elementary years are the primary sensitive periods for the acquisition of what is known as cultural literacy. Older children want to know the reason why things are as they are found in the world. They are oriented toward intellectual investigation and discovery.
Here lies one of the significant differences between Montessori education and the schools most children attend. In many classrooms the primary focus (up to 80% of the school year) is spent on teaching the "basic skills" in isolation. From the Montessori perspective, the "basics" are not basic curriculum at all; they represent enabling skills which make it possible for the child to gain access to the real substance of one's education: science, history, the arts, great literature, world culture, politics, economics and philosophy. Montessori teaches both the basics and cultural literacy.
Montessori is based on respect for fellow human beings: the child, the teacher, the classmates, and the world. We want to teach children to extend the same respect in return.
At the elementary level, Montessori students learn to think for themselves. They are encouraged to do their own research, analyze what they have found, and come to their own conclusions. Montessori teaches children to think, not simply memorize, feed back and forget. They literally learn how to learn, discovering that the process can, and should be, as natural as breathing. Students become fully engaged in the learning process.
Freedom of movement, open work space and uninterrupted blocks of time for individual and group projects all help to support the 6-9 year olds' need to gain control over their growing bodies, as well as the child's drive toward autonomy.
Rather than present children with the "right" answers, Montessori teachers ask the "right" questions and challenge students to discover the answers on their own. Why? Because although learning
the right answers may get the children through school, learning how to learn will get them through life.
