Fostering Independence, Academic Growth, and Leadership in Students
In developing the curriculum for the elementary-aged child, Maria Montessori said, “Let us give him a vision of the whole universe. The universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all questions.” This perspective gives the elementary classroom an added emphasis to the study of science by investigating how and why things work and to the study of history and geography and each human being’s role in society.
The upper elementary program continues with the work begun in lower elementary, allowing the students to explore various topics in more depth and at a higher level of abstraction. The subject areas of Language, Math & Geometry, Science, History, and Geography are integrated into educational activities designed to meet the students’ need for both independence and interdependence with other members of the classroom community.
Expressing oneself with written and spoken word is emphasized in every aspect of the students’ work in the classroom. Factual and imaginative writing are practiced through written reports, response to writing prompts, the creation of dialog and drama, and writing poetry. The mechanics of language are practiced in the areas of word study, parts of speech, verb tenses, and sentence analysis. Effective spoken language is practiced through discussion, reporting, debates, poetry reading, drama, and speeches.
Montessori math is unique in that it emphasizes hands-on and manipulative processes and that students are given the time and tools needed to really understand the mechanics behind mathematics.
In Upper Elementary, math work focuses on mastering the basic operations and continuing work with common fractions, decimal fractions, squaring of numbers, cubing of numbers, powers of numbers, word problems, area, volume and more.
Science topics are integrated with the study of history and geography to give an understanding of the universe and to help the student determine his or her place in it. In this way, science includes the traditional topics of botany, zoology, earth and space science, physics and chemistry. The study of history begins with pre-history and the beginning of the universe, the development of life and the evolution of human beings, and moves on to early civilizations and to more recent societies. Geography includes a study of physical, political and economic geography.