Montessori Elementary

Nowhere in life but in school, people do interact only with same age peers. In life and in Montessori human beings benefit by being around people who know more than us and solidify our understanding by teaching those who don’t know yet but are eager to learn. In the mixed-age Montessori Elementary communities (ages 6-9 in Lower Elementary, equivalent to 1st – 3rd grade, and ages 9-12 in Upper Elementary, equivalent to 4th – 6th grade), children benefit from the social dynamic of mixed-age groups in multiple ways:

Motivation by aspiring to do work done by the older child.

Mentoring opportunities and a natural, joyful review of previously-acquired skills and knowledge.

Leadership opportunities as older students increasingly take on the responsibility for organizing the community and managing the work of the classroom.

Improved ability to individualize learning to suit each child’s pace, independent of artificial age cut-offs.

In Montessori Elementary, the school day has two long, uninterrupted work periods usually three hours in the morning (8:30 am to 11:30 am) and two hours (1 pm – 3 pm) in the afternoon.

Here’s what happens during this time:

Lessons: Children receive lessons from their teachers (see below).

Practice: Children are able to apply what they learned that day and week, and practice new skills. They practice at school instead of needing to bring their practice home as lots of homework. While practicing, they have access to resources to help them when they get lost or stuck peers, older students, and their teachers.

Projects: Children are able to tackle and work on projects they initiate such as research on a country, follow-up work on a historical period they study, science experiments they can conduct, or longer creative writing projects they become engaged in.

Community work: Children take an active role in ensuring their community functions taking care of their environment (e.g., watering plants, putting materials back), leading group meetings, and keeping themselves organized (e.g., updating their work journals).

Self Directed Learning: Instead of moving in lock-step, at adult direction, from one subject to the next every 50 minutes, Montessori children have the opportunity to engage deeply, to practice until they achieve mastery, and to experience the power of making autonomous choices, instead of needing to obey adult direction throughout the day.

During the extended work periods, teachers give lessons to children, sometimes to the whole class, but more often in small groups or one-on-one. In this way, a Montessori elementary teacher can teach just to the level that a child or a small group of children are ready for instead of some children becoming bored, or others struggling to keep up when most lessons are given to an entire class of 20+ children. She can also verify understanding and each child is more likely to be engaged, because the material meets their needs, and because it is hard to hide in a small group. Groups are put together based on interest, previous knowledge, and talent. For example, a math group may include an advanced 4th grader, several 5th graders, and maybe a sixth grader or two who need a refresher on that particular lesson.

We all do our best work in a beautiful environment, one that meets our needs. Many elementary age children struggle to sit still at a desk for hours at a time. Children need to move to think and do their best work! Dr. Montessori recognized that which is why in our classrooms, children can work at a child-sized table (alone or with 2-3 others), or on a rug on the floor, or curled up on a beanbag or a small rocking chair while reading a book. Children are trusted to move about the classroom and attend to their needs (a glass of water, a restroom break, a mid-morning snack)instead of needing to ask a teacher permission to get up. Shelves, plants, rugs, and worktables define work spaces, where small groups and individuals can work comfortably instead of the rows of desks common in traditional schools. Beautiful materials, plants, flowers, art and even music playing quietly make a Montessori elementary room a peaceful and inviting work environment.

Montessori believes that in the right environment, children are eager to learn, and want to do well. As Montessori educators, we believe it is not our role to micro-manage children, but to provide just the right amount of scaffolding and support they need to do their best work, and to be their best selves. We call this approach freedom within limits: it is an approach founded in trust and respect, rather than control and command.

Here are a few ways it plays out in class:

Supporting time and work management:Children receive differing levels of support in managing their work, depending on their maturity and responsibility. A young, impulsive child may need to check in with a teacher every 30 minutes or after every completed activity while a mature planner may have a weekly meeting to plan out work, and then be trusted to carry out the plan all week long until the next weekly meeting.

Supporting responsible choices: Teachers give children freedom as they see them be responsible. A child who is easily distracted may be assigned to a workspace in a quiet corner to practice math while another child who has shown his ability to make good choices may be free to work anywhere, maybe even including taking his work out to a picnic table outside with his work partner.