Curriculum Ages 6-12

*Portions of this description of the Montessori curriculum are reprinted with permission from NAMTA booklet: "What is Montessori Elementary?", edited by David Kahn.

Lower Elementary Classrooms
Two spacious classrooms serve our students. An open floor plan leads to a shared common room for research and collaborative work. Like all Montessori rooms, the lower elementary is divided into 3 equal age groups, grades 1-3.

The Prepared Environment
The elementary-aged child is moving from an understanding of the physical world to an understanding of abstract concepts. Montessori provides diverse and creative passages to abstraction. The prepared environment provides the “keys” of each discipline in a manner that meets the elementary child’s needs for inspiration as well as order. Materials in the academic disciplines (including mathematics, grammar, reading, writing, geometry, botany, zoology, and geography) enable the child to not only learn skills and concepts, but to experience the inherent beauty and order of each of these disciplines.

Elementary Vision Statement
This statement expresses the goals and philosophical foundation of our elementary program. Click here to read the complete Vision Statement.

An Integrated Curriculum: Capturing the Imagination
Research has shown that engaging the child’s imagination enhances the learning process. Research also indicates that a focus on grand, interconnected concepts facilitates learning. This research confirms why the Montessori approach has enabled elementary children to learn so well over the years.

In the elementary class, an integrated curriculum activates the child’s imagination and immerses him in a grand vision of the universe. This is done through the Great Lessons.

The Great Lessons, a series of five stories, present broad themes from natural and human history. These inspire the child and prompt him to ask questions: I wonder how many solar systems there are; I wonder what color the first ocean was; I wonder … “The Story of Plants and Animals”, “The Story of Writing”, “The Story of Numbers” – within the context of these great themes, the child studies the details of the disciplines: science, mathematics, social studies, and language. The story provides the overview; the children then investigate the disciplines in detail. Because of the unifying thread of the Great Lessons, no subject is studied in isolation from the others. Knowledge is intertwined even though discrete in its parts.

Montessori’s excellent learning materials and advanced curriculum ensure a solid mastery of basic skills. The Great Lessons provide the child with the opportunity to be an active learner who puts his skills to use as he pursues his desire for meaningful knowledge.

A Sense of Gratitude and Responsibility
The Great Lessons inspire a sense of gratitude in the child. God has provided innumerable gifts through the natural world, through the history of human civilizations, and through the history of salvation. Recognizing these, the child's natural response is one of gratitude for all that we have inherited. At the same time, the child develops a sense that he, too, has a responsibility to contribute to the continuing stream of human progress. Thus Montessori elementary experience provides the foundations for life commitment through moral and social responsibility.

For a full explanation of our lower elementary curricula, please click here

For a full explanation of our upper elementary curricula, please click here