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Lower Elementary Curriculum (Ages 6 to 9 years) The Montessori Curriculum for children between the ages of 6 and 9 years is based on the following 5 areas of learning: 1. Language
In keeping with the Montessori philosophy, subjects are offered in an integrated way and the children come to understand how everything they learn is interrelated. Children work at their own pace. Emphasis is placed on developing strong work habits and responsibility for completing assignments to the best of their ability. In order to accommodate a multi-age range, and to facilitate children of diverse learning styles, the Montessori curriculum is designed to cover a comprehensive range of interests and abilities. The learning environment is carefully structured for challenges and success at all levels. The teacher uses a child’s curiosity, imagination and development of social skills as natural motivators for learning. Younger children are stimulated by the work that their
older classmates do, while older children have an opportunity to
develop strong leadership skills within the group. Learning at the lower elementary level is still based on the use of concrete materials. Children learn through experience and discovery. Gradually, as they work their way through the curriculum, they develop abstract concepts and begin to work more with pen and paper.
The lower elementary language curriculum offers children
a carefully structured program of oral, reading and writing skills: These concepts are introduced to the child in the early part of the curriculum. They build on literacy skills that children have already acquired in the early childhood program. A whole language approach to reading is encouraged. This allows children to follow their own interests in learning e.g. one child will want to know and write about dinosaurs while another will explore and record the qualities of magnets. Emphasis is placed on the development of excellent writing skills. The children write everyday and on many topics. The conventions of written language: punctuation, capitalization, spelling and sentence structure are taught as specific lessons and then applied to the child’s own work. Strong research skills develop as the child learns
where and how to locate information, and how to classify and organize
it appropriately. Creative writing in all its forms: stories, poetry, journals and drama is nourished and valued in the Montessori classroom. The lower elementary child takes exceptional pleasure in playing with words. Unusual words, long words, precise words, are a fascination for 6 to 9 year olds. Their capacity for enrichment is limitless at this age, and is evident in the amount of writing they choose to do during the course of a day. Oral language skills are strengthened by encouraging children to present their projects and read their stories with confidence, clarity and expression. Good literature is always available in the classroom and the school library. The children enjoy reading well-written story and information books in all subject areas across the curriculum. On completion of the lower elementary language curriculum the child is expected to read fluently and understand simple chapter and information books. They are also expected to gather and organize information from a variety of sources, use the conventions of writing accurately and make clear oral presentations to the class. 2. Math The Montessori lower elementary math curriculum is based on learning through experience. Children use a wide variety of carefully constructed materials to lead them to an understanding of mathematical operations and concepts. A systematic series of activities and exercises help the child to discover what it really means to add numbers together, divide a whole into many equal parts, and recognize similarities and equivalencies in two and three dimensional shapes. Gradually the child moves from concrete to symbolic math, and eventually enjoys and understands abstract math at an advanced level. Children in a lower elementary classroom are explorers. They thrive on every opportunity to discover the laws of their environment. Mathematical laws fascinate them. They are excited by large amounts up to 1,000,000 and explore their values, sequence and rules. Because the materials promote discovery, children frequently identify math as a favourite subject in school. Over the three-year period children will:
Multi-age groups offer a flexible time frame for reaching academic goals.
The science, social and cultural curriculum is seen as the backbone of the lower elementary classroom. Basic skills in literacy and numeracy are taught in order to make the works of culture available to the child. The integrated (cosmic) curriculum explores history, geography, science, anthropology, commerce, literature, the arts, and music. Children learn through the exploration of key timelines and classification charts, impressionistic lessons and experiments. They are encouraged to research subjects of particular interest to themselves. There is no limit to the range of projects that can be undertaken, and each child works at their own pace. 4. History
5. Geography Geography materials illustrate the birth of planet Earth, its place in the universe, and how it contributed to the history of humankind.
6. Science Science experiments help the child to understand the laws of the Universe. They curriculum covers:
7. Social The Social curriculum recognizes the child’s early interest in an ethical value system and social rules in the community.
The lower elementary Montessori curriculum lays the foundation for further growth and understanding. The child moves from a carefully structured environment to one that they will construct for themselves with the understanding that they have developed between the ages of 6 to 9 years. |
Children
are placed in age groups of three years e.g. 6, 7, 8 year-olds work
together. The full curriculum is designed to be completed over a
3 year period.