Lower Elementary
Lower Elementary is a multi-age classroom for children ages six to nine that offers an environment in which students learn with and from each other while practicing leadership skills, developing self-esteem, and employing self-sufficiency. The classroom has a teacher as well as an assistant, and is similar in age to a first, second, and third grade program. Lower Elementary children attend school from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. While having previous Montessori experience is helpful, it is not required in order to enroll as a student in the Lower Elementary Program.
Lower Elementary
Ages: 6-9
Times: 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Your Child’s Typical Day
A typical day for a Lower Elementary student begins by greeting the teacher and choosing a project with which to begin the day. When appropriate, students have lessons as individuals, small groups, or even the whole class. Lower Elementary students continue to build upon the concept developed in the Children’s House classroom. As their confidence continues to grow, students further explore concepts in math, geometry, reading, writing, grammar, word study, geography, history, and science. Lower Elementary students also enjoy additional curriculum experiences such as physical education/exercise, foreign language, and art. As movement is essential to the Montessori curriculum, each school day includes active outside play time.
What Your Child is Learning
Building on the principles established in Children’s House, students will continue in their educational development. Using a sensorial approach whenever possible, children will continue to further skills in mathematics and language. Some materials, such as bead chains and writing materials will continue to be used, but in a more advanced way. Other materials will be introduced which build upon previous experiences. For example, geometric concepts introduced using bead chains or decimal cubes are now expanded upon with color cubing materials and fraction insets.
Below are a few highlighted examples of the materials that our children work with in the classroom:
Color Cubing Materials
Montessori students are taught to think abstractly about mathematics while using their senses to practically develop solutions. Using this large set of Color Cubes & Squares, students can construct various cubes to understand the relationships between all of the components, as well as a variety of other advanced mathematical concepts.
Fractions Insets
Insets of various shapes are first introduced in Children’s House. As the student develops, more advanced insets can be used to work with fractions. Some insets may have circles, and some may have squares, but the student will always have a hands-on experience furthering their mathematical understanding.
Bead Frame
Utilizing the concepts established with such materials as the Bead Chains and Decimal Cubes, the Bead Frame allows the student to further their understanding of mathematical concepts such as the decimal system, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Writing
For Lower Elementary students, writing becomes a bigger part of their educational life. Throughout the day, they might be utilizing their handwriting skills to solve mathematical problems or to work out the intricacies of modern language.
