The older child has entered a period of heightened receptivity to intellectual learning. For this reason, the Elementary curriculum stresses a rigorous academic program. The work of the Elementary child is social as well as academic. Driven by a desire to become part of society, the older child needs an environment that allows for social development. Lessons that encourage the children to work together in a non-competitive atmosphere allow them to practice creating and functioning in a harmonious world, participating actively, enthusiastically, and responsibly.
The nature of the child is the primary consideration when the content of the Montessori elementary environment is being prepared. After six, new sensitive periods come to birth, and with them, new needs that must be satisfied in new ways. There is a “decided change in personality.”
Some of the characteristics which Dr. Montessori observed in children of the elementary ages are as follows:
Children become more interested in the wider world beyond the enclosed space of the prepared environment. They are eager to explore, to widen their contacts with the world outside the classroom, to perfect the capacities and talents in themselves.
Children develop what is usually called the “herd instinct.” They join gangs and secret societies. They need to associate themselves with others not merely for the sake of company, but in some sort of organized activity. They like to mix with others in a group wherein each has a different status. A leader is chosen and obeyed, and a strong group is formed. This is a natural tendency through which children learn how humans become organized.
The most characteristic of all the mental traits which make their appearance with the transition to this “second stage of childhood” is the development of reasoning power.
Where the first period of childhood is characterized by a more or less unconscious absorption from the environment, the second period is concerned with the acquisition of culture.
Translated into age levels, this means that before the age of six, children want to name everything they possibly can, they want to know what and where. They are primarily interested in facts. After the age of six, they want to know why, how, and when. They are interested in reasons, explanations, and time perspective. Other "sensitive periods" at this age involve abstraction and imagination.
In most formal learning situations, teachers are given curriculum which all children follow together at the same time. In most extremely controlled situations, the teacher is even told which lessons she should be giving on a particular day, how much time to allow for each lesson, and how much must be taught in each semester.
The Montessori Curriculum is different. The general curriculum direction is given and specific areas of the general direction are outlined. The use of individual classroom materials permits a varied pace that accommodates many levels of ability in the classroom. A younger child may work for many days or weeks on the same piece of equipment while the other members of the class move on. Children with a high level of ability are constantly challenged by the wide variety of materials and their many uses.
Key presentations (lessons), or typical presentations which show possible use of the material, are given in detail. The adult giving the presentation uses that which is appropriate developmentally for the individual children involved. Suggestions for extensions of the exercises and related activities are given, but not elaborated upon because the ensuing activities are a result of the response and interest of the children, a response and an interest that cannot be spelled out in a curriculum in advance. Giving too much in a curriculum may be just as detrimental as giving too little. Therefore, a Montessori curriculum gives a basic framework that is open-ended.
The Montessori programme is dynamic, so that the adults in a Montessori environment are always ready to respond to the interests of the children and capitalize on those interests in order to help the children find meaningful involvement. The function of the teacher is to understand the relationships between subjects and organize them around children's vital interests according to their age.
These subjects include the understanding of the nature of the physical environment and the understanding of the workings of human society. All intellectual subjects are introduced to the child during this develpmental period between six and twelve. Children have an opportunity to follow the general curriculum as self–directed explorers travelling at their own pace. Personal assistance and guidance is available from the adult. They learn as much as they are able to in a given period of involved activity.
Dr. Montessori developed techniques and materials to help children to consciously analyse their language so that their task of learning written language is simplified. They perceive the functions of the parts of speech and perfect their reading ability through exercises in interpretative reading. The writing of compositions and the logical and structural analysis of grammatical units leads the children to recognize style and structure in works of literature. Language is integrated into all aspects of the curriculum through written comprehension materials such as Science Command cards or Geometry booklets.
The materials for teaching mathematics serve first to implant the basic mathematical concepts in children's minds and then to illuminate and elaborate those concepts. Concrete materials, which consist for the most part in representations of the geometrical aspect of number structure, permit children to obtain a clear understanding of abstract mathematical concepts. Having in mind a clear conceptual understanding, they may proceed rationally and easily to the particular processes of calculation, and the processes themselves become interesting when children can understand their full significance.
Much of the methodology which today forms the basis of “new math” was first articulated by Dr. Montessori in a volume published in 1916.
Montessori children see things, manipulate them with their hands, count them and fit them together—then, after repetition, they put them aside and are free to manipulate symbols abstractly, but with understanding. By introducing the children to the large view of mathematics, in a manner which they understand concretely, the Montessori Method enables children to appreciate mathematics as pure science.
Biology, history, science and geography are all inter–related in a Montessori curriculum and they cannot be divorced into separate subject areas in the classroom. They constitute a truly integrated curriculum.
Montessori biology is structured in such a way to give the children a means of classification so that they can structure and relate the facts of biology. The study of biology reveals to the children that classification seems to follow evolution. The ultimate goal is to help children to develop an ecological view of life and a feeling of responsibility for the environment.
Montessori history follows the development of the solar system, life on earth, the development of people, early civilizations and recorded history. The child sees the long labour of people to accomplish all that is here for present–day humankind to enjoy.
The study of geography is designed to show how the physical configurations of the earth contribute to the history of humankind. The study of physical geography is the basis for the study of Economic Geography, which shows the interdependence of all humans.
The first Science experiments are designed to give children the basic knowledge which will make possible the understanding of the development of the solar system, the earth and its configurations, life on earth, and the needs of plants and animals.
The hoped–for result is that the children see that each individual life on earth, although seemingly selfish (fighting for its own survival), is in reality serving the good of the whole. This unfolding of life benefits each creature. Children learn to see that they have a place in it and a responsibility to help further it.
The unique Montessori materials in music extend from the study of the diatonic and chromatic scales to the analysis of melody, transposition and modulation, and to the analytic study of rhythms. Through the use of music specialists who visit classes on rotation, children are given an appreciation for music from around the world and grow to appreciate a wide range of types of music and instruments.
The second language programme begins when the child enters the second year of the Casa program, and the time devoted to it increases as the child proceeds from the six to nine, nine to twelve, and junior high levels. We recognize the importance of learning a second language, as education is a preparation for life within our culture. Children are taught in small groups through a variety of techniques—direct, indirect, audio–visual, and written—depending on the capabilities of the children. Learning French is very important to the parents of the school. This Enhanced Core program has been found to be the most successful one for our students and develops a comparable level of French to French Immersion programs.
Children receive instruction from a trained Physical Education Specialist. In a non–competitive atmosphere, children are challenged to perfect their personal best, ever striving to become physically fit and to acquire skills and attitudes that will encourage a positive and healthy attitude towards exercise for life.
Childhood is not merely a stage which has to be passed through in order to become an adult. Childhood is an entity in itself, “the other pole of humanity.” The child creates the adult as truly as the adult creates the child. The work of the child, Dr. Montessori said, is nothing less than the tremendous task of creating the adult that–is–to–be.
