Elementary Montessori Program

The Elementary Montessori Program is broken into two planes of development: Lower Elementary for children 6 – 9 years of age, and Upper Elementary for children 9 – 12 years of age. Within the walls of each Elementary classroom, each subject area is carefully designed to promote optimum learning for all students. This is called “Spiral Curriculum.”

  • Everything is interrelated. One lesson leads to many others.

  • The student moves from concrete towards abstract understanding.

  • We always work from the big picture to increasing detail.

  • Every three years major themes in the curriculum are studied again in greater depth and abstraction.

Montessori Curriculum

Each subject area in the Elementary Montessori Program curriculum has a purpose. The curriculum guidelines exceed the State benchmarks and are aligned with Traverse City Area Public Schools’ District benchmarks.

Language

The elementary Montessori language arts program places stress on the development of strong skills in composition and creative writing. Reading and spelling instruction are firmly rooted in the study of phonetic spelling and of words as they appear in standard written English. Students are encouraged to research, compose, and write beginning in the first year. The students will be able to experience speech, reading, phonograms, puzzle words, grammar, punctuation, homonyms, contractions, and other aspects of language when they show readiness.

Mathematics

Mathematics is studied with the use of manipulative materials. As students progress in there abilities, they are guided toward more abstract thinking. Once the student moves to the abstract, the manipulative is no longer necessary. In our classrooms, all students are given the opportunity to work with addition, multiplication, division, subtraction, fractions, word problems, geometry, measurement, rounding, and factoring when they show readiness.

Cultural Subjects (Science, History, and Geography)

Following Dr. Montessori’s belief that the heart of the child from ages 6 – 12 was most moved by a desire to learn about their surrounding world, the curriculum includes the study of Zoology, Botany, and Functional Geography (Physical Science, Geography, Ecology and the History of past civilizations). Our science curriculum is closely designed to meet or exceed the newly established state benchmarks, and is integrated throughout other areas of the curriculum. This program will teach the students to process science; how to ask questions, observe, collect, analyze data, and conduct experiments.