LOWER ELEMENTARY
1st to 3rd Grade
WHY PAPILLON MONTESSORI FOR LOWER ELEMENTARY?
Our individually paced curriculum challenges children academically while safeguarding their well-being and sense of self. Engaging as contributing members of a respectful community, they learn to question, think critically, and take responsibility for their learning—skills that will support them later in education and life.
Like all Montessori levels, the Lower Elementary program is based on the belief that children learn best through movement and work with their hands. It provides cognitive, social, and emotional support to help them reach their full potential.
THE SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE LOWER ELEMENTARY PROGRAM
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Grow to be confident, self-respecting individuals who love to learn.
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Learn to initiate and complete work autonomously with the encouragement of the teacher.
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Acquire critical thinking skills to ask “why” and “how” when introduced to a concept.
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Are global citizens.
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Seek a fundamental understanding of education and learning, not simply to attain good grades.
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Obtain leadership qualities by learning to initiate, delegate and cooperate within groups to solve real problems in the classroom.
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Hone their reading, writing, and research skills.
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Memorize math equations and internalize math concepts.
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Work through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, and geometry.
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Explore world geography through research, puzzles, and map-making.
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Study Ancient, World, and American Civilizations.
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Speak, read, write, and sing in Spanish.
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Enjoy a robust arts program with visual arts, drama, music, and dance.
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Are educated in healthy holistic lifestyles through mental & physical education, athletics, and team participation.
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Continuously grow as confident, respectful individuals concerned about how their actions impact others.
“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”
DR. MARIA MONTESSORI
LOWER ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
The Montessori curriculum is taught from enormous scope to small, moving from "big picture" understanding to focusing on more minor details. The children continue to work with concrete materials to explore academic areas, quickly discovering abstract methods to utilize. Dr. Montessori referred to the elementary stage as the Intellectual Period. The child, entering a period of consistent growth, focuses on mental explorations. Given an open and rich environment, there are no limits to what the child may learn and explore. Dr. Montessori saw this as a critical time for comprehensive education, giving the children lessons and questions to guide their explorations of culture, science, mathematics, language, and social rules and morals.
DEFINING THE 6-9-YEAR-OLD CHILD
Children are excited and ready to learn from first through third grade. Having reached a stage of physical stability, they enter into the age of reasoning and logic. Their imaginations are strong, and they are able to learn and think about things that they cannot see or touch. Lower Elementary children are interested in exploring not only their immediate surroundings but in knowing and understanding the bigger world.
SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Where the younger child is gaining physical independence, the elementary child is working on intellectual independence. The Lower Elementary child is also becoming very social by being with friends and working out issues of friendship. The appropriate behavior for groups becomes very important.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT: The Intellectual Period
Dr. Montessori referred to this stage as the Intellectual Period. She saw this stage as a critical time for expansive education, giving the children lessons and questions to guide their explorations of culture, science, mathematics, language, and social rules and morals. To this end, the Papillon Montessori Lower Elementary classrooms are exciting and busy places. The passion for learning is palpable, as the children delve into the many lessons available to them. They work both in groups and individually, learning to manage group dynamics, while they also master academic skills.
PAPILLON MONTESSORI'S DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH
At Papillon Montessori, all of our programs are developmentally responsive to the needs of individual children. In preschool and kindergarten, our classrooms are beautiful environments uniquely prepared to welcome and engage young children. Children work independently, in small groups with teachers, and with younger and older peers. Our experienced teachers fill the Montessori environment with opportunities for learning, exploration, and socialization.
