“No matter what we touch, an atom, or a cell, we cannot explain it without knowledge of the wide universe. What better answer can be given to those seekers for knowledge? It becomes doubtful whether even the universe will suffice. How did it come into being? How will it end? A greater curiosity arises, which can never be satiated; so will last through a lifetime.”
– Dr. Maria Montessori, To Educate The Human Potential
There are three main branches of the Montessori Elementary curriculum. Two of these are the Language curriculum and Math curriculum, which provide the building blocks of communication and calculation. They are necessary for the educational process as the means for exploration, interpretation, and development of understanding. The third branch, the Cultural curriculum, provides the inspiration and keys to understanding the Universe.
The Montessori Elementary Cultural curriculum evolves from a unique perspective compared to other systems of education. In a traditional educational experience, the journey begins with the child as the focus and radiates outward to include the family, neighborhood, country, continent, and on out to the Universe – thus placing the individual at the center of the Universe. The Montessori Cultural scheme, by contrast, responds to the Elementary child’s burgeoning questions and interest in the bigger concepts. “How big is the Universe?” “What is the biggest number?” “How does the world work?” etc. The journey of the Elementary curriculum begins with the creation of the Universe. It is from here that the beginnings of physical sciences, earth sciences, biological sciences, and history emanate. These curricular pieces begin with the big picture and through the elementary years lead chronologically to the individual, culminating during the sixth year. By this point the curriculum looks at the United States and local history, the human anatomy in biology, and more detailed earth and physical sciences.
The curriculum, whenever possible, begins with concrete representations by means of pictures, charts, physical demonstrations, timelines, and other experiential activities. These gradually lead to more abstract representations. The concepts are part of a spiraling curriculum where concepts are initially introduced in an age-appropriate manner and revisited through the elementary years with added complexity and abstraction. There is also an integration of concepts so that the child focusing on a topic such as an ancient civilization, as an example, is also looking at the historical, environmental, geographical, political, scientific, and biological factors involved. Children that experience this view of the Universe discover their place in the bigger picture and the integrated nature of the various disciplines. They also have a different understanding of the gifts that were given by those who came before and the inherent responsibility that they hold for the future.
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing” –Alfred Wainwright
In education today, there’s a forward momentum towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). There are robotics clubs, programming camps, and circuitry courses. We want our children to enter the world prepared in math and science. However, if you look to the natural world, there are so many ways for your child to become a natural scientist and mathematician.
The etymology of “science” comes from the Latin scire, “to know”, and etymologists note that it probably originally meant “to separate one thing from another, to distinguish.” Yet, in our natural world, there is so much to know, to distinguish, that has fallen through the cracks in the education of our youth, and perhaps even ourselves. In the Montessori classroom, distinguishing and classifying starts in the Children’s House, in practically every subject area. This practice not only helps the child to fine tune their observation skills and hone in their level of concentration, but the child is organizing and classifying information in their brain.
In the Elementary classroom, children continue to use their observational and analytical skills to study, classify, and understand the distinguishing characteristics of the natural world. Elementary children are provided a high level introduction to this field of study. For instance, in botany and zoology, the child learns how each organism lives and what satisfies that organisms needs. Then the child learns about the function and parts, such as the function of limbs, skin, or leaf to that particular living organism. At this point, the child may explore variety. This exposure to variety is what impels the child to classify. A leaf is not merely a leaf, but a maple leaf – or even distinguished further, a red maple. Nor is a feather just a feather, but that very plain, brown feather is a bald eagle feather. By learning and practicing this skill, the child is practicing scientific observation.
In the Adolescent Community, the child explores science and nature through Occupations Studies. Occupations is essentially a study of the land and offers the student a chance to apply scientific concepts such as soil and water chemistry, botany, and microbiology to agricultural practices. The Adolescent Community is committed to the study of the environment and science studies focus on environmental ethics, conservation, and renewable energy. The child conducts their own science experiments and writes full lab reports to explore cause-and-effect relationships. This serves as a means to be fully connected with wanting to distinguish, to know, more about our world.
In order to fully experience science, and even more, love it, the child needs to be in constant connection with the outdoors. No matter the weather, no matter the season, experiencing nature is the best complementary experience to teaching STEM. Pick up a child friendly field guide at a local used book store. Find an even more detailed one for yourself. Then explore – together. Your children will ask the most amazing, inquisitive questions – and you’ll be there with them, modeling scientific observation and inquiry.
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Montessori As Preparation for the “Real World,” written by Lower Elementary Lead Guide, Cheri Gardner
In Montessori classrooms, we don’t insist that our students sit at desks all day, do the same work that everyone else does, or stop doing things they’re immersed in because a bell rings. Parents unfamiliar with Montessori often say, “That sounds great, but how does Montessori prepare children for the ‘real world?’”
We ask these parents to consider that traditional educational methods were developed during the industrial revolution when students were being trained for work in factories. Students needed to learn how to walk in lines, follow directions, memorize procedures, and start and stop work at the signal of a bell. This is clearly no longer the world in which we live or work.
So what skills are needed to succeed in the “real world” today? Success in the global economy comes from the ability to think, show ingenuity, and take purpose-driven action. Success comes from working cooperatively with others – as well as by oneself. Success comes from the ability to both define and solve the problem. Success results when we persevere in the face of difficulty, and keep trying even when our first (and second, and third!) attempts are failures. Success comes when we have the desire to make a significant contribution.
Daniel Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind, said, “Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and richer lives. Maria Montessori figured this out a long time ago.”
The structured freedom of the Montessori environment fosters the development of inner discipline, responsibility, and intrinsic motivation. The collaborative nature of the Elementary Montessori classroom challenges students to both advocate and empathize, listen and lead, visualize and reflect – all real world skills that will serve them for a lifetime. With a strong foundation in methods supported by scientific research, Montessori education has a clear record of success in preparing students for high school, college, and adulthood.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, explicitly credit Montessori with their success. “We both went to Montessori school,” Mr. Page said, “and I think our success was part of that training of not following rules and orders, and being self-motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, doing things a little bit differently.”
So we declare proudly, Montessori IS education for the real world!
“Learning cursive is good for children’s fine motor skills, and writing in longhand generally helps students retain more information and generate more ideas. Studies have also shown that kids who learn cursive rather than simply manuscript writing score better on reading and spelling tests, perhaps because the linked-up cursive forces writers to think of words as wholes instead of parts.” – Katy Steinmetz, Time Magazine
A sample of early cursive writing from a Lower Elementary (first grade) student at Greenspring Montessori School.
At Greenspring Montessori School, we have extended our commitment to teaching cursive writing to our Children’s House students. Starting at age 3, students now have access to cursive sandpaper letters, cursive name tags, and lessons on cursive handwriting.
It been proven that cursive writing engages more of the brain and helps students become better at spelling. As they are writing, children are able to slow down and focus on the precision, allowing them to think about what they are trying to say, instead of simply copying letter for letter. Our Children’s House guides look out for signs that an individual student is ready to begin learning cursive, as they also work on their print handwriting.
True to the Montessori model, our guides teach to the individual child. We know our students learn in different ways and at different speeds. In any one of our Montessori Children’s House classrooms, the students are spread about working on all kinds of different activities that interest them. If a student, for example, is drawn to the cursive sandpaper letters, the guide may give the child a lesson on the different parts of the letters, or on spelling out words using the large tangible pieces. If they are working on their pencil grip, the guide may suggest they try a word they know in cursive.
By the time the child enters Lower Elementary, they are working on the precision of their handwriting, creating more elaborate writing pieces to express themselves.
“Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of education.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
During many of our parent education events, we talk quite a bit about fostering the development of soft skills in our children. Soft skills – also referred to as “people skills” – include a person’s social graces, habits, personality traits, and interpersonal skills.
When thinking about education for our children, parents often have high academic aspirations. But of course, we also want our children to be good. This goes without saying. We want them to be caring, compassionate individuals. We want them to be problem-solvers and leaders. It may seem obvious to parents, but how many schools are actually focusing on developing these skills?
At Greenspring Montessori School, we are constantly emphasizing these values in our children. We’ve also provided more resources below showing how essential these skills are in our adult lives, and how to focus on their development with your child.
In our modern world, it is so easy to get sucked in to conflict – online, on the news, with our family and friends. It is important that at a very young age, we begin to learn how to settle our differences and appropriately handle strong emotions.
Peace education is a major component of the Montessori classroom. Adults model peaceful and respectful behavior, and because Montessori classrooms are composed of mixed age groups, older students serve as role models for younger children.
Most classrooms have a peace corner or peace table, at which two students can go to resolve a conflict or a single child can go to calm down and feel peaceful. One strategy is the use of a peace rose. Children learn to take turns holding the peace rose while speaking about how they feel. They stay at the peace table until they have heard each other and resolved their conflict. With very young children, adults model and coach the children with words they can use. Older students can do this independently. At the Elementary level, when the imagination takes off, students enjoy role playing and solving problems in small groups. Elementary and Middle School age students may participate in student-led community meetings, in which conflicts are discussed, brainstormed, and resolved as a group.
Going hand-in-hand with peace education is the Montessori Grace & Courtesy curriculum. Students practice simple lessons such as how to greet others, say please and thank you, tuck in chairs. At the core of these lessons is respect for others, self, and the environment. Montessori students engage in community service at every level – within the classroom for youngest students and outside the classroom and the school for older students.
Below are some additional resources related to Peace Education in the Montessori classroom. For more information on our programs at Greenspring Montessori School, please contact us at inform@www.greenspringmontessori-b.dev or give us a call at 410-321-8555.
Video: Educating for Peace: The Essence of Montessori
These are just a few of the many wonderful picture books about Peace for children! Current parents are always welcome to visit our library to check out books on peace education.
