Our elementary program reflects the core principles identified by the North American Montessori Teachers Association (NAMTA). These are as follows:

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• Integration of the arts, sciences, geography, history, and language that evokes the native imagination and abstraction of the elementary child.

• Presentation of the formal scientific language of zoology, botany, anthropology, geography, geology, etc., exposing the child to accurate, organized information and respecting the child's intelligence and interests.

• The use of timelines, pictures, charts, and other visual aids to provide a linguistic and visual overview of the first principles of each discipline.

• Presentation of knowledge as part of a large-scale narrative that unfolds the origins of the earth, life, human communities, and modern history, always in the context of the wholeness of life.

• A mathematics curriculum presented with concrete materials that simultaneously reveal arithmetic, geometric, and algebraic correlations.

• Emphasis on open-ended research and in-depth study using primary and secondary sources (no textbooks or worksheets) as well as other materials.

• Montessori-trained adults who are "enlightened generalists" (teachers who are able to integrate the teaching of all subjects, not as isolated disciplines, but as part of a whole intellectual tradition).

• "Going out" to make use of community resources beyond the four walls of the classroom.

 

Studies are integrated not only in terms of subject matter but in terms of moral learning as well, resulting in appreciation and respect for life, moral empathy, and a fundamental belief in progress, the contribution of the individual, the universality of the human condition, and the meaning of true justice.

 

(Adapted from NAMTA Montessori Elementary Program)