Senior Ages 8–12

The Senior Ele­men­tary level leads to greater abstrac­tion — more writ­ing, dia­logue, and skill in the process of research based explo­ration. Stu­dents nat­u­rally want to learn about lan­guage and human­i­ties because it is an area they are learn­ing and devel­op­ing for them­selves in their own social inter­ac­tion. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion is a strong social need at this level, as is the enthu­si­asm to under­stand more about the imme­di­ate and broader worlds of which they are a part.

The term “self-propelled inter­est” best describes this level of Montes­sori edu­ca­tion. The fun­da­men­tals for research, abstrac­tion, pur­pose­ful and mean­ing­ful social­iza­tion, appre­ci­a­tion and under­stand­ing of inter­re­lated, open-ended learn­ing fuse together at this level. Stu­dents at this age are dra­matic and full of won­der and ideas. The cur­ricu­lum sup­ports their high enthu­si­asm. His­tory and geog­ra­phy take stu­dents on jour­neys that explore human ori­gins and civ­i­liza­tions both locally and through­out the world.

In-depth study, open-ended research, and the capac­ity for abstraction–foundations laid the lower ele­men­tary– syn­the­size and expand at the upper ele­men­tary level, where devel­op­men­tal changes are pro­found and rapid. Con­cepts and impres­sions that sparked student’s enthu­si­asm ear­lier now engage these stu­dents in dynamic, inter­ac­tive and extended learn­ing projects. These chil­dren are enthu­si­as­tic, morally sen­si­tive, and have a great capac­ity for empathy.

These attrib­utes give expres­sion to the qual­ity and cre­ativ­ity of stud­ies pur­sued by stu­dents across the Senior ele­men­tary cur­ricu­lum. Such cur­ric­u­lar inves­ti­ga­tions include explo­rations of civ­i­liza­tions and cul­tures through­out his­tory, through­out the world, and into North Amer­ica and Cal­i­for­nia, advanced math con­cepts in frac­tions, dec­i­mals, alge­bra, square and cube root, area and vol­ume, devel­op­ment of both cre­ative and research writ­ing, weekly novel dis­cus­sions, indoor and out­door phys­i­cal and life sci­ence expe­ri­ence, con­tin­u­a­tion in Span­ish, music, art and tech­nol­ogy for sixth year stu­dents. This inclu­sive approach to edu­ca­tion, fos­ters a con­nect­ed­ness to all human­ity and nur­tures their nat­ural desire to make an indi­vid­ual con­tri­bu­tion to the world.

The “Senior El” as it is referred to, is a dynamic, inter­ac­tive learn­ing “lab­o­ra­tory” which pro­vides a sig­nif­i­cant link along the Montes­sori learn­ing con­tin­uum and lays the foun­da­tion for the chal­leng­ing cur­ricu­lum of the Mid­dle School.