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ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM GUIDE
Montessori education does not end with the casa experience at CHMS BVI. It continues into the child's elementary development and one day hopefully the adolescent years. Dr. Montessori wrote, "The successive level of education must conform to the successive personalities of the child." And we at CHMS BVI believe and embrace that thought.
As the elementary-aged child gradually moves from the concrete learning pathways of Casa to the more abstract ones of the elementary programme, Montessori meets his developmental needs each step of the way.
The six year old has the mark of a philosopher. Wonder is intrinsic to her learning. The stars, nature, technology and social life induce great questions. Where did I come from? What are the stars made of? What is the purpose for living? What is justice? What is happiness, what is right and what is wrong?
Dr. Montessori once said "Everything invented by man, physical or mental, is the fruit of someone's imagination. In the study of history and geography we are helpless without imagination, and when we propose to introduce the universe to the child, what but imagination can be of use to us?"
In the Montessori elementary programme, the child's own questions provide
the basis for exploration of the world. Because these questions are heeded and nurtured, the child really connects with knowledge. Subject matter, then, is made relevant to the child's personal quest, providing an inner motivation. A Montessori elementary education does not give the child a collection of trivial facts but rather bestows a vision of interrelated knowledge and a love of learning.
The elementary-aged child wants to know everything. He has a natural tendency to explore the expansive "cosmic" perspective within disciplines such as the sciences, the arts and social studies. To study is to be immersed in nothing more or less than the infinite domain of the universal.
The "cosmic" perspective does not mean, however, that Montessori elementary ignores the "basics" of reading, writing and arithmetic. During the Casa years at CHMS BVI, the Montessori child has already acquired an early knowledge of literacy, of letters, numbers and writing. In the elementary years, these basic skills are polished in the meaningful context of a "big picture". The child's own philosophical spirit motivates skill mastery.
Dr. Montessori once said "My vision of the future is no longer of people taking exams and proceeding on that certification. But of individuals passing from one stage of independence to a higher one, by means of their own activity, through their own effort of will, which constitutes the inner evolution of the individual."
Dr. Montessori wrote that "human consciousness comes into the world as a flaming ball of imagination." A child's imagination provides the mental impetus for exploration of the universe. Montessori elementary education speaks to a child's imagination and sets her off on a lifelong voyage of discovery.
Every six year old loves a story.
"In the beginning, before your parents were born, before your grandparents were born, before there were even people, before there was even an earth - what was there? .."
So begins one version of "The Story of the Universe," the first of five stories known as the Great Lessons and told in the Montessori elementary programme here at CHMS BVI. As the children ponder the story, questions beget questions: I wonder how many solar systems there are? I wonder how the volcanoes cooled? I wonder what colour the first ocean was. I wonder ...
The Great Lessons are connected stories that span the enormous historical frames of time and space. "The Coming of Life" introduces the history of life on earth including one-celled animals and plants and human beings. "The Coming of Humans" relates the significance of human beings, their special abilities and what differentiates them from other life forms. "The Story of Communication in Signs" and "The Story of Numbers" provides a look at human invention in the context of expanding civilization.
The essential underlying theme, throughout these Great Lessons is that everything, living or static, follows it's own natural laws in the development of the whole.
From the core of story frameworks emanate the details of the disciplines, science, mathematics, social studies and language. The story provides an overview, the children then investigate the disciplines in detail. However, because of the unifying thread of the Great Lessons, no subject is studied in isolation from the others. Knowledge is intertwined even though discrete in its parts.
After exposure to each story the children, in small groups or individually, freely explore their own questions prompted by the story. Some may work with timelines and other materials designed to support the stories and carefully presented by the teacher in response to a child's question. Some may perform experiments using materials available in the classroom. Some may gather information from library books or a local elder in the community, enjoying the dignity of conducting research on their own, at their own pace, following their own interests.
The Great Lessons develop sustained conviction in the child around the themes of progress and interdependency. The stories present not only the changes the earth has undergone since its beginnings but also the ways in which each new animal or plant affects all the others. The stories inspire awe and wonder about the ecology of the natural world. They also build a sense of the importance of making a contribution to the continuing stream of human progress. Thus the Montessori elementary programme at CHMS BVI provides the foundations for life commitment.
The Montessori elementary environment at CHMS BVI balances the child's developing imagination and powers of abstraction with down-to earth, concrete, hands-on materials. Each material has its structured sequences designed to lead to discovery and understanding. Because of his experience with the casa Materials, the child understands just how the Montessori apparatus will show the way.
The elementary-aged child is moving from an understanding of the physical world to an understanding of abstract concept. Montessori provides diverse and creative passages to abstraction. Mathematics, for instance, is presented through three-dimensional, manipulative materials that reveal simultaneously arithmetic, geometric and algebraic correlations - each providing a concrete way to experience an abstract concept. Likewise, the grammar materials use symbols and visual pattern to assist the child in discovering the parts of speech and analyzing the structure, style and logic of the sentences. The materials for disciplines such as geometry, botany, zoology and geography present basic terminology as the groundwork for future in-depth study here at CHMS BVI. The prepared environment provides the "keys" of each discipline in a manner that meets the elementary child's needs for inspiration as well as order.
In an elementary classroom here at CHMS BVI students pursue their own interests at their own pace, without textbooks or time blocks for each subject, parents often ask whether their child will receive a well-rounded education? What if a child completely avoids a certain area of the environment, such as mathematics or grammar?
The answers to this question are many. First, because the disciplines are so fully integrated and the child's natural curiosity aroused, avoidance of an entire area is not as likely as one might think. Second, the Montessori educator is intimately familiar not only with every aspect of the prepared environment but also with every child in the class. Because of the teacher's careful observation, any avoidance becomes apparent, and the teacher works on drawing out the child's curiosity about the area being avoided.
Finally, in contrast to a grade-level classroom where the child has one year to cover certain learning objectives, here at CHMS BVI the elementary classroom provides flexibility over three years. The areas that do not attract the child's interest this year may hold great fascination next year. She can explore them whenever the interest arises, without ever being "behind."
However, a strong academic challenge is presented to every child at CHMS BVI; a challenge myself and my faculty know the children are well prepared for and a challenge we will guide them through each and every day.
As the elementary-aged child gradually moves from the concrete learning pathways of Casa to the more abstract ones of the elementary programme, Montessori meets his developmental needs each step of the way.
The six year old has the mark of a philosopher. Wonder is intrinsic to her learning. The stars, nature, technology and social life induce great questions. Where did I come from? What are the stars made of? What is the purpose for living? What is justice? What is happiness, what is right and what is wrong?
Dr. Montessori once said “Everything invented by man, physical or mental, is the fruit of someone’s imagination. In the study of history and geography we are helpless without imagination, and when we propose to introduce the universe to the child, what but imagination can be of use to us?”