What causes Montessori elementary students to thrive?

It’s no secret that children thrive in a Montessori environment. In fact, the longer a child has the opportunity to learn in a Montessori environment, the more benefits they receive coupled with a lifelong love of learning. So many of our students come back after moving to traditional high schools and universities and share their perspectives, only fully appreciating the benefits a Montessori foundation gave them now that they’re able to perceive it from the ‘other side’.

Montessori classrooms are fundamentally different from traditional ones. They are so unique in fact that it is hard to identify the differences that contribute to enabling children to thrive. We could write an entire book on this (and in fact, many have - refer to Paula Polk Lillard’s book Montessori Today for more information on the workings of a Montessori elementary classroom), for now, here are 5 key factors that contribute to your child’s success.

Children have choices. There’s no one-size-fits-all curriculum

Think about when you do your best work. Is it when you’re engaged and passionate about the topic and you freely choose it? Or is it when someone assigns you a task? Autonomy is a huge factor in motivation, and Montessori elementary enables children to have a say in their learning. Of course, each child has to learn certain skills; mastering arithmetic isn’t optional. But instead of forcing each child to complete the same worksheet, the Montessori elementary classroom ensures repetition by offering a variety of materials for practicing a given skill - for example, multiplication practice includes work with the Bead Chains, the Stamp Game, the Checkerboard, the Large Bead Frame, and the Flat Bead Frame.

Students are encouraged to be curious. They are engaged and love learning. When we take our students on field trips, the people we encounter, from museum guides to park rangers, regularly comment that our students are the most curious and engaged group of children they have seen. This is common feedback for Montessori elementary schools - children love learning, because they have a chance to be actively engaged in the process.

The classroom is full of materials, instead of textbooks and worksheets

A lot of the work in traditional elementary schools is focused on textbooks and worksheets. While there is nothing wrong with this (as we love reading as well!) you won’t find textbooks in a Montessori elementary classroom. Many visitors to the classroom comment - how do the children learn then? What curriculum is taught to them?

Dr. Montessori viewed the early elementary years as a critical stage in the mind’s development, when the concrete thinking of the preschool years matures into abstract thinking. During the Primary years, children explored many materials, such as the Trinomial Cube or the Golden Beads, primarily for the sensorial interest. Now, in elementary, children use materials to understand how the world works. They are interested in the why and the how of things; they’ve become “reasoning explorers of the abstract”. The materials in Montessori are not mere instructional aids: Just like in Primary, much of their learning happens as the children use the materials to explore topics from grammar to division, from the fundamental needs of man, to the role of water in erosion. With the materials, learning is focused on the world; children acquire a mindset of thinking about things and figuring them out, rather than memorizing words or processes because an adult says so.

Teachers are guides, not lecturers

In traditional elementary education, a lot of the teaching happens at an all-class level where students generally move through the same curriculum at the same pace. This is truer now more than ever before, as mandatory standardized testing forces teachers to ensure that all students meet common minimum standards. This approach by definition fails to optimally challenge most of the students, most of the time. For example, a child who is advanced in a subject will be bored and one who is behind will quickly become anxious and concerned about their shortcomings.

Montessori is different. Most instruction happens in small groups as teachers observe students and bring together children who are ready for a particular lesson. After the lesson, each child has time to practice a skill or further explore an area, either alone or with freely chosen partners. They have time to think, and they are kept interested because they are consistently challenged.

In a Montessori classroom, an advanced student will be challenged to perform at their best. For example, it’s not unusual for a 3rd grade Montessori student to tackle what would typically be considered 5th grade math. At the same time, a child who struggles can get the extra support they need without suffering the negative effect on their self-esteem that comes from needing remedial work in a traditional elementary school setting.

Children learn with and from each other, in a mixed-age environmenT

In traditional education, the emphasis in preschool is on “socializing” the child, and children are expected to do things together in groups. Come elementary schools, class time is largely focused on individual work, in strictly same-age classrooms, and social interactions are limited to recess and lunch.

This approach - a focus on group activities in preschool, and individual activities in elementary school—is fundamentally wrong, according to Montessori. It all comes down to Montessori’s scientifically tested (and now validated) Stages of Development. Young children in preschool are focusing on building themselves - left to their own devices, they often choose to do things by themselves, and much activity in a Montessori Primary class is in fact individual work. As children near the end of Primary, they often start to work together in pairs. In fact, becoming interested in and able to work with a peer is one indication that a child is ready to move up to elementary!

In Montessori elementary, children interact with each other, across age groups, all day. You’ll often see 2-4 children working together on projects, negotiating roles and learning social skills in a safe, supervised setting as they choose co-workers and figure out that they can work with a range of companions, not just with their closest friends.

The Montessori mixed-age elementary classroom encourages them to grow into a community and practice important social skills everyday, instead of competing with each other on adult-assigned, similar tasks.

The day has two 3 hour work Cycles, instead of a schedule where activities are constantly changeD

As adults today, our concentration and focus levels are decreasing at an alarming rate. It’s unlikely you need the results of recent studies to prove the impact that emails, social media, notifications and other digital distractions are having on your own ability to concentrate on individual tasks (though, in case you’re not in the majority, studies show concentration levels have declined at an alarming 33% in the past 10 years alone).

Now, more than ever before, the ability to concentrate and focus on the task at hand is vitally important - not only for our intellect and ability to achieve tasks, but general mental health as well.

Protecting children from interruptions when productively engaged is key to their development of concentration and interest in their work. Dr. Montessori commented that traditional schools have broken up the day in many short time periods in an attempt to hold the children’s interest. In fact, it’s had the opposite effect as children remain mentally fatigued despite the alleged benefit of variety.

In contrast, Montessori schools have proven that children need a cycle of work for which they are mentally prepared. Intelligent work that is interesting is not fatiguing and children shouldn’t be cut off from it by a call to play, or change in topic. Interest is not immediately born and if, when it has been created, the work is withdrawn, it is like depriving a whetted appetite of the food that will satisfy it.

Therefore, there’s no morning recess at a Montessori elementary school. There isn’t an hour-by-hour schedule. It’s one of the most overlooked benefits of a Montessori elementary class - that children have time and space to think.

Montessori elementary classrooms are very different from traditional schools and these are just some of the factors that contribute to an environment that enables children to thrive.

What is cosmic education?

Dr. Montessori called the program for Elementary aged children - the between 6 and 12 years old - Cosmic Education. Why?

Because during the second plane of development, children experience an innate need to use:  

1. Their imagination to envision concepts that they cannot necessarily see

2. Their reasoning minds to make sense of how each new idea fits into the big picture.

Therefore at this time, we need to give them the universe, the world - the cosmos.

The Primary child was learning to become an individual and the Elementary child is learning to become an individual within a society - firstly in the class, and then in the broader community. To do this the skills they need to build are responsibility, independence, the ability to think for themselves, generosity, consideration for others, empathy, and a desire to serve - these are the characteristics contribute to a harmonious society.

So how does this happen?

We Start with the Big Picture

First, we need to make children aware of their history - the history of the human being. That everything they have around them - from the pencils they use to the country and world they live in, were gifted to us from other people serving their society. Further still, understanding biology and zoology teaches them the interrelatedness and interdependency of nature.

Cosmic Education starts with the whole, (i.e. the universe), and works toward the parts, (i.e. individual cultures, history, geography, life forms, etc.). This gives the child a foundational sense of perspective. Within the big picture of the universe, everything the child learns is connected. Children use this big picture perspective to mentally organize new information. Information gains relevance when it’s understood as connected parts of a whole and is essential in capturing children’s interest.

It should be realized that genuine interest cannot be forced. Therefore, all methods of education based on centers of interest chosen by the adult are wrong. Moreover, these centers of interest are superfluous, for the child is interested in everything. A global vision of cosmic events fascinates children and their interest will soon remain fixed on one particular part as a starting point for more intensive studies. Thus, the way leads from the whole, via the parts, back to the whole. The children will develop a kind of philosophy that teaches them the unity of the universe. This is the very thing to organize their intelligence and to give them a better insight into their own place and task in the world, at the same time presenting a chance for the development of their creative energy.

- Dr. Maria Montessori

The Imagination

The elementary years are the most significant developmental years for the child’s imagination. The child, who previously had to experience concepts through his or her senses, can now imagine ideas without physically experiencing them. Compelled by their growing imagination, the elementary child will seek information that corresponds with their interests.

Human consciousness comes into the world as a flaming ball of imagination. 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?

- Dr. Maria Montessori

The Reasoning Mind

According to Dr. Montessori, children transition from the Absorbent Mind stage into the Reasoning Mind stage at about age six or seven. Children no longer soak up information spontaneously and without conscious effort.

Learning happens very differently now. Children are less drawn to mimicry and repetition, and are more inclined toward abstract thinking in areas of science, history, geography and more.

Children at this age are also developing important social skills. Thus, they are far more interested in engaging with others in their environment. These children are making the transition from working (and playing) alongside peers to working with them cooperatively. They become interested in their extended community and have an ever-broadening sense of social awareness.

Learning about the interconnected and interdependent nature of the cosmos helps children understand their role and importance in serving through their actions. For younger children in the elementary class, it may be something as simple as telling another child the time or helping them tie their shoelaces. As they get older the services they can provide are more involved. The teacher helps them gain an awareness of their unique strengths and areas of development, and emphasising their strengths makes them think about how they can use them to contribute to the broader society.

The Five Great Lessons - the catalyst to the Montessori Elementary curriculum

In the beginning…there was darkness…

Isn’t that a great way to start a story? Pausing for dramatic effect, watching the children’s eyes go big with anticipation of what’s to come.

And so begins the first of The Five Great Lessons - the catalyst to the Montessori Elementary curriculum. They’re meant to inspire and ignite the child’s imagination. Told too quickly, the lessons become meaningless, causing the children’s imaginations to jump from one concept to another.

When we imagine, we are using abstract thought to think of things that cannot be seen. The follow-up lessons that come from each of the Five Great Lessons are used to materialize these abstractions. In other words, the children prove the existence of the wonders of the universe through concrete exploration.

The Five Great Lessons form the foundation of the Montessori elementary environment. The excitement that they foster drives the child’s work in the classroom. The Great Lessons lead to further discussion - What was happening during the First Great Lesson? Which of these concepts was most interesting?

It leads them to research the topics they are most interested in. They start by recording their questions in their journal, including the date, time and heading of their interest - written in full sentences. The materials in the Montessori Elementary classroom supports the research the students will need to find the answer.

A younger student generally works with an older one, to encourage collaborative learning. For the younger child, they have someone to work with and look up to. For the elder child, this reinforces their own learning by having to explain and guide the younger child through the work.

Not all students need to be working on the same topic at the same time. Older students may have ideas about what they want to research while younger students are just learning how to conduct research. The Montessori teacher encourages students to use books and computers to gather research, take notes, and write reports. They are always asked to write their reports in their own words. Math and language go hand in hand with this, allowing students a greater opportunity to explore. Students cannot conduct research if they cannot read; they cannot calculate light years if they cannot do math.

The Five Great Lessons are the curriculum guide for the Montessori Elementary classroom.