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Our Lower Elementary program seeks to balance the child’s developing imagination with concrete skills learned through hands-on exploration. Montessori materials are exceptionally logical and beautifully constructed, enticing the children to want more, to learn more, and to achieve “flow” as they reach deeper levels of concentration. Our teachers carefully observe and track each child’s progress, and add levels of difficulty to the work with each new success they’ve witnessed. The Lower Elementary program yields students who are willing to take intellectual risks and who have the resiliency needed for the challenges Upper Elementary.
Students find their own pace of learning and challenge themselves in individual and small-group lessons shaped to align with their needs. They can access curriculum beyond their grade level, and our experienced teachers are adept at guiding each student through the curriculum with a specialized learning plan.
In the Lower Elementary program, Montessori materials help students understand topics concretely before moving to more abstract work. They support independence, creativity, and multiple learning styles. Students can choose when and how they engage with particular materials across the curriculum.
The Montessori Method uses The Great Lessons as an introduction to all topics, providing a “big picture” to demonstrate how the sciences, art, history, language, and geography are interrelated. Students are introduced to increasing levels of detail and complexity within these broad areas.
Dr. Montessori’s “Great Lessons” are the cornerstone lessons of our Lower Elementary classrooms. They include: The Story of the Universe, The Coming of Life, The Coming of Humans, The Story of Language, and The Story of Numbers. Stories, charts, experiments, and the arts form a narrative of human civilization through time—shaping a global vision and developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and research skills.
Literacy work that follows the Common Core Standards inspires students to become lifelong readers and writers who think deeply about texts and the world.
Math lessons feature concrete, hands-on materials that allow students to develop a deep understanding before moving to the abstractions of written algorithms.
Cultural studies are interdisciplinary in nature, and they integrate studies of zoology, botany, geography, geology, physical and life sciences, and anthropology.
Independence and self-regulation are essential parts of the LE experience. Through collaborative work, students develop empathy and organization.
The secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his inmost core.
— Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential
Our admissions staff would love to work with you as you decide if Riverbend is the right fit for your child! Our hands-on learning environment inspires curiosity, independence, and a lifelong love of learning. Please reach out to our admissions staff by email at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!
