Elementary
Our Elementary Program is called The Collective Consciousness. It is a sister concern of Harmony Montessori, known as the Harmony Montessori International Trust. Designed to meet the needs of your child during the second phase of development, This phase of life builds intellect, shapes their moral compass, and their attitude towards society, for the rest of their life.
6 to 12 years
Mixed Age Group
Children need to interact with one another especially at this stage of development (6-12 years). They’re drawn to their peers and have a need to be social. In a Montessori environment they have the opportunity to practice interacting with a mixed age community of peers. Through these experiences they may build deeper social and emotional intelligence and therefore more powerful leadership qualities.
Elementary children learn how to work in a team, and are naturally challenged by their peers (especially the older children), in a harmonious manner. The environment does not use competition as a tool to motivate children. The attitude of the environment is “Everyone helps everyone.”
The Mixed age community allows us to establish a Mini-Society of sorts. Elementary children are powerfully motivated to identify themselves as a part of society, just as they were keen to focus on identifying themselves as individuals before age 6.
- Dr. Maria Montessori
"Since it has been seen to be necessary to give so much to the child, let us give him a vision of the whole universe. The universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all questions."
The Environment
The Elementary environment has the maximum number of Montessori materials curated for hands-on learning. A lot of these materials are offered to the child before the age of 6, when they are Sensorial Explorers and have the Power of the Absorbent Mind. These familiar materials are now offered to the intellect of the Elementary Child, since they can arrive at abstraction at this stage. The children discover their curriculum by working with the materials. They walk away from the experience with a sense of having made a discovery, independently.
With Freedom Comes Responsibility; our environments operate within this framework. Children may choose their work, their team for group work, where and when they would like to work, how deeply they would like to explore a certain topic. Along with that comes the responsibility of; managing their time, completing the prescribed curriculum, spend their time purposefully, and challenge themselves adequately.
Areas in an Elementary Classroom
1. Language: The language curriculum in Elementary covers grammar and research, reading, spoken and written language - keys to both the acquisition of knowledge and self-expression. The children are encouraged to share and discuss their ideas with each other and within groups, with oral reports, presentations, produce plays, and recite poems.
Elementary children are intrigued by language, domestic and foreign. Their study of language may involve research of the origins of idioms, the study of multi-cultural folk tales, or a comparison of works by an author. Language is used as a vehicle to travel through and explore culture enabling children to express themselves better.
2. Mathematics: In an elementary environment, children learn that numbers are infinite. Food for imagination, the children begin to work on ‘big’ problems, often thinking of the biggest problems to solve. Working with materials that represent whole numbers, fractions, and decimals, they inevitably discover patterns of mathematical concepts by themselves.
Through their work, the children learn and understand abstract concepts in algebra and geometry via materials they once worked with sensorially. Work grows meaningful as they associate abstract complex concepts with known material.
3. Biology: An essential part of an elementary environment; plants, and animals play an important role in everyday work. By observing and caring for living things, children acquire an experiential understanding which builds a fundamental base for further learning and a love of Biology. Visits to nature parks and sanctuaries provide opportunities to view plants and animals in their natural environments.
Work with Biology brings to light that every living thing has a role to play and contributes to the ecosystem. Children begin to see the interdependence of all organisms within the universe. A sense of appreciation and wonder unravels as harmony and equilibrium of life on our planet is discovered.
4. Geography: The study of planet Earth opens vistas within the elementary curriculum. Geography, in the elementary environment, encompasses all physical sciences.
Geography covers a gamut of physical sciences. Some topics of learning introduced include Astronomy, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and geology. Learning about the Earth and its position in the Universe gives children an intellectual framework for all studies. From the progression of the non-living and living organisms to the development of human beings with unique abilities, children learn about the humanities and sciences in correlation to one another. It's easy.
5. History: Elementary children have powerful tools in the ability to reason and imagine. The child can travel to the past, present, and the places they have never been. Their focus is on the why, how, and when of the world.
We appeal to the children’s imagination by showing them all that man has created thus far. How man has accomplished so much, given he started developing himself with just a crude set of skills. Using their powers of imagination children recreate an image of what life might have been like for early humans. The stories offered work in synchrony with their ability.
6. Geometry: Cosmic Education helps us inspire the intelligence of the child. Geometry is a branch of mathematics that deals with the properties and relationships of figures in space.
