Elementary Program:
Ages 6 to 12 years

"Cosmic education" is the overall approach to the curriculum throughout Three Tree Montessori. By this we mean the integration of language and literature, mathematics, sciences, geography, environmental studies, art, music, and drama. Montessori described the child at the elementary stage as having unlimited interests in our universe and their place in it. Therefore, we present students with all subject areas ("the cosmos") and allowed the freedom to explore any of them in as much depth as they desire. Teachers give individual and small group lessons according to interest and need and children choose their work in the manner they learned in Primary.

While every child is required to meet the minimum standards set out by the State, no boundaries are set on the breadth or depth of their study.

Elementary classrooms are arranged to allow for group discussion as well as individual work, and incorporate interest centers filled with intriguing learning materials, fascinating mathematical models, maps, charts, historical artifacts, computers, scientific specimens, and apparatus.

The prepared Montessori environment is designed to develop basic skills as well as spark the child's imagination, creativity and reasoning skills. The unique curriculum challenges the child to look for answers to the questions that bubble in the elementary child's mind.

At least as important as the facts about the world that are learned is the development of a rigorous questioning and investigative process within the child. Students learn what questions must be asked, how to think through problems, how to analyze situations and find answers for themselves.

Continuing the three-year cycle format, the Elementary program is divided into two groups: the Lower Elementary for ages 6 to 9 (first through third grades); the Upper Elementary includes children ages 9 to 12 (fourth through sixth grades). The elementary levels overlap and complement the activities presented at the Primary level.

Students in the elementary classroom are expected to become increasingly responsible for their own education. Continued joy in learning, self-discipline in one's work, organization of one's time, respect for classmates and participation in the community of the classroom, the wider school as well as the larger community are hallmarks of success in the Montessori elementary age.

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