I was reminded recently that Maria Montessori did not provide us with an elementary curriculum, simply with materials and the instructions on how to use them. (This is aside from the underlying philosophy—I am speaking simply of the tools we have in the classroom.) This can mean that we have, as my trainer Sister Mary called them, “gaps” in what a Montessori child learns.
I get more and more questions about 9-12 all the time, and I think it’s great! It means that parents and teachers are so thrilled with the way children progress in 6-9, they want it to continue. I’ve been assembling some helpful 9-12 information and thought it would be nice to put it together in one post.
The materials in my store span the ages of 2-15, but sometimes teachers and parents are interested in only the 9-12 materials. So, here’s a helpful list of everything I sell that can be used in 9-12…
No two days are alike in any elementary classroom. Students buzz with activity, moving in and out of projects and conversations like busy bees.
But there are ways to include some consistent (but not very time-consuming) activities each day that teach important skills and help establish the tone for work time. Here are my favorites.
A couple of months ago, I received an email from a Montessori elementary teacher. In it, she posed this question: “If I bought only one reference book for my classroom, which book should I buy?”
Ah, the Montessori 6-9 classroom! One of my favorite places in the whole world. Here’s a look a the essential materials that every Montessori elementary classroom should have.
At one of my former schools, every spring the elementary students (grades 1-6) chose a topic to research and prepared a short (5-10 min.) oral presentation about it. Topics ranged from “how cellphones work” to “frogs”, and anything in between. Sports, animals, technology, science, and other countries all seemed to be popular subjects. Projects were [...]
Yes, I’m on to another controversial topic right after the last one; I’m having fun, actually, talking about these issues and I love to hear from you guys about them! Sister Mary (my Montessori trainer) taught that homework shouldn’t be necessary for a child in a Montessori school. For starters, the child won’t usually have [...]
I have only a little knowledge about the 9-12 age group (I taught them music when I was a 6-9 teacher); otherwise, my experience is limited to having actually been 9-12 at one time, but not in Montessori. I know that Maria Montessori believed that the 6-12 period was one of stability, but times have [...]
One of my astute readers from South Africa, Lesley, emailed me the other day with a question about the elementary workplans. In them, I mention Bingo Games under “Math”, but I don’t explain what they are. I sometimes forget that the names of materials may differ from training center to training center (or country to [...]
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