Upper Elementary

Upper Elementary Program

The child’s education at the upper elementary level continues to promote development of his or her mental independence as well as the ability to manage the requirements of daily life with grace, confidence and effectiveness. The structure of the classroom encourages a high level of self-discipline. Research, independent study, and collaborative projects all teach children HOW to actively learn, rather than being taught passively what to memorize for a test.  This instills a lifelong love of learning that is characteristic of Montessori educated children.

The Montessori curriculum is organized as a program of integrated studies rather than the traditional model in which the curriculum is compartmentalized into separate subjects and topics considered only once at a given grade level. While ideas and concepts are introduced simply and concretely in the lower levels, they are expanded upon at increasing degrees of abstractions and complexity in the upper grades.

At Providence, nine-to twelve-year olds attend one of the two upper elementary classrooms. Classes average 25 students with two teachers. As in other levels, students' ages in all classrooms span three years and gender distribution is balanced when possible.

Curriculum Highlights

The upper elementary program extends personal responsibility for work completion and time management. Students manage their own work schedules and work spaces. Students often work alone, with a partner, or in small groups to design and complete various projects. These independent work projects give the students the opportunity to study a subject in depth and then share the information through oral presentations, displays, reports, shelf work activities and/or dramatic presentations.

The Montessori materials, one-on-one work with teachers, and field studies cultivate higher-order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. At Providence, we challenge our students with questions that require more than knowledge and comprehension, we ask questions such as:

What if ? or
Can you design a different way to…? or
Do you see a pattern or relationship?

Field studies and community service projects are an integral part of the nine to twelve Montessori curriculum. Through community outreach, we enable the children to take their first steps toward making a conscious contribution to the world.

The elementary program offers a full-day of classes from 8:15 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.