Elementary

Program Overview

What to Expect at Bozeman Montessori Elementary

A Love of Learning Starts Here

The Montessori Elementary Program is an opportunity to nurture your child’s individual development within the context of a group setting. They will emerge with a set of skills – social, emotional, and academic – while, perhaps even more importantly, knowing how to function within a group.

Throughout early childhood,(ages 0 - 6), your child has extraordinary powers of mind; they possess a once-in-a-lifetime ability to simply absorb information and concepts from her surroundings, like a sponge. As they transition into the next plane of development, (ages 6 -12), a new world opens up to them. The Elementary classroom is designed to meet the needs of your child in this new developmental period that includes an expansive capacity for understanding historical timelines, contemplating a vast universe and its contents, and navigating a world full of diverse human histories and potentials. This period continues to form the basis for future knowledge and skills, as well as the child’s relationships with self, the world, and learning.

Bozeman Montessori is proud to be a High-Fidelity Montessori Elementary classroom.

Learn about our High-Fidelity Montessori program here.

Elementary Food Program

For children in the Elementary Classroom, Bozeman Montessori offers a Healthy Food Program. We provide morning snack, lunch (served with the option of milk or water), and afternoon snack, in alignment with Maria Montessori’s original vision and to serve the needs of busy families.

• The Food Program is included in the cost of tuition
• Menus are reviews by a registered dietitian and nutritionist
• Menus include whole foods and new tastes and textures as young children begin to develop their palate
• In the summer months, we utilize vegetables and herbs from our own gardens

We invite the children’s engagement with the process of growing, preparing, and serving food, whenever possible.

Example Snack Menus

• Ants on a log: Celery, cream cheese or peanut butter and raisins
• Crackers with cheese and fresh fruit
• Steamed carrots, bell peppers and yogurt dip
• Hummus, celery, snow peas and broccoli
• Homemade applesauce and cheese toast

Example Lunch Menus

• Pasta Primavera with vegetables and pesto
• Vegetable soup and cornbread 
• Bean and cheese burritos with cheese, tortillas and fixings
• Brown Rice and peanut sauce with tofu and steamed veggies

**We accommodate dietary restrictions where possible, parents may supplement certain foods from home if needed**

Supporting the longterm needs of the child

Your child will stay in the Elementary classroom for up to 6 years, flexibly progressing individually from 1st through 3rd grade for Lower Elementary and 4th through 6th grade for Upper Elementary.

The Elementary student will continue to build on the foundations established in Early Childhood and expand on them; reading and writing skills will be practiced and refined, moving into sentence analysis, word study and creative composition. The worlds of science and history will open up to a newly receptive, inquisitive mind while data is voraciously collected and categorized into an ever-growing worldview.

While many of the math materials in the Elementary environment continue to be rooted in the concrete, the passage to abstraction is at a pivotal juncture and the higher levels of operations and concepts abound with the onset of a new sensitivity to mathematical work.

Hobbies and personal interests are nurtured through extended long-term projects and elaborate collaborations with peers. School and neighborhood volunteer outreach helps the child to build a strong sense of belonging in the local community through serving others.

A Day in the Life

With a Child in the Elementary Classroom

The children shuffle into the classroom each morning, putting their things away in a cubby that they have personalized, greeting one another warmly and chatting over snack, tea, or a gaze out the window. Work is chosen, either anew or in continuation from the previous day. The morning work period is dynamic and full of energy for learning, both through individual lessons and group presentations. The children monitor the clock to keep track of the daily routine and the job chart is checked for the day’s responsibilities.

When weather permits, the class will sometimes venture out into nature for observation, collecting specimens that represent parts of the biome and learning about seasonal changes with the local plants and animals. Work journals for each curriculum area are kept and maintained by each child to document daily learning.

When the (typically) 3 hour work cycle is complete, there is a community gathering, largely run by the children themselves. Discussions of issues that have arisen socially or academically are brought to the conversation for resolution and plans for future outings and activities are introduced.

At midday, it is time for lunch. The children set the table and prepare for a peaceful, healthy meal together. The Pledge to the Earth is recited and a peace chime is rung to engage in a moment of silent gratitude prior to eating. Lively conversation during lunch commences, along with the practice of proper table manners. When everyone is finished eating, the lunch area is cleared and dirty dishes are transported to the kitchen for washing. Now it is time for recess! Fresh air and sunshine are enjoyed with the Primary classes on the exciting and beautiful play yard.

The afternoon work cycle is a bit less rigorous in terms of lessons (though they are still readily available to those who are interested), giving way to more social time, art endeavors and cooking projects. Stories from chapter books are read aloud, snack and tea time are enjoyed and then afternoon jobs are checked and completed. As parents shuffle in for each happy reunion, the children gather their belongings and go home to rest for another exciting day.

Your elementary-age child has a strong drive for social connection. This is when children are starting to develop deeper friendships and a connection to the community around them. Why then, would we want our children to learn in rows of desks, confined to a chair, while the teacher lectures the class as a group? Instead, we embrace your child’s natural need for social exploration by giving lessons in small groups and encouraging children to work with a variety of others on follow-up projects and research into subjects of intense interest.

Learning in Context for Deeper Understanding

Unlike in a conventional program with a separate time of the day for each subject, your child will gain a much deeper understanding of concepts by learning in context. The starting point for all courses of study is the “Great Lessons.” These impressionistic and scientific stories give your child the “big picture” of astronomy, earth science, geography, physics, biology, history, anthropology, cultural and social studies, language, math, music, and art. Meaningful learning happens when children understand the “why” as much as the “what” – and are inspired to learn even more on their own.

Developing Flexibility, Resilience, and Grit

We believe children learn to be adaptable by supporting them to solve their own problems, rather than solving problems for them. With the help of a supportive adult, your child can, most often, find the best solution.

Learning as its Own Reward

We have high expectations for your child and believe that rewards and punishments appeal to the lowest levels of individuals’ intellect. Given a sticker, children will do their best for a few minutes. Given experiences that help them to believe in themselves and their abilities, they will do their very best for a lifetime.

Prepared and Confident

The ultimate goal of the elementary program is to develop students’ abilities and self-confidence so that they are able to take charge of their own learning. Students who have gained an appreciation for the enormous scale and resources of the world through the elementary curriculum are ready to explore their place within that world through our Middle School program.