Please Outline For Me Differences Between Preschool and Elementary

[Sierra]

I know that Montessori is implemented very differently in elementary than in preschool years. Can someone give me specific information about those differences. What does an elementary classroom look, feel, and sound like? How does the teacher teach? What does the teacher teach? And how is this all different and similar to preschool Montessori?

[MattBronsil]

Originally Posted by Sierra

I know that Montessori is implemented very differently in elementary than in preschool years. Can someone give me specific information about those differences. What does an elementary classroom look, feel, and sound like? How does the teacher teach? What does the teacher teach? And how is this all different and similar to preschool Montessori?

Just one obvious answer, there are more complicated ideas taught in elementary. For example, the trinomial cube previously used as more like a sensorial puzzle will later be used to solve complicated math problems.

As far as other aspects:

1) The education in the elementary years actually starts with the Great Lessons. These are stories the child is presented with that give the child an idea about the beginning of the universe, the development of language and math, and how different cultures have evolved. The stories are actually designed to bring about a discussion in which the child ends up being curious about many things. From there, the child researches those questions with the guidance of the teacher (and other classmates).

2) Language involves a lot of grammar, but (like everything else in Montessori) hands on, sensorial based, grammar materials that represent the abstract concepts of the parts of speech. Children are able to analyze both an author's work or their own work with the language materials to help bring them to life.

3) Math continues to develop through moving from concrete materials to abstract concepts. If you found the math materials brilliant in the 3-6 classroom, you won't be disappointed with how 6-9 math materials are used.

4) This goes along with #1, but there is more of a focus on research and reporting that happens in elementary.

5) The integration of the curriculum becomes much clearer to the child on a conscious level. They now understand that to write about early settlers in the valley (history), you have to understand why they settled there....the river. Then the question comes up with why the river was important, which can lead to a business idea. From there, they might see the growth in population (math), but even begin to wonder what other contributors lead to settlers settling there as opposed to upstream (which might lead to agriculture and science). Often times, it just takes a teacher asking these questions to lead to a stronger report, as the students do much of the research themselves.

You'll still have a long work period, a teacher observing and taking notes, many materials to teach different concepts, a teacher presenting things when the child is ready, etc.

Practical life is still there in that they take care of the classroom, but it also begins to extend outside of the classroom itself. Community service is one thing I really remember in my Montessori experience. In Upper Elementary, we also created a fake town that we did once a week, where we actually had money (fake money), different businesses, and learned about different aspects of this from participating in that activity.

[Kushali]

The biggest differences I remember were:

1) More time working in groups and with partners. Unlike traditional school we usually formed our own groups. Even when the work was cooperative we often would often sit next to each other and work on the same task.

2) More time to follow our own interests and do research/reports/projects of our choosing. I remember doing research about a lot of topics just because I found them interesting.

3) Many many more field trips. It may just have been the school I attended but we went on at least 1 field trip a week. Many were in our after school program and most of the time we walked. We went to plays at the children's theater, the art museum, to visit our adopted grandmas and grandpas at the retirement home, and to various parks for P.E or just for fun. Many of these trips were student led. I remember calling a local bank and a bakery to plan tours.

4) A big focus on research and reports. We each did an oral report on a state and a country every year. We also wrote reports on other topics of interest as they came up.

5) Longer works. It wasn't uncommon for a project or lesson to span multiple days. We had spaces setup so that activities could be safely left overnight.

My elementary teacher taught the same way my preschool teacher taught. She would offer lessons to groups or individual students based on the student's needs. Or a student would ask for a lesson on a specific work or a specific comment. She would also walk around the room and ask questions or present extensions of activities while they were happening. She really was a master of the "teachable moment". She did use imagination more often in lessons. Many of the things we learned about (the big bang, atoms, foreign countries, historical peoples) couldn't be seen so they had to be imagined.

Beyond that its largely the same but with bigger tables and chairs. There is still a lot of work happening on the floor. They still use rugs. And most of the time everyone will be working on dissimilar activities and changing activities as they complete them. Elementary classes have the same "happy hum" of a preschool class, perhaps a bit louder since they can be more social.

[Sierra]

Thanks! All this is helpful information.