For Montessori students, after three years in a single environment, the transition into Upper Elementary is a monumental event! Children should come expecting a warm, welcoming environment with an emphasis on individual responsibility, problem solving, exploration, creativity, and a strong sense of community.
Children this age are genuinely curious about the physical and social worlds around them. They tend to place particular importance on learning to relate to one another, and often seek opportunities to prove their independence from adults.
For these reasons, the upper elementary classroom emphasizes cooperative group work skills, social problem solving, confidence building, and respect for individual differences. Children often participate in group meetings, where community issues are debated and classroom rules decided. Whenever possible, our social microcosm is extended to include the wider community and the natural environment.
Work at this level is also a bit more complicated and requires longer periods of sustained attention. Just as in the lower elementary, "freedom with responsibility" is key! Students in the Upper Elementary are provided with even greater opportunities to choose their work and plan their own time.
There is also a continued emphasis on hands-on learning... When studying Ancient Greece, for example, a child will not only research the culture, but cook the food, wear the clothes, act in a Greek play, and build a model temple. We use gumdrops and toothpicks to demonstrate chemical reactions, and field trips complement the curriculum whenever possible.
Specialist teachers and visiting experts from the community come in weekly to teach concentrated blocks of Spanish, Art, Music, and Drama. These subjects also interwoven within the daily Montessori cultural curriculum. Physical Education activities are often off-site: The children decide as a group which activities should be included, but we typically include a fair amount of hiking, swimming, yoga and/or martial arts, field sports, gymnastics, and aerobic games.
The upper elementary should be seen as a bridge to abstract learning, and a time for developing inner confidence and social awareness. Children are free to define themselves in a setting that resembles a cross between a large family and a bustling workshop.
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A unique, and exciting piece of the Montessori curriculum is the integrated study of Science, History, Geography, and The Arts. A full cycle in the upper elementary includes hands-on studies of matter and energy, stars, atoms, molecules, the scientific method, early humans, navigation and exploration, the progression of technology, civilizations throughout history, natural resources, ecology, human anatomy, biological classification systems, cells, chemical reactions, forces, light, sound, simple machines, space exploration, archaeology, geology…
Fortunately, children at this age are genuinely curious about these things! They want to know “how” and “why.” In the lower elementary, children are given the big picture through concrete materials and stories that touch the imagination or make unforgettable impressions. But in the upper elementary, children become increasingly capable of abstract thought. They ask the same questions, but with a new depth of intelligence.
At this age, science and history are presented hand in hand. One is taught in order to encourage logical thinking and exploration of the environment. The other provides perspective and a sense of time and place. The richly devloped Montessori curriculum helps convey humanity as a work in progress: Physically, we have evolved. Our ideas have evolved. Our language, music, mathematics, art, science, and technology have evolved right alongside with us, and this will continue as long as we continue to exist. By teaching science from this perspective, we hope to cultivate appreciation for those who came before us, and responsibility for those who will be coming after. We ask questions. We experiment. And we get our hands dirty!
While carefully working to build a solid foundation for future knowledge, we continue to plant the seeds for a more global perspective. As we study science, care is taken to present the Earth as an interdependent system to be respected and cared for. As we explore history and geography in the classroom, students come to understand the dependence that humans have upon their environment, and the tremendous effect of environment upon the amazing cultures of the world -- past and present.
Upper Elementary children often feel a pressing need to find their place within a well-defined group. In the eyes of students, this often takes precedence over academic matters! The Montessori philosophy doesn’t ignore such natural tendencies, so group work is incorporated into as many areas of the curriculum as possible. Science lends itself easily to this type of activity because children can work in groups to perform experiments and explore the natural world. When studying history, children work together in performing simulations or exploring timelines. By discussing their ideas, they learn better.
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The process is of maintaining a language-rich upper elementary classroom is never-ending: Daily routines are set in place for read-aloud, book discussions and quiet-reading time. Spanish is incorporated whenever possible for children who are interested. Occasional Writer’s Workshops help to establish an environment where children can focus on the process of writing. Effective strategies for both reading and writing are modeled repeatedly, and for older children, peer-editing is a part of daily life.
Many children this age are genuinely interested in studying the order and patterns within their language. (With the help of Montessori materials, grammar can actually be quite fun!) By itself, however, all the grammar in the world won’t develop true literacy. Children are also continuously exposed to a wide variety of literature and given the opportunity to practice writing in different styles. They are encouraged to write descriptively and to develop their own voice. 
They are shown the importance of planning and revising. More importantly, students are helped to see that reading and writing are activities that can be enjoyed over the course a lifetime.
Once children have been given the keys to reading and writing, and have become consciously aware of the structure of language, the real fun begins when they discover something worth reading or writing about… At this point, everything we do in the classroom – from science and mathematics to history, music, and art – are consistently tied to literacy.
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As a teacher first exploring the Montessori classroom, I was initially drawn to the math materials, and was particularly impressed by how easily the children seemed to master such a wide range of mathematical concepts. It seemed unfair that we all weren’t able to learn this way!
The upper elementary continues to make use of the familiar Montessori materials, but often in new, unexpected ways. The stamp game, for example, is no longer needed for simple operations which are typically done abstractly. Now it is instead used heavily for more advanced work such as identifying patterns in multiplication, working double-digit multiplication and division problems, and even finding square roots of large numbers.
Children are also introduced to some new math materials including the decimal checkerboard and the golden mat, which provide concrete representations of the decimal system. Fourth graders often spend a fair amount of time exploring with fraction pieces, and students of all ages love to use the hands-on algebra materials.
Once the children have become familiar with these materials and are comfortable with the concept of place value and basic arithmetic, math lessons become more of an opportunity for problem-solving and creative discovery. Because of the small class size at Cedar Tree Montessori, children are free to work at their own comfortable pace. As with all subjects, close attention is paid to public school standards, so that children who graduate from the Upper Elementary can be confident that their abilities will easily transfer to a variety of middle-school settings.
The upper elementary also provides talented young mathematicians with a true goldmine of materials to explore. Well-crafted geometric solids and shapes give the children the unique opportunity to discover area and volume formulas for themselves. A variety of thoughtfully made materials are used to explore alternate bases and algebraic patterns. Binomial and trinomial cube representations provide an intriguing hands-on way to explore some especially complicated concepts. The challenges are endless, and the benefits of a strong foundation in mathematical concepts are long lasting… Not only for confidence and success in future math classes, but for the logic and critical thinking required in everyday life.
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