Roanoke Valley Montessori School

The Elementary child emerges from the first plane of development in which he/she felt the secure environment of the primary classroom to a new sense to “take on the world” or more accurately, the universe, as Margaret Loeffler so simply stated in her article “ The Essence of Montessori in the Elementary Years”.  This new child has increased abilities to concentrate, has greater interest in doing meaningful work; is self-disciplined and has greater ability to self-regulate. The elementary child is sociable, and has a keen desire to be a responsible member of a community.

You will see the following in our Elementary programs:

Community Meetings: Children take active participation in the day in and day out inter workings of the elementary classroom.

Independent Study:  Children are given work plans and assignments to be completed by the end of each day or week. They learn to organize their time to allow for these lessons.

Teamwork:  For many students, the first years of the Elementary program are the very first opportunities to work as a team member. 

Small group lessons:  Teachers work one on one and in small groups to deliver specific lessons to each child.  These lessons capture the imagination through lots of story telling and beautiful materials, and hands on opportunities.

Fieldtrips:  Children have many opportunities to go out into the field to learn first hand how things work. 

Research projects:  Research is the course of study in all curriculum areas.  Children are empowered to select a topic they are interested in and create a way to teach this information to their friends.  Power Point is a favorite for many of our students.

Enriched Curriculum: During the three years of elementary classroom experience, the elementary child moves through exciting studies in History, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Language, and Mathematics.  Work in the Montessori classroom is supplemented by  multi-sensory extension.

The end result is the education of the whole child- a child who has the opportunity to be uniquely different, and reach his/her academic potential with personal success,  and who has developed a passion for lifetime learning.