Elementary Curriculum

“Not only does a child have a mind able to absorb knowledge. They have the power to teach themselves.” – Maria Montessori

In a Montessori setting, children construct themselves and develop their potential through interaction with the environment. Montessori emphasizes careful preparation of the environments and materials that respond to the specific tendencies of children at each stage of development. We, at Cosmic Montessori School, emphasizes careful preparation of environments that respond to the specific needs and tendencies of children of each stage of development. Our “prepared environments” are sensitively created and maintained by our faculty to provide optimum conditions for independent activity and full development of individual potentials.

Mathematics

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“Children display a universal love of mathematics, which is par excellence the science of precision, order, and intelligence.” – Maria Montessori

Throughout the elementary curriculum, our program enables children to achieve mastery and comprehend deep, conceptual understanding of math concepts. This level of understanding will allow them to be ready for more advanced material that they might encounter in the future. In lower elementary children will typically work on their flexibility and fluency with numbers. As they progress to upper elementary the end goal would be to be able to visualize patterns, think critically, and propose solution paths.

Language Arts

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“All children pass through a period in which they can only pronounce syllables; then they pronounce whole words, and finally, they use to perfection all the rules of syntax and grammar.” – Maria Montessori

The elementary child discovers the powerful role of written language in the development of human civilization. Language becomes a major tool for both exploration and expression through research and oral and written presentations. Continues study of grammar and syntax is integrated with the study of literature and style.

Geography

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“The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life” -Maria Montessori

Geography is an important aspect of the Montessori curriculum because of the importance to teach concepts that connect to our world. The geography curriculum includes the beginning of our planet, landforms, bodies of water, and the different climates throughout the world.  

Outside Environment

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“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment” -Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori placed a great emphasis on nature and nature education. She felt as if the outdoor environment should be an extension of the classroom. The students are exposed to real materials and how they are incorporated into the world. Montessori believes that nature offers infinite ways to support a child’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development and they should really learn to appreciate the world around them.

Spanish

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“Everything you say to your child is absorbed, catalogued, and remembered” -Maria Montessori

We believe in international education for life. So, of course, we encourage exploring different cultures and languages. At Cosmic we have a foreign language curriculum that incorporates Spanish into the education. We have an outside professional, Kim Jara, come in and teach the children about speaking, writing, and even listening. The students develop a strong foundation and are able to further their skills later in middle/high school.

First year Spanish is highly interactive and participative, utilizing chants, songs, echoes, games, and engaging activities to encourage oral practice. Each of these components allows students to absorb the sounds and rhythm of the Spanish language, which is a major goal for Level 1 Spanish. This is also a key year for establishing Spanish literacy skills, as significant attention is given to the phonetics of the Spanish alphabet and using syllables to build words. Basic vocabulary themes are covered to equip students with a variety of useful terms In second through fourth year Spanish, focus moves beyond phonetics and spelling to address grammar and sentence structure, with greater emphasis on independent writing. Students work through a series of thematic units (McGraw Hill ¡Viva el español! Systems A & B). Oral activities promote language use in meaningful and motivating ways. At the completion of Systems A & B, Level 4 students have the opportunity to read a novel entirely in Spanish. At all levels, students are provided a positive and stimulating environment to gain confidence and to experience success as language-learners. In addition, they learn a Spanish song each year for performance at the winter program and have the enrichment opportunity of a 2-week summer Spanish camp unit.

Overnight Field Trips

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“When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing” -Maria Montessori

We want our graduates to be well-rounded students with amazing qualities. One of the ways we achieve this is through overnight field trips. Twice a year we take our students to two different field trips where they spend the weekend with their classmates at an educational destination. The first one is The Country Experience at the Amstutz Family Farm where the students will learn what it takes to run a farm and how difficult it can be. We chose this field trip because of the qualities that the students can develop. Farm kids, according to research, bring many great qualities to the workplace that include worth ethic, responsibility, critical thinking skills, and initiative. The other overnight field trip is to Nature’s Classroom Institute in Wisconsin. This field trip is run by Geoffrey Bishop, who is the founder of the institute. He helps the students understand their natural environment and ecosystem. In addition, they do confidence building, group challenges, historical simulations, and many more hands-on academic lessons. Geoffrey’s passion for the outdoors has helped our students with sustaining the environment and the importance of our role in the natural world.