Thacher Montessori School

Our Lower Elementary program brings ideas to life...

through stories and activities that spark children's imagination and stimulate their intellect. The academic curriculum is rich and all encompassing.

Children first learn concepts using concrete materials, then build their skills by practicing with those materials, and finally move to abstract knowledge and critical thinking.

"The elementary child has reached a new level of development. Before he was interested in things: working with his hands, learning their names. Now he is interested mainly in the how and why... the problem of cause and effect." Dr. Maria Montessori

Children work to their full potential in our program; the lessons that a child receives are determined by his readiness and concepts are practiced to mastery. Elementary classrooms maintain a balance of freedom and responsibility. Children take great pleasure in having the freedom to make choices about their work. At the same time, the children are responsible for doing work that is productive and of high quality. Children also enjoy the freedom to work in groups, which leads to discussion, disagreement, more discussion, and compromise.

The Second Plane of Development

Children aged 6 to 12 are in the second plane of development. By now they have formed their sense of personal identity through exploration of their environment.

In this second plane they are developing a sense of themselves as part of a social group. Through their interactions, they learn collaboration, accountability, and adaptability while constructing an internal set of moral values. With imagination and reason, they are driven to learn by their own questions about how and why the world works the way it does.