Thacher Montessori School

The students at the Upper Elementary Level are able to think more abstractly, engage more independently with their surroundings, and produce a greater quantity and quality of work.

Students continue working to their full potential in a curriculum-rich environment. At the Upper Elementary level students are guided and supported in independent learning from which they gain confidence and a sense of fulfillment. Thacher students pursue knowledge for the joy of the process and the satisfaction of the result. The Montessori philosophy addresses the special challenges of the pre-adolescent by helping the children develop the confidence to face the social, emotional, and societal pressures of their age. They are imbued with a sense of responsibility as they prepare to become members of the larger community and citizens of the world.

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.