Structure of the Program

The secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to tough his imagination as to enthuse him to his inmost core. 
-Maria Montessori 

The GSCM lower elementary program serves children ages 6-9 (grades 1-3). There are two self-contained lower elementary environments each with a full-time Montessori directress and a full-time assistant.  A Montessori-trained support specialist works in both environments to help identify individual needs of the children and adjust curriculum accordingly.  Curriculum specialists include: art, music, Spanish, and PE teachers, an Intervention specialist, and an Orton-Gillingham tutor. Students spend a 2 hr. work cycle in the atrium each week with 2 certified catechists.

Prepared Environment

The prepared environment for the lower elementary program is in the main school building on the upper level. Two self-contained classrooms offer a full array of Montessori materials. The environments are connected and students move freely between rooms during lunch and at select “community” times. The outdoor playscape is utilized by students each morning and during recess.

Who is the Lower Elementary Child?

The lower elementary child (ages 6-9) is at the beginning of the second plane of development, moving from infancy to childhood. It marks a major transition of growth into a new child. The sensorial child of the first plane now transforms into the reasoning elementary child. Physical development is rather steady, but there are large strides in intellectual development moving from the concrete to the abstract. The elementary child’s growing imagination is the key to presenting cultural subjects that give a vision of the universe. This becomes the basis of the cosmic curriculum around which the entire elementary experience rotates. The elementary child begins to ask “WHY?” and desires to know how the world works and how it all fits into God’s universal plan of Creation. 

Elements of GSCM’s Upper Elementary Curriculum

Academic Excellence

Cosmic Curriculum

5 Great Lessons

Integrated Cultural Studies

Science

History/Social Studies

Geography

Research

Language Arts

Language rich environments 

Orton-Gillingham lessons (phonics and spelling)

Structured Word Inquiry 

Excellence in Writing program 

Integrated reading throughout curriculum

Mathematics

Emphasis on Montessori materials

Decimal system and theory of numbers

Mastery of addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division facts

Mathematics applications (money, measurement, statistics, time, etc.)

Geometry

Based on sensorial works in Preprimary

Vocabulary, concepts, application 

Student-Centered

Flexible environments

Multi-age/Peer teaching

Workshops and outings based on curriculum content

Student work plans

Assigned work and choice work

Research and projects 

Peer-teaching 

Faith Formation

Level II Catechesis of the Good Shepherd 

Sacramental Preparation 

Classroom prayer
Virtues Curriculum

Curriculum Specials

Art/music 1x per week 

Spanish 2x per week 

Fine Arts Fair

Education between the ages of six to twelve is not a direct continuation of that which has gone before, though it is built upon that basis.  Psychologically there is a decided change in personality, and we recognize that nature has made this a period for the acquisition of culture, just as the former was for the absorption of the environment.
-Maria Montessori