 | | | | | | Learn More About E2! | | The Elementary Two classroom completes the work of Children's House and
Elementary One. Montessori referrred to the age period from age 9 to 12
as "the golden age of childhood." She believed that children in this
age group had tremendous intellectual capability.
The foundation
for learning in Elementary Two has been prepared in Children's House,
where the students have developed concentration, order, and language by
means of clear presentations and independent choice in the prepared
environment. In Elementary One, the children have strengthened
concentration by continued work with hands-on materials, and developed
imagination through "Great Lessons" which are stories that stimulate
the child's mind to think in terms of the whole universe, the largest
possible set, before breaking material down into parts.
Elementary
Two adds the sensitive periods of abstraction and moral choice.
Students at this age are especially sensitive to issues of fairness,
both interpersonally, and in terms of the rights and responsibilities
of individuals and the societies that govern them. The time is ripe for
studying Great Civilizations, Early People, the magic of mathematical
processes evident in the Square Root peg board, the Great Lessons for
Written and Spoken Language, and for developing and completing large,
challenging research projects. These are just a few of the activities
to expect.
Elementary Two students still use Montessori
materials extensively, but they are likely to progress to "abstraction"
(paper and pencil) more quickly. The Elementary Two teacher must
balance what he or she knows to be the tremendous demands for content
that a successful citizen must possess before leaving J.J. Hill in
sixth grade, with the similtaneous knowledge that meaningful learning
originates with the child's interest.
Unique activities and
privileges await the E2 student. For the first time, students may serve
on the student council, learn to play a musical instrument by joining
the band, serve on the school patrol (grade 6) and go, annually, to an
environmental camp, an overnight experience that educates students as
well as cementing social bonds that contribute to cooperation and
mutual respect.
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