The elementary education we wish we had

Montessori isn't just for little kids

From the moment you step inside, Montessori elementary classrooms are a hum of activity.

A guide is giving a math lesson to a group of three students. She gives them each a follow-up assignment before turning to another child to check their spelling work. She checks on the progress of two students' geological model of the earth, confirming they know their next steps. She pulls aside a group of four to give a lesson on grammar.

Children are talking as they work together on various projects and materials. One child walks freely across the classroom to grab a piece of paper for a project they’re working on.

Some students are working with advanced math materials, while others are completing a writing activity, and still others beginning a science experiment — all in the same learning environment, at the same time.

When parents tour these classrooms, they often have a similar reaction: I wish I had been educated this way.

Because compared to mainstream education — which many of us grew up with — Montessori is a stark contrast:

The Montessori elementary environment is one of customized rigor, where a challenging curriculum, big work, and a multi-age classroom collide to create the ideal space for learning.

Here’s what each of these pieces looks like in practice:

Challenging curriculum

One of the first things parents want to know when they tour Montessori classrooms is, “How does the curriculum compare to mainstream standards?”

The answer: Montessori students learn many of the same concepts as traditional school students (and more) — but they’re typically introduced 1-3 years earlier.

Not only are these concepts introduced sooner, they’re introduced differently.

Here’s how a Montessori guide introduces a new math concept to a student:

In this video, the student is learning about fractional equivalences. This concept is something that every child will eventually encounter in elementary math, but most of them will be introduced to the concept via a worksheet. They’ll view it as a two-dimensional, intangible concept. And for most people, it will remain intangible forever.

How do we know? Well, back in the ‘80s, A&W decided to create a “third-pound” hamburger to compete with the popular “quarter-pounder”. The concept was simple: offer a bigger burger for less money — unfortunately, most of the American public thought that one-third was less than one-quarter, and the third-pound hamburger never took off.

What this marketing failure shows us is that most people never learn fractional equivalences, or indeed many mathematical concepts, in an intuitive, tactile way that can actually aid them in daily life.

But in the Montessori classroom, the student proves to herself — to her eyes, hands, and mind — that ⅔ is greater than ½. She understands it more deeply than most adults ever will because of the way this concept was introduced to her.

A Montessori math lesson is three-dimensional, tangible, and engrossing. As the student gradually takes on more and more of the activity, eventually, the guide will step away so she can work with the material independently.

Ultimately, a challenging curriculum knows when and how to introduce concepts that stick. And this is what enables students to create what we call “big work”:

Big work

In Children’s House, the Montessori environment designed for children ages 2.5 to 6, kids build their efficacy by repeating activities over and over again.

In elementary, this repetition evolves into elaboration.

At this age, kids want to take what they’ve learned so far and go further. This results in what we call “big work” — it’s what happens when an elementary student takes all the pieces the classroom can give them (lessons from a guide, materials and activities, discussions with peers, etc.) and creates something unique with them.

In short, big work is a combination of instruction, classroom culture, and a child’s individuality.

After a guided lesson on poetic forms, a child might decide to create their own book of poems. They might invite their friends to contribute their writing or artwork, and then bind the final product with thread.

Or a child may be fascinated by an anatomy lesson and conduct in-depth research that leads to designing a life-sized poster of the nervous system.

An elementary-aged child craves intellectual independence. For them, this work is challenging, but also exciting, collaborative, and unique to them. It’s big.

The magic of big work is that it looks different for every child — and yet it’s all beautiful, educational, and worthwhile.

Multi-age classroom

The challenging curriculum and big work environment of Montessori elementary are deepened and supported by the fact that students share a classroom with children who are older and younger than themselves.

In fact, Montessori elementary is divided into just two classes: lower elementary (for ages 6-9) and upper elementary (for ages 9-12).

The benefits of this multi-age environment are innumerable, but they can be broken down into two categories: social and academic.

Social benefits

When students transition from Children’s House to elementary, they enter a classroom with existing norms that have been held for years by the older students. That means younger kids can learn how to behave in this environment from their peers, as well as from adults.

This doesn’t just mean the transition is easier. It also means that these younger students get to witness what’s possible for themselves.

They see their older peers playing the role of mentoring the new students, and they know that one day they’ll step into those shoes themselves.

They see them working on advanced mathematical concepts and writing long essays and they feel excited about the learning ahead of them.

For every lesson they learn from an older peer, they know that soon, they’ll be able to return the gesture and share their hard-earned knowledge and wisdom with others.

The experience doesn’t just benefit the younger students — because acting as a mentor and teaching others provides an immense amount of self-confidence for children at this age.

Academic benefits

Not every child will be ready for the same lesson at the same time. In a traditional classroom, where lessons are taught to all 30+ students at once, this is an inconvenient truth. But in Montessori classrooms, intellectual diversity is the defining characteristic of the classroom.

A student who is ready for advanced math concepts will have access to the materials they need and can join an older peer group for those lessons.

And that same child may need extra literacy support — and the classroom can accommodate that, too.

The student is never given the impression that they’re “behind” or “ahead.” They’re simply met with the optimal challenge for them, in each subject.

Contrast this with mainstream education, where students who are “held back” or “skip a grade” are mocked or othered by their peers. Even children who receive special support (either for tutoring or more advanced work) are often viewed as weird.

But in multi-age classrooms, everyone is working at their own level — and can achieve their full potential.

Together, these elements — a challenging curriculum, big work, and multi-age classrooms — result in customized rigor.

It’s more than “individualized education”. In Montessori elementary, children get exactly what they need, in each subject, each day.

They get to teach and learn from their peers.

They get to challenge themselves with big work that they can be proud of.

And they walk away from their education with a deep, intuitive understanding of concepts that most children won’t have for years, if ever.

It’s the education we wish we had.

Want to tour a Montessori elementary classroom yourself? Find a school near you here.

☀️ This week’s bright spots:

If you have one minute… If you have an elementary schooler, ask them this question to encourage their curiosity.

If you have five minutes… How is Montessori elementary different from traditional elementary?

If you want to experience Montessori for yourself… find a school to book a tour.