Lower Elementary students participate in Junior Great Books, a literature group that promotes interpretive thinking and discussion skills through the use of folk tales, classics, fairy tales, and modern short stories. After students listen to a piece of literature read aloud at least twice, they participate in a method of learning called Shared Inquiry. Shared Inquiry is an active and collaborative search for answers to interpretive questions about a text.  Interpretive questions have more than one answer that can be supported with evidence from the story. Students learn reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing through sharing their ideas about great literature. This continues to be a loved activity for our LE students!

It's clear that Montessori environments look much different from traditional classrooms. At Abintra, we hope to provide our community members with useful resources to help them get the most out of their child's Montessori experience. John Snyder Today's resource pick is the article "Supporting the Elementary Child's Work at Home" by Austin Montessorian John Snyder, former Chair of the AMI Elementary Alumni Association and member of the Montessori Leadership Collaborative. In this article, Snyder discusses how parents can contribute to their elementary student's Montessori experience outside of the classroom. As Snyder explains, "It's not worksheets. It's not assignments. It's practicing being an entrepreneurial learner in the context of the family." Snyder points out that "Basically, there needs to be a shift in thinking of the Montessori school as the place where the child is being educated to thinking of it as jus...

How do you feel when someone takes notice of your hard work and acknowledges you for it? How does positive feedback affect your motivation? Compliments and acknowledgments are important to the Lower Elementary community, and we practice sharing and accepting these on a weekly basis. In our classroom, students learn how to observe and articulate the positive in others and in themselves through role-playing, discussions, and writing activities. Every community meeting starts with compliments or acknowledgments and sometimes the class gives an individual student an acknowledgment circle. These acknowledgments enhance students' sense of belonging by teaching them to notice and cultivate the positive aspects in each other, fostering close connections. These statements also help the students understand how their actions have a positive impact on their classmates and allow them to see the value of their contributions.

Some of the most profound work that the children do happens during recess. Fort building has always been a social learning opportunity for Abintra's students.  For Middle Elementary, it recently took on added dimensions. Our cultural studies included the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.  We examined the many legacies that Rome has left to the modern world: word roots, mythology, the names of the planets, roads, aqueducts, indoor plumbing, public baths, and tile mosaics, to name just a few.  The Romans also left us with the idea of a representative democracy, emperors, senators, and consuls.  Additionally, public responsibility, slavery and the treatment of slaves, and the rights of women made an impact on our modern culture. Middle Elementary children took their history into the woods.  They began building a system of forts based on their understanding of Roman culture.  The forts included a store and headquarters where goods were ...

In Lower Elementary, students value the weekly Community Meeting as a predictable and safe way to practice respectful communication with their peers.  The process of voicing a concern begins when a student articulates a problem by documenting the issue in a composition notebook we refer to as “the agenda.”  The students know that items added to “the agenda” will be read at the next Community Meeting.  Part of the rationale behind having the students write down their concerns for community discussion at a later time is that it allows for a “cooling off” period and time for the students to resolve their issues on their own. We begin our Community Meetings with compliments and acknowledgements, with each student having the opportunity to contribute.  After that, items on the agenda are read aloud and discussed.  The person who originally voiced a concern in “the agenda” chooses how to approach the problem.  The student may ask the class to share their feel...