We really pride ourselves on the work that we put into Elevate - from the beautiful classrooms to the internal preparation of ourselves. I posted on Instagram recently about the “other” prepared environment, the prepared environment of attitudes. This is only able to flow through due to the calm that is present in the school, the pauses from the guides that allow children to problem-solve together, and the consistency of expectations that we understand as a community.
According to the American Montessori Society, there are five key components of a high-fidelity Montessori school.
Trained Montessori Teachers: A properly credentialed Montessori teacher has the skills and expertise to implement high-fidelity Montessori. Our lead teachers are certified through AMS accredited schools or are working towards their certification. We all work closely together to problem solve, make lessons and talk through our days.
The Multi-Age Classroom: Classes with 3-year age spans facilitate mentorship among the students and encourage leadership development. As we have been growing over the last year and a half, we have really seen the beauty of the multi-age classroom. Our EC classroom is blossoming with the handful of older children taking on those leadership roles and guiding the younger friends. Our toddler classroom begins as early as 15-months and lasts through 36-months so children are able to learn the classroom expectations from watching each other.
Using Montessori Materials: A hallmark of Montessori is specially designed materials that provide a hands-on approach to learning. We have the “Montessori” materials, which are especially prominent in our EC classroom. However, all of our classrooms follow all of the tenements of Montessori materials — that they are beautiful to lure the children to play with them and the lessons are complete so the child can complete the full task.
Child Directed Work: Students are given agency to self-select work, leading to intrinsic motivation and sustained attention. By allowing the children to select what they want to work on, they get the full benefit of the lesson. We see that children will work on something they have already mastered either right before or right after working on something really challenging. I can relate to not constantly challenging myself so hard that my brain hurts, but sometimes needing to take a tea break. The children are doing the same thing by learning new letter sounds and practicing writing those letters to taking a banana cutting break. By doing it in this pattern, they are able to grow and push themselves in a way that sows the ground-work for life-long learning.
Uninterrupted Work Periods: An extended period of “free choice” enables students to work at their own pace and without interruption. The infants create their own schedules of sleep and play. However, when they are playing they are working hard at it - I often hear little grunts as they are pushing their bodies to the next step! The toddlers have an hour and half work period and the EC classroom works for three hours most days that allows them to really focus on the different materials in the classroom. Many afternoons see a second work cycle as the children choose to engage with materials! These long periods of work cycles allow the children to engage, grow, learn, and socialize in a way that suits each child’s specific developmental needs.
We are adding a handful of spots to our EC classroom mid-August. If you are interested in checking out what Elevate Montessori’s high-fidelity classrooms look like, please reach out to us - we would love to give you a tour!