Programs

Elementary

At six, there is a great transformation in the child, like a new birth. The child wants to explore society and the world, to learn what is right and wrong, to think about meaningful roles in society. She wants to know how everything came to be, the history of the universe, the world, humans and why they behave the way they do. He asks the BIG questions and wants answers. A Montessori elementary teacher has spent many months learning to give individual lessons in all academic areas, and to guide the child in direction and methods of their own research. Although groups form occasionally, with the teacher or among the children, the main work is still done by the individual - the protected period of concentration and focus, uninterrupted by scheduled required groups, being the hallmark of Montessori education. This is what heals and fulfills the child, and reveals the true human who naturally exhibits the desire to help others and to make a difference in the world.

Teachers who have taught full 6-12 age span see the definite benefit of this age span, rather than breaking children up into groups of children closer in age. There are six years worth of wonderful possibilities to which every child is exposed - it is not just what the child does that results in learning, but what is casually taken in from the work around him. A 6-12 span helps the teacher avoid group lessons and teacher centered work, helping the children reach a much higher level of independence and education. It facilitates children teaching children, a vital element in Montessori education. When group lessons are kept at a minimum, periods of concentration protected, and children exposed to the amazing amount of work in the 6-12 class, not only are the state curriculum requirements easily met, but children work at a level one would not have though possible... The teacher is in charge of the minimum, the child the maximum.

The state curriculum is hung on the wall for each child to see what she must accomplish at each grade level, 1st grade through 6th. The teacher meets with the individual student periodically, to plan how this should be done. One child will want to do the required work on Mondays, another for the first hour or so each morning. Together they make a list for the week, or the month, and the child is in charge. This teaches time management skills, and leaves the child free from interruption. If a child is having trouble getting down to work it might be suggested that for a short period of time, she keep a time journal, marking the clock time throughout a few days to see just how her time is spent. As soon as she discovers the problem and gets down to work, such a record ceases as it would be in impediment to the creative flow that is so evident in the Montessori elementary class.

The Montessori curriculum is built around the five great lessons given at the beginning of each year for the new students to introduce: creation of earth, coming of plants and animals, the arrival of humans, language, math and invention. These lessons are designed by the teacher and include stories, picture, activities. The older children come if they like, or hear them from afar, experiencing them differently each time depending upon their own growth in understanding. Timelines are made with long strips of fabric or paper on which the child lays out fossils, pictures of dinosaurs, composer and musician pictures, etc., to get a visual picture of history in each subject.

Cooperation & Peace & Work
What good is knowledge if not combined wit the consideration for others. Peace is not studied as an independent subject, but with the study of examples from the past, and practice in serving food and helping each other. Peace is the natural outcome of a method of education where children experience work with their hands and long periods of individual concentration and contemplation. In this way they are able to process and recover from all the input of our modern world. They learn that peace is not just the absence of war, bet the way we treateach other in our daily lives, the way we communicate, and the way we solve problems. Peace begins inside us at home, at school.

Unique at Great Oaks - Riding, Swimming & The Arts
In addition to the regular instruction in physical education, our elementary children benefit from unique programs such as horseback riding (supervised weekly instruction in the fall and spring), and swimming (supervised weekly instruction at the Hunterdon County YMCA in the winter). Foreign language instruction includes Spanish and French. There is regular instruction in music (singing and music notation) and the visual arts (drawing, painting, clay and expressive craft). Arts activities are used to enhance learning in other content areas, for example, clay hieroglyphics during the study of Egypt, and papermaking as an introduction to the chemical phenomenon of hydrogen bonding.