The primary program at Community Montessori offers multi-age classrooms of Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten students. Students attend on-site learning center classes up to four full days per week and at least one home school day per week. Montessori-trained Educational Facilitators and Instructors plan and guide the progress of each student using individualized lesson plans. Using the combination of large, small, and individual lessons guided by an Educational Facilitator or Instructor, each classroom also benefits from the support of one Learning Assistant.

The aim of the primary team is to provide beautiful, safe, prepared environments that promote a love of learning and a culture of mutual respect. Students can expect to move freely within boundaries, choose the order of their work, and to actively participate in the planning and setting of their goals. Positive Discipline activities are implemented by trained staff to allow for the practice of respectful social interactions and solutions to conflicts. As an additional tool for support, each student and family is given access to a personal Learning Success Power Traits assessment and profile.

Students in the primary program become increasingly self-directed learners by gradually taking on more responsibility. There is a strong emphasis on caring for oneself, caring for others, and care of the environment. Dr. Maria Montessori believed it is important to “avoid doing that which the child can do for themselves.” Small ways we promote this Montessori tenant is to encourage students to carry their own backpacks and personal items, clean up after themselves, care for outdoor gardens, and share classroom responsibilities. As with any social, emotional, or academic expectation, time is taken to present and practice new skills.

 Our joyful lower-elementary scholars participate in an engaging multi-age learning environment that supports the child’s natural enthusiasm for learning. The Community Montessori (CM) teachers and instructors are Educational Facilitators who mindfully prepare lessons and materials to support and encourage the child as they maneuver through their current plane of development. This period is characterized by:

·         cognitive transitions from concrete to abstract

·          increased interest in socialization

·         developing reasoning that is enhanced by creativity and imagination

·         awareness of fairness, social justice, and compassion

During the lower-elementary three-year cycle, our young scholars have a capacity for exceptional mental growth. Their capability of understanding abstract concepts, such as those found in mathematics, reading comprehension, and cultural diversity increases. Dedicated Educational Facilitators work with students and families to develop individualized educational goals that meet the student at their academic, social, and emotional instructional level. Lessons are presented in small groups and one-on-one. This provides a platform for focused instruction while addressing individual strengths, needs, and interests. The student and EF are then able to formulate a work plan that guides the child’s daily tasks, projects, and goals.

The CM lower-elementary classroom is specifically designed to give children space and time where they may concentrate, explore, and develop camaraderie among peers. Students are eager to work with classmates on projects of mutual intrigue and begin to show general interest in others, in attitudes, customs, and social behaviors with whom they interact regularly.  Our lower-elementary programs take advantage of this inclination through small group discussions and collaborative projects. The children become student citizens of this busy community as they work together to play an active role in setting classroom rules and accept responsibility in caring for and cleaning their learning environment.

The CM curriculum is designed to spark the natural imagination and curiosity of the 6-9-year-old. These children are eager to explore the plants, fossils, beads, maps, models, and various realia that has been placed on the shelf with beauty, order, and serenity. Lessons and extension activities invite students to use these materials to practice concepts and demonstrate knowledge through their individually identified modalities of learning.

The CM lower-elementary program provides autonomy to all young scholars as they discover and love the world around them, become confident and capable human beings, and achieve mastery in the fundamental skills of arithmetic, reading, writing, science, and culture.

Upper elementary is a bridge from Childhood to Adolescence, not coincidentally the title of one of Maria Montessori’s most important works.  Between the concrete understandings honed through working with materials in Lower El and the abstract thinking that takes them into real-world applications and deeper thinking in middle school, Upper El is an incredibly exciting phase of a child’s development.  Here at Community Montessori, we help students bridge that gap with the tools and abilities that most closely align with their own personal learning styles.  Students learn to take the lead in following their interests through research and discovery, developing their understandings of autonomy and efficiency along the way.  

All of our campuses offer hands-on experiences that cater to student interest and engagement.  Students spend three years in the Upper El environment, experiencing it from a different perspective each year.  The curriculum changes with the students as we focus on Physical Science one year, Earth Science the next, and Life Sciences the third year.  Social Studies follows a similar pattern, hitting all of the common core standards along the way.  But rather than simply following a text book, we integrate across subjects and ideas across the curriculum, making sure that students can make the connections.

Upon entering an Upper El classroom environment, one can observe the active engagement, cooperation, and collaboration taking place. The students are encouraged to work together on research, personal and group projects, as well as weekly assignments as they mentor and collaborate with each other on specific concepts within the curriculum. Social engagement and interaction is a main tenant of this age group and the supportive nature of the Community Montessori program lends itself to ensuring that both the academic needs and social and emotional needs are being met as they prepare for adolescence and our middle school program at the next level.  

Our adolescent program is driven by the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori. In her book, From Childhood to Adolescence, Montessori informs, ‘These two needs of the adolescent: for protection during the time of the difficult physical transition, and for an understanding of the society which (s)he is about to enter to play her/his part as a (wo)man, give rise to two problems that are of equal importance concerning education at this age.” These are two needs that our program addresses. We provide all of our adolescents with a safe place to explore their identity, take on real-life tasks through our entrepreneurial endeavors and rigorous Common Core curriculum, take on leadership roles within our school community, and help them to find their element.  

At both of our middle school campuses in Escondido and Carlsbad, students are given opportunities to lead through the planning of field experiences and entrepreneurial endeavors. We have an annual three-day two-night campout at Dixon Lake in which students plan meals, shop for meals, organize tents, and plan out daily activities. Each middle school campus has a Snack Shack which students run. They decide which snacks to sell, set prices, collect and give change, and inventory all items. Our adolescents also lead a weekly council meeting in which the community comes together to discuss issues impacting the community. Students are also encouraged to create fundraisers and projects that can benefit our school community and our greater community.  

“For success in life depends in every case on self-confidence and the knowledge of one’s own capacity and many-sided powers of adaptation.”