Programs

Elementary

The Elementary Program is divided into two age groupings:

• Lower Elementary (6-9 years olds)
• Upper Elementary (9-12 year olds)

Lower Elementary

• A three year program for 6 to 9 year olds
• Class size approximately 24 children, with two teachers per classroom
• Additional teaching specialists in art, music and Spanish
• M-F, 9 am to 3 pm, except for Wednesdays when school closes at 2:30 pm for staff meetings
• Held at 7075 Cutting Blvd., El Cerrito
• Open to all students, regardless of previous Montessori experience
  
  

  In the Lower Elementary program, we emphasize reading, handwriting, creative writing, math skills, and the cultural subjects of history, zoology, botany, geography, as well as socialization and self esteem. The program is further enriched by Spanish, art, yoga, music and physical education. In this program, the teachers carefully analyze the students' skills and work to fill in gaps and enhance individual abilities. During this time, the teacher engages the children's imagination and begins to open up the world to them with more in-depth exposure to the cultural subject areas.

  Please join us for an open house, or call the Main Office for an individual tour (510) 236-8802.

Upper Elementary

• A three year program for 9-12 year olds
• Class size approximately 30 students, with three teachers per classroom
• Additional teaching specialists in art, music and Spanish
• M-F, 8:40 am to 3 pm, except for Wednesdays when school closes at 2:30 pm for staff meetings
• Held at 7075 Cutting Blvd., El Cerrito.
• Open to all students, regardless of previous Montessori experience

  The Upper Elementary program refines what has been taught previously while greatly expanding basic skills. Creative writing, grammar, expository writing, poetry, research and literary analysis, are covered in depth. In math, the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) are committed to memory. The child is then able to begin the more abstract analysis of number and number systems: geometry, bases, factoring, fractions, decimals, probability, sets, ratios, percents, statistics, graphing, logic, patterns, and beginning algebra and trigonometry.

  Geology, geography, chemistry, physics, and history are explored in depth and backed up by a series of hands-on experiments. The periods from ancient civilizations to modern times are covered in the three year history sequence with attention paid to American and California history. In this way, children can be involved in current events and the evolution of their own history.

  Please join us for an open house, or call the Main Office for an individual tour (510) 236-8802 .