One of the hallmarks of an authentic Montessori school is the “three-year cycle.” We have students in the same program with the same teachers for three years to progress as Youngers to Middlers to Olders. We see so many benefits to this. Here are a few:
- Allowing for students to learn from and be leaders for each other across years
- Enabling lessons to be given to small groups of mixed age students, which allows each individual child to be met where they are in the curriculum, rather than assuming that a whole grade is at the same level in every subject area
- Allowing for long-term, trusting relationships to develop with teachers over three years
With this three-year cycle, students only transition to a new classroom every three years, so it is a bigger deal when they do! This Tuesday the students “Moving-Up” visited their class for next year with great excitement. The morning visit was a huge success from Lower Elementary through Middle School. The groups will revisit again next week. I encourage you to read through each section of our newsletter to hear details of each program’s visits, and also to learn about important themes and priorities at our school, from Marco’s piece to the MS essay quotes. Enjoy!