The Hockessin Montessori School

A Brief Overview................................

Practical Life
*Grace and Courtesy - The Elementary aged child refines their skills in this area by learning about and practicing respect for each other, the school environment, and the world community.
*Care of Self - The Student at this level moves toward mastery of the ability to care for himself and his personal belongings.  Activities within the classroom help to aid in the development of these skills.
*Care of Environment - Children at this level continue to develop self-awareness and independence for the care of the classroom and school environment by maintaining cleanliness and order of their personal belongings and the learning environment, and by developing fundamental skills for the use and care of manipulative materials.
*Community Service - These children continue to develop an awareness of current events and the importance of understanding their role in the school and the global community by participating in the Heiffer Projects, providing Hurricane Relief, and by being active participants in our Schoolyard Habitat project.


Sensorial
The student at this level continues the Sensorial activities through the use of concrete, hands-on materials in every area of the curriculum.

Writing
The Elementary aged child employs the writing process through daily journal writing and by utilizing the 6 Traits of Writing Program applied in an array of activities such as story, letter, poetry and journal writing, in addition to the use of Graphic Organizers for research writing.
The Conventions of writing are developed and reinforced at this level through lessons in Sentence Structure; spelling, which is assessed through daily writing and weekly quizzes; punctuation; and grammar.
Manuscript Handwriting Review and Cursive Handwriting Instruction are provided using the Handwriting Without Tears Program.

Reading
The child at this level continues to build on his or her reading skills through word analysis and decoding strategies to further develop phonemic awareness, through group and independent reading, through exposure to all genres of literature, through grammar studies, and through comprehension activities reinforced by the Accelerated Reader program.

Research
Research Skills are introdcued and reinforced through lessons and activities of alphabetical order, exposure and practice with resource materials such a dictionaries, atlases, and encyclopedias, in addition to internet use, for researching topics in all areas of the curriculum.

Mathematics
The Story of the History of Mathematics sets the stage for the child's development in the area of mathematics.  Through the use and mastery of concrete materials, the child at this stage is moving from concrete to abstract thought.  The main areas of Mathematical focus in the Primary Program are the Operations of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division, in addition to Time, Money, Measurement, Word Problems, Applied Mathematics, Fractions, Decimals, Graphing, and Geometry.

Life Science
Units of study include presentation, learning nomenclature, using scientific tools, observation, experimentation, research, and assessment.  Topics studied include, but are not limited to the Timeline of Life on Earth which prepares the child for studies in Botany, Zoology, and Microbiology.

Physical Sciences
Units of study include presentation, learning nomenclature, using scientific tools, observation, experimentation, research, and assessment.  Topics studied include, but are not limited to, subjects from both the Chemistry and Physics realm, Simple Machines, Astronomy, and the States of Matter.

Earth Sciences
Units of study include presentation, learning nomenclature, using scientific tools, observation, experimentation, research, and assessment.  Topics studied include, but are not limited to, Longitude and Latitude, Astronomy, Rocks and Minerals, Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift, Oceans, Weather, Seasons, Advanced Land and Water Forms.

History and the Humanities
History topic studies include, but are not limited to, the concept of time, calendars, creation stories and the Timeline of Humans.  The Humanities Curriculum includes the study of cultures around the world by focusing on the Fundamental Needs of Humans.