#upper elementary

Introduction:

When I began working in my current environment, it became clear to me that I had found my passion in life. I quickly felt the understanding that I could make a meaningful impact on the next generation. I could right the wrongs that I felt I grappled with in my own education and upbringing. I felt a connection with my students that I worry other means of education would not allow me to carve time for.

My school is quite small and new. A small staff make up our guides and assistants and a small student body make up our pupils. I wanted to find where I fit in this new environment I had found myself in. Of course, if it brings any clarity, I was in the Fourth Plane of Development.

My school stopped at Lower Elementary, as at the time we only had one trained LE guide on our entire staff. We connected quickly and I was deeply fascinated by her classroom and skill as a Lead Guide. On our Curriculum Night (a day where both staff and parents come together and tour each room from youngest to oldest and learn about each rooms specially catered curriculum), I listen to each of my new coworkers gush about their practice, and I knew that I wanted to be apart of it.

My interest was immediately pulled to Upper Elementary, for a few different reasons. Firstly, it was the next part in the program. Since we stopped at LE, I didn't know what the rest of Montessori education looked like. When I researched I found that I loved the work done in UE. Not only was I drawn to the work that they did, I was drawn to the idea of helping children form independent thoughts on the material and to challenge my own way of thinking.

Becoming a Lead Upper Elementary guide soon became a dream of mine. I have yet to begin my education, this is very daunting for me for a multitude of reasons. However, I hope to one day be able to lead my own classroom and make a difference in the lives of some of the most important members in society. Children.

What is Upper Elementary?

Presuming you have some understanding of what Montessori Education is (here is a reference if needed), in the simplest terms, Upper Elementary (UE) is a classroom of 9-12 year olds/4th-6th grade students.

They have similar curriculum to the previous classrooms (Nido, Toddler Community, Children's House, and Lower Elementary), describe here by OMS Montessori; "The international Elementary Montessori curriculum taps into the natural sensitivities of this age to create an energy that animates Elementary education. Dr.Montessori called this curriculum a ‘cosmic’ curriculum. Each year five great stories are told in a dramatic fashion in order to create a framework of information to which students will add detail and understanding throughout their elementary years: The story of the beginning of the universe, of life on the Earth, of human life and of the great human creations of language and of mathematics and science. These create a broad framework that invites students to explore all the traditional curriculums (the sciences, history and geography, as well as mathematics and language) creating greater depths of understanding each year."

The same school touches on what changes between Lower Elementary (ages 6-9) and Upper Elementary.

"As students move from Lower Elementary to Upper Elementary, they are moving away from reliance on concrete materials and toward greater abstraction. The framework of lessons and concepts students began in Lower Elementary are consolidated in Upper Elementary. Students at this level reach a high level of abstraction of concepts and explore themes and topics in greater depth."

This is a point I find particularly fascinating. Highlighting the sentence here "The framework of lessons and concepts students began in Lower Elementary are consolidated in Upper Elementary." helps me point out one of the parts of UE that draw me in the most.

Currently I assist in an LE classroom with an absolutely wonderful lead guide. They are incredibly passionate about the work in their classroom. It has been enlightening and fascinating watching LE students and their work. However, they only cover the very surface of subjects I find incredibly enchanting. I love to learn, it is one of my favorite pass times. I also want to be able to share my love of learning and help inspire others to feel the same way. That is where I feel my skills in UE would be most beneficial. Growing the love of going deeper and learning more and loving to learn.

Highlights in the UE Curriculum:

Joy Circles™ is a transformational program for young people that positively impacts their self-confidence, communication, reading, and self-management skills. The program marries the best of social-emotional learning (SEL) with reading skills improvement utilizing stories, models, and interactive group activities. Sessions are conducted by trained, certified facilitators and can take place in a variety of approved settings.

by S.A Booden published by Macmillan Children's Publishing

I knew I had to read and review this book as soon as I saw it was written by S.A. Booden. I loved the raft so much and have the rest of her published books on my tbr pile. Shipwreck Island starts off with a blended family finally meeting for the first time. See Sarah's mom passed away about 6 years ago and until now it's always been Sarah and her dad. Well dad (John) meet a nice woman online and they dated off and on and got married. Sarah just learned of this and is meeting her new step mom and 2 brothers for the first time. Needless to say she is not a happy girl, Marco is not a happy boy and Nacho he loves that he got a new sibling. So 1 out of 3 kids is thrilled with the new arrangement those are not great odds right? Well to make the situation even more intense they are all going on vacation together! Wow that is going to be 1 fun vacation, trust me I speak from experience. So the whole gang travels together and hits some obstacles since originally this trip was supposed to be a honeymoon for 2 and now its a family vacation for 5. They just have to make do with the circumstances they have before them. I mean once they get on the island and can relax, get to know each other and have fun everything will be alright? Right!?

What they didn't count on was the boat they were taken to the island has seen better days, I mean really that picture on the brochure must be ancient. They also hadn't counting on hit a massive, scary storm while on the ocean. While the family takes cover below deck along with the captain's dog the boat is battered and torn. The lose the captain in the sea and it's just them now. Can they find a way to all get along? Can they survive on an island till they are rescued? What is this island and why is so many scary, strange things happening? At least they still have Ahab the captain's dog with them, he alerts them of any and all trouble before it happens.