Lower Primary
“The child becomes a person through work.”
Dr Maria Montessori
About Lower Primary
Our Lower Primary Years cater for students between the ages of 6 to 9 years old (equivalent of Years 1 to 3). The curriculum establishes firm foundations for learning, with our co-education and multi-aged classrooms allowing students to not only learn at their own pace but extend and broaden the scope of their academic learning. Spread across four spacious classrooms at the heart of our school campus, our Lower Primary students enjoy an interconnected balcony with an abundance surrounding of trees, overlooking stunning views of the Brisbane River.
Our Lower Primary students enjoy a full and enriching curriculum, with the introduction of key Montessori learning concepts such as Cosmic Education, Great Work and Going Out delivered through a pedagogy which continues our hands on learning. Students are also introduced to technology through a range of subjects including devices such as iPads and desktop computers. All Lower Primary staff are of the highest quality, with each Class Director holding a Bachelor of Teaching and a range of Montessori specific training.
Plenty of exciting extra-curricular activities and after school clubs are also available for students in Lower Primary.
Curriculum
Our students in Lower Primary are given the agency to take responsibility for their own learning and have daily opportunities to make decisions and choices in a student-centred environment. The highly thought-out curriculum exposes students to many complex concepts at an early age using wonderful concrete learning materials. It is not unusual to see students as young as 7-year-old in a Montessori environment constructing atomic and molecular models.
Students are encouraged to explore topics that capture their imagination, do independent reading and research, gather information, assemble reports, portfolios, and handmade books, and share what they have learned with their peers. This integrated approach is one of the greatest strengths of the Montessori primary education. Montessori education is also about learning how to live. We want students to love learning, not the external and artificial rewards that are often used to motivate.
The curriculum offered is called Cosmic Education and is experienced as a coherent whole. The Cosmic Education curriculum is broad and has been mapped against the Australian National Curriculum so that parents/carers can feel assured that students attending Brisbane Montessori School are covering approved content and are learning alongside their peers nationwide.
The Lower Primary curriculum covers the following interrelated discipline areas:
English/Language
Our students study a variety of learning appropriate literature, language, and media suitable to their educational goals of each terms learning objectives. This subject offers students a chance to explore their written and verbal communication and explore different styles of expression. Students utilise a range of language materials to build skills in spelling, handwriting and sentence constructions.
Mathematics
Utilising a range of purpose-made Montessori materials, students have the opportunity to learn a variety of concrete mathematic foundations, including geometry and measurement as distinct study areas.
History and Geography
Also known as Humanities and Social Sciences, students explore a range of academic material, from key Montessori concepts such as the ‘Timeline of Life’, to the study of days, weeks and months and the fundamental needs of humans over the years. Students also have the opportunity to study and discover different parts of the world through puzzle maps and labelling large scale maps.
Music
Lower Primary Music extends on the Children’s House program, further developing the fundamental music skills.
In Lower Primary, students learn to play an instrument, build on repertoire, sing and perform in groups and learn to play music in many keys. Our students are also encouraged to compose their own music and form small groups.
Lower Primary also offers a choir and a contemporary ensemble class, both supporting environments where students can learn to play and sing music together. Our students also learn about Music History and geography and develop structure and organisational skills through composition, music chart writing and reading music. Music listening skills are taught through real-world application and being aware of their environment and what exists in it. Lower Primary music also allows our students to gain an understanding of respect for others in an ensemble context.
Technology
Students in Lower Primary are introduced to a range of fun, interactive and interesting technology concepts through their technology lessons. A curriculum highlight, students learn the inner workings of a computer, including all of the different parts as well as what it is used for and how to use it – amongst other interesting learning modules. Students in Lower Primary are also introduced to a variety of programming concepts without using digital devices and gain an understanding of design in a digital format using pixel artwork.
Science
Within science studies, students are provided with purposeful academic activities that exposes them to a range of scientific concepts including biology. Through a fun an interactive process, students learn through a wide variety of learning material and activities including but not limited to building volcanoes, understanding solids, liquids and gasses and the phenomenon of aerodynamic lift.
Creative Arts
The curriculum area of Creative Arts takes on many forms in Lower Primary, incorporating areas such as visual arts, practical arts and performing arts. Students are always encouraged to represent their termly learning creatively, with activities ranging from drama skits and songs that they perform to their peers, to drawings or paintings. Lower Primary students also take part in a Friday afternoon ‘Crafternoon’, which is a much-loved highlight of the academic week.
Health & Physical Education
Health & Physical Education (HPE) offers Lower Primary students an opportunity to learn a variety of new skills to enhance their own health, wellbeing and physical activity (sports). Through HPE, students are given the tools to understand their sense of self and build and manage respectful relationships with their health and wellbeing. Students are also taught how to prepare for carnivals such as Sports Day and Cross Country.
French
Students in Lower Primary take part in French lessons as a part of their rich curriculum. Students undertake a range of literary and spoken in class activities to learn the French language and culture. Learning another language allows our students to experience and develop mental flexibility and creativity, while expanding their learning.
Dr Montessori’s ‘Great Lessons’
In Lower Primary, students are introduced to The Great Lessons, which are five key areas of interconnected studies traditionally presented to all Primary Montessori students in the form of inspiring stories and related experiences and research projects. An important and unique part of the Montessori Curriculum, the Five Great Lessons are designed and presented in a way that captures students’ imagination and curiosity, while engaging them with new ideas about the human spirit.
The Great Lessons include:
- The story of how the world came to be
- The development of life on the Earth
- The story of humankind
- The development of language and writing
- The development of mathematics.
They are intended to give students a ‘cosmic’ (integrated) perspective of the Earth and humanity’s place within the cosmos.
Lower Primary Garden
Each week, students along with parent/carer volunteers and staff take part in a range of gardening activities in the purpose build Lower Primary Garden. Featuring a variety of perennial, fruit, vegetables and native plants, the garden is a wonderful learning tool and encourages students to develop responsibility, independence as well as team working skills.
Classroom Environment
Each student is considered an individual and Class Directors strive to challenge each student according to their developmental needs and abilities. The work period encourages choosing a variety of appropriately challenging work. Some students may be working on maths, some reading, while others may be working on science. In the corner, the Class Director may be giving a lesson to a small group of students, occasionally glancing up to keep an eye on the rest of the class. To the untrained eye, the Lower Primary classroom may appear to be unstructured, but each student is focussed on their purposeful activity - which is basic to the independent learning and self-directed activity of the Montessori approach.
Montessori Primary education gives students the opportunity to continue to progress at their own pace in an environment that nurtures a love of learning. Students take responsibility for their own learning and have daily opportunities to make decisions and choices in a child-centred environment. They are exposed to many complex concepts at an early age through the use of wonderful concrete learning materials.
We encourage you to book in for one of our Tours & Observations Days to view the Lower Primary Classroom environment for yourself.