In the Primary classroom, your child was best able to
concentrate when working parallel to his peers, each with her own
activity. Elementary children, however, are at a different stage of
development and have a strong drive to be social and to collaborate.
For this reason, most of the lessons and follow-up projects in primary
level are done in pairs or groups of children. Each day, your child will
practice the social skills necessary to plan and carry out his projects:
delegation and division of labor, sharing resources, making group
decisions, taking responsibility for actions, and celebrating the
success of peers. Conflict is not uncommon, but the motivation to
resolve it comes from the children and their engagement with their
projects. The Montessori teacher models and supports constructive
and respectful problem solving. Learning how to work well with the
different personalities and characteristics of other children in the
classroom community is a significant life lesson with practical
applications in the “real world” of high school, and the professional
workplace of the future.
