Montessori School

2017-2018 Areas of Study

Each Little Scholars classroom is divided into seven major areas of Montessori: practical life, sensorial, social studies, math, language, history, and science. Every summer, Little Scholars instructors meet to plan an amazing year of exciting curriculum focal points to coordinate with the Montessori curriculum.  These specific areas of study are implemted school wide from nursery through 5th grade.  Teachers work together to design lessons to meet the needs of every child in the classroom and change them as students progress through the material. Beyond the Montessori subject areas, Little Scholars will have three main groups of study: social studies, history, and science. The units will be taught according to each age group and ability level in the order listed below.

*Detailed monthly curriculum will be provided to parents through our lifecubby communication system.  The following is a general list of areas of focus for the 2017-2018 school year.

Science Units
Earth and Space Science: Students will learn about the sun, moon, and major components of the solar system in preparation for the Solar Eclipse in August before moving on to the prehistoric times with a brief unit on fossils, dinosaurs, and rocks.

Energy and Matter: Discovery of matter in all its forms with solids, liquids, and gases. Mixtures and solution experiments will help students understand that matter can change forms. Using different types of energy, students will see how objects transform into different materials

Light and Sound: Light exploration through colors, reflection, light waves, and lenses will begin this unit. Moving through the waves of light, students will then discover the waves of sound and how sound is made through exploration of musical instruments.

Magnets and Gravity: Students will explore attraction and repulsion of magnets in this study, beginning with how magnets work and moving to magnets use in machines. Following the study of magnets, students will investigate how gravity works in accordance to the size and shape of objects.

Simple Machines and Engineering: How do machines improve our lives? Students will discover the simple machines that are used in daily life and design a tool using simple machines. Included in this unit will be a study on the inventions and inventors of American history.

Plants and Animals: From plant and animal cells to the food chain of a forest, students will dive into new areas of this unit. How do plants eat? What eats a snake? How does a parasite harm host?

History Units
Exploring the World: Famous explorers leading to the colonization of North America is how students will begin the journey Little Scholars will take this year.

Thirteen Colonies: Life in the thirteen colonies and how it shaped America.

Revolutionary War and New Nation: From the Boston Tea Party to the War of 1812 will be the focus of this unit, including the Declaration of Independence and Lewis and Clark.

Civil War and Reconstruction: Students will learn the story behind the Civil War and the changes that came to America following this historic divide.

The Gilded Age and Commonwealths: How did railroads change the shape of America and American workers? What are commonwealths and how do they fit into the United States?

Industrial Revolution: The amazing time of inventions and inventors! Steamboats, mills, cars, and factories are discussed in this unit, along with the inventors who created them.

WWI and The Roaring Twenties: Allies to the Jazz Age will be explored, paying special attention to how the United States participated in the war and celebrated at home.

Great Depression and New Deal: What went so wrong and how did the United States recover?


Social Studies
Vocabulary of Time: Understanding the passage of time in relation to days, weeks, seasons, and years.

Map Skills: Reading a map to identify land, water, continents, and oceans.

Native American Culture: Brief studies of the North American tribes and how they lived.

Star Spangled Banner/Flags: Reading and understanding the song in relation to the meaning behind it before learning about the US flag.

Tennessee: Symbols, regions, agriculture, and famous Tennesseans will be investigated.

US Presidents: Who were the first leaders of our country?

History Months: Students will learn about famous African Americans and women in the months of February and March to celebrate their achievements.

Community: What does it mean to be a part of a community? Who are the community service members and how do they help?Economics: How do goods and services work in the economy? Supply and demand?

Little Scholars