The Cobb School’s Elementary program is designed to encourage children to wonder, work and explore. Lower Elementary children often work in pairs or small groups on a variety of projects, developing their love of learning and building skills they will one day need to be excellent students and productive members of society.
Our Elementary program is a six year plan of studies following Dr. Maria Montessori’s guidelines for a developmentally relevant syllabus for what she termed the second plane of development. Students in the second plane of development typically can be characterized by their reasoning minds; their ability to abstract and imagine; and their passion for research and hands-on exploration. The Cobb School Elementary Program is designed to encourage children to wonder, work, and explore. The school day and the learning environment are organized and structured carefully to allow for sufficient work time and to provide access to the materials needed for in-depth study and investigation. Students tend to work in small groups in a variety of projects, building skills and achieving the mastery and confidence they will one day need as productive and contributing citizens.
The elementary course of studies includes life and physical sciences, history, geography, physical education, English language, mathematics, geometry, art, music, Spanish, Latin, computer skills, photography, and gardening. Classroom work is enhanced through trips outside the school to local museums, nature centers, libraries, and theaters. The program is strongly committed to giving our students the technological skills they will need in their future education. We focus on all aspects of these skills from the third through sixth grade years. Students have daily supervised access to computers both in the classrooms and in the school library. They learn how to manage their own studies and time, having been given opportunities to make choices and act independently during these important formative years.
The Montessori Elementary curriculum fosters students who have a strong feeling of connectedness to all humanity. They have an appreciation of the contributions of their ancestors and of the diverse cultures and countries of the world. They are well prepared to be contributing global citizens.