Classrooms
Montessori education is staged in three learning clusters: 3- to 6-year-olds (Primary), 6- to 9-year-olds (Elementary), and 9- to 12-year-olds (Upper Elementary). At LAMB all classes are named after Native American groups. The three Primary classes are the Aztecas, Mayas, and Tainos. The two Elementary classes are the Incas and Yorubas, and the Upper Elementary class is Piscataway.
Primary
LAMB has three Primary classrooms serving children aged three through six. Each class has approximately 28 children and two Montessori-trained teachers. The classrooms are named after Native American and Caribbean groups – Aztecas, Mayas, and Tainos.
As with most Montessori classrooms, students engage in a combination of group and individual work. Students demonstrate their love of learning by their interaction with the environment and need for exploration. Students are very active and constantly engaged in different activities. The 3-year-olds are learning how to work in a Montessori environment, becoming adjusted to the school day, and working on basic skills that lay the foundation for more advanced work. The older children move through the environment exploring complex math and language work stations. All of the materials in the Montessori classroom are connected and create a skill progression from simple to complex.
The morning is Spanish immersion and the afternoon predominantly taught in English. Students are developing a second language through song, call and response, and repetition of words and phrases modeled by the Spanish language and English language dominant instructors. The students learn from each other with younger children eager to imitate older classmates as they explore the environment practicing and mastering many skills. Students are fully immersed in a second language and are advancing from words and phrases to full sentences in Spanish and English.
A snack table with fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods is available all day for children to eat when they feel hungry. Younger children nap after lunch, while older children continue working.
The Primary classes also participate in music classes led weekly by an outside music educator.
Elementary
LAMB has two Elementary classrooms serving children in first, second, and third grade. Each class has approximately 20 children and two Montessori-trained teachers. The classrooms are named after Native American and West African groups – Incas and Yorubas.
The Inca and Yoruba communities continue to explore their world through the Montessori curriculum, but at the elementary level. The subjects the children study are interwoven so they can see the connections among the fields of biology, botany, astronomy, math, language, geography, music, social studies, art and other areas in the curriculum. Children study how all living things have an important role in the web of life and how they are interconnected.
Students have the opportunity to work independently or in groups. They often have the option of choosing their own work. This builds their sense of independence at the same time that it promotes accountability and responsibility. Each student has an individual work plan.
The classroom is bilingual immersion, with the children and teachers learning and communicating in both English and Spanish. They are learning to read and write in both English and Spanish; cursive for Spanish and printing for English. The students participate physical education and in music classes led by an outside music educator.
Upper Elementary
LAMB has one Upper Elementary class, which will grow to grades 4-6. The class, Piscataway, has approximately 20 children and two Montessori-trained teachers. The Piscataway community builds upon the skills and content of the Lower Elementary curriculum.
As a result of our multi-age classrooms, children work at many academic levels. Upper Elementary students are gently guided through the developmental leap away from young childhood and toward emerging adolescence. Our focus is on building the foundations of organization, self-confidence, cooperation, and curiosity essential to success in Middle School and beyond. Our teachers provide a growing academic challenge while remaining respectful of the ever-complicated emotional responses of children as they deepen their understanding and empathy towards the world and its people.