4- Middle School Montessori: Grades 6-8

Arlington Public Schools hosts an amazing Montessori Middle Years Program at Gunston Middle School.

The program is a multi-age Montessori program for students in Grades 6, 7 and 8. The Montessori Middle Years Program is open to all Arlington students who have significant Montessori experience and who will be in Grade 6, 7 or 8 by the following school year.

Bus transportation is provided countywide.

Drew Model School 5th Grade Elementary Montessori students are automatically placed at APS Montessori Middle Years Program. Other middle school students are welcome to apply.

APS Middle School Montessori...

Þ Builds confidence with small classes housed within a larger school middle school with sports, clubs and electives

Þ Fosters leadership, time management and collaboration

Þ Nurtures social growth in a community of learners

Þ Offers free busing throughout Arlington (countywide AM/PM busing + late bus)

Þ Continues self directed learning in a multi-age classroom

Þ Builds a solid academic foundation for future and continuing education

Þ Prepares students to research and learn independently

Þ Encourages links to the wider world and social justice

The Montessori learning experience is cumulative: What a child learns in each year builds on what was learned in previous Montessori years. The Montessori Middle Years Program continues this learning, building a strong educational foundation for high school and college. In Middle School, students are ready to extend the insights gained from hands-on manipulative materials into abstract concepts and broader learning through reading, listening to lectures, discussion and research.

Montessori teachers reach students though their values: Adolescents are going through an intense period of change and growth. They value doing work with a purpose, belonging to a community, fostering social justice and working with respected mentors. Gunston Montessori teachers consider the whole child and support those values, which encourages student growth and fulfillment.

Students learn to collaborate and to work independently: Instead of competing with each other, students cooperate, help each other and work together on projects. They are expected to manage their time and assignments independently, while producing quality work. Students help run and maintain the classroom, contribute to the larger school community, and help plan field studies and other outside activities.

Small class plus large school – the best of both worlds: Montessori students at Gunston Middle School spend much of their day in two connected classrooms, their home base. From that secure home base they can also be active in overall student life. Every student participates in daily electives including languages, band/orchestra, PE, art, tech ed, and/or video production. Gunston is an exceptional state-of-the-art facility and offers dozens of after school sports, clubs and activities (plus a late bus!).

For more details about the APS Montessori Middle Years Program, please talk to:

• Your child’s Elementary teacher or counselor

• Gunston Montessori teachers or counselors

• Or email admin[at]ArlingtonMontessori.org to get in touch with a current Gunston Montessori parent

As part of the 40th anniversary of Montessori in Arlington, Gunston Middle School students shared their memories and life lessons with Network 21...

Click to see the video made by APS Montessori Middle Years students.

Online Resources

Montessori Administrators Association (MAA) - Website

(the main source for the information on this page)

www.Montessori.org

www.MariaMontessori.org

Gunston Middle School Montessori Program

Arlington Public Schools Opening Up Montessori Middle School Spaces to More Students - APS Press Release

Further Reading

Liberty and Hope for the Adolescent: Valorization of the Personality

by Marta Donahoe

"If Montessori believed that we are to set up an education and living space that brings forth the psychic development of the child, then it means that we, parents and teachers, have a responsibility to do our homework, just as I expect my students to. That homework involves preparing ourselves in spirit and with the necessary understanding of what an adolescent needs to grow up healthy." - Martha Donahoe

APS Montessori Middle Years Program

Presentation given to AMAC December 2011 by the Gunston Montessori teachers

(A nice PowerPoint slideshow with video or the simplified Google Docs slideshow without the video)