The Montessori Method in Action: Transition to Middle School

As Montessori elementary school students grow and prepare for Grades 7 & 8, the best way to transition to middle school is on parents’ minds. For example, they ask:

• How will our kids acclimate academically 
• Socially, how will they do going into a new school
• Will they know other kids, and
• Will they make new friends easily?

The Montessori Method Teaches Skill Sets That Transfer

Parents whose children have incubated in Lifetime Montessori School in San Diego toddler, primary, and elementary school programs recently heard from several students who have graduated into public, private, and charter middle schools in the well-regarded Poway school district.

During their Montessori toddler and beyond school years, young people have received all the benefits of the Montessori Method, including: 

• Individual attention
• Peer learning
• Teaching guidance
• Going at their own pace
• Small class sizes, and
• Feeling confident and secure in themselves as a result. 

Students said that these traits have transferred well into middle school. 

The Montessori Method Delivers Skills

The Montessori Method is a systematic approach that focuses on the child first and foremost. From the beginning, children learn by using their senses and doing things themselves. Bilingual education is actively taught daily for three years to engage and expand children’s overall mental abilities. 

At the end of Montessori toddler and Montessori preschool programs, students are ready for elementary school. Although there’s a drop-off in Montessori elementary school attendance—primarily because of cost--the core components of the Montessori Method and education continue to create doers and thinkers. For example, Montessori elementary school teaches:

• Skills for students to take notes and master tests—although they’ve had no homework and few tests during their Montessori schooling
• Skills to adapt and adjust their thinking in a new teaching and learning environment
• Ways for students to figure things out via concepts rather than rote
• Responsibility and motivation to manage themselves in a classroom of 30 tweens, and
• Social skills based on understanding who they are and what they bring to the table.

These are the reasons why the best transition to middle school—and teenage life—should not trouble Montessori parents going forward.