Middle School (grades 7 - 8)

Hours

8:30 AM to 3:30 PM Daily

Philosophy

The Ocean State Montessori School is dedicated to responding to Maria Montessori’s challenge to create schools that are “adapted… to the adolescent (and) the times in which we live.” (1948) Our middle school curriculum was developed with the needs of the whole child in mind: intellectual, psychosocial/emotional, and physical. Students at this age are searching for more responsibility, higher expectations, and challenging work that relates to the world as they see it, and a place where the environment is designed to meet their social needs.

All this calls for a very specific structure that, while providing a definite framework, must also be extremely malleable. The curriculum is presented as a starting point from which students explore, create, and connect.

Key activities within the classroom support the continued journey of middle school students from concrete to abstract thinking. For example seminars stimulate critical thinking; writing and reading workshops provide crucial opportunities for the expression of self as well as the expression of new knowledge; and students explore their academic passions through independent and group projects.

Our integrated curriculum includes: Humanities, Language Arts, Field Studies (sciences), Mathematics, Philosophy, Music, Art, Spanish, and Physical Education and Health. Middle school students participate in community service projects as well as a micro-economy (student-run business). Field trips (day and extended) and special visitors support and enhance the core curriculum.

While working within the framework of the Montessori philosophy, our middle school program is designed to bridge the gap from Montessori to traditional schools, and students are well-prepared to enter a more traditional educational setting for high school.