Scoala Primara Cresa Montessori Cluj Acreditata de MEN

This “second plane” of development is a period of relative stability and resilience compared with the childhood period that came before it and the adolescence that follows.

In the first six years, we see the child developing as an individual within a community environment that is actively mediated and prepared by an adult. In the next six years, from ages 6 to 12, the child’s development continues to focus on becoming a complete individual. The difference is that the child is now strongly drawn by a desire to understand the laws, rules, and norms that guide the functioning of the different communities they belong to.

They also begin to become aware of the wider society of which they are a part. Our hope for children at the end of this age stage is that their experiences in the intellectual and social spheres have enabled them to gain two great freedoms: moral and intellectual independence.

The leap from home to the world is mirrored in the leap from the individual to the group. In this second phase, the child is less interested in doing things alone and is instead drawn to working with others. Children at this age understand that for any group to stay together, it must follow a set of rules. Naturally, these are informal and unwritten, but they can become explicit and formal—the rules of a game, a secret code, or a promised treat.

Sometimes we see this when children “tell stories.” But when a child says X and Y, what they are really communicating is, “Am I right that X shouldn’t have done Y?” Knowing this, we can simply agree that Y was not a nice thing to do.

Over the years, the child realizes that they have an identity of their own, beyond being someone’s son or daughter. They now begin to love their family a little less as they discover this new aspect of themselves. In their somewhat awkward attempts to distance themselves from their family, good manners may disappear. Such moments signal that it is time to move from explanations like “because that’s what we do” to ways of involving the child in creating guidelines for staying together. All these social experiences are important for development. Between the ages of 6 and 12, an innate moral compass develops through practical experience exploring the intellectual life of a “good” society.

There is something honest and wonderful about children aged 6–12. They have a simple desire to understand everything. In the first six years, the child creates a person adapted to their time and place; their character takes shape and the foundations of cultural knowledge are acquired. In turn, this paves the way for adolescents and adults to improve and transform today’s society, making the world a better place.

There is no limit to what a child aged 6–12 wants to understand and discover. At this age, children are less interested in specific answers and more eager to learn the reasoning behind them. This means understanding relationships between things as well as understanding the things themselves—for example, a camel has wide hooves so it can walk on the soft desert sand without sinking. What the child wants is a framework for understanding everything.

All children form a view of the world, but this is rarely supported through education. At our primary Montessori school, it is. Through a series of stories, children are guided by a narrative that explains the formation of the universe, the emergence of human beings, and then civilizations. Every detail has its place and sheds further light on the story. What makes these stories complete is that they offer children not only the “how” but also the “why”.

In the first stage, children explored the world through their senses with the absorbent mind. Children’s exploration in the second stage is different, driven by imagination and intellect. There are no longer any limitations of space and time. Their explorations take them back in time and across continents, down to the smallest atoms and cells, and all the way to the stars. These are the years that spark the imagination, giving children the chance to see what cannot be seen with the eyes of the mind.

Stories are very appealing at every age. Young children, up to age 6, tend to prefer stories about everyday life. But for older children, these stories have something magical about them, and many Montessori lessons begin with a story that appeals to the imagination. Here is an example about photosynthesis:

Have you ever wondered how a plant eats? I know a story about it. The leaf makes food for the plant. Every leaf contains water, and every drop of water has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. With the help of the sun, the green part of the plant helps separate the hydrogen from the oxygen. Then the hydrogen is mixed with a gas from the air called carbon dioxide. Using sunlight, carbon dioxide and hydrogen are turned into food for the plant — which is why plants grow towards the sun. Finally, the unused oxygen is released by the leaf as waste.

What does it mean to be free? Does it mean behaving however you want, or wanting to act with love and compassion in every circumstance? Does personal freedom mean putting your own desires before those of others, or is the path to freedom found by living in harmony with life?

Primary-age children are drawn to questions of this kind, and find the answers through experience. The Montessori environment is specifically prepared to help children see the interconnectedness and interdependence of all living things. We often look at history through the lens of gratitude for the work and creativity of those who came before us. In countless ways, the child's attention is drawn to the harmony that exists in the world around us.

Children experience these ideas in a very practical way. The children decide what kind of place they want Montessori Primary School to be (generally, a place where they work hard and have fun), then develop the rules and guidelines that make this possible. They hold one another accountable and, during child-facilitated meetings, discuss issues that need to be addressed or guidelines that need to be emphasized. Gradually, the strict, self-imposed rules for cooperation become flexible guidelines until a compassionate personal morality develops;

The Montessori elementary school community is a place of superlatives. As they say, it is a place where children strive to become the best, most intelligent and capable people. It is a place full of ideas and buzzing with activity.

It is a place where children organize first-aid courses for their classmates and plan their own visits to museums, archaeological sites, zoos, and theatres. It is a place where children choose to plot river flow against length on a graph, and identify and label dozens of trees in the forest. It is a place without set lesson times, assigned homework, or tests.

So, it is a place where nothing can limit how far or deeply a child can take an idea or area of interest; “the only limit is my imagination,” said one child.

The bright, spacious classrooms are carefully prepared to meet children’s developmental needs and arranged to support practical, social, and academic independence as much as possible. Light streams through large windows all around. The walls are uncluttered, and the shelves are filled with materials that invite children to explore every aspect of culture.

We understand that we cannot transfer knowledge directly; instead, each child learns through their own efforts and at their own pace. The adult presents lessons, tells stories, and gives instructions, but learning takes place when the child works: they may discover the process of division using the Test Tube Division material, study the differences between types of flowers, or discuss with a friend why a civilization flourished at a particular time or place.

Our priority is to teach children how to use a material or complete a task, connecting them with their environment so they can explore culture with increasing independence. For primary school children, there are many spaces beyond the main classroom that we prepare for them to use. The building as a whole—the kitchen, library, family room, office and garden—is a prepared environment for the primary community of children.

The child’s excursions beyond the classroom might be to observe a bee moving around a corner of the garden, give a presentation to children in the other classroom, or collect food scraps from the kitchen and put them in the bin. These neighbouring spaces are as familiar to them as the classroom.

To ensure your child’s comfort and freedom, we recommend keeping the following suggestions in mind when choosing what they wear to kindergarten/school:

Clothing should be comfortable and loose-fitting
Children’s clothes should make it easy for them to dress and undress themselves, supporting the development of their independence.
Clothing needs to be suitable for the weather outside, helping children understand reality
Clothing must not feature violent imagery. We want to keep Montessori Cluj a neutral, welcoming place and do not tolerate violent play of any kind.

It is in the child’s best interest to wear comfortable clothes with simple fastenings. For example, when using the toilet, they should not need an adult’s help to undo a buckle.