Indigo Montessori provides an individualized curriculum aligned with both the Maryland state standards and the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).  During the course of a typical day, children have two uninterrupted work cycles. During these work cycles, students receive short, hands-on, small group lessons in language, math, geometry, geography, biology, physical science, history, music, and art.  In addition to small group lessons, teachers (also known as guides) meet one-on-one with students to review each child’s progress and to support the child in setting goals that are both aligned with state standards and personalized to the needs of the individual child.  

 

When not in a lesson, the students choose focused work that might be an extension of a recent lesson or might be a project of their own initiation. For example, in one work cycle a child might spend time working independently on fractions using Montessori materials, gathering a small group of friends to research different habitats together, and joining an older student in checking on the progress of a plant experiment begun the day before. The uninterrupted work cycles are important so that students have long periods of concentration, the opportunity to fail and try again, time to work on big projects, and space to think and reflect. Each day, the work looks different, but what remains the same is that the students are given the responsibility to freely choose meaningful work and to follow their interests while also progressing on goals that are aligned with state standards.

 

By embedding Indigo Montessori within the beautiful neighborhood of Hampden, we ensure that learning does not stop at the school walls. “Going-outs” are central to the Montessori elementary classroom. They are not field trips, but outings planned by a group of children to supplement their work in the classroom. For example, a group of students might plan an accompanied walk down to the local hardware store to gather supplies for building a model of a bridge, or to the local art gallery to chat with a Baltimore artist, or to the local ice cream shop to learn how ice cream is made. Students might culminate their research on sea animals with a going-out to the aquarium or their research on dinosaurs with a going-out to the Science Center. Additionally, Indigo Montessori is intentionally located two blocks from the Hampden Branch of the Enoch Pratt Library so that students have access to the plethora of books and resources provided by our city's library system. For the elementary child at Indigo Montessori, learning continues beyond the classroom.