This week, our Lower Elementary friends headed to Children's Theatre of Charlotte to see the musical A Year with Frog and Toad! In preparation, we've been reading Arnold Lobel's beloved Frog and Toad stories together. The children enjoyed the gentle humor, endearing characters, and simple adventures of these two unlikely best friends. Before our trip, we also spent time imagining how the stories and characters might be adapted for the stage. Comparing different forms of story

One of the beautiful things about a Montessori classroom is the freedom children have to make choices about their learning. But there's another word that always goes hand in hand with freedom in Montessori education: responsibility. And as our Lower Elementary community settles into the school year, we've been talking quite a bit about what that means! In Montessori, independence isn't simply about being able to do things without an adult's help. It's about gradually developi

Yesterday marked an exciting little milestone at DGS: six weeks back at school! By this point in the year, something special is beginning to happen in a Montessori classroom. The newness starts to settle, and routines begin to become familiar. The children know where things belong, how our days flow, and what their responsibilities are to themselves and one another. In Montessori language, we begin to see our classroom normalize -- settling into the purposeful, peaceful rhyth

Earlier this week, Lower Elementary went on their first overnight adventure of the year! We left school and headed up into some of the oldest mountains in the world, arriving at Camp Rockmont to a beautiful fall day. There is just something so special about the cool mountain air and this sweet landscape! We spent our afternoon picnicking, rock climbing, journaling, creating art, and simply delighting in nature. We were even fortunate enough to have a sweet snake friend visit

Our classroom has been the best kind of busy for the past couple of weeks! Our Lower Elementary students are settling deeply into their individual academic paths, and it has been exciting to watch their confidence, independence, and stamina grow as our work cycles take shape. An impressive number of children have already completed their first research project of the year! One of the joys of Montessori research is that children's curiosity helps lead the way, so we've all lear

This week, our Lower Elementary class completed our first class biography study of the year! And who better to begin with than Dr. Maria Montessori herself? To celebrate what would have been her 156th birthday this Monday, our little Montessori students spent part of their week together studying the fascinating life of the woman whose ideas continue to shape what happens in their classroom each and every day. Rather than tackling an entire biography at once, we divided Maria

Lower Elementary officially has its first field trip of the year in the books! We spent our morning at the Mint Museum Uptown exploring its galleries through an aptly named tour: “Every Picture Tells a Story.” For many of our first graders, this was also their first DGS field trip without a parent accompanying them (a big step in independence)! They rose beautifully to the occasion. Our students listened attentively, followed museum guidelines, asked thoughtful questions, sha

What a joyful first week we've had in Lower Elementary! There is something truly special about the beginning of a new school year. Every routine, every friendship, and every lesson is an opportunity to build the strong foundation that will support our learning community for months to come. Although it may have looked like we were simply learning "how to do school," these first two days have been incredibly full. In fact, we've already explored more than 30 Practical Life less

Lower Elementary recently went on their overnight adventure trip to Lake Logan! This second trip of the year is always so incredible. Many of the 2nd and 3rd graders look forward to returning to this magical space, while the 1st graders are eager to experience it for the first time. The trip started off with a stop in Montreat at an amazing creekside playground. We had a picnic lunch together, and then students got to run around and explore everything the playground had to of

Happy Earth Day from Lower Elementary! 🌎💚 Today feels like the perfect time to reflect on our wonderful field trip last Friday to the Whitewater Center, where we spent the day learning, exploring, and celebrating the natural world together. One of the highlights of the day was time spent in the forest playground, where the children climbed, created, collaborated, and enjoyed the simple joy of being outdoors with one another. Watching children play freely in nature is always

January did not go exactly as planned (and somehow, it may have been even better because of that). Between snow days, MLK day, and conferences, we missed nearly two full weeks of school… and yet the children accomplished a stunning amount of work. Their resilience, focus, and exuberance reminded me that learning doesn’t stop when the calendar shifts, it just adapts. One of the highlights of the month was the birth of our own spontaneously-created Lower Elementary Writers’ Wor

If you ever want to understand the true spirit of childhood, spend the last day before winter break in Lower Elementary. The children arrived excitedly reminding me of the rules of the day: pajamas, stuffed animals, and, most importantly, no assigned work whatsoever . Challenge accepted. What unfolded was a masterclass in child-led creativity, engineering, and play: Students built a zoo from recycled materials Watched a space documentary and constructed constellations with ma

What an incredible whirlwind the past couple of months have been in lower elementary. As promised, here’s some photos and behind the scenes notes on what we have been up to! As I joined the class during Intercession, the children welcomed me with openness, confidence, and generosity. They didn’t just show me their work - they taught me how the classroom, and DGS in general, functions. Their collaboration, compassion, and curiosity confirmed what every Montessori teacher dream

Hi Everyone, Ms. Katie put together some brief highlights from this week and of course, lots of pictures! Enjoy it all below! Mr. D * * * This week in a nutshell: Getting to know each other :-) Intercession has begun, so lots of play practice and running our lines! Journal writing about our favorite parts of Thanksgiving break Lessons have been presented to individual children on multiplication bead board, subtraction strip board, stamp game, golden beads The kids continued

Hey everyone, We wanted to share some pictures from this week! Some of the things you'll see/that have happend this week... 3rd graders having Racks and Tubes lessons with Ms. Shannon. 2nd graders getting fraction lessons and checkerboard and stamp game division lessons. 1st graders having a lesson on time, building numbers and static and dynamic golden bead addition lessons. They've all had grammar lessons and individualized spelling lessons as well. Plus!! They all got the

Our little hive is buzzing with activity. September quickly morphed into October, and as always, time is flying by. The children have...

This year in Lower Elementary Engineering, we’re trying something new! Instead of starting with a problem and then searching for a...

Last week, our class welcomed some of the first level students during our Peace Circle. It was so heartwarming to see how gentle and...

Welcome to the 2025/26 School Year. The classroom got a little spruce-up for the start of the year, with some new materials, several...

What a wonderful job our 3rd-grade leaders did putting together (from start to finish) this year's Poets' Cafe. The classroom was...