The Capstone Years

February 5, 2024

There are key times in children’s lives when they can consolidate emerging parts of themselves before moving into a new area of growth and change. Two significant times of change for young people are around age six and then again around age twelve, the kindergarten and 6th-grade years. Both biology and Montessori theory offer insight into why these are significant times in children’s lives.

Montessori’s Planes of Development

Dr. Maria Montessori believed that children’s work is to construct the adults they will become. This is really important work! Adults can support children’s own self-construction, but not actually do it for children. Children are able to accomplish self-construction through their own activity and interactions with the environment.

Dr. Montessori’s observations of this self-construction led her to develop a theory of four planes of development. When looking at children’s development from a scientist’s point of view, Dr. Montessori found that development did not occur steadily but rather occurred in phases or planes. Dr. Montessori considered that the change in children, as they moved from one plane to another, was so profound that it resembled a rebirth.

Each plane or phase of development lasts for approximately six years: infancy (0 to 6), childhood (6 to 12), adolescence (12 to 18), and adulthood (18 to 24). The turning point around age six is when children are moving from infancy into childhood, and similarly, around age twelve they move from childhood into adolescence.

Biological Changes

Biologically, considerable hormonal changes are happening during these two transition times in children’s lives. While our society generally recognizes the biological shifts that happen as young people move into adolescence, we are less well-versed about what happens in our six-year-olds.

It doesn’t take much, though, to realize change is afoot! Think about what we see in terms of dramatic physical changes around age six: their teeth start to fall out, their hair gets coarser, they lose that baby-soft skin, and they start to become leaner and lanky. Similarly, our twelve-year-old’s are on the brink of adolescence, another period of dramatic physical growth and change.

However, there can be a gap between these physical signs of maturity and the cognitive and emotional development happening for our six-year-olds and twelve-year-old’s. Often children at these ages are moved too quickly into an environment that doesn't meet their needs and doesn’t honor the internal growth that still needs to occur. When this happens, they lose the environmental stability that allows them to develop a deeper sense of self-confidence and to truly consolidate the intellectual and emotional skills they have been developing over the previous years.

Capstone Years

In Montessori, we recognize the importance of these transitional years and intentionally design our learning communities to support young people during this time. The six-year-olds and twelve-year-old’s are the oldest in their classroom learning communities. They know the routines and expectations, they have secure relationships, and they get to help others who are newer to the classroom communities.

Because they aren’t trying to assimilate into a new environment, our six- and twelve-year-old’s can serve as leaders for their mixed-age classrooms. They can focus on challenging work and big personal achievements. By being with their younger classmates, they can see where they have grown and how they got to where they are now.

These are the capstone years, the final piece to complete the critical building-up that has been happening during the previous formative years. The level of mastery allows our young six-year-old and twelve-year-old leaders to integrate their social, emotional, and intellectual selves.

During these capstone years, children gain a sense of self-confidence and self-satisfaction from their ability to successfully navigate the bigger projects that were beyond their capabilities in the earlier years. Plus, they do so in a community of adults and peers who have shared in their learning experience over several years.

By having the opportunity to integrate their learning in a safe, stable, and secure environment, our young learners can do their important work of self-construction. We invite you to visit and observe in our classrooms, so you can see for yourself the significance of these capstone years. Schedule a tour or observation by calling 860-388-3536.

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The Quiet Landing: Why Children Need Time After School

By Danielle Giordano • February 10, 2026

When we pick up our children from school, it’s almost automatic to ask, “How was your day?” And just as automatically, the answers tend to fall flat: fine, good, okay, or sometimes nothing at all. As adults, we can probably relate. When someone asks about our day, we don’t always feel like revisiting every detail, especially before we’ve had a chance to rest or reset. For children, this challenge is even greater. In Montessori environments, children are immersed in experiences that are rich, complex, and often difficult to put into words. How does a young child explain the sensorial experience of carefully carrying each cube of the Pink Tower across the room? Or describe the quiet satisfaction of discovering that ten tens create a hundred square? Or articulate the subtle social negotiations that happen during community lunch? Even for older children, language often lags behind experience. Why “How Was Your Day?” Can Feel Like Too Much As children move into the elementary years, they are also navigating peer relationships that are still very black and white. A single interaction can color their entire perception of the day. So their reports may sound overly simple: someone was mean, someone was nice, the day was bad, the day was good. But often, the issue isn’t that children don’t want to share. Instead, the timing is off. Research on children’s nervous systems helps explain why. When children walk out of school, their brains are often still in a state of high alert. Throughout the day they’ve managed noise, social expectations, concentration, corrections, and constant stimulation. Their nervous system hasn’t fully shifted out of “school mode” yet. So it helps if we remember that we aren’t greeting children in their most rational state. Those first minutes after pickup are a transition, not a conversation window. When we jump in with questions too quickly, even well-meaning ones, we may unintentionally overwhelm our children’s nervous system, which hasn’t had time to settle. Connection Before Conversation In Montessori, we place great importance on transitions. We know children need time to move from one state of being to another, whether that’s arriving at school, moving between activities, or going home at the end of the day. Instead of starting with questions, we can start with presence. When we first see our children, a warm greeting that communicates “I’m happy to see you” goes a long way. Some children need a snack. Some need quiet. Some need movement, proximity, or simply space. This is not the moment to gather information. This is the moment to re-establish connection. When families allow even 10 to 12 minutes of quiet decompression after school, through silence, music, or simply being together, children regulate more quickly. Evening stress decreases, cooperation improves, and children are more likely to talk voluntarily later on. Rather than interrogating right after school. Try coexisting. This pause is deeply respectful. When Children Are Ready to Talk Later, after your child has had time to settle back into your care, you may notice that conversation begins naturally. This is often when children share what mattered most to them, not what we might have thought to ask about. When you do open the door to conversation, gentle specificity helps. Broad questions like “How was your day?” can feel overwhelming. Instead, try comments that invite reflection without pressure: “I noticed you seemed really focused when I picked you up.” “I’m here if you want to tell me about something you worked on today.” “What felt good about today?” Just as important as the words is our availability. Putting down the phone, pausing the logistics, and showing with our body language that we are truly listening makes it safer for children to share. Listening for Timing, Not Just Content This approach applies across ages. Even adolescents benefit from what some call a “quiet landing” after school. When we honor timing, we’re less likely to walk into the emotional residue of the day and more likely to build cooperation and connection later. In Montessori, we often say: regulation comes before reflection. Children don’t need us to extract their feelings. They need us to create the conditions where feelings can land safely. Sometimes that looks like silence. Sometimes it looks like presence. And sometimes, after enough space has been given, it looks like a child finally saying exactly what mattered most. So the question isn’t just “Do I listen to what my child says?” And instead becomes: “Do I listen for when they’re ready to speak?” Curious to learn more strategies to support your child during transitions? Set up a time to come visit here in [Your Town/Location]. We love to connect! .

Understanding Equivalence: A Montessori Approach to Math Insight

By Danielle Giordano • February 4, 2026

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Elementary Story: How Geometry Got Its Name

By Danielle Giordano • January 30, 2026

In Montessori elementary classrooms, we like to introduce big ideas with big stories. We offer children a sense of wonder first, sort of like an imaginative doorway, so that when they later study formulas, theorems, and proofs, they already feel connected to the human story behind them. One of these stories is The Story of How Geometry Got Its Name, an introduction to a subject that is far older than the textbooks and protractors we encounter today. In Montessori, Geometry is more than about shapes. It is about human beings solving real problems in the real world. A Problem as Old as Civilization To introduce geometry, we take children about five thousand years back in time to the ancient civilization of Egypt. This was a land shaped by the , the longest river in the world. Each year, the Nile flooded its banks as snowmelt poured down from the mountains far to the south. The Egyptians depended on this yearly flood as it left behind rich, dark silt that nourished their crops and made life possible in an otherwise harsh desert. But the flood created a challenge, too. It washed away the boundary markers that separated one farmer’s field from another. When the waters receded, no one could quite remember where their land began and ended. Arguments ensued. “This corner is mine!” And the fields needed to be measured and marked again. The First Geometers: The Rope Stretchers To solve this annual problem, the Egyptians relied on a special group of skilled workers called the Harpedonaptai, or Rope Stretchers. These were early land surveyors who used a knotted rope tied at regular intervals and three weights to create a very particular triangle. In the classroom, we invite a few children to hold a prepared rope at its large knots, forming that same triangle. As they stretch it out and lay it on the ground, many quickly recognize what the Egyptians had unknowingly created: a scalene right-angled triangle. This shape would later become central to the geometry studied by Greek mathematicians. The Rope Stretchers used this simple tool to re-establish field boundaries, set right angles, and make sure the land was measured accurately and fairly. Geometry, in its earliest form, served a deeply practical purpose. From Rope to Pyramid The Rope Stretchers’ expertise was valued far beyond the farmlands. They also helped lay out the foundations of temples, monuments, and even the Great Pyramid of Giza. The base of the Great Pyramid is a perfect square, which is an astonishing feat of measurement and design. The Pharaoh himself oversaw these measurements, but it was the Rope Stretchers who executed them. Their work represents one of humanity’s earliest recorded sciences: the careful measuring of the earth. How Geometry Got Its Name The name geometry reflects this ancient practice. It comes from two Greek words: gê — earth metron — measure Geometry literally means earth measurement. The Egyptians did not use the language of right angles, nor did they classify triangles as we do today. Their work was grounded in practical needs. They needed to solve problems, organize land, and create structures that would endure for thousands of years. Yet their discoveries influenced later thinkers like Pythagoras, who likely traveled to Egypt and learned from their methods. Over time, the simple knotted rope inspired a whole discipline devoted to understanding lines, angles, shapes, and the relationships between them. Why We Tell This Story in Montessori When Montessori children hear this story, something important happens. Geometry becomes more than a set of rules or vocabulary words. It becomes a human endeavor born from curiosity, necessity, and ingenuity. This is the heart of Montessori’s cosmic education: helping children see knowledge not as isolated subjects, but as gifts from generations before them. When children pick up a ruler, explore angles with a protractor, or classify triangles in the classroom, they are continuing a legacy that began with those early Rope Stretchers on the banks of the Nile. Through story, children feel connected to the people who shaped our world and to the problems that inspired great ideas. Schedule a tour today to see how geometry becomes meaningful, purposeful, and alive for our children here in Old Saybrook, CT.