East Cooper Montessori Charter School offers 7 Lower Elementary environments. 

Lower Elementary students are at an exciting time in their education, growing into avid geographers, expressive writers, developing readers, budding mathematicians. The Lower Elementary Program stresses basic skills in arithmetic and language, but children are encouraged to use these tools to extend and enrich their learning, and to explore subjects of their own interest at greater depth. Concrete materials are used to teach math and grammar, while other materials are drawn from real life to teach about geography, world cultures, science, and human experience.

At this age, children seek greater social and intellectual independence. Within this developmental shift, students build on physical and academic skills developed during their Primary years. They develop personal strategies for learning, continue making choices, and begin to find the passions that will carry them into adulthood. They seek opportunities to work in groups with both older and younger students, and embrace larger projects that require more integration of learning.

As children become more independent and responsible, their style of learning shifts from fact absorption to questioning and reasoning. They become curious about the origins of life and the structure of the earth. We respond to and encourage this curiosity by including geology, biology, botany, zoology, geography, and history in our Lower Elementary curriculum.

East Cooper Montessori Charter School offers 4 Upper Elementary environments.  

When students reach Upper Elementary, they are seeking increased independence and expanding their imaginative thinking. Our Upper Elementary classrooms continue to foster these qualities in each individual child while maintaining rigorous academics, students continue developing in responsibility, respectfulness, and resourcefulness.

Our faculty comprises traditionally trained teachers with SC state certifications, as well as additional Montessori and Gifted and Talented certifications and endorsements.

Characteristics of the Upper Elementary classroom include:
• Self-paced academic work-cycle
• Student input in the learning process
• Collaborative projects and performances
• Regular community meetings
• Individual responsibilities for caring for the environment
• Standardized testing to monitor academic progress

As in all our classes, Upper Elementary students further their academic pursuits in a traditional Montessori prepared environment. Hands-on materials for math, algebra, geometry, language, science, history, geography, and practical life are all included on the shelves of this environment. Global cultures are highlighted throughout this 3-year cycle in order to expand the students’ awareness of their place in history. Peace projects and service learning are also an integral part of the ECMCS curriculum.

In addition to field trips to environmentally and culturally significant destinations in and around Charleston, students in the Upper Elementary classrooms participate in annual overnight excursions as a unified group. A different trip is taken in each year of the 3-year cycle. These trips are selected by the teachers to provide hands-on learning experiences that encourage teamwork and community building. While each different trip meets and exceeds academic standards, the true value in these trips is in the bonding of the Upper Elementary students as a whole. Students return from these trips with a stronger sense of self, closer relationships with others, and enhanced school pride.

The culminating experience for the Upper Elementary student is the Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) program. Sixth grade students are encouraged to participate in the MMUN as an opportunity for independent research, debate, and exploration of humanitarian and global issues. After months of preparation at school, MMUN students travel to New York in the spring as model UN ambassadors of their assigned countries. There they interact with hundreds of other Montessori students from around the world to debate international issues, prepare draft resolutions, resolve conflicts, and navigate UN Rules of Procedure.

The Middle School Program at East Cooper Montessori Charter School consists of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who experience unparalleled challenges and experiences. Dr. Montessori’s observations of the adolescent as well as current brain research drive our program structure.  These students learn best through interaction and activity and they retain small bits of information at a time.  Social relationships are of the utmost importance.  Accordingly, at ECMCS, small groups, short lessons, field experiences, and opportunities for collaboration are paramount to our program.  Through weekly seminars, advisory meetings, and cross-curricular projects, our Montessori students make academic and interpersonal connections at this important time in which finding relevance and having their voice heard is critical.