On Friday, May 23, 2025 we held our third Moving Up Ceremony at Hilltop Montessori School. Six students from our Primary crossed the bridge to signify their move from Primary to Elementary.
This year also saw the first two students “move up” out of Elementary.
Students move from Primary to Elementary when they manifest characteristics of the second plane child. It is not based on academics, test scores, or simply age.
Similarly, students move up from Elementary when they have clearly moved into the third plane.
These planes are not marked off by clear lines, but by observable changes in the focus of their intellectual pursuits, their manner of social interactions, and the types of questions they are “asking” about themselves and the world around them.
This can mean that students make the change during the school year. This year we had four students move up from Primary to Elementary during the course of the school year.
Those four students joined the two who ended this year in Primary but who will begin next year in Elementary in crossing the bridge in our Moving Up Ceremony.
For a greater explanation of the differences between the planes and why children “move up” when they do, here is the text of the address our school director, Noëlle Crowe, delivered at the outset of the Ceremony.
Montessori Transition Talk: From What to Why to Who
Welcome, everyone.
Thank you so much for being here as we mark an exciting and important milestone in your child’s journey: the transition from the Montessori Primary classroom to the Montessori Elementary environment. And, for two students the transition from elementary.
For our Primary parents:
For the past few years, your children have been immersed in the wonder of the what.
What is this?
What do I do with it?
What is it for?
They’ve explored these questions through language—learning the names of things, the words for feelings, actions, and experiences. They’ve explored what through their senses, absorbing the world around them—colors, textures, sounds, numbers, forms. They’ve explored it socially, asking what we do to live respectfully and harmoniously with others.
And all along the way, the carefully prepared Montessori Primary environment has given them an external order—a structure in their classroom and daily routines—to support their developing sense of internal order and understanding.
But now, something new is stirring in your children.
They are entering what Dr. Montessori called the second plane of development, roughly from ages 6 to 12. And with it comes a new driving force—not the what, but the why.
Why is the world the way it is?
Why does this happen?
Why do people act like this?
Why did God make us this way?
They begin to want not just to experience the world but to understand it. This shift marks a profound change, and it’s why we offer them a new environment—one that meets these deeper questions, one that honors the awakening of reason and imagination.
The Montessori Elementary classroom is built for this new mind and this new heart.
It is more social, more collaborative. It is more expansive and intellectually rich—not because we are pushing academics, but because at this stage of development, your children want to know. Their thirst for knowledge becomes insatiable, and so we give them tools: the Great Lessons that ignite their imagination, the materials that allow them to delve deeply into concepts, and a library of books and resources to follow the threads of their curiosity.
You’ll notice that this environment is different from primary in many ways. It’s not one where we say, “You’re not old enough to learn that,” or “That’s not on the schedule today.”
Instead, we say, “Let’s explore that together.”
We follow the child’s passion because passion is what fuels real learning.
The world begins to open up—literally. Maria Montessori said that at this stage, “the world is the classroom.” Elementary children begin to go out, to research, to interview, to visit and observe the world beyond the classroom walls. Their imagination stretches beyond the concrete, and now they can ponder time periods they haven’t lived through, lands they’ve never seen, people they’ve never met.
This change in classroom is mirrored by changes you might be noticing in your child. They may be a little louder, a little messier, perhaps a little more emotional or intense at times. That’s all part of the shift. They don’t rely as much on the external order they needed before—they’re beginning to develop internal logic, internal ethics, internal questions of fairness, justice, and purpose. You may find that they suddenly have strong opinions. They may question authority or point out inconsistencies—because they are now examining the why of everything, including the rules.
You might also notice that they are growing physically stronger and more resilient. They may seem less fragile, less prone to illness. This vertical growth, this stretching upward and outward, is a natural part of this phase. It’s exciting—but it can also be tiring.
When your child comes home from school, they may need more rest, more solitude—or more talk. You may suddenly find that a child who never told you what they did at school now wants to tell you everything. And I invite you to listen—because you are now their most trusted sounding board for all these big ideas they’re encountering.
You can support this transition by continuing to provide that essential foundation at home: plenty of sleep, good nutrition, time outside, and calm rhythms. These support the kind of mental, emotional, and social exploration they’re doing during the day.
And just as we guide them here, we know that you—their parents—are, and always will be, their first and most important teachers. You model for them every day what it means to be a human person: how to wonder, how to ask questions, how to pursue truth, how to live with integrity and curiosity. Your wonder becomes their wonder. Your joy in discovering becomes their permission to explore.
Eventually, though, even this stage will come to a close. And with the approach of adolescence comes yet another transformation—another developmental plane, and another question.
This time, the question is no longer why, but who.
Who am I?
Who am I in this world?
What do I have to offer?
Where do I belong?
Dr. Montessori called adolescence a “second infancy.” And while our rising adolescents may not love being compared to infants, if we think about it carefully, there are some striking similarities. Adolescents, like infants, need a great deal of sleep. Their bodies are growing rapidly, their brains are rewiring, and their emotions are recalibrating. They can be more prone to illness. And just like the infant explored the physical world, the adolescent is exploring the world of identity.
Only now, their exploration is personal. It’s about their own purpose and belonging in the wider world.
No longer are they primarily theoretical thinkers. They are practical thinkers now. They want knowledge they can use. They want to build, to serve, to create something real. They want to contribute in a meaningful way—to have a place, to have a role, to be valued.
And so as we send our Adolescents out into this new stage of life, we pray that the foundation laid during their Primary and Elementary years—the what and the why—will serve them well as they search for the who. As they begin to shape not just what they know, but who they are becoming.
Maria Montessori reminds us:
“The child of this age sets out to explore the world with all the eagerness and curiosity of a discoverer… the universe is his field of exploration.”
This is the arc of development in a Montessori education.
From what, to why, to who—
Each question leading them further into the great story of being human.
And what a privilege it is—for us, and for you—to walk beside them on that journey.