Metro Montessori Middle School

Overview

In the middle school at Childpeace, we offer a safe space for adolescents to develop their interests and passions through hands-on interactive studies. They grow in independence by balancing freedom and responsibility and are able to build self confidence through inclusive participation and community life, self-directed conflict resolution and restorative practices such as establishing a self-empowered Code of Civility.

Academics are based on individualized inquiry and project-based studies that include key skills and concepts in the fundamental subjects of Mathematics, English Language Arts, STEM and foreign language studies i.e. Spanish. Lessons are designed to encourage students to become critical and creative thinkers as well as excellent communicators and collaborators.

Accreditation
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) - To establish a dynamic action plan to constantly review and improve the learning experience of students, leading to site visits where WASC studies all aspects of the program to critically assess its effectiveness and terms of best practices. Accreditation with WASC also means that our students are earning high school credits in Mathematics, Spanish and the Sciences.
Campus Location
Our Middle School building is just one block away from our main Childpeace building.

1418 NW Savier Street
Portland, OR 97209
(971) 200-8316

This highlight clip from our 'The Childpeace Experience' video shows a Metro student cherishing the relationships built throughout her educational journey at Childpeace.

Curriculum

The middle school curriculum is taught in six week cycles. In the morning, students learn fundamental concepts and skills in English Language Arts, Mathematics, STEM, and Spanish, then deepen their knowledge in an inquiry and project-based class in either Humanities or a STEM-based Occupation class in the afternoon.

Our students participate in Montessori Model United Nations, the Oregon Middle School Ethics Bowl, and a STEM-based experience such as Science Expo or First Lego League. These classes are amazing platforms to think critically, sharpen research and writing skills, and collaborate as a team. In addition, students engage in a variety of Big Projects that combine creative expression with an exercise in economic independence.

Project Highlights:

Build a bike from scratch and learn all about the physics of simple machines.
Produce and write a play every year and engage in visual art and music.
Puzzle over the conundrums of ethical dilemmas and argue your point in a collaborative setting.
Design an earth oven and create a delicious and healthy meal to enjoy.
Wonder about the origins of city life and how it can inspire solutions to 21st century problems.
Yearn to make a difference by working on the big issues of society with students across the world and propose solutions to the real United Nations or the Oregon Ethics Bowl.
Create business plans, generate products and provide services to the community, and manage finances and all logistics.

Community

We cultivate a welcoming and safe environment for adolescents to navigate the ups and downs of early adolescence. Your teen learns to be a competent and valued member of the community, supported by their Advisor and the Metro Guide team. They try new things, learn from their mistakes, and in the process find out who they are.

Metro Montessori School is a place of belonging. We take a Restorative Practices approach to positively build community through the use of circles, affective language, and addressing conflicts in the community. Your adolescent will actively shape the life of the community with projects such as developing a Code of Civility at the beginning of each school year, processing concerns in weekly Council meetings, and supporting their peers, aided by an Advisor, in mixed-age Advisory groups. All Metro Guides are IIRP certified in Restorative Practices.

Beyond Our Campus

We take a pedagogy of place approach to learning and constantly create new opportunities for our adolescents to engage outside the classroom. Some of our community partners are:

The PSU Department of Philosophy
The PSU School for Art + Design
The Portland Art Museum
Confluence
Focus on Youth
The Rebuilding Center
Lift Up

Middle School Trips

Where Challenge Meets Skills for Extraordinary Experiences

The Odyssey trip is the foundation of community life in the Middle School. Camping for 7 days and in the process learn to cook, work on the land, orient ourselves to the history and culture of the place, backpack, and bond over the ups and downs of stretching beyond our comfort zone.

Model United Nations in NYC where our student delegates work with adolescents from other US cities and also different countries, to engage in dialogue and practice finding solutions for the world’s toughest problems.

In Spring, we close the school year with a 5 day camping trip for more outdoor skills and community building before our 8th Years graduate and leave for high schools. Like Odyssey, Spring Trip includes a physical challenge opportunity, for example, day-long bike rides.

Daily Schedule

8:30 - 8:50 AM	All School Gathering or Advisory
8:50 - 9:50 AM	ELA, STEM, Math or Spanish
9:50 - 10:00 AM	Break
10:05 - 11:05 AM	ELA, STEM, Math or Spanish
11:10 AM - 12:10 PM	ELA, STEM, Math or Spanish
12:10 - 1:05 PM	Lunch & Recess
1:10 - 2:05 PM	Humanities or Occupations
2:05 - 2:15 PM	Break
2:15 - 3:15 PM	Humanities or Occupations
3:20 - 3:28 PM	Restoring of the Environment
3:30 PM	Departures

Children should be made to realize that all great achievements in culture and in the arts, all sciences and industries that have brought benefit to humanity, are due to the work of men who often struggled in obscurity and under conditions of great hardship; men driven by a profound passion, by an inner fire, to create with their research, with their work, new benefits not only for the people who lived in their times, but also for those of the future. We must convey to the children the nobility of this altruism.

-Dr. Maria Montessori