It’s a philosophy. We follow the child by observing what they need and adapting the environment to meet their needs, guaranteeing access to high-quality learning for all.

Montessori environments encourage children’s executive functions: the abilities to concentrate, choose, and be independent. The environment is designed to foster concentration through use of natural, accessible, appealing materials that are self-correcting. Children as young as three choose their own work and can work at it uninterrupted and in repetition independently.

Children learn best when they can make logical connections between topics within and across grades. We use curricula that are vertically aligned (Montessori, Core Knowledge Language Arts, and Eureka Math) and develop domain knowledge and concepts cumulatively, planning instruction in thematic domains to increase opportunities for embedded vocabulary development. Examples: the starting of the universe (as told through Montessori Great Lessons), the age of exploration, and life cycles of animals and plants.

The essence of what it means to be educated is to know things both broadly and deeply. To ensure access to a world-expanding education for all of our children, we prepare schools to implement a sequenced, cumulative, and content-conscious curriculum through Montessori and the Core Knowledge sequence.

You can’t give what you don’t have, and teachers must have a life of the mind to ensure that they can offer that to the children they serve. We ensure teacher growth and development through training; supportive, detailed long-term plans and curricula; intentional scheduling for team shared planning; coaching; and lesson review cycles that connect instructional inputs and outputs.

Children learn through positive interactions with the environment, and so we carefully curate the aesthetics and content in our classrooms and schools to optimize access to appealing, hands-on materials that increase knowledge, concentration, focus, independence, and wonder.