HARNESS CURIOSITY
Like Maria Montessori, we believe even the youngest child has important work to do, even if the work is imaginary play or working with wood scraps, ladders, and old tires to build a castle.
Our Montessori School is best imagined as a garden where learners embrace Montessori work and Play to learn real-life skills and develop the independence, focus, and kindness needed to discover a calling that will change the world.
OUR LEARNERS
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Grow curiosity through hands-on projects and outdoor adventure "Spark Play".
Explore mindfulness, natural interests, and music, and have LOTs of fun.
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Build the foundations of independent learning, reading, writing, communication, and math.
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Learning to Learn
We believe that learning to learn, learning to do, and learning to be are far more important than simply learning to know.
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Young heroes learn to learn, learn to do, and learn to be through the key components of our educational model. Young heroes will identify the essential character traits needed to reach their goals and be guided in developing the habits required of a “hero”. Kindness, independence, and self-regulation are of major focus at this stage of our school.
Independent Learning
Our teachers act as Guides, who understand that young learners need a certain balance of freedom and structure. Asking meaningful questions instead of always providing answers is a method that our studio is built on.
We value the independent learner, and understand that education is a natural process that comes easy to children who are allowed to freely interact with their environments. Failure is not discouraged, but is seen as a growth opportunity. We believe our learners are more than capable; even through failures.
Purposeful Learning
Utilizing the power of story-telling, the Spark Studio sets out to ignite and foster the natural curiosity, social-emotional skills and academic foundations of every learner as they commence their hero’s journey.
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Our Spark Studio is prepared with beautiful materials that facilitate growth and independence while keeping up with the active bodies and brains of young children. With an age-appropriate balance of freedoms and limits, children pursue their interests, practice essential life skills, and engage in academic pursuits.
Children’s progress is at their own pace, and artificial deadlines and academic pressure are nonexistent.
Equal importance to academic progression is growing in personal virtue, often described within Montessori as grace and courtesy.
Our Methodology
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Life in Spark
Learners in the Spark Studio will be introduced, in an age-appropriate way, to projects - and Socratic discussions. During these pivotal years, we foster playful connections while establishing the early fundamentals of Math, English Language Arts, Science, and Visual Arts. We give children warm and caring prompts so they can collaborate with peers while laying the foundation for self-directed learning.
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Choice & Freedom
Maria Montesori called this “freedom within limits.” While our guides prepare the environment and helps to structure the overall day, children have a lot of choice over what their day looks like moment-by-moment. This includes freedom to move around and choose where they do their work, what work they’ll complete and in what order, and often, freedom to choose how they’d show their understanding of a certain topic.
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Social Development
The primary focus of the Spark Studio is Social-Emotional Development while fostering academic core-skills. Learners emerge from the Spark Studio with a strong sense of independence, confidence, and curiosity. They develop collaboration skills, empathy, and perspective-taking that supports friendships and teamwork. Young heroes will identify the essential character traits needed to reach their goals and be guided in developing the habits required of a “hero”.
