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1. What are your ratios? Because we enroll two year old students, our ratios are never higher than 1 teacher to 8 students.

2. My child is almost toilet trained, can they wear Pull-Ups?  No. We are not licensed for any type of diaper, which includes Pull-Ups. We do fully understand that with newly toilet trained children, accidents will happen. Every child has a cubby with extra clothes. We recommend that new students under the age of four have at least three changes of clothes.

3. When do the children play? We understand the importance of free play. In order to support a child’s need for outside play, we change our playtime with the weather. Most of the year playtime is scheduled around lunch time. Lunch/playtime goes from 11:30am-12:40pm. During the hottest parts of the year, playtime is done first thing in the morning. Late staying children go back outside after 3pm dismissal for another outside playtime, weather permitting. Should the weather be too hot or rainy, the children do extended music and movement or games.

4. Do you do music? Of course! Music is part of everyday. We learn numerous songs throughout the year. Composers of the month are played during the school day, and every day has dancing. We even incorporate songs in some works.

5. Do all the children use all the works? Yes, usually. The materials you find in the Montessori classroom are mastery based. So each lesson builds on a previous lesson. With that in mind, a new two year old will not be using every material. But as they learn and master the lessons they are given, new materials are presented. Once a child reaches their kindergarten year, they will be familiar with most, if not all of the materials.

6. Why is the classroom so quiet? Aren’t the children allowed to talk/make noise? It’s a common misconception that a Montessori classroom is rigidly quiet. Yes, we encourage the idea of being peaceful. We speak about inside voices. We empower the children to ask friends to leave them alone if they are being distracted. But most importantly, we model the calm demeanor that is conducive to our learning environment. Developmentally speaking, children work and play independently until well into their third year. We provide many independent works for that reason. As the children mature and become interested in cooperative works, they are available. It has been our experience that the vast majority of children enter our environment and become calm without our direct intervention. They absorb and emulate what they see and hear.

7. How many children are outside at any given time? We have no more than eight children per outside teacher. Work and snack necklaces are provided. The children rotate through snack, and the younger students use the outside work necklaces. For the most part, this is decided by the child. They are the best judge of how hungry they are, and whether they want to work outside or inside.