At Vancouver Montessori School the environment has been carefully prepared for children ages 2 ½ though 6+, with activities that provide a creative learning experience inviting the child to develop him/herself.

The Three Year Program

The Montessori Children’s House is a three year sequentially designed program based on the developmental laws of children.

The first year the child begins the adaptation to the prepared environment. The child will be presented lessons developing skills in concentration, sequencing, attention span, memory skills, auditory and visual discrimination, coordination, language and socialization. The first year lays a strong foundation for all academic skills presented in years two and three.

The second year the child begins working more in depth with letters and numbers and begins the writing process. The passageway to abstraction begins to unfold.

The third year brings fruition from the first two. The child develops reading and writing skills. The child becomes confident and conscious of his/her own knowledge. This is the year s/he knows what s/he knows.

Find Out

• What is Montessori?
• Montessori Lessons
• Our Daily Schedule

The first year the child begins the adaptation to the prepared environment. The child will be presented lessons developing skills in concentration, sequencing, attention span, memory skills, auditory and visual discrimination, coordination, language and socialization. The first year lays a strong foundation for all academic skills presented in years two and three.

The second year the child begins working more in depth with letters and numbers and begins the writing process. The passageway to abstraction begins to unfold.

The third year brings fruition from the first two. The child develops reading and writing skills. The child becomes confident and conscious of his/her own knowledge. This is the year s/he knows what s/he knows.

• Montessori Lessons

• Our Daily Schedule

Our toddler room welcomes children ages 12 months to 36 months.  Children thrive in our carefully prepared Montessori environment which meets their desire for independence, language acquisition, social interaction, movement, cognitive stimulation, personal care and toileting success.     

Our toddler program serves as a preparatory environment for the Children’s House program (for children ages 2 ½ to 6 years old).  Children graduating from the toddler program are well prepared to thrive quickly in their Children’s House classroom.

Our toddler community is always a safe environment.   It is a place where children are respected by nurturing adults.  The classroom materials and environment aid in the child’s desire for knowledge and growing independence.   Parents are encouraged to communicate regularly with staff.  Parents and staff working together will assist in the child’s self-development.

The following prices reflect Tuition and Fees for the Honeysuckle Toddler Community. For prices reflecting the Children’s House click here.

• Enrollment Packages can be picked up from the school or be mailed to you upon request.
• No child will be refused admission because of race, creed, color, or religion. Program participation by children with diverse cultures and needs contribute to the richness and social development of the classroom.

Observation

• Please call for an appointment to observe the children in an ideal learning environment. The best way to understand Montessori is to see it in action.

Registration Fee

• New Child $200 (non-refundable)

Equal Monthly Payments

Additional Fees

• $10.00 for all Payments made after the 5th of the Month.
• $25.00 for all returned checks.

Occasional Care Fees

• $6.00 for any part of an hour, up to 30 minutes, beyond regular enrollment hours.

Family Discounts

• 10% when a sibling is enrolled at Vancouver Montessori School.

Honeysuckle Toddler Program indoor and outdoor environments.

For larger image, please click on photos.

two photos here

The Honeysuckle Room at Vancouver Montessori School hosts our toddler community. The children enjoy their beautiful environment furnished with tables, chairs, shelving, sinks, counters and toilets just the right size for them. Well-planned materials to work with meet their growing needs for exploration, movement, practical life, language, socialization, personal care, wonderment of nature, independence, and self-awareness. The atmosphere is stimulating, nurturing and respectful, allowing each child to experience learning through exploration, while feeling safe, confident, and participating as a member of their community.

We offer a year-round program for children ages 12 months to 36 months. Our minimum staff ratio is one adult per seven children. We may have up to 14 toddlers in our program. However, we believe that larger groups of toddlers benefit from having a third staff member present. Children do not need to be walking or toilet trained to enter our program. We offer a half or full day option for either four or five days per week. The foundation of the toddler community is the wide range of the children’s ages (younger children learning from older children) along with a prepared environment and trained staff. Our program builds upon the child’s natural desire for independence (with appropriate limits) and self-awareness.

Our toddler graduates are well prepared to enter their Children’s House (primary level) classroom. Vancouver Montessori School has three Children’s House classrooms. Cascadia Montessori Elementary and Middle School is located a block away from our school.

Our staff is comprised of very dedicated Montessorians. They are very nurturing, supportive and respectful of the children. Their skills in observation allow them to give the children just the right work or assistance they need.

The Honeysuckle Room children may choose from a rich variety of classroom activities. The children love slicing fruit, peeling eggs, scrubbing vegetables, sweeping, washing windows, washing dishes, folding laundry, setting the table, cleaning up water spills, caring for plants etc. There are a multitude of puzzles, shape sorting, pounding, lacing, magnets, object matching and language exercises as well as a comfortable library and a window bench for the children to enjoy. Various art mediums,storybooks, poetry, singing, listening to and moving to music, and exploring nature are also favorites of the children. All materials and activities aid the child in his/her developmental, physical, emotional, social and cognitive needs.

The bathroom is a social area where the children gain experience with dressing and undressing themselves, using the toilet that is just their size, bathroom etiquette, and effective hand washing techniques. The children’s spare clothing and underwear/pull ups are at their level. Staff helps the children to help themselves. This may mean helping children gain confidence, dexterity and muscle strength to dress or undress themselves, or simply to observe a child struggling to pull their pants over their feet and allow them to experience success with minimal interference and guidance.

The children’s resting mats are prepared each morning and left out throughout the day. Parents supply pictures of people and pets that are important to their child. The pictures are then made into a booklet which accompanies the rest mat. Children often know when they need to rest or just need some time away from others. Their mat is a way to meet this need. We often see children go to their mats spontaneously for rest or quiet time.

Our outdoor environment has a generous patio for activities like riding the tricycles and playing basketball. We have additional areas for playing on the grass, driving trucks in the rocks, and climbing tire towers. The children love to help with weeding, planting, watering and picking the flowers, vegetables and fruits from their gardens. We enjoy putting food out for the birds and squirrels. Worms, slugs, spiders, butterflies, etc. are daily favorites to observe.

We offer parents an array of opportunities to be involved in their child’s school. Parent Nights, with topics such as toilet learning, behavior issues, and independence are examples of evening presentations. Conferences are available throughout the year, with a main conference scheduled around the time a child turns two years old. There is an observation window at the classroom entryway. Parents may schedule an appointment to be in the classroom to observe if desired. Parent volunteers are always appreciated. They may sign up to take classroom laundry home, bring in library books, flowers, and hard-boiled eggs. Parents and their child also enjoy bringing items in to share such as produce, bubbles, chalk, bird food, etc. We enjoy a fall and spring picnic with all of our Vancouver Montessori School families.

The handbook contains many helpful tips along with some school guidelines. Portions of the handbook are posted here.

Parents and School

• Conferences
• Observing your child’s classroom
• Observation guidelines
• Parent participation

Your Child and School

• Beginning school
• Clothing
• Illness & medication policy
• Meals

Conferences are held to provide parents with verbal progress reports in regard to their children’s social, emotional and academic growth in the school environment.

If a concern arises between regularly scheduled conferences, please leave a message for the Guide to contact you.

Please do not discuss the parent teacher conference with your child. Guides need the freedom to discuss the child’s activities openly with the parents. Discipline is handled inside the classroom. Lessons are given at the point of a child’s readiness. Time and discipline are intellectual abstractions the child is not yet able to process out of context.

Your child really needs not know we are conferencing about them personally. If you feel you need to tell your child something, please relate how much we enjoy working with them.

“I really enjoyed visiting with your teacher.”

“Your teacher enjoys working with you.”

If you feel you want to do something wonderful for your child, read a favorite book or go for a walk together. Love and appreciation come in many forms, but for young children particularly, it needs to come in response to their being, rather than their behavior or accomplishments.

• It has been our experience that children function more naturally if they are not informed ahead of time that a parent is coming to observe. Please follow your normal morning procedure; arriving in the office after you have said good-bye and your child has entered the classroom.
• You may or may not observe a normal day of activity for your child. It is difficult for some children to manage their emotional attachment to you and sustain their independence in the classroom simultaneously.
• Please do not discuss your observations of children not your own away from the school.
• Please stay one-half to three-quarters of an hour.
• Please observe activities of the entire classroom.
• Enjoy your visit and make an appointment to discuss your observation with your classroom guide.
• If you discuss your visit with your child, please do so on a positive note. You might make comments on activities you observed such as:

“I noticed you chose work all by yourself.”

“I saw you tie Jenny’s apron for her.”

“You put your work away when you finished.”

“You worked a long time on…”

“You said ‘Excuse Me’ to Jimmy when you needed to pass him.”

“You sponged your table when you finished snack.”

Come and visit us again, please!