These early years are crucial to the child -it is when he makes sense of his world, establishes his independence, and builds the foundation for all future learning.  The Montessori environment is carefully prepared to offer many opportunities to practice these learning skills.  Here, the child is free to choose his work, to repeat and perfect the skill, and to complete the cycle by cleaning up for himself.  Each day they arrive excited to get to work, and leave satisfied -their work is given the respect it deserves, by the adults, and by the other students.  Here are just a few examples of the work and fun we have had so far this school year:

If you are interested in learning more about the Montessori Method, or about our school, please consider scheduling an observation.   Visitors are welcomed by a host child, and invited to sit in our environment to watch the children at work.  There is no better way to spend an hour than in the company of these people -working earnestly, living joyfully,  not aware that they are building our future.

Augsburg Park is a small, private, authentic Montessori school serving families from Richfield, Edina, South Minneapolis and Bloomington.  We are located a short drive from the Crosstown Commons, near the intersection of highways 62 and 77 (Cedar Ave.)

We are accepting applications for the 2012-13  school year.  Contact Sinead at 612.869.8155, or through the ‘Contact Us’ link for information or to make an appointment to visit.

Spending time with children, as a Montessori guide does, one has an opportunity to witness wonder, excitement and awe, every single day.  Their enthusiasm for life, and gusto for new experiences, are inspirational!  They are healthy, vibrant and alive -and aspire to be constantly moving, learning and exploring the world around them.

In recent years, we have been inspired to make concrete connections between the children and families in our community, and the natural environment around them.

Augsburg Park Montessori School is partnering in a Community Garden project, which has been germinating all winter long.  Last Fall, right before Thanksgiving, we had a beautiful fence installed, and then we waited.

Three weeks ago our students began their seedling planting project.  As we see the first little shoots appear, we hear squeals of excitement -”Look!  It’s a teeny tiny plant!”  ”Ooh!  Let’s give it some water!” “Can I help?” “Sure!  We can take turns!”

It is inspirational to watch -these teeny tiny people tend with care, respect, and awe to the teeny tiny plants they are cultivating.  We look forward to our work day at the end of April, to install raised beds and prepare to grow food -for ourselves, and for others!
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Augsburg Park is a small, private, authentic Montessori school serving families from Richfield, Edina, South Minneapolis and Bloomington.  We are located a short drive from the Crosstown Commons, near the intersection of highways 62 and 77 (Cedar Ave.)
We are accepting applications for the 2011-2012  school year.  Contact Sinead at 612.869.8155 for information or to make an appointment to visit.

We must consider that from birth the child is working to construct himself.  Construction cannot go on without resources and building materials -so what is the child using?  For physical development the child uses the food he eats to build his ever-growing body.  Quality sleep routines are vital, as are ample opportunity to test and challenge his muscles through gross- and fine- motor activities.  For mental development, the raw materials are experiences.  In a Montessori learning environment, the child is immersed in opportunities for experience.  Rather than telling him the answer, and expecting him to memorize it, we offer him ways to discover this for himself.  We do not ‘teach’, rather the child ‘learns’.

A child is learning all the time, not just when they are at school.  To facilitate optimal experiences and learning, Augsburg Park Montessori School strives to build strong, supportive partnerships with parents.  Through a comprehensive Parent Education program, monthly coffees and regular parent-teacher conferences, we share how the Montessori philosophy of human development applies to children of all ages.

We are accepting applications for the 2011-2012  school year.  Contact Sinead at 612.869.8155 for information or to make an appointment to visit.

Augsburg Park is a small, private, authentic Montessori school serving families from Richfield, Edina, South Minneapolis and Bloomington.  We are located a short drive from the Crosstown Commons, near the intersection of highways 62 and 77 (Cedar Ave.)

We are accepting applications for the 2011-2012  school year.  Contact Sinead at 612.869.8155 for information or to make an appointment to visit.

With the delightful weather we’ve experienced this Fall, has come more opportunities for outdoor exploration.  We recently took advantage of an unseasonably warm afternoon to visit the Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield.    The children thoroughly enjoyed the trip on the city bus-entertaining all the other riders on the way there.  

At the nature center, we rolled a few logs in search of miniature wildlife, uncovering a really huge spider as well as some ‘roly-poly’s’ (wood lice), worms, insect larvae and other mystery insects.  The children had been reading lots of books about spiders and discussing animal life-cycles, so they were very excited to see so many actual examples in real life -and doubly excited to see the adults scurry away from the giant spider!

We ended the afternoon at the newly installed exploration and play area.  The staff at Wood Lake have done a beautiful job of incorporating all kinds of gross motor activity while maintaining the natural feel of the area.  There are opportunities to climb, build, balance, swing, jump, hide and imagine.  We look forward to exploring it in other seasons -we’ll keep you posted on our findings!

Now the child can begin to write.  Using the symbols to encode sounds, the child builds words.   This is writing!  Beginning with short, phonetic words, moving rapidly to longer, more complicated sentences, the child uses this new skill to describe, journal, and document the world.

How wonderful to learn in this way! To build a language for yourself, unencumbered by expectations!  Free to explore the rules, to use this magical tool to express yourself more fully!   The child in the Montessori classroom learns these skills at his own pace, joyfully absorbing the sounds and symbols of his own language.  Effortlessly moving from oral to written expression.  This joyful self-discovery comes with no effort from the child – he is born with an innate need to explore, understand, do.  When given the freedom to fulfill this need, the child is at once peaceful and alive.

Come watch us at work!  See for yourself how the Montessori environment enables each child to learn for himself, at his own pace.

This past spring the children at APMS undertook a daunting project.  Since so many of our families were beginning to plan their kitchen gardens, our classroom was abuzz with talk of building beds and starting seeds.  Our little friends decided to offer to start the seeds for all the families, and tend for them until it was time to plant.

The process started with a survey of all the children in the class, asking what kinds of plants they usually grow in their garden, and what kind of plants they like to eat.  Once they had a list, we selected seeds and began to plan when to start the planting.

Ben and Nate’s  family loaned the class a three-tiered seed starting plant stand, and we were ready to go:

Once the calendar was drawn up, the children waited until the first date -a full 10 weeks before the last projected frost date!

As you can see, we were plenty busy before the snow had even melted outside! The children were very excited to watch their new seedlings grow, and attended to the daily duties of watering, rotating, and moving the cart into the sunshine with great gusto!

Once the seedlings were ready, we sent home lists of what plants were ready, and families submitted their orders.  We had 12 varieties of tomatoes, most of them heirloom! Peppers, herbs, eggplants and flowers -we ran the gamut!

Orders were filled, and gardens started in most of the children’s homes.

Since we had a large number of plants left (we started with about 900 seedlings!) we decided to offer them for sale during the Richfield City Garage Sale.

Some of the families have already made Salsa and canned the produce from their garden.  Sounds like we had bumper crops all around! What a delightful way for the children to bring their work home, and share with their families!  Thanks to all the friends and families who purchased plants, and thanks to the children who worked so hard to make this happen.

We’ll be posting more pictures of the harvest as it happens -we’re already looking forward to repeating this project next Spring!

Thanks to all the families for your enthusiasm and support -a strong sense of community and fellowship is vital in a school.  The children feel like part of one big family!

Here are a few pictures of some of the many things that went on during the past school year…

Observation Schedule

The best way to learn about Augsburg Park Montessori School is to visit our classroom. Observations offer families an opportunity to get a glimpse of what life is like in a Montessori classroom. Since we only accommodate one family at a time, these visits are scheduled by appointment only. Adult visits are offered Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9:30, mid-October through the end of March.

During the summer, appointments can be made to visit the classroom at any time.  To schedule, call Sinead at 612.869.8155