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Fox Valley Montessori School is now enrolling children ages 3–6 in our Primary classrooms in Aurora, Illinois. If your child is curious, busy, and full of questions, they are ready for a place built around exactly that.

Enrolling your child in an early childhood program is a big decision and for many parents it can be an emotional roller coaster. New building, new routines, and new adults are just a few of the considerations for families starting on their journey.

The most important role an adult occupies in a child’s life is that of advocate. Whether this adult is family, educator, or caretaker, it is imperative that the adult works to support the child’s needs and help them obtain accurate resources for balanced development.

Recently, the daily email from Exchange EveryDay was about “Flow State” and we can all relate to when we get in the zone of focus.

The following is a mix of an excerpt from a daily email called Exchange Every Day which focuses on early childhood along with information we wrote specific to our school.

In Montessori, the classrooms are designed and prepared for a three year cycle.

What do walking, dancing and making silence all have in common? Movement. They are different forms of movement in our classroom.

Each year, our Toddler and Primary rooms, along with the parents of these students, complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaire screening tool. This screening offers a glimpse into the development of children.

We often hear questions about how the Montessori philosophy is worked out and practiced in classrooms. Foundational Montessori tenants such as independence, focus, peace, and individual discovery—what do those actually look like in a classroom full of 3, 4 and 5 year olds?

As students enter the Elementary classrooms each morning, the sense of responsibility and ownership of the classroom meets them in way of preparing the space. They remove chairs from tables and attend to daily jobs including folding and putting away laundry, putting away clean dishes, attending to the classroom turtle, and checking class supplies.

Mealtime in our classrooms offers opportunities for meaningful work, concentration, language expression, grace and courtesy.

Separation anxiety is a normal behavior and it is part of the development during the first years of life. It is normal for children to feel this way, to cry and be distressed to the new changes as they are separated from you.

At Fox Valley Montessori School, Art and Science are part of our regular curriculum and core classroom activities. Beautifully prepared classrooms along with a large outdoor playground offer ample opportunities for naturally occurring learning opportunities.

The Montessori classroom is an interactive community full of children who are simultaneously choosing materials to gather, explore, utilize, and pass on to others.

In a Montessori classroom we use the word “presentation” quite often. Teachers invite individual students, small groups, or even the entire class to a presentation during the course of the day. A presentation is a teaching opportunity for the teacher as much as it is a learning opportunity for the students.

Our favorite comment to hear during tours as families observe classrooms is “I didn’t know they could do that by themselves!” Montessori classrooms are unique: beautiful, hands-on, and intentionally designed to encourage child-directed engagement with support from teachers.

At Fox Valley Montessori School, Toddler Teachers partner with parents to help a child learn to use the toilet—we’re on your team! Learning is a group effort, and consistency between home and school helps reinforce awareness.