Admissions FAQ

What is The Montessori Schools application process?

Please fill out an inquiry form. After completing your inquiry form, you will receive an email with our eBrochure and a link to our online application. Once we have received your complete application, we will invite you and your child to the school for an interview. Our application for the 2019-2020 academic year will go live on our website during the month of August 2018.

What is the school’s daily routine?

Toddler Half Day

• Flatiron campus starting age: 2 years
• SoHo campus starting age: 18 months

Our Toddler Half Day program is a five day a week program from 8:30am-11:30am. Children arrive at 8:30, change into their indoor shoes, and begin their Montessori lessons. Mid-morning, a healthy snack is provided by the school. Afterward, children engage in music and indoor or outdoor playtime. Dismissal is prior to lunch at 11:30am. The Toddler Half Day program has limited enrollment.

Toddler Full Day:

• Flatiron campus starting age: 2 years
• SoHo campus starting age: 18 months

Our Toddler Full Day program is a five day a week program from 8:30am-3:00pm. Children arrive at 8:30, change into their indoor shoes, and begin their Montessori lessons. Mid-morning, a healthy snack is provided by the school. Afterward, children engage in music and indoor or outdoor playtime followed by lunch. Children nap in the afternoons. After waking, the period before pick up grants children the additional time to strengthen their social and emotional ties while continuing Montessori lessons. Dismissal is at 3:00pm.

Primary Full Day (3-6s both campuses):

Our Primary program is a five day a week program from 8:30am-3:00pm. Children arrive at 8:30am, change into their indoor shoes, and begin their Montessori work period. Mid-morning, a healthy snack is provided by the school. Afterward, children engage in music and indoor or outdoor playtime followed by lunch. Young children nap in the afternoons. After waking, children participate in Spanish language enrichment. Non-nappers continue Montessori lessons and Spanish enrichment in the afternoons. Dismissal is at 3:00pm.

The Montessori in SoHo and The Montessori at Flatiron both offer a Primary Spanish Bilingual Class. Children are taught in both English and Spanish, focusing on oral language skills in Spanish.

Do you have a phase-in period for new students?

Prior to the first week of school, our Teachers and Associate Teachers will schedule a home-visit to get to know your child in a familiar and comfortable space. Following the home visit, children and parents are invited to visit their classroom, which helps children orient to the new environment. After the classroom visit, new students attend school for abbreviated blocks of time working up to their full-day schedule over time. Toddler parents stay in the classroom on the first day. On subsequent days they drop off at the classroom door and stay nearby should a child need a shorter day. Most children adapt quickly to the school day and their day is extended at a rate that works for them.

How many children are in each classroom?

Toddler classrooms have a maximum of 12 students with two teachers. Primary classrooms have a maximum of 22 - 24 students with two teachers.

Can my child nap at school?

Yes. All full-day Toddlers nap in the afternoon from 12:15pm up to 2:30pm. Primary is flexible; children who still nap sleep in the afternoons, while those who remain awake engage in educational activities. Nap time for Primary students is from 12:45pm up to 2:15pm.

Does my child need to be potty trained to attend?

Toddler students do not need to be potty trained. Our teachers help promote toileting independence and self-care throughout the toddler year. In our Primary program, we encourage children to be potty trained (or very close to it!) by the beginning of the school year.

Does the school provide lunch?

Parents have the option of enrolling in our lunch program directly through our catering service, Little Green Gourmets. Little Green Gourmets delivers warm and healthy lunches to the school daily. Alternately, parents may send in a nut-free lunch from home.

Admissions FAQs

What is Early Decision?

The early decision program is intended for families who know that The Montessori Schools (Flatiron or SoHo) are their first choice school. There will be two rounds of early decision acceptance notifications. First round of acceptances will be announced on November 12^th, 2018 and the second round will be on December 5th, 2018. If you choose to take advantage of the early decision program, deposits will be due at the time of acceptance. If you do not want to take part in the early decision program, the regular acceptance notifications will be released on February 28th, 2019. Financial aid applicants are not eligible to participate in the early decision program.

What is the Early Decision and Regular Decision application deadline?

November 30^th, 2018

What is the age cut-off ?

The Montessori Schools does NOT have a hard cut-off date for admission applications based on age. Because the Montessori curriculum allows it and since we move children who are developmentally ready to the older Primary Program throughout the course of the year, we will admit children who turn 2 years old at The Montessori at Flatiron and 18-months at The Montessori in SoHo after our scheduled start and throughout the academic year. That is to say, if your child turns 2 years of age (The Montessori at Flatiron) or 18-months (The Montessori in SoHo) after September 1^st, you can still apply and you may be admitted to The Montessori Schools as a late-start student (either at the end of the year or even as late as January of the following year). A seat for your child will be reserved and he/she may start on or after their 2nd birthday (The Montessori at Flatiron) or at 18-months (The Montessori in SoHo). We are always striving to create environments with a complete age range as that best supports the Montessori curriculum and all the children within a given classroom. The fluid Montessori Pedagogy ensures that late-start students can assimilate into the classroom with little difficulty and no interruption to the class as a whole.

What is our Philosophy on Move Ups?

Being a developmentally driven school, our approach to classroom placement as a child ages out of the Toddler Program is unique. We evaluate individual student readiness as a child approaches their third birthday to determine the best time to transition a child to our next program, Primary.

Current Toddler Guides, future Primary Guides, and the Assistant Head of School are involved in this through an assessment process prior to making a determination.

Are recommendations required?

Yes. Applicants who are currently attending a full time pre-school program should give signed copies of the Teacher/Mentor Evaluation form to the applicant’s current teacher/mentor. Enrichment classes and/or social groups such as music or art class are not considered a pre-school program.

Applicants who are not enrolled in a pre-school program or have no prior schooling should provide a letter of recommendation. You may have someone who knows your child, but who is not a family relation, write the letter of recommendation.

What happens when my child is accepted?

When families receive an acceptance notification, the enrollment agreement and a $10,000 tuition deposit are due within seven days from the notice of acceptance. We are unable to hold a seat for your child if the agreement and deposit is not paid within the acceptance deadline.

What is the application process for international students?

The admission process for international applicants is the same as for other students except that instead of an initial school interview we schedule a Skype interview. Acceptances are conditional until the family completes their move to the USA and participates in an in-person follow-up interview.

At what age are modern languages introduced?

In the Primary Program, Spanish language is integrated into the Montessori classroom. The focus is on conversation and culture. Thirty minutes of daily Spanish language is provided by a visiting associate Spanish speaking guide. The Montessori in SoHo and The Montessori at Flatiron also offer a Spanish Bilingual Primary Class.

What is the exmissions process?

Our school exmissions process is a shared responsibility of the Head of School and the student’s family. The Head of School meets with each family to discuss appropriate options and explain how the process works. Throughout the year, they are in communication with the on-going schools and with the parents of the applicants. We host evening information sessions to review the process for both independent schools and New York City’s Gifted and Talented Program. You may visit our website, under the Admissions and Exmissions section, to see a list of the schools that our students have been accepted to which include some of the most prestigious schools in New York City.

Montessori FAQs

What is the history of Montessori education?

The Montessori method of education was founded in 1907 by Dr. Maria Montessori, the first woman in Italy to become a physician. She based her educational methods on scientific observation of children's learning processes. Led by her discovery that children teach themselves, Dr. Montessori designed a "prepared environment" in which children could freely choose from a number of developmentally appropriate activities. Today, nearly a century after Maria Montessori's first Casa dei bambini ("children's house") in Rome, contemporary researchers continue to find strong connections between the Montessori approach and healthy social, emotional, and academic child development.

What is the difference between traditional education and the Montessori approach?

Montessori emphasizes learning through all five senses. Children in Montessori classes learn at their own pace and according to their developmental trajectory. Teachers carefully select lessons to present to each child based on his or her developmental stage. Each lesson nurtures a specific set of skills and is designed to be practiced independently or in small groups. Montessori schools place children in mixed-age classrooms, forming communities in which the older children share their knowledge with the younger children. They feel an immense sense of pride being able to teach a lesson to a younger child and be a role model for appropriate behavior and social skills.

What is the Montessori curriculum?

In the Toddler Half and Full Day classrooms, Practical Life activities allow children to engage in daily adult-like activities, such as sweeping, folding, or setting a table. Toddlers practice Self-Care, learning to button, zip, and snap, take off and put on their own shoes, and successfully use the toilet. The Toddler environment is rich in Language: thoughtful conversation, songs, and rhymes accompany a wide range of materials designed to enrich vocabulary. Manipulative materials for Sensory-Motor Development encourage refinement of hand-eye coordination. Gross-Motor skills are

developed through activities including rhythmic music, movement, and outdoor play. Children also explore musical instruments and artistic media that cultivate Self-Expression.

In the Primary Full Day classroom, Practical Life activities help children refine their sense of order, concentration, independence and coordination while they pursue purposeful activities such as table washing, flower arranging, polishing objects, and buckling shoes. Grace and Courtesy activities allow the children to practice social skills to successfully navigate many complex situations with ease. Sensorial activities isolate qualities such as color, texture, weight and shape, encouraging children to experience and explore the world through their senses. Children learn to sort, match, and grade, making meaningful connections to the environment. Language activities introduce phonetics and writing, providing children with opportunities to sound out sentences and stories. Math manipulatives introduce children to the concept of the decimal system and the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Through working with these concrete materials, concepts come alive and make a deep impression on the brain. In the broad Cultural area, children are introduced to puzzle maps of the continents, animal and plant kingdoms, and classifications. Art and music are integrated into the daily routine to encourage self-expression and creativity. Children learn songs, use rhythmic instruments, and engage in art projects using varied materials.

How is the Montessori classroom arranged?

The environment is arranged in work centers according to subject area. Subjects are integrated such that math, language, science, history, geography, art, and music are all present in the classroom. Children are free to move around the room instead of staying at desks. Children work on rugs or at tables either in pairs or independently. Cooperative work and community building are essential components of the Montessori classroom.

Are there opportunities for movement and play in a Montessori classroom?

A hallmark of the Montessori method is that children move freely about the classroom during their work periods. Movement is an essential component of many of the activities. Students may transition from activity to activity at their own pace, with support from their teacher. Children work on the floor, at tables, standing, and in chairs at different points throughout the day. At the Montessori Schools-Flatiron & SoHo, children also engage in structured and free play on the indoor or outdoor play space daily.

How will my child be assessed and evaluated in a Montessori classroom?

The teacher, through extensive observation and record-keeping, designs individual lessons plans that enable each child to learn, improve, and approach lessons that are challenging enough to promote interest and learning but not so challenging that they are discouraging. Teachers generate narrative reports that describe each child’s developmental progress through the year. Disciplinary issues are approached using a collaborative problem-solving method, rich with language and communication.

Are Montessori children successful at ongoing traditional schools and later in life?

Research studies show that Montessori children are well prepared for later life academically, socially, and emotionally. In addition to scoring well on standardized tests, Montessori children are ranked above average on such criteria as following directions, turning in work on time, listening attentively, showing responsibility, asking provocative questions, showing enthusiasm for learning, and adapting to new situations. Research has shown that Montessori materials and the structure of the classroom help children develop higher level executive functioning skills that are clear indicators of school readiness and future success. These skills include the development of impulse control, working memory, task persistence, grit, problem-solving, creative thinking and managing time, work space and resources.

What special training do Montessori teachers have?

All lead teachers at The Montessori Schools-Flatiron & SoHo have their Montessori Certification. Training includes teaching apprenticeship, child observation, and coursework covering principles of child development, Montessori philosophy, and Montessori materials.

How can I use Montessori techniques at home with my child?

Look at your home through your child's eyes. Children crave a sense of both belonging and independence, and they feel this by participating fully in the routines of everyday life. "Help me do it by myself" is often a preschooler’s mantra. Find ways for your child to participate in meal preparation, cleaning, gardening, and caring for clothes, shoes, and toys. Follow your child's interest and avoid interrupting her when she is engrossed in an activity. In school, only a trained Montessori teacher can properly implement Montessori education using the carefully designed materials in a Montessori "prepared environment." Social development comes from being in a positive and unique environment with other children – an integral part of Montessori education.