The Montessori House School will be closed Thursday, due to the severe weather predicted for the day.  We hope to see everyone back at school on Friday — remember to wear your snow clothes!

Ileana attended The Montessori House in 2000 (and her two sisters attedned too).  This is the first in a new series spreading the news about Montessori House alumni (and pictures we still have on file).   Congratulations Ileana!

On February 3rd, we welcomed dentist Dr. Robert Bogossian back to The Montessori House to talk to our children about teeth, and how to take good care of their own  teeth.  Dr. Bogossian has been visiting The Montessori House for quite some time:  his daughter Alexandra was a student here, and is now in her second year of college!

To entertain and educate the children he uses some great props during his presentation — notable is the giant toothbrush, as you can see in the photos below.

Although Dr. Bogossian sees patients, young and old, in his office in Englewood, he and his wife Lynn reside in Tenafly.  They continue to refer new families to The Montessori House and, along with the school, they’ve been generous supporters of both Friends of Montessori Foundation and Tenafly Nature Center.

Dr. Bogossian — thanks again, and we can’t wait for you to return next year!

With support from Friends of Montessori Foundation (FoM), 17 Kindergarten/1st Grade students visited Bergen PAC in Englewood, for a performance of “The Ugly Duckling” produced by Lightwire Theater on January 31.

The children and teachers traveled by bus.  When they left the streets were dry, but by the time they returned we had snow!

Lunar New Year came early to The Montessori House (the Lunar New Year falls on Saturday, Jan 28th, this year).

As you can see from the photos, we have the loveliest parents!  They prepared wonderful Lunar New Year presentations and treats for all the children, with New Year celebrations in the morning and the afternoon.

Much thanks to Na Young (Audrey), Sunwoo (Anna), Gemma (Zoey and Zachary), Michelle (Phoebe and Lucy), Niya (Ella), Mina (Brandon), Nidhi (Sanjali), Hannah (Joseph), Cecilia (Thomas), and Xia (Connor).

A big thanks to Huee (mother of Isabel and Mila), who arranged for our students to have a performance and demonstration on Wednesday of Lion Dance by The Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar Institute of New York City.  We were thrilled by the Lion Dance — as you can see below  (WOW!).

Summary of our enrollment process:  We have finalized placement for our current students and their siblings for September 2017, and are now enrolling new families for next school year via rolling admissions. We will continue continue to offer placement in a session until that session is filled, at which point we start a session wait list.

• We have plenty of openings in the following programs:
  • Montessori Stepping Stones (half-day morning or afternoon, age 2-1/2 to 3) 
  • full-day Pre-Primary Montessori plus Enrichment (full-day age 3 to 4).
• We’re close to full in the following programs: 
  • half-day Pre-Primary Montessori program (half-day morning and afternoon, age 3 or 4 as of 10/15/2017)
  • Montessori Kindergarten/1st Grade program (full-day, age 5 or 6 as of 10/15/2017).

We urge families interested in entering September 2017 to act now: schedule a school visit (call 201-816-8343 or e-mail: admissions@themontessorihouse.com) and submit an application .

Detailed Admissions Discussion

We continue to accept applications for all our programs for September 2017.  While most families we with speak are interested in placement for September 2017, we already have a few applicants for September 2018.

Openings for September 2017.  Of roughly 95 students currently enrolled at The Montessori House, we had 59 choose to return next September; several accompanied by a sibling starting at The Montessori House next year.  That means we’re placing fewer than 40 new students — 16 new students in our Montessori Stepping Stones program (age 2-1/2 to 3), and about 23 new students in either our Pre-Primary Montessori programs (age 3 to 4) including a couple new Kindergarten students (age 5+).

• We have openings in our Pre-Primary Montessori plus Enrichment program (full-day, M-F, age 3-4).  We can offer immediate placement for September 2017.
• We have openings in both the morning and afternoon session of Montessori Stepping Stones (half-day, M-F, age 2-1/2 to 3).  We can offer immediate placement for September 2017.
• With so many returning students we haven two programs that are nearly full: the morning and afternoon sessions of our Pre-Primary Montessori programs (half-day, M-F, age 3-4) and our Montessori Kindergarten/1st Grade program (full-day, M-F, age 5-6).

To be considered for placement, families submit a paid application (download here).  While we only offer families placement after a school visit and tour, families are welcome to apply either before they visit, at the visit, or after visiting.

We offer tours most school days.  Tours are most informative  when the classroom is filled with students and teachers.  Consequently we only conduct tours when classes are in session.  A personal, private tour  usually take about 45 minutes, with a generous amount of time in one or two classrooms — depending on your child’s age, we will show you the program they would enter in September 2017, but also show you the programs available in future years.   (Note, we can only spend time in the classroom on an “adults only” tour — a quiet infant carried by the parent is permitted, but no toddlers in the classroom please.)    Note, you may submit an application before you tour.

We generally schedule tours at 9:15 or 10:15 in the morning, or at 1:00 in the afternoon.  You may schedule a personal tour by calling us at 201-816-8343.  Or, we’ll contact you: e-mail us at admissions@themontessorihouse.com with your phone number and we’ll reach out to schedule a visit.  Alternatively, on our Admissions Page , you can request our free Schools Checklist (at the right under “How Does Our School Compare?”enter your name, zipcode and e-mail in the boxes) , and we’ll e-mail you  information about booking a tour

Timing for Your 2017-18 Application: For families who are confident they want a placement offer for September 2017 from The Montessori House, we recommend submitting an application immediately.  Some families delay: to finalize plans to move to the area, to look at other schools, or they mistakenly assume they have plenty of time.  The cost of an application is small, and delay in submitting an application will reduce a family’s available options for next September.

Summary of our enrollment process:  We have finalized placement for our current students and their siblings for September 2017, and are now enrolling new families for next school year via rolling admissions. We will continue continue to offer placement in a session until that session is filled, at which point we start a session wait list.  A family may choose to enroll in an alternate session (e.g. afternoon rather than morning, or half-day rather than full-day), but still join the waiting list for their preferred session.

We urge families interested in entering September 2017 to act now: schedule a school visit and submit an application .

For more information please contact us through our website or call 201-816-8343.

We are currently accepting applications for all our programs for September 2017.  While most families we with speak are interested in placement for September 2017, we already have a few applicants for September 2018.

Openings for September 2017.  Of roughly 100 students currently enrolled at The Montessori House, we expect about 50 to 60 to return  to the school next September (most of the other 40+ students have “aged-out” of our programs and will attend their local elementary school, parochial school, or an independent school).  That means we’re placing about 40+ new students — 16 new students in our Montessori Stepping Stones program (age 2-1/2 to 3), most other new students in our Pre-Primary Montessori programs (age 3 to 4), and a handful of new Kindergarten students (age 5+).

As occurs every year, we have the greatest interest in our full-day programs (Pre-Primary Montessori/Enrichment and Montessori Kindergarten) and our morning, half-day programs (Montessori Stepping Stones and Pre-Primary Montessori) — these sessions fill the fastest and may eventually have the longest waiting lists.  In fact, the Stepping Stones morning session is filling rapidly, largely with the younger siblings from Montessori House families.  The last sessions to fill are our afternoon, half-day programs (Montessori Stepping Stones and Pre-Primary Montessori).

To be considered for placement, families submit a paid application (download here).  While we only offer families placement after a school visit and tour, families are welcome to apply either before they visit, at the visit, or after visiting.

We offer tours most school days.  Tours are most informative  when the classroom is filled with students and teachers.  Consequently we only conduct tours when classes are in session.  A personal, private tour  usually take about 45 minutes, with a generous amount of time in one or two classrooms — depending on your child’s age, we will show you the program they would enter in September 2017, but also show you the programs available in future years.   (Note, we can only spend time in the classroom on an “adults only” tour — a quiet infant carried by the parent is permitted, but no toddlers in the classroom please.)    Note, you may submit an application before you tour.

We generally schedule tours at 9:15 or 10:15 in the morning, or at 1:00 in the afternoon.  You may schedule a personal tour by calling us at 201-816-8343.  Or, we’ll contact you: e-mail us at admissions@themontessorihouse.com with your phone number and we’ll reach out to schedule a visit.  Alternatively, on our Admissions Page , you can request our free Schools Checklist (at the right under “How Does Our School Compare?”enter your name, zipcode and e-mail in the boxes) , and we’ll e-mail you  information about booking a tour

Timing for Your 2017-18 Application: For families who are confident they want a placement offer for September 2017 from The Montessori House, we recommend submitting an application immediately.  Some families delay: to finalize plans to move to the area, to look at other schools, or they mistakenly assume they have plenty of time.  The cost of an application is small, and delay in submitting an application will reduce a family’s available options for next September.

Summary of our enrollment process:  We have already made enrollment offers to our current students for September 2017, and will soon know how many openings we have for new students.   Starting mid-January we will make placement offers to new students, more or less in the order we received a paid application.  After the end of January, we have rolling admissions and continue to offer placement in a session until that session is filled, at which point we start a session wait list.  A family may choose to enroll in an alternate session (e.g. afternoon rather than morning, or half-day rather than full-day), but still join the waiting list for their preferred session.

We urge families interested in entering September 2017 to act now: schedule a school visit and submit an application .

For more information please contact us through our website or call 201-816-8343.

Hurry over to State Line Lookout in Palisades Interstate Park in Alpine NJ this Sunday for Hawks Over the Hudson.  At 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. you can get up close and personal with live hawks, eagles, owls, and falcons.
More information: http://www.natureprogram.org/pdfs/hawksHudson.pdf

For more earth science, on October 8th just head a little further north to Palisades, NY for Columbia U Lamont-Doherty Observatory open house.
More information: http://openhouse.ldeo.columbia.edu/

A great opportunity to introduce children of all ages (and adults) to the exciting science going on right next door.  In grade school Ms. Maria’s children loved the Lamont Open House, and her older daughter, Isabella, has been working on a research team at Lamont since 2014!