Local Montessori Academy to nearly double enrollment, add new kindergarten program
With the start of the 2023-24 school year, Fox Valley Montessori Academy will call a larger building home, allowing it to introduce a new kindergarten program and, in total, nearly double its enrollment.
The new site, the former St. John United Church of Christ on West Marquette Street, Appleton, is just 1.5 miles from its present location.
The school serves children ages 6 weeks through 6 years. Modeling itself after the Montessori method of education, the school incorporates classic Montessori materials and Montessori-inspired activities, ample time outdoors, child-led work periods and more.
Here's what to know about the school and its upcoming changes:
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Self-directed learning, mixed-age classrooms are hallmarks of Montessori schooling
In accordance with the Montessori approach, a large portion of a Fox Valley Montessori Academy school day is a child-led work period. During these periods, each child can choose work materials that interest them, explained the school's owner, Nicole Swanson. This can also be through small group or one-on-one guidance from the teacher.
"Allowing the child to choose what sparks curiosity in them promotes a much more positive experience, as opposed to being told what they have to do," said Meagan Gebler, whose 6-year-old son has been attending the school since he was an infant. She said having such autonomy over his learning allowed her son to not only discover his interests, but also determine how he learns best.
Traditional Montessori has mixed-age classrooms. While infants are in their own classroom at Fox Valley Montessori Academy, children ages 1-2½ are in the First House classroom, and children ages 2½-6 are in the Children's House class.
"The younger students are learning through the modeling of the older students, and the older students are getting to practice that leadership of helping to guide the younger students along," Swanson said. "It's a beautiful thing to watch."
Further distinguishing itself from traditional schooling, Fox Valley Montessori Academy teaches American Sign Language and Spanish. It also teaches yoga to promote mental and physical well-being.
The expansion was born out of community need
With the move, Fox Valley Montessori Academy will add another First House, another Children's House, as well as its new kindergarten program. In total, it will expand by roughly 40 slots.
Like other early care and education settings, Fox Valley Montessori Academy faced what Swanson calls an "impossible" waitlist. She said the area needed more alternative kindergarten options, especially Montessori schools.
"For families that are really struggling with making a decision if they want their children to be in a public school system, or they just don't feel that the standard mainstream kindergarten classroom is a good fit for their child, this is another option for them," Swanson said.
New kindergarten blends traditional Montessori with elements of K-12 settings
Swanson said the school's kindergarten program will be similar to the Children's House's daily routine, with plenty of outdoor and child-led work periods. But the kindergarten program will have more small group sessions, as well as a greater focus on literacy and math.
In being reserved only for 5- and 6-year-olds and sprinkling Common Core standards into its curriculum, Fox Valley Montessori Academy's kindergarten program will more closely resemble a traditional public school setting than the Academy's other classrooms do, Swanson said.
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Gebler is excited for her son to start the new kindergarten program in the fall. Last school year, he started kindergarten at a public school, but the family felt it wasn't the right fit. Within a few weeks, he left public school and resumed his education at Fox Valley Montessori Academy.
"We are looking forward to more individualized learning (at Fox Valley Montessori's kindergarten) to help him grow and develop his confidence, and him getting the time and the space to work at something with more guidance than correction," Gebler said.
The school will debut a new natural playground
Unlike the often-seen brightly colored plastic playgrounds, the school's new natural playground will sport wooden materials, sandboxes, raised garden beds, a mud kitchen for the children to craft the infamous mud pies, and more.
Swanson said it will be similar to the natural playground at Heckrodt Wetland Preserve.
"They will be playing in their natural environment using their creativity and spontaneous play, versus a more-structured environment restricted material," Swanson said.
One of the building's two courtyards will be transformed into an outdoor classroom, complete with tree stumps for stools and log table so children can do activities outside.
More to come?
The great thing about Fox Valley Montessori Academy's move, Swanson said, is there's ample space for further growth.
“Hopefully we can add lower elementary in the future,” Swanson said. “With our new building we’re going to have more space to expand, and our goal is to keep adding additional programs.”
For more information on Fox Valley Montessori Academy, visit appletonpreschool.com.
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Madison Lammert covers child care and early education across Wisconsin as a Report for America corps member based at The Appleton Post-Crescent. To contact her, email mlammert@gannett.com or call 920-993-7108. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to Report for America.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Fox Valley Montessori Academy in Appleton to double enrollment, add new kindergarten program
