Our Philosophy

The Morningside approach to early childhood education is based primarily on principles developed in the early part of this century by Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and early childhood educator:

(click on the principle to learn more about it)

• Children learn best by doing
• Children teach themselves
• Children learn from each other

For more information on The Montessori method, click here.

Morningside also blends non-Montessori elements of early childhood education. For example, blocks, fantasy-play materials and class pets are important features of our classrooms. At least once each day, each class comes together as a group for stories, singing or games as well as for the introduction of new materials. In the afternoons, we have the Explorers Class, a special extended-day program for four- and five-year olds from the West and South classrooms. This class features enriched activities expressly designed for older children.

Classes also take field trips, attend performances and explore the neighborhood – touring the firehouse or learning how pizza is made at a local restaurant, measuring trees or watching the seasons change in Riverside Park.  We have in-house trips that include musical presentations, interactions with animals and storybook based performances.

Our Five Day  mornings and afternoon classrooms have a music class and a movement class each week.  They also have a 10 week cycle of yoga in the wintertime and an 8 week cycle of soccer classes in Riverside Park in the Spring. Our Three Day (North) students have music, movement and yoga classes all year long. Our Toddler class has a music class each week.