Apple Montessori Schools’ vision is relatively new to the Mount Laurel community, having opened a thriving school for infants through Kindergarteners in 2022. However, they have been a leader in early childhood education throughout New Jersey for over 50 years and are the largest provider of Montessori programs in the state.
Apple’s Mount Laurel location has already hosted a plethora of exciting experiences for children and parents alike including kinesthetic learning initiatives in the classroom and special events such as Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations, open houses, and more. Their year-round program is designed to support students with a multidisciplinary curriculum that is updated every year to fit the constantly changing times and fuses traditional Montessori lessons with modern technology.
To combat summer learning loss, Apple Montessori includes academics in its eight-week summer camp schedule alongside swimming lessons in a state-of-the-art pool, sports, cooking, science, next-level music, and arts and crafts.
“When we’re doing the arts and crafts with the children, we’re learning about an artist and a technique. We’re exploring those things with the children and letting them make that creation from Picasso, while learning about what techniques he used and the history of Picasso,” says Danielle Selby, Chief Learning Officer of Apple Montessori Schools.
In addition to enhanced reading, writing and mathematics, fine arts are a focus of Apple Montessori Schools during every season. Art history is implemented into the curriculum at all levels, as are educational field trips to art museums. Allowing children to explore their gifts and passions at an early age is prioritized, and subjects are mixed creatively in harmony. For example, the summer camp’s “Celebrity Kids” music program teaches children the more complex parts of music at a sensory level. Not only are they taught how to play a drum, but Apple Montessori takes it a step further by allowing kids to make a drum of their own.
Another program offered, “Young Chefs,” combines cooking and science, such as dissecting a pepper one day and using it as an ingredient to make a salad the next. Teaching alternative thinking is a progressive method of education that prepares children for their future. It demonstrates more complex levels of thinking, problem solving, cause and effect, seeking thorough understanding that inspires curiosity, and other imperative skills for success that stem beyond the repetition or memorization taught in other learning environments.
“We have these beautiful outdoor classrooms. It’s really a playground, but it’s a classroom as well, and we have things out there that are educational for the children. We have all these garden beds and planter boxes, so the children can plant cucumbers and then take them inside to use for cooking,” says Selby.
Special events are frequently held and give students and parents something to look forward to. One annual event is the art festival, in which students’ art projects are displayed and parents are given the opportunity to work on a project with them. Another signature event is International Day, where students can learn about their heritage and that of their peers, through dressing up, bringing cultural foods and putting on a show for parents.
“We pick a continent and its history to cover for each classroom, and they will put on a show related to that continent and the various countries’ heritages,” explains Selby.
Apple Montessori takes great pride in playing a role in their students’ progress. Children form a tight-knit community within their classroom and are eager to return year after year. They’re often joined by their siblings, too, and the Montessori approach allows them to learn and to explore together in a mixed-age classroom setting, with older students taking on leadership roles. In this method, even children without siblings find big brothers or sisters at school who will look out for them through their progression.
“They excel in the fact that it becomes very much a family environment in our preschool classrooms. When you go into a classroom at 2-and-a-half years-old, you stay in that classroom – with those children – until you graduate,” Selby says. “It creates an older and younger sibling thing that goes on in the classroom. Your younger ones want to be like the 6-year-olds in the room, so they strive to move further into the materials. It’s very much a family environment; it’s beautiful to watch.”
Intertwined with all of the fun is a focus on safety. Staff is thoroughly and frequently trained, with a department dedicated to providing a team of mentors to the teachers on a weekly basis. They are also CPR-certified, have first aid training, practice drills and participate in professional development days. As for the swimming pools, instructors are highly trained and certified lifeguards, ensuring that your children are provided with reliable and dedicated care during every moment of their day.
Apple Montessori is a premier choice for compassionate and modernized education that strives to empower children while igniting a lifelong passion for learning. The fine-tuned programs are tough to match in their thoughtful, tailored design that is reflective of the current and ever-changing needs of our future generations. Enrollment is now open, including the 2024-2025 school year and 2024 camp season. Spots fill up quickly – visit their website to schedule a tour and submit an application.
Apple Montessori Schools
Mount Laurel (additional locations across N.J.)
(609) 360-6261
AppleMontessoriSchools.com
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Family Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 8.
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