Montessori Community School Hawaii

Get ready to apply for the 2025-2026 School Year!
Online applications for Montessori Community School will open on September 1 for the following programs:

✏️Two-Year-Olds
✏️Preschool & Kindergarten
✏️Lower Elementary: Gr. 1-3
✏️Upper Elementary: Gr. 4-6

Attend a Virtual Information Session to learn more about our Montessori programs. Register at link in bio.

Week 1 flew by so quickly! New and returning students got right down to business - practicing classroom routines, making new friends and using Montessori materials. Can’t wait to do it all again next week!

Why Montessori?

Attend a Virtual Information Session to learn how Montessori’s child-centered approach, with hands-on learning and multi-age classrooms, will provide your child with a strong foundation for life.

Register here: https://www.montessorihawaii.org/admissions-informationsession

Elementary students are gearing up for a fun last week of Summer Programs with ! 🚲

What a cool and refreshing experience for children in our Preschool & Kindergarten Program at Papahana Kualoa Huakaʻi!

Interested in a Montessori education for your child?

Applications for the 2025-2026 school year will be accepted starting September 1, 2024.

Before submitting an application, learn more about Montessori Community School by attending a Virtual Information Session. Register at our website today!
Sessions begin on August 9.

Link in bio to register.

Summer is the best kind of colorful and messy fun!

In this second half of summer, our Preschool & Kindergarten Program is continuing their exploration of the Hawaiian Islands, focusing specifically on Hawaiian plants. We are so grateful to have live specimens to hold and see up close, including this beautiful ʻōhiʻa lehua.

Thank you to our parents for your generous donations!

Welcome to our new Head of School, Ms. Jyo Bridgewater!
Ms. Bridgewater is looking forward to meeting children, parents, staff and other members of our Community in the days ahead!

Children in our Summer Preschool & Kindergarten Program had so much fun learning at Bishop Museum! 🌋

It’s o-FISH-ally Summer! 🐡
Elementary students can’t wait to share their ocean-themed art with parents at today’s Art Gallery event.

Hooray for Water Play Fridays!

Congratulations to the Class of 2024 ✨
We can’t wait to see what you do next!

Kindergarten Luncheon 🎓

Preparing for their Kindergarten Luncheon, the children made sandwiches and pizza, sliced vegetables for the salad and arranged flowers for table decor. At the Luncheon, they enjoyed their meal using real plates, cutlery, fabric napkins and even sipped fruit punch in glass cups. Their favorite part was helping themselves to a special yogurt parfait bar with fresh fruits, granola and honey!

Congratulations to our Kindergarten graduates!

“The child must learn by his own individual authority…and not be questioned in his choice. Our teaching must only answer the mental needs of the child, never dictate them. He must have absolute freedom of choice, and then he requires nothing but repeated experiences.”

-Dr. Maria Montessori, “To Educate the Human Potential”, p.7

Our Two-Year-Olds took a mini field trip up to the “big playground”. They can’t wait to move up to Preschool!

📖Planes of Development

Four distinct periods of growth, development, and learning identified by Dr. Maria Montessori that a human being progresses through:

Ages 0-6 - The period of the “absorbent mind”
Ages 6-12 - The period of reasoning and abstraction
Ages 12-18 - The period of constructing the “social self” and developing moral values and becoming emotionally independent
Ages 18-24 - The period of constructing an understanding of the self and seeking to know one’s place in the world

Credit: - MontessoriSpeak: A Guide to the Lingo

Preschool & Kindergarten Program - Asia Gallery and Taiko Performance

To culminate their study of Asia, children in the Preschool & Kindergarten Program enjoyed viewing today’s Asia Gallery and Taiko Performance.

The Asia Gallery exhibited different projects created by the children, including earthquake-resistant structures, bok choy planting, Save the Tiger finger painting and other various artworks.

Thank you to for showcasing your talent and allowing our children to experience a mini taiko workshop!

Our Preschool & Kindergarten children loved sharing their work with their parents during ʻOhana time!

2002 ➡️ 2004
Spring Fling Face Painting is such a fun tradition! 🎨

Thank you to members of the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response for bringing some samples to share with students in our Elementary Program: Gr. 1-6!

📖Grace and Courtesy

In Montessori schools, children are formally instructed in social skills they will use throughout their lives - for example, saying “please” and “thank you,” interrupting conversations politely, requesting rather than demanding assistance, and greeting guests warmly.

Credit: - MontessoriSpeak: A Guide to the Lingo

What’s your favorite way to color eggs? 🪺

Preschool & Kindergarten Practical Life - Wet Transfer/Pouring (Expanded Lesson)

What is the Wet Transfer/Pouring Job?
💧Two glass pitchers on a tray, one is partially filled with water, with a small sponge or cloth to clean up spills.
💧The child takes the tray to their table and practices pouring the water from one pitcher to the other without spilling.
💧This lesson can be expanded to pouring water from a pitcher into smaller containers, pouring water into a vase using a funnel (shown), or even liquid measuring preparation for cooking and baking.

Why do we do it?
💧Hand-eye and fine motor coordination
💧Concentration and self-control
💧Functional independence

How to help at home?
💧Make a pouring activity and let your child practice. Create a way for your child to clean up any spills they make on their own by providing a sponge or cloth.
💧Allow your child to help you measure liquids while cooking or baking.

Take us back to PFA Bubble Day 🫧
Thanks to the parents and staff who made this event possible!

📖Concrete to Abstract

A logical, developmentally appropriate progression that enables the child to develop an abstract understanding of a concept by first encountering it in a concrete form.

For example, learning the mathematical concept of the decimal system by working with the Montessori Golden Bead materials, grouped into units of 10s, 100s, and 1,000s.

Credit: - MontessoriSpeak: A Guide to the Lingo

February is almost over - here’s just some of what we’ve been up to!

Preschool & Kindergarten Language - Movable Alphabet

Children who have been presented lessons on beginning, middle, and ending sounds may use the Movable Alphabet to form words. This Montessori material serves as an important step to prepare for writing and reading. It can be used even if a child is not able to form letters with their hand yet. Later, as the child’s hand develops, they will be encouraged to practice their writing of the Movable Alphabet on paper.

Hauʻoli Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Happy Language Learning Month)!

Three Part Cards + Bead Stair + ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi = FUN!

This is just one of the special jobs available in the classrooms this month, thanks to our DEI Coordinator, Ms. Alex.

📖Work Cycle

Within the prepared environment of the Montessori classroom, children are taught to complete a work cycle which includes
1) choosing an activity;
2) completing the activity (perhaps repeating the full sequence of the activity multiple times), cleaning up and returning the materials to the proper place; and
3) experiencing a sense of satisfaction to have fully completed the task.

Credit: - MontessoriSpeak: A Guide to the Lingo