Montessori students share their holiday spirit
Bill Hupp and Ray MacPherson, residents of The Springs at Whitefish, build ornaments with Sawyer Hobart at the Children’s House Montessori School last week. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
A group of students ages 3-5 from the Children’s House Montessori School perform for residents from The Springs at Whitefish last week. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Skyluna Radatti and Gwen Hughes get ready to build ornaments with Marcia Chambers at the Children's House Montessori School last week. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
The Children’s House Montessori School is all about community engagement this holiday season.
The school recently hosted seniors from The Springs at Whitefish for a Christmas celebration, where students performed a play, sang carols and made ornaments with their visitors.
Amanda Fleming, director of the school, said celebrations like these are what the school’s philosophy is all about.
“Montessori really believed that through children was the key to peace and betterment of man, so having them give food or help purchase toys or connect with people — they have no idea who these people are, they haven’t met them, but they’re going to sit down and laugh with them and interact with them and just spread a little more of that positivity. Our philosophy believes that those are the fundamentals we can give not only to the community we’re in but to these kids in the hopes that they will be one step better than the generation before them, which is always our goal,” she said.
The students have been in the giving spirit, too.
The school recently donated two full meals to the North Valley Food Bank, and also sponsored a 5-year-old boy through the Court-Appointed Special Advocate program, which helps protects abused and neglected children nation-wide.
Fleming says her students have been working in their homes to earn money to donate.
“The students have been going on and doing chores, which is really cute because they’re little, so it’s like feeding the dog and stuff, but they’re earning $2 at a time and bringing it in and filling up a little jar in the classroom,” she said. “So we’re hoping to be able to purchase most of the little boy’s wish list.”
The school is also taking in students with a winter open enrollment period starting in January for 3 to 6-year-olds.
“[That] is really rare this time of year, and I know it’s tricky for people who are trying to find quality care. So we wanted people to know that we do have a little bit of availability over here,” Fleming said.
CHMS is a Montessori Preschool that has been teaching kids in Whitefish for 30 years.
For more information, visit chmswhitefish.org.