Our Philosophy

Twin Parks Montessori Schools provide nurturing, child-centered settings for children three months through five years of age. The schools are committed to building and fostering a community of life-long learners, using proven Montessori methodology, which has been successful for the past 100 years. While we focus on helping children master language, math, and sensorial experience at age-appropriate levels, we simultaneously nurture the development of conscientious, caring, and compassionate human beings.

Thoughts on Learning

“Our care of the children should be governed not by the desire to ‘make them learn things’, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within them the light which is called intelligence.”

Maria Montessori

At Twin Parks Montessori Schools, we rejoice in the basic tenet of Montessori: that children want to learn naturally. We believe that even the youngest child delights in seeing—and mastering—how the world works. So our teachers respect each child’s individual interests and abilities. Free to follow their own inner dictates, children acquire an ability to learn which is virtually unlimited; free to explore in prepared environments, they develop a sense of purpose, process, completion—and success.

HOW WE WORK

Our schools are among the most spacious pre-schools in Manhattan. Each school offers rich and varied environments—from individual activity tables to open floor areas that promote group interaction; from quiet areas for independent interests to the natural abundance of our own glorious “backyards”: Central Park and Riverside Park. Each of these environments invites exploration, and, in total, fully meets the developmental needs of young children.

Nearly everything within our walls is child-sized. Children “work” with authentic Montessori materials including a wide range of high-quality, age-appropriate materials—objects such as wooden blocks, sand trays, textured fabrics, and glass beads, to name just a few. All of our materials are designed to be self-teaching, our children learn to solve problems, see natural connections in knowledge, learn skills related to practical living, and therefore, expand their imaginative thinking.

Building Lifelong Learners

“The children are not free to do as they like. Instead, they are free to work: to engage in sustained and prolonged activity while, at the same time, learning how to behave in a community of others.”

Maria Montessori

Operating on the principle of freedom within limits, Twin Parks Montessori Schools inspire children to work at their own pace, alone or with others. Our teachers encourage the growth of self-motivated, independent children by balancing active, self-directed learning with small group collaboration and peer teaching. Classes comprise a range of ages and abilities. Older, more experienced children take on the role of peer mentors, reinforcing their own skills and experiencing the responsibilities of leadership through helping others. Younger children, in turn, enjoy the daily stimulation of older role models, while children of all ages learn to respect each other in a warm atmosphere of acceptance and joy.