fall in love with learning!

Fall in love with learning at RMMA!

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Learning can be lifelong! If a child falls in love with learning at a young age, she has the opportunity to spend her entire life exploring, creating, and contributing to the world in constructive ways. At every impasse, she has the inherent belief that she can dig deeper, learn more, create what she can see in her imagination, and give her gifts to the world. She will not settle for status quo, punching a clock, disinterested in life. Instead, she will know that there is more to understand, more creativity that can be employed, and that eventually the solution to a problem can be discovered.

When a child is deeply sparked, his curiosity is encouraged, and he feels secure and loved, then he begins to unfold as himself – becoming the full possibility of who he is.

In RMMA’s prepared environments, a child has enough routine and structure to feel settled. This settled feeling enables curiosity and growth to occur. (When a child is unsure of his environment or circumstances, he stays in a state of “fight or flight”, and growth and learning are not possible in the same way.) Our Montessori Materials give the child an entire cycle with curiosity, learning, and fulfillment: the child chooses what interests him; then he works with the materials until they “work”; and then he feels the internal validation and satisfaction of accomplishment.

Success is expected. Instead of trying something that doesn’t work and receiving a failing grade, the child engages the materials she chose until the lesson “works”. This will impact her entire life – she will never be afraid of failure or of trying new things. She will have an intrinsic trust that everything she tries has a solution and can work, and she will not tire of trying new solutions until a problem is solved.

Experiencing external validation – a good grade, or a verbal “good job” – does not form confidence and satisfaction in a person. Only the individual can truly validate for himself whether he is accomplishing what he would love to do, and whether that feels good. The Montessori model enables the child to have an internal experience with validation, and that kind of satisfaction leads to more and more self-confidence and success.

This has amazing implications not just for the child’s entire life. Imagine a world where people did not believe failure was possible – and rather every problem society is facing, both locally and globally, was embraced as an opportunity to learn, engage, try, and finally, to succeed!

rocky mountain montessori academy

Your child will thrive here.

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Rocky Mountain Montessori Academy is a private Montessori school in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our students range in age from 1-15, but what doesn’t vary are the bright eyes and bright spirit that each of them possess.

RMMA is dedicated to meeting the needs of parents who seek the finest educational program for their children. We provide a nurturing community and quality educational environment for the growth of the whole child.

We value the uniqueness of each child. Our prepared classroom environments enable students to be excited and confident about learning. The classroom structure strives to fulfill social and emotional as well as educational needs. We help the students to become aware that they are responsible for themselves and that they have important roles to play in our society. For these reasons we have mixed age groupings that encourage peer teaching, and allow students to learn from each other, as well as from the teacher.

In addition to math, language, history, and science, we study geography and different cultures. We use the traditional Montessori materials plus new materials we develop to meet the student’s needs. We do not provide religious instruction; we leave this vital role to parents and families. We do include the holidays celebrated around the world in our studies of other cultures, in the hope that understanding differences and being tolerant of them will further the cause of world peace. At a more local level, we want the students to understand that we are all part of a community. Each classroom has Spanish learning materials.

We believe we need to promote a healthy home-school partnership to increase our understanding of each child’s individuality, and to work together in the best interests of our children. We invite parents to share with the students their own unique skills, professions, backgrounds, talents, and interests.

Our lead teachers have been trained at various Montessori Education Centers across the country. We continue our professional development by participating in workshops and conferences each year. We also support each other as educators and guides by exchanging ideas and helping each other with the different areas of the curriculum. We foster a love of learning by listening to the needs of the students and encouraging them in their work and play, and by being cheerful in our own work.

Our aim is to create a happy school with positive thinking and an appreciation for the many different members of RMMA: students, parents, families, teachers, administrators, and other staff members.

Our classrooms are structured in the traditional Montessori style of mixed age groups. We have classes for Toddlers (ages 1 to 3), Pre-Primary (ages 3 to 6), Lower Elementary (ages 6 to 9), and Upper Elementary/Middle School (ages 9 to 13). Extracurricular activities may be offered to students and are scheduled after school.