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Oak Hill Montessori In the News
Press Releases
2006 / 2005 / 2004 / 2002 / 2001
Montessori school honors teacher
Oak Hill Montessori School in Shoreview will honor
Debbi Betts on Friday, April 28, for her dedicated service as a teacher at
Oak Hill for the past 25 years. School administrators say she was
instrumental in the early development of the school, especially after it
moved to its current location on Hodgson Road.
A special tea will be held in her honor at 3:15 pm. Community members who
know Betts are welcome to attend the celebration.
November 2005, Shoreview Press
Photo by Paul Dols
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Oak Hill Montessori Head of School Kathy Anderson and volunteers Martha Rosenquist and Mendee Tarnowski work on a climbing rope during construction of the Outdoor Learn and Play environment on Saturday, Oct. 29. |
November 2005, Shoreview Press
For Katrina victims
Submitted photo by Matthew F. Witchell
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Students from Oak Hill Montessori in Shoreview held three separate fundraisers to assist the victims of Huricane Katrina. They raised $2,500 for the Red Cross through a breakfast, all-school change drive and creation and sale of origami boxes. From left, front row: Dhara Singh, Lucia DiLorenzo, Sophie Weber, Thomas Hagen and Rostam Alizadeh; and back row: Kylie Jacobsen, Rebecca Bond, Jack Conroy, Nate Boscardin, Max Brown and Justin Davis.
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March 2005, Shoreview Press
Masked Theater
Submitted photos by Matthew F. Witchell
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| Above: Maddy Gildersleeve as "Fat Fella," Ingrid McNeely and Alec Bosaker perform one of four folk tale dramatizations from the South Pacific and Australia. | |
| Right: Ben Kohler, Kyoka Millard and Chris Kugel perform a folk tale dramatization. The recent performance ended a week of mask-making and story telling with Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater at Oak Hill Montessori School in Shoreview. |
November 2004, Shoreview Press
Poetry 101
Submitted photo
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Oak Hill Montessori to add middle school program
by Stacy Jo Enge, News Editor
In many ways, it’s a natural progression.
In 1995, Oak Hill Montessori School opened its elementary program, which
serves students ages 6 to 12. Two years later, the school debuted an infant
and toddler community. Now, Oak Hill is preparing for a significant
expansion project that will include adding a middle school program to the
facility beginning in the fall.
“I think (the middle school) offers more continuity to the program,” said
John Albright, the Oak Hill teacher who developed the middle school
curriculum and will teach next year’s seventh-graders.
Oak Hill was expected to break ground on March 25 for an expansion that will
add 12,000 square feet to the existing 17,000-square-foot facility just
north of Rainbow Foods on Hodgson Road. The school, which draws students
from North Oaks, Shoreview, and surrounding areas as well as the greater
metro, so far has raised $450,000 through a capital campaign, with a goal of
raising $500,000. Cash reserves and tax-exempt financing approved by the
city will fund the remainder of the $2 million project.
The expansion includes two new classrooms, a gymnasium that will be used as
a multi-purpose room, tutoring space, art and music rooms and an enlarged
outdoor play field. Construction will begin this week and continue through
mid-August.
Oak Hill, which serves students from all over the Twin Cities, began serving
children ages 3 to 6 in 1964. Today, housed in a former church, the school
instructs children from as young as eight months through sixth grade. The
school is recognized by the Association Montessori International.
Classes are formed in three-year age groups, such as ages 3 to 6 or 6 to 9,
allowing the children to interact with and learn from students older and
younger, as well as their own age. Students have the same teacher for all
three years.
During its inaugural year, the middle school, or “adolescent community,”
will include up to 10 seventh graders, likely including some students who
haven’t attended the Montessori school before. Principal Meg Angevine said
that in order to maintain the school’s favored small-group setting, the
middle school never will exceed 30 students and the school as a whole will
accommodate a maximum of 230 students.
Angevine said the move toward middle school components in Montessori schools
has caught on across the nation; at least a dozen other schools nationwide
have already developed programs in the last 20 years, with others in the
works. Oak Hill will join one Minneapolis and one Winona facility as the
state’s third Montessori school to include a middle school.
In keeping with the methods the 175-student school is based on, the middle
school curriculum will incorporate Dr. Maria Montessori’s belief that
students benefit from close contact with the land. Each Thursday, Oak Hill
middle schoolers will visit a “land school” at a Scandia farm to learn more
from guest experts about such areas as papermaking, woodworking, sewing,
gardening, boating, fishing and of course, farming.
“The students can follow their interests there,” Albright said.
The middle schoolers will grow fruit and vegetables as part of their
coursework, and eat what they grow. Surplus produce will be taken back to
Oak Hill for sale to students, staff members and parents at the middle
school-run “general store.” Students will be responsible for designing the
storefront, setting prices, taking inventory, setting employee schedules and
providing customer service.
SIDEBAR: What is a Montessori school?
Dr. Maria Montessori, in her roles as an educator, physician, social worker
and scientist, observed children at different ages and stages of
development. As a result of her work, she developed special environments and
materials that foster children’s natural desire to learn. Montessori schools
such as Oak Hill are based on her philosophy and pedagogy.
Montessori’s methods developed based on what she observed children’s natural
learning tendencies without adult assistance. The Montessori environment
contains specially designed, development-based materials that allow children
to engage in learning activities of their own choice. Montessori classes
place children in three-year age groups, forming communities in which older
children can share their knowledge with the younger students.
Oak Hill expansion OK’d
Future plans include new middle school, more classrooms
by Stacy Jo Enge, Staff Writer
Oak Hill Montessori School in Shoreview plans to address its burgeoning enrollment roster by expanding its current building. But that’s not where the school’s plans end.
The private elementary school, located at 4665 Hodgson Road, received
Shoreview City Council approval for site and building plans for an addition
to its existing facility last week. The 14,156 square foot expansion would
create space for two classrooms, an art/music room and a multi-use room to
use for before- and after-school care, a gymnasium and other school events.
Additional restrooms and common space will be included, as will a new
parking lot and outdoor recreation space.
The council in 1996 approved an expansion of about 13,000 square feet for
the school, which allowed for three “children’s houses,” two elementary
classrooms, one toddler room and office and support space.
The new elementary addition will be located to the west of the current
building, and parking will be toward the north end of the property. Oak Hill
earlier this year purchased the single-family residential property to the
north of the school, which added 1.8 acres to its existing 3.15 acres in
order to accommodate its current and future expansion plans.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2002, with a targeted completion
date of August 2002.
Although the school only sought council approval for the elementary addition
and associated changes, Oak Hill intends to come back to the council with
the crowning glory of its master site plan: a new middle school.
Oak Hill plans to found a new program for students in grades seven and eight
that will open in September 2002. The “adolescent community,” as it’s being
called, will not be structured the same way as most other middle schools,
said Oak Hill Principal Meg Angevine.
“We are creating a two-year educational experience for adolescents, which is
based on their development needs as human beings,” she said.
John Albright, the program’s principal teacher, said the program’s primary
strength will be its emphasis on providing students with real-world work
opportunities. Students’ “second classroom” will be a Land School in Scandia
where they will farm, cultivate crops and practice ecology and wilderness
skills.
Albright stressed that many of the activities at the Land School will be
integrated into students’ classroom curriculum. Students will take surplus
food grown at the Land School and sell it at a store they manage and run.
While students entering the middle school don’t need previous Montessori
experience, Albright said they should expect an environment with a
substantial amount of independent learning. The school is hosting several
open houses throughout the next few months to introduce the middle school
concept to the public.
Open houses will be held to discuss Oak Hill Montessori School’s new middle
school for students in grades seven and eight. All meetings will be at 4665
Hodgson Road in Shoreview, unless otherwise noted.
For more information, call 651-484-8242 or visit www.oakhillmontessori.org.
• 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 23
•12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28 at Family Ciderfest at the Land
School in Scandia
• 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10
•1 to 3 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 13
Oak Hill Montessori is an independent non-profit school accredited by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).