About us

At IndigoKid Montessori School we aim to provide high-quality, comprehensive education that fosters your child’s love of learning and addresses the whole child academically, emotionally, and socially.

The Montessori curriculum varies by program, however the goals for our school are consistent:

• To enter a partnership with families in the education of their children
• To lead children toward mastery of individually identified intellectual, social, physical, and daily life skills
• To foster in the children deep and persistent curiosity that will lead to lifelong pursuit of knowledge
• To help children develop self-confidence
• To assist each child develop a habit of concentration
• To instill in each child a sense of personal responsibility for the world in which we live
• To spark in our children wonder, imagination, and joy

We believe that the pedagogical principles and practices developed by Dr. Maria Montessori fundamentally respond to the developmental characteristics and needs of children.

We seek to utilize her educational principles and methodologies in all of the programs offered at The Montessori School.

• We believe that all children deserve to develop in an environment that is nurturing, safe and intelligent.
• We believe that families are the principal influence in the child’s life. The school provides a secondary supportive role to the home. It is a tandem cooperative relationship between home and school which best serves the child.
• We believe that the model of our own behavior serves as the most distinct teacher to the child.
• We believe that every member of our the community has a fundamental right to be treated with respect regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin, sexual preference, religion, race or disability.
• We believe that the development of whole, healthy individuals requires that our many dimensions be nurtured, including the spiritual, intellectual, physical, social and emotional.
• We center the programs and curriculum of IndigoKid Montessori School on the natural needs of human development.
• We describe the learning environment of IndigoKid Montessori School as active as opposed to passive. The environment is dynamic, with children functioning as active agents in the learning process by making choices and learning to be responsible for those choices.
• We believe that the School has a responsibility to prepare its students for life, balancing academic excellence with the development of personal and practical life skills.
• We believe that the first six years of life are critical to the development of one’s life.
• We offer a flexible learning environment that responds to individual needs, has an adaptable curriculum, and honors diverse learning styles.
• We strive to create a true balance among freedom, order and responsibility in each classroom.
• We believe that children can learn constructive modes of problem-solving and conflict resolution, thereby creating a more peaceful learning and living environment.
• We believe that we are intimately interdependent with other life forms on this planet. As educators, it is our responsibility to foster knowledge of, interest in and responsibility for the natural world we inhabit.
• We believe in the fullness of life and the value of a diverse community, which promotes an understanding and acceptance of all peoples.
• We believe that all forms of expression and communication should be nurtured. Art, music, literature, drama and other forms are fundamental modes of expression for the human spirit.

IndigoKid started back in 2015 in Lodi, NJ as a family club for Russian-speaking conscious parents who were looking for alternative humanistic ways to educate and raise their child.

As our little ones were getting older, there arose a need for enrichment classes, they were ready for first fun academic experiences. This when most of our educational programs have developed.

After a while IndigoKid moved to a new bigger location in Fair Lawn, NJ which has allowed families to attend our Morning Montessori day care during the day and enrichment classes in the evening.

Various traditional events became an important part of our cultural community: New Year Fest /Ёлка, Spring Fest / Масленица, Summer Fest / День Индейцев, Fall Fest / День Урожая, Halloween/ Нестрашный Хэллоуин, Pushkin Day/ День А.С.Пушкина and more.

Gradually in 2020, after two years of construction the center grew into a full time
Montessori School that now provides a warm and vibrant, educational home designed to foster love of learning and help all children reach their fullest potential at their own unique pace. Where we strive to inspire children to be caring, socially responsible participants in their community and world. Our carefully prepared classrooms are staffed with highly qualified, Montessori- certified teachers and
specially trained staff. Multi-age classrooms allow the children to learn from one another and to be valued contributors to the classroom community.

At IndigoKid Montessori School we are investing in creating respectful and caring relationships among teachers, families and children. Our approach to education is based on the philosophy and methods of Maria Montessori, the first Italian female physician who founded the first Montessori school in Rome in 1907.

Dr. Montessori believed that the goal of the educational process was to cultivate a child’s natural desire to learn. Dr. Montessori observed that all children have the same basic needs:

• The need for order – to organize, classify and interpret reality
• The need for independence – the impulse to act personally upon and within reality
• The need for social relationships
• The need to experience reality through imagination

 

While the teacher directs the activity of the classroom, it is the child who learns. That is why it is our duty to design such an environment, prepare such a space where children would feel at home, where they would feel safe and free to explore, free to express every part of their natural being.

Dr. Montessori observed that children are motivated through the work itself and that children, like adults, learn best by doing rather than being filled with facts. That is why we create tremendous amounts of hands-on works,
that require children to act willingly and independently, developing their concentration, determination and fires up their desire to learn more.

At IndigoKid Montessori School we are investing in creating respectful and caring relationships among teachers, families and children.

We have designed three cozy classrooms that offer an inviting home-like space for learning activity: Дедушкин класс, Бабушкин класс, Мамин класс и Папин спортзал (Grandpa’s classroom, Grandma’s classroom, Mommy’s classroom and Daddy’s gym).

Learning materials are displayed on shelves that are accessible to the children to foster independence as the students go about
their daily work. There are spaces in the classroom that allow for group activity as well as areas where the student can work alone. Parts of each classroom are open and spacious to allow younger children to lay out strands of beads or counting. There are well-defined spaces for each part of the curriculum, such as Language Arts, Math, Culture, Sensorial and Practical Life.

Each of these areas features shelves or display tables with a variety of inviting materials from which students can choose.

Montessori curriculum promotes movement, which is closely linked to cognition, and our classrooms are spacious, light, and clean with an eye to order and beauty. Your child will be introduced to materials that support their independence and are an aid to life. As they have the freedom to choose materials that interest them and the encouragement and access to repeat their activity, your child learns to love learning. Our teachers are skilled at creating an environment that closely matches your child’s needs and interests and your child will be intrinsically motivated to engage.

The term “Montessori” implies both philosophy and a method of education philosophy based on the research of Dr. Maria Montessori – an Italian physician and educator. At its heart, the The Montessori method emphasizes independence, freedom within limits, and a respect for the child.

Classroom spaces are purposefully designed and materials carefully curated in pursuit of an education partnership. Multi-aged classrooms provide benefits that are readily apparent when visiting the classroom.

Younger children in the classroom have an opportunity to observe and imitate the older students as they work. Older students have an opportunity to reinforce their own knowledge by explaining what they are doing and assisting and mentoring younger children. Each child can learn and develop at his own pace within a classroom that accommodates many levels of ability and complexity.

Our teachers use both concrete teaching materials and a well-defined innovative curriculum tailored to the child through the three-year cycle. The Montessori teacher is specially trained to observe each child and to design lessons based on that child’s natural curiosity and love of learning.

The guide is responsible for preparing the educational environment within each classroom and for presenting lessons in that environment. During the course of a day, the teacher will demonstrate a wide array of concrete sensorial materials and sequential activities through individual instruction. The child soon learns to associate abstract concepts with hands-on experience.

… independence, freedom within limits, and a respect for the child.