A School In Your Community
This fall marks the beginning of our 25th year of providing outstanding Montessori education to the children of families in Champaign-Urbana, Savoy, and surrounding communities. We are deeply grateful to have shared in the lives of so many remarkable children and their families. It has been quite a fantastic 24 years – including the pandemic months of last spring and this year. To serve our students exceptionally well during this unique year, we created both in-person and remote learning opportunities which supported student achievement and growth through lessons designed for joyful discoveries and powerful connections. We look to our 25th year with excitement, and are delighted to serve children and their families for the next 25 years and beyond!
Children learn and achieve the most when they advance through subjects at their own pace, in ways that suit their learning style, without being limited by the progress of the group.
The beauty of Montessori education is that the curriculum provides for the addition of new learning opportunities to come into the classroom. What discoveries will the children make during their school-break adventures or in a simple evening at home? What discoveries will the teachers make as they try new things? It is very important for teachers to be eager and enthusiastic learners, too! All those discoveries and adventures bring inspiration in the classroom! There is always new materials to research, greater understandings to develop, so much to share and learn with one another!
Language
Our classrooms are immersed in language activities at all levels. Opportunities for conversation abound! Letter sounds, letter recognition, word building, and reading blossom in preschool. Reading and text analysis in a wide variety of forms continues throughout elementary and in the middle school classrooms, along with grammar, word studies, mechanics, and a wide assortment of writing opportunities.
Math
Math concepts begin in the preschool classroom as children learn quantity, then symbol, then associate quantity and symbol along with introductions to place value, operations, and geometry. In elementary, children move through an individualized math curriculum based on math work plans created from assessments. In middle school, the individualized pace continues as students work through the University of Chicago math texts.
Cultural Studies
The cultural studies area of our classrooms encompass learning materials from science to art, from geography to earth science, from botany to zoology, from prehistory to history. The opportunities for research, developing and deepening understandings about the world, and the contributions and discoveries that have been made – and yet to be made – are ongoing daily.
Sensorial
The materials of the sensorial area in the preschool classroom encourages children to learn by processing information gathered through their senses.
Math
Math continues the cognitive math development that began in the Practical Life Skills and Sensorial curriculum, taking an acute focus and more abstract thinking process with concrete materials.
Experience why our children are HAPPY to learn!
What Makes Us Special?
Our students have the opportunity to find out just who they are, on their own timetable, in a child-centered environment where their individuality is cherished.
Experienced Faculty
A warm and nurturing environment with a professional and well-trained, experienced faculty.
Innovative Learning
An innovative learning environment that fosters deeper thought and stimulates questioning and student-led research.
Parent Involvement
Opportunities for parent involvement in the school’s culture.
Natural Play Areas
Natural play areas and gardens that the children assist in caring for, promoting responsibility and independence.
Love & Care
Home-like learning environments that the children assist in caring for, promoting responsibility and independence.
The Essentials
Our Mission & Vision
Our mission at Montessori Habitat is to educate children from ages three to fourteen by providing kind, eager, highly capable, lifelong learners as teachers committed to meeting each student’s individual learning needs in beautiful, supportive classroom environments filled with high-quality materials and curriculum which enhance the learning process and foster curiosity, self-direction, self-pacing, focus, and collaboration in order to nurture compassionate, confident, and capable leaders that value justice, education, and kindness.
Our vision at Montessori Habitat is to provide an educational foundation that propels our students to embrace and excel as empowered lifelong learners resulting in the enrichment of their local, national, and world communities through their contributions of positive leadership.
A Brief Overview About Our Campus and Classes
Gardens, trees, and open spaces on two beautiful acres welcome you at Montessori Habitat near the intersection of Kirby and Prospect Avenues in Champaign. Our large classroom windows are designed to provide perpetual opportunities to observe the calming – and thrilling – beauty of the natural world.
As we begin the school year with gardens full of flowers, butterflies delight as they flit from flower to flower, and hummingbirds enchant with their acrobatics. Caterpillars, dazzling in color and design, are collaboratively identified. Careful searches for chrysalises are spontaneously conducted, “finds” are honored, and often create thoughtful conversations about “Why there?” along with plans to monitor as the metamorphosis happens within.
Admissions
The process begins with scheduling an appointment for a school tour. Due to the current pandemic situation, we host a Live Virtual Tour and Q&A session through Zoom. Please click the button below to schedule a virtual tour.
Parent Testimonials
“Having an older child who was educated in a non-Montessori setting, we can appreciate the Montessori method that meets the child where his or her curiosity lives. It promotes a love of learning that is based on mutual respect and a hands-on, tactile approach to a wide variety of subjects. We were very impressed with how Montessori Habitat managed to pivot to online learning during the pandemic. Despite all the stress and uncertainty since March 2020, we knew we could count on them to help us keep our child on track.“
“My son loves the school, the teachers, and the amount of information he has learned willingly is extremely impressive. He refuses to go to any other school. This is a great school for our son, especially speaking from a parent who transferred new into an area. Great school, amazing team.“