History of MMS
Meadows Montessori School (MMS) was founded in 2007, originally known as Pioneer Meadows Montessori School. The school was created through the collaboration of several Montessorians and two small Montessori schools with a vision to establish a dynamic AMI school nestled on a small farm serving the families of Whatcom county.
After the purchase of the land, MMS moved to its current location in the fall of 2008 with a temporary building.The first permanent classroom (now our YCC program) was built in the fall of 2009, and the main building, a 10,000 sf school with four classrooms, was completed in the fall of 2011. Our grounds include a barn, spacious playgrounds and outdoor learning areas, as well as fruit trees, grape vines, and raised beds for gardening.
The school became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2010. In 2019 our school became known as Meadows Montessori School (MMS). And in 2020 we expanded our community by gaining our WA State Child Care License and opening our first Assistance to Infancy (toddler age) classroom.
Classroom lead guides are trained and certified through Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), holding their diploma as a lead guide for the level in which they serve. The school received AMI recognition for the first time in the spring of 2016 and continues regular consultations to hold our school to the highest AMI standards.
MMS is located on 5.6 acres in Ferndale, WA adjacent to 12+ acres of open space. Our school has been home to a small flock of wool producing sheep for over a decade, as well as laying hens since 2018 – all of which are collaboratively cared for by our children and staff.
MMS offers an authentic Montessori setting with a nurturing and rich environment designed to respect the natural growth of the children. We are indeed a dynamic school seeking to help create a healthy community of children, families, staff, and community members.
Our Logo
The Fibonacci sequence
“Dr. Montessori noticed early on that children are instinctively attracted to geometry, in large part because everything in the natural world is geometric. As the child adapts to her world, she takes in impressions that are geometric. All natural symmetries are multiples of 2, 3, or 5. The same mathematical patterns or forms are repeated again and again; there is a logarithmic spiral at the tip of a fern leaf, which is the same spiral that is seen in a seashell. The child observes such patterns around her from birth. In this way, these shapes are already a part of the child’s unconscious mind, and thus attract her attention naturally.” 2017. Retrieved from http://www.montessori-blog.org/2017/08/29/geometry-in-nature-the-fibonacci-sequence/
The Fibonacci sequence is introduced conceptually to children in our Children’s House classrooms and continues in larger math lessons given to the children at the Elementary level.
“The Fibonacci sequence is one of the most famous formulas in mathematics. Each number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers that precede it. So, the sequence goes: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on...A mainstay of high-school and undergraduate classes, it's been called nature's secret code and nature's universal rule. It is said to govern the dimensions of everything from the Great Pyramid at Giza, to the iconic seashell...” 2018. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/37470-fibonacci-sequence.html
Our school logo’s color pallet was chosen from our environment, the blues and greens of Whatcom County’s mountains, meadows, and the Salish Sea.
