Montessori Lab School at Grand Center

The Montessori Lab School is a thriving community offering children ages 15 months to 12 years an authentic Montessori education in the urban Grand Center Arts District. Centered around the development of the whole child, the Montessori method instills personal responsibility, critical thinking, resilience, and respect for others–giving children a foundation for learning that will stay with them throughout their lifetime.

MLS programming starts with the Young Children’s Community (~15 months, or walking well, to ~3 years old). This classroom has defined spaces for self-care, language, sensory-motor, and practical life activities. YCC supports the development of movement, language, and independence while building students’ focus, concentration, and love of learning.

In the Children’s House classroom (~3 to ~6 years old), each child navigates the environment and academic materials of their interest while participating in the greater work of a social community. This age student explores through their senses with classroom materials that refine and heighten acute perception of details as the foundation for later academic work.

The Elementary classroom (~6 to ~12 years old) is deliberately prepared to meet children as they are discovering their new powers of creativity and reasoning, a desire for justice, and their meaningful role in the larger community. At this stage of development the awakening social needs of the students align with group lessons and small-group work. This allows them to develop more nuanced skills like delegating tasks fairly, supporting one another collaboratively, solving problems together, and sharing accountability for their environment and community. The Elementary students' developmental needs also extend outside of the classroom where they can begin applying the practical skills they have acquired to real world experiences.

A Montessori education is a time-tested foundation for engaged, lifelong learning and it is our privilege to share that with children and families in the St. Louis area.