Enhance your time in Boston by exploring exemplary AMS-member schools and experiencing New England history and culture.

Choose one of the six tours listed below. Each tour visits one or two schools, and most also include a cultural venue. All schools except Lexington Montessori School (Tour 3) will be in session.

Tour buses will depart from and return to the Boston Marriott Copley Place. All buses will return to the hotel by 3 PM.

Tour requests will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

After registering for a school tour, you will be e-mailed a ticket. Please print and bring this ticket with you to board your tour bus. If you forget your ticket you will need to check in at conference registration before the tour.

Tour 1: River Valley Charter School in Historic Newburyport
Departs: 7:45 AM
Approximate travel time: 1 hour
Fee: $65 for AMS members, $55 for AMS adult learners, $75 for nonmembers (Lunch at the school included)

River Valley Charter School
Newburyport, MA
Director: Jeanne Schultz

• Regional, public, Montessori K–8 school
• Founded by parents in 1999
• Serves 288 students, ages 5–14

The first Montessori charter school in Massachusetts, River Valley now mentors other public Montessori schools. Its tuition-free program is holistic, child-centered, interdisciplinary, academically challenging, and interwoven with the rich and varied resources of the Merrimack River Valley region.

Campus and facilities: The school campus occupies a small, attractive setting in a seaside community.

Noteworthy: Regional partnerships support the school’s mission of being rooted in the history, culture, and ecology of the Merrimack River Valley. Partnerships with national and international environmental, historical, and human service organizations also strengthen the curriculum. Relationships with universities, local groups, and Montessori organizations and training centers benefit the school-wide community: these community relationships will be highlighted in classrooms during the tour.

After lunch at the school, enjoy a stroll through historic Newburyport, a restored brick-and-granite seaport at the mouth of the Merrimack River. Settled by English colonists in the 1630s, Newburyport prospered due to maritime trade—and privateering during the Revolutionary War—and was a major shipbuilding center through the 19th century.

Explore quaint downtown shops and historical museums, see Federalist mansions on High Street and 350-year-old Colonials near the wharf, and breathe salty air from the harborside boardwalk.

Tour 2: Harborlight Montessori School and Peabody Essex Museum
Departs: 8 AM
Approximate travel time: 40 minutes
Fee: $75 for AMS members, $65 for AMS adult learners, $85 for nonmembers (Lunch at the school and museum entrance fee included)

Harborlight Montessori School
Beverly, MA
Head of School: Susan Egan

• Independent, nonprofit, coeducational day school with toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school programs
• Founded in 1973
• Serves 275 students, ages 6 months–14 years

Harborlight’s rich academic program is grounded in the philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori with a strong concentration in art, music, world cultures and languages, and the development of a social conscience.

Campus and facilities: A remodeled residential home includes two infant classrooms and three toddler classrooms. The main building houses six early childhood classrooms, three lower elementary classrooms, three upper elementary classrooms, the middle school, and many auxiliary rooms for extracurricular activities.

Noteworthy: Harborlight serves as the laboratory school for the National Center for Montessori Education–New England’s teacher education programs at the Infant/Toddler and Early Childhood levels. AMS-accredited.

After lunch, your bus will take you to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, which has been collecting works of art and culture from around the world since 1799.

The Peabody Essex is one of America’s major museums for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Indian art as well as 19th-century Asian photography. It holds the earliest collections of Native American and Oceanic art in the nation. Its historic houses and gardens and American decorative and maritime art collections illustrate 300 years of New England heritage.

Tour 3: Lexington Montessori School, Orchard House, and Oak Meadow Montessori School
Departs: 8:15 AM
Approximate travel time: 25 minutes
Fee: $75 for AMS members, $65 for AMS adult learners, $85 for nonmembers (Lunch at a school and Orchard House entrance fee included.

Lexington Montessori School
Lexington, MA
Head of School: Aline Gery

• Independent, nonprofit, coeducational day school with toddler, Children’s House, lower and upper elementary, and middle school programs
• Founded by parents in 1963
• Serves over 240 students, ages 21 months–14 years

Lexington Montessori’s national reputation is built on curriculum innovation and authentic Montessori practice as well as an integrated anti-bias curriculum.

Campus and facilities: A Federal-style homestead provides a toddler classroom, four classrooms for 3–6-year-olds, and administrative offices. A specially designed building houses three lower elementary classrooms, an upper elementary classroom, and a gym-size multipurpose room. A third building holds an art studio, a music room, the library, and the middle school classroom. Younger children play on the campus center green while elementary students enjoy a playing field and woods.

Noteworthy: Lexington Montessori School includes diverse student and teacher populations from a broad socioeconomic range. AMS-accredited.

After lunch at the school, your bus will take you to Orchard House, the Concord home where Louisa May Alcott wrote and based Little Women. See rooms and artifacts used by the Alcott family and learn about the radical educational theories of Louisa’s father, Bronson Alcott, who believed that children’s knowledge came from within and that art, nature, and self-discovery were critical. This tour will emphasize the unique roles that Alcott and Montessori played in educational history.

Oak Meadow Montessori School
Littleton, MA
Head of School: David Stettler

• Private, nonprofit Montessori school with Children’s House, lower and upper elementary, and middle school programs
• Founded in 1977
• Serves 266 students, ages 3–14

Oak Meadow’s comprehensive curriculum includes art, drama, music, gym, and Spanish, as well as frequent and diverse field trips and guest speakers.

Campus and facilities: A spacious, sunlit building, surrounded by three acres of playing fields and playgrounds, holds four full-day and two half-day Children’s House classrooms, five lower elementary and three upper elementary classrooms, and the middle school program.

Noteworthy: In September 2009, Oak Meadow unveiled its newly constructed 6,500-square-foot Athletics and Performing Arts Center, plus renovations on existing buildings that created a new art studio, learning center, and community gathering room. AMS-accredited.

Tour 4: Andover School of Montessori and Self-Directed Tours of Lowell Museums
Departs: 8:30 AM
Approximate travel time: 30 minutes
Fee: $55 for AMS members, $45 for AMS adult learners, $65 for nonmembers (Includes bus transportation only; lunch and museums on your own in Lowell)

Andover School of Montessori
www.andomon.org
Andover, MA
Head of School: Peg Roberts

• Incorporated, nonprofit school with Children’s House, lower and upper elementary, and middle school programs
• Founded in 1975
• Serves 200 students, ages 3–14

Andover staff, families, and board members collaborated to craft this vision statement: Andover School of Montessori students will be learners for life: confident, independent, and always striving to enrich their lives by learning..

Campus and facilities: A new building was constructed on seven acres of school-owned land in 1996 and expanded in 2001 to add a library, a science/math lab, a staff room, and a 2,000-square-foot multipurpose room. It also houses four Children’s House classrooms, three lower elementary and two upper elementary classrooms, and a middle school classroom.

Noteworthy: Andover graduated its seventh middle school class in 2009. AMS-accredited.

After touring the school, you’ll be bused to historic Lowell, for lunch on your own.

Spend the afternoon discovering the many museums and shops located throughout this classic mill town. Click each museum for more information:

American Textile History Museum
Boott Cotton Mills Museum
National Streetcar Museum
New England Quilt Museum
Revolving Museum
Whistler House Museum of Art

Tour 5: Thacher Montessori School and Wakefield Farm
Departs: 8:45 AM
Approximate travel time: 15 minutes
Fee: $75 for AMS members, $65 for AMS adult learners, $85 for nonmembers (Lunch at the school included)

Thacher Montessori School
Milton, MA
Head of School: Frederic Catlin

• Private, nonprofit Montessori school with toddler, primary, lower and upper elementary, and middle school programs
• Founded in 1972
• Serves 270 students, ages 15 months–14 years

Thacher is dedicated to nurturing children’s innate love of learning and preparing them to succeed in all aspects of life, both academically and socially. Less than a mile from Boston city limits, the school benefits from a richly diverse population.

Campus and facilities: Thacher’s current building was built on the school’s 3-acre campus in 1989 and has been expanded three times. It includes one toddler, four primary, three lower elementary, two upper elementary, and a middle school classroom. The space was designed as a Montessori environment and has plenty of natural light, large classrooms, attached outside environments, a library/atrium, a greenhouse and science lab, an activity center/gymnasium, and an art studio.

Noteworthy: Thacher is located across the street from a 7,000-acre natural preserve and is adjacent to Wakefield Farm, a 22-acre natural preserve that students use for orienteering, science activities, exploration, and the middle school’s farm program. AMS-accredited.

After lunch at Thacher School, the tour group is invited next door to visit Wakefield Farm. (Participants should wear comfortable walking shoes appropriate for low grass and wooded areas. Hiking boots are not necessary.)

The Wakefield property was in the hands of one family for 300 years. Now held in trust, it has only recently been opened to the community for educational purposes. In addition to nurturing a wealth of plant species, the tract surrounds two 18th-century homes that contain three centuries of archived material.

Tour 6: Cambridge Montessori School and Tobin Montessori School
Departs: 9 AM
Approximate travel time: 15 minutes
Fee: $65 for AMS members, $55 for AMS adult learners, $75 for nonmembers (Lunch at a school included)

Cambridge Montessori School
Cambridge, MA
Head of School: David Harris

• Private, nonprofit Montessori school with toddler, primary, lower and upper elementary, and middle school programs
• Founded in 1963
• Serves 240 students, ages 24 months–15 years

Cambridge Montessori offers language, cultural studies, sciences, arts, mathematics, and Spanish. The primary years, ages 3–5, develop the conceptual base for formal academic work while introducing music, art, and gym. The elementary grades, 1–6, develop proficiency in core academic subjects, visual and performing arts, and physical education. The middle school grades, 7–9, provide a progressive, interdisciplinary curriculum, emphasizing education for sustainability, a laptop program, arts, community service, and sports.

Campus and facilities: Currently operating on three adjacent locations, the school is actively seeking a new campus on which to expand and construct a unified facility.

Noteworthy: A Learning Center, directed by the school psychologist and learning specialist, supports children with learning differences. Grade 9 was added to the middle school for the 2009–10 school year. AMS-accredited.

After lunch at Cambridge Montessori School, you will be bused to Tobin Montessori.

Tobin Montessori School
Cambridge, MA
Head of School: Seth Lewis Levin

• Public Montessori school, offering Children’s House and lower elementary programs
• Opened in 2007 as the first public Montessori school in Cambridge
• Serves 176 students, ages 3–7

Tobin uses the Montessori method and must also address state standards and district curriculum frameworks. All students participate in Spanish, music, physical education, library, technology lab, and art studies.

Campus and facilities: Tobin Montessori began with five Children’s House classrooms and four lower elementary classrooms in a public school building that houses an existing, non-Montessori program. Age levels will be added until the building has transformed into a pre-K–8 Montessori school.

Current facilities include two computer labs, an automated lending library, and a literacy center for teachers. Partnerships with City Sprouts, the Audubon Environmental Center, and the Maynard Ecology Center allow students to study beyond the school walls.

Noteworthy: Tobin provides ESL (English as a second language) services for students from over 40 native language groups and is an inclusion special education school.