REVIEW OF Sunrise Montessori School BY parent, Michelle Toh

(5) Student Experience

My son is currently enrolled at Sunrise Montessori in their Casa program and has been at the school since he was a toddler. We are beyond thrilled with the school and the staff members, the principal Ms. Grace as well as the Toddler/Casa room teachers. They are nurturing and are super accommodating and friendly. My son absolutely adores his teachers and is always so excited to go school every morning, and as a parent knowing that your child is happy and more importantly safe is always a huge factor. The classrooms are very clean and the academic materials are always organized and easily accessible for the students. Being an educator myself, I know the importance of an effective educator and positive learning environment and how it impacts an individual child's overall development and ability to thrive. Therefore, I am so pleased and impressed with Sunrise Montessori School.

(5) School Leadership

The teachers are well-mannered with smiles and greetings at any time of the day. We get calls really quickly either from the principal or the teacher herself if any unforeseen incidents happened, which I am really very happy about. There are always updates/newsletters outside the classroom each time I picked my child up following emails that I received from the school as well. My child has grown up to be a very polite kid and has good etiquette. Always using words like "thank you" and "please!" That amazed me. The classroom teacher will communicate/share with us the happenings in the classroom each day via Class Dojo.

(5) Teaching

I am very happy with the progress of my child. At 2 years old, my child came back home one day and pointed to me the "parts of the trees" and named them all. I was out of words. I saw him progressing really quickly in his language, Math, and Culture studies. In no time, I see him always holding and wanting to read a book. The school organizes a Parent Workshop twice a year. The classroom teacher will introduce herself and at the same time present the educational curriculum that builds a love of learning of the year. I am happy that there are plenty of stimulating indoor and outdoor experiences and lots of free choice and exposure to a variety of materials. I also noticed that my child learned to explore, manipulate, and problem-solve whatever items were given to him.

(5) Academics

They specialized in Practical Life, Math, Language, Culture, and Sensorial. I am impressed by the presentation of the classroom teacher where the children actually benefited from Practical Life. They use their motor skills to help coordinate their movements and this helps them to acquire independence. My child also developed their hand-eye coordination and the concept of sequencing. In Language, I saw how my child started to learn the phonetic sounds and eventually building the short phonetic words. Seeing him reading afterward amazed me. My child also learned verbs, adverbs, singular, plural, diagraphs, articles and etc. In Math, when I look through his workbook, I've seen what was taught in school. They learned about quantities, symbols, and also the combination of both. They used colored beads. Each color bead correlates with a number. The children also learn about the decimal system where they learn to do static addition, multiplication, and division. I saw how my child learned about the map of Canada. He will come home stating the provinces and territories.

(5) Extracurriculars

The school offers after school programs starting from 3.30 pm onwards. The programs are Soccer, Piano, Arts, Robotics, Dancing, Taekwondo and etc. I registered my child in Arts, Robotics and Soccer, and Piano. As for Piano, it is one to one. My child now is doing great in Piano. He performs well during recitals. Also, for Arts, he is into it and always has his own idea and is very creative with his own creation. He attends Robotics and I find that it is very challenging where he is able to explore science and math concepts. The concepts are demonstrated while they are assembling the item. Which means it helps to solve open-ended problems.

(5) Students

To me social interaction plays an important role in learning. I find my child a sociable and happy child whenever I arrive there to pick him up. He would come home to tell us about the interaction between his peers and himself. This is very encouraging as it creates opportunities to practice social skills both individually and in groups. It also increased self-esteem. I find my child knows how to share and is always saying kind things to us. That really impressed me. Generally, the classroom teacher has acted as a model. She has taught with enthusiasm and passion. Thereafter also showing a positive attitude. The teacher uses childrens interest to involve them in all areas of activities.

(5) School Life

My child is always looking forward to going to school in the morning. I feel relieved whenever I drop my child in the morning knowing my child is in good care. To me, my child's safety, health, and happiness is a top priority. Bonding between the teacher and the child, respect towards every child's thought, has a lot of importance in happy learning. The importance of cleanliness in the school shows and I find the washroom for the kids is amazingly clean. To me, this helps to provide a healthy and safe environment for children because they spend most of their time at school. So, maintaining cleanliness in school is vital for many reasons. This also creates an environment that is conducive to teaching.

(5) Community

Sunrise Montessori School has established a very close-knit community amongst parents, guardians, grandparents, teachers and supporting staff. A warm feeling with a sense of well-being and closeness coexists among everyone that gives you a sense of comfort and love within this community. An active and dedicated SMS Parent Council was established a decade ago which works closely with all educators and parents to jointly organize activities and programs for the well-being of the students. The school council is made up of an elected committee of parents, staff, appointed community members, the principal, and a general membership which includes all parents of children attending the school. The school council advises the principal on a variety of issues and activities relating to student achievement, curriculum goals and priorities, and school safety. Coupled with the keen participation from parents during our school field trips which support the safety and supervision of our children at all times.

(5) School Location

I would say the school is located at a decent area. Its quite convenient to drop off and pick my child up. Its a safe place. I don’t see any children venturing out there by themselves as it is guarded safely. The road to get inside the school is a one way. Therefore, the traffic will go smoothly. On top of that, the teacher will only release the child to pick up upon the arrival of the guardian/parent.