Preschool

Like in a private Montessori program, preschoolers at Buena Vista are placed in a primary classroom.

Primary classrooms have 3, 4, and 5 year olds taught by a Montessori certified teacher and supported by an educational assistant. Using the unique teaching materials, the teacher prepares the classroom, observes the children, directs the work and offers work according to the readiness and needs of each child.

In the Montessori “prepared environment” there is a variety of work, as well as a great deal of movement. In a Preschool classroom, a three year old child may be washing dishes after finishing their snack while a four year old child is composing words and phrases with letters known as the Moveable Alphabet. In the same classroom, five year old Kindergarten children may be performing multiplication using beads from the Bead Cabinet.

Each of the materials in a Montessori Preschool classroom is designed to teach a lesson and isolate errors so the child can correct it by themselves. Materials usually belong to a succession of lessons, which, in the beginning, are simple and concrete but progressively become more complex and abstract. The curricular areas for each child are: Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, and Cultural Studies.

Preschool Times

Morning Only (M-F) 7:50am-11:05am OR Full Day (M-F) 7:50am-2:50pm

Frequently asked questions

Is there a cost to the program?

The program is free for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. There is a fee for the Preschool program. The tuition rate listed is subject to change.

Preschool families have two options for enrollment:

1/2 day is 7:50 a.m. – 11:05 a.m., Mon – Fri, @ $325/month based on a 9-month payment plan.
Full day is 7:50 a.m. – 2:50 p.m., Mon – Fri, @ $550/month based on a 9-month payment plan.

How do I enroll my child at Buena Vista?

We are a school with no neighborhood boundaries; all families go through a Choice Application process to attend Buena Vista. The application process begins during the District’s Choice Open Enrollment window (November 1 – February 15) the year before your child would begin school. The Choice Application can be found on the District 11 website at https://www.d11.org/Choice.

Once you complete the Choice Open Enrollment Application, you will be on a wait list until February when we begin to process applications. Although the choice window technically closes on February 15, we at Buena Vista continue to accept families onto our wait lists throughout the school year. Applications then become inactive at the end of the school year.

What is the child-teacher ratio?

To begin the enrollment process
start a

District 11 Choice Application by clicking on the link

Interested in learning more about our program? Click on the link below for our FAQ.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Updated March 2023

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