Stepping Stones Montessori School
Farm School In The Age Of COVID
Jun 01, 2020

It is June 2020, and the entire staff and Board of Stepping Stones Montessori School is focused on the how of reopening school in the fall. Our objectives are the same as ever:

  • Keep children safe
  • Remain true to Montessori pedagogy by:
  • Providing a developmentally-appropriate, prepared environment
  • Fostering independence through choice and responsibility
  • Working with children to assist them in developing social and communication skills in a community

Montessori schools across the globe are exploring how to do these things in the age of COVID-19. Some schools have opened in places like Norway, Denmark, and Germany. Montessori schools in the US have been working together to plan for next year.



Those plans include more outdoor education, smaller class sizes, and social distancing. All of those prove difficult in standard classrooms, where outdoor space may be limited to a few groups at a time, where class size is usually 20 or better, and where room capacity limits the ability to create distances between students. 



We are hearing from local public schools that junior high and high school will likely be “blended” learning between school campus and home. In one local school, it is looking as though each student will be at school twice a week for a half-day each time. The remainder of classes and learning will be done online. And, there is very little likelihood that athletics, theater, music, and clubs will come back other than as online groups.



Given what we know about the needs of adolescents, this kind of schooling just doesn’t meet the mark for what students need. Socialization, social relationships, and finding meaning within a group are the important work of adolescence. Spending time at school for ½ day twice a week is not going to fulfill that developmental need.

That is why despite all of the challenges and obstacles to doing school for our younger students, our Adolescent Program at River Ridge Farm shines as it will be able to function with very few modifications.



At River Ridge Farm, our adolescents enjoy the use of 110 acres of outdoor space. They care for animals, hike, and they even canoe on the small lake. Their classroom includes a large garage door that opens to the outdoors to the north. On the south and west, the classroom has large windows that can be opened to create airflow and ventilation.


The Adolescent Program is also a small class, with fewer than 10 students. This means that the entire class is a single cohort, reducing the level of potential exposure for each student, and permitting straightforward contact tracing should that be needed.


Finally, the Adolescent Program is built upon the need for autonomy and independence in adolescents as well as their need to develop their own identity in a community. I cannot imagine trying to do that in a traditional school with cohort learning, hybrid learning, or at-home learning. 


Our Adolescent Program for 2020-21 will continue to function as intended. Stepping Stones students will participate in building their social selves, their autonomous selves, and their physical and emotional selves. As of today, we can accommodate all of our students in a single cohort, five-days a week, with in-person interactions, and with responsibilities that go beyond worksheets they do from home. Our classroom numbers are below 10, and we have plenty of outdoor space to maintain social distancing as we learn together. Obviously, that could change if current guidance or executive orders change, but we are optimistic that our farm campus will run closer to “normal” than any of our other programs. 


And that is good fortune beyond measure.


If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to Sarah Danielski, in our Admissions Office for more information.

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