Montessori on Elm

Ever heard the phrase «you don’t know a good thing until it’s gone»? Well, I knew Montessori on Elm was a good thing when I had it and I missed it even more when I moved out of the state and it was gone…
My son attended school here from 6 months to 21 months and not only did he have a great time in the program, I had a great time watching him grow through the program!
The teachers and directors were like an extension of our little family — they knew he and I by name, greeted us warmly every morning and hugged him goodbye every afternoon. I never felt uncomfortable with leaving him as I knew that each person in the school genuinely cared about him.
Not all Montessori schools are created equal and this school is definitely one of the few that actually focuses on Montessori practices and the Montessori style of learning/​developing. I saw this right away when he was in the toddler program — his practical life skills were evident daily within our home; while the focus on his social, emotional, and physical development was also very clear. Additionally, I loved the flexibility of the infant program — they allow the babies to be on a schedule that works best for them, rather than having set feeding times and sleeping times.
Each time I see him throw something away in the trash or push in his chair or use sign langue when saying a color name, I know that Montessori on Elm helped in the development of these skills. And even today (over a month since we have left) he will still ask for some of his little friends by name. All of these let me know that his time there had a lasting impression on him (even at his young age) in more ways than he will ever know.

Don’t take them there !!! Worst place ever ! The teachers are old, and the place has a smell to it. My daughter hated it so much. So did i.

Here’s what I’ll say about MY experience — this is the best place I have ever found for my son.
As a new mother I needed a safe, reliable and loving care center for him while my husband and I are at work. We care about safety and well being, as well as his development. This spot covered all the bases. From the moment I talked to Mrs. Cassandra I knew this was our second home. Her love for the children is out of this world.
When my husband transferred locations for work we had to move our son out of the infant program and into another school. That’s the current situation, but I miss M.O.E. so badly that I am now trying to reconfigure my schedule and move ANYTHING around to get him back into this school ASAP. It’s a dream spot.
The only drawback to writing a good review here is that you may read this and take my spot. ;) That said, the teachers deserve to be applauded and celebrated for the incredible work they do and the care they provide. You will never find a better place. You just wont.
Happy to answer ANY questions you may have if you are considering this center.

Like all parents, I was extremely nervous about going back to work and the idea of dropping my little one off at school was something that I absolutely dreaded.
He began when he was just over 6 months (back in Sept 2015). I was prepared to pull him out immediately if there were any warning signs that he was unhappy or not being treated properly. However, quite the opposite happened. Within days he started showing improvement in his crawling ability. That was the first sign that we had put him in a good place. When we’d drop him off he’d be excited, and picking him up he’d seem happy and well cared for. When i’d drop in on him he’d be exploring the floor and gymboree type equipment that they have or in a chair focused on some toy he was trying to master. He has also become very social with other babies… loves to be around them.
While there are some things that could use some improvement, those things are minor in my opinion. I’m happy overall with his care at Montessori on Elm, I believe that the teachers care for him well and that he is thriving with his development.
We especially like his afternoon teacher, Ms Elouisa (I think that’s her name). She’s very sweet and is so attentive with our son. He lights up when he interacts with her, and so I knew that she must treat him with care. We feel good about bringing him here everyday, and just wanted to write a Unilocal review about it (something I rarely do anymore).

I read a lot of Unilocal reviews to help me decide on different places to use, go etc. But I never write one till now I really want to let other parents know about this school. I agree with almost all parents in some form or fashion. Yes when I researched this school it seemed like the perfect place for my 7month old… i loved what they had to offer but I couldn’t have been no farther from the truth!.. these teachers here have no people skills what so ever… they in no way make a parent feel comfortable and secure about leaving there precious Lil one! My Lil one attended here for a few months during the whole time there she remained sick. Runny nose/​full of mucous/​diarrhea and I took her to her pediatrician week after week wandering why is she constantly sick? And her dr. Informed me that it was from the school. at 1^st I couldn’t believe it but after taking her out she has not been sick since!
I removed her after I popped in one day and saw her on the floor crying and screaming along with other children while the teachers were just walking around ignoring them… i picked up my child signed her out and left!.. and ms Cassandra nor ms. Ayomi called me to ask what happened or why didn’t I returned?.. when I went back to retrieve my baby’s things no one but one teacher even spoke to me!.. RUDE AND UNPROFESSIONAL!!! Especially the morning head teacher in the infant room! Ms Aida I believe… parents please do your research when looking for care for your precious Lil 1 and don’t in trust your baby to Montessori on elm!.too expensive to be so unprofessional… plus diapers/​wipes come up missing! and I think they feed the children each others food and do not wash and clean the toys and eating utensils correctly like they should.(my opinion)

I want to start by saying that I’m happy with the education and care that both my girls are receiving at MOE. The only reason why I didn’t put a 5 start is because I feel like there is always room for improvement in some areas. Which to me are solved by communication and the areas that need improvement are pretty low in my list of priority. One thing I can say that we are driven by our emotions when it comes to reviewing and it’s really hard to stay factual. Specially when it comes to our children. I read some of the reviews and I was pretty shocked at 1 review it almost seems like he was reviewing a Jail Facility. I’m not trying to invalidate his feelings but as a parent that chose MOE. I’m a bit offended in his over the top review. It almost seemed like it he was purposely out to hurt the school since his allegations seem so outrages. My husband and I have almost opposite shifts, so we come at all times of the day. Meaning they don’t see us coming, we don’t expect us at a certain time each day. We have been able to observe 6 different classrooms with 10 different teachers. (I’ll explain why).To give you a little back ground. I enrolled both my daughters at the same time in November 2013. My baby was 5 months old and my oldest was 2 years 3 months. My baby was in Room #1, In that room there are several care givers, they work in shifts depending in the necessity of the room. However the mid afternoon care giver is Ms. Eloisa and she was my favorite. She taught my baby spanish which is important to me. In that room from 7:30am to 6pm, they have between 6 wk old to about 1 yr and 3 months. There is not a exact age because they move kids based on development and not age. So, I think the meter for them to be moved up from this room is for them to walk. Not wobble but walk. then they are moved to either room 2 or 3, that’s where by baby is now room #3 with Ms. Shaw. She is really sweet, I’ve only had the pleasure for about 1 month with her but already I’m happy with our communication. Room #3 is not open till 7:30 am. When Ms. Shaw or other care giver comes. So if you are bringing your child from 6 – 7:30am they will be back in room #1. My biggest excitement was my baby’s development. At 1yr 3mos. year old my baby is holding her pencil correctly and scribbles in a paper. Some call it the tripod hold or pinch and flip” method but this is what Montessori is about. This is why we pay the big bucks!!! My 3 yr old is not holding her pencil correctly and I feel like that’s because I enrolled her at an later age and she is still catching up. We all have our priorities and mine are that she is being fed and she is clean. (diaper changed), she is being educated and stimulated. They all have a the highest review from me. Other factors like they cry or they got hit and bit, that’s not something we want our children to go through. However all schools have that one child that bites or hits. At one point or another including your kid will hit and bite. This is the age to teach them is not OK. The care givers are aware of this kids and pay closer attention to them. Being a parent with 2 kids close in age, 2 years apart, I’ve come to the realization that most parents that are just plain scared about everything are first time parents. I know because my first born was in a bubble for the first 2 years before I had my second and I had to take them both to day care. Guess what??? They are going to get sick all the time when they start day care. It’s not because the facility does not disinfect their toys and tables, etc. It’s because they are playing with other kids and learning social kids and that’s part of their development too. When I enrolled my first born, like I said she was 2 years and 3 months and she started in room #4 with Ms. Louisa. She immediately started potty training without me knowing. In 8 months she is now potty trained. Wow amazing!!! I feel like I came short in that area but they helped us out by potty training my child. Now Ms. Louisa did make me feel bad once for a question I made to her after hours. She was obviously overwhelmed and probably not a good day for her. The next day she was the nice and sweet lady again like yesterday never happened. So yeah even they have good and bad days. Once the child is potty trained they are moved to the next room which is room #5 (ages 3 – 5) Ms. Aida, wow she has been there 2 months. I love Ms. Aida, I feel at such an ease with her. Love her personality Great communication. She portrays the love of teaching. She also asked us to please try to bring our 3 yr old to school by 9:30am, which is when she starts her lesson. She really wants her to learn as much as she can. Our schedule are all over the place it’s hard but we try. Lunches are provide for a fee but she still encourages healthy eating, so she asked us to bring fruit/​veggies and water bottle. Ms. Cassandra comes off strong but her intention is good. She runs a tight ship. Structure is important.

My daughter was in MOE for more than 3 years. She learnt a lot from the school, Academics and social behaviors.
Ms. Aida provided the solid foundation for her followed by Ms. Mary and Ms. Mila. She has many friends in school.
Ms. Ayomi was always there for clarifications and Ms. Cassandra is open for all communication.
My son is now with Ms. Aida and we are very happy with MOE.

My husband and I are so thankful to have found this school. After visiting a few schools in the area we felt they provide the most amount of learning opportunities, value and flexibility. Their teachers are loving, nurturing and firm. All teachers seem to know all children. Their Montessori materials are classic and the parents are down to earth. Ms. Cassandra and the teachers understand both the joy and challenges that come with juggling work, family and life. Ms. Cassandra is extremely approachable and returns our non-​urgent calls within a couple of hours. We also wanted to note that Emergency Department at St. Mary Medical Center across the street is specially designated by Los Angeles County as an Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics (EDAP) to care for children.

Disaster! I nevvvver leave reviews but as a parent I would hate for any parent to put there child’s safety and well being at risk with sending their kid to this school. And I hope this review sheds light to the existing parents still enrolled to please take there kids and runnnn! This school has so much potential but the wrath of Ms. Cassandra prevents these children from having a safe encouraging environment. I recently pulled my child out of this school after only being there for a few weeks. Unfortunately ms. Cassandra seems to have mindwarped these teachers and has them walking on eggshells to go along with her charade. I have observed my toddler being bullied literally while I’m standing there in the classroom in 4 occasions and the teachers said… nothing. I witnessed a boy explaining why his mom was in jail because «she beat his dads a$$» (this a 4 year old btw.) absolute chaos in the classroom when I asked to come observe. While the teachers back was turned a child grabbed scissors out of a closed shelf and held it up to another child as if she was going to jab her with it. In this same class period another visibly upset child was throwing train blocks around the room and actually hit another child with one. Also stating «I’m a bad child and I hate this place. „that’s a child screaming for help but unfortunately no one at this school is allowed to answer that need thanks to the school
dicsipling…nor acknowledging the right behavior. No redirection nor any soothing to the „victims“. The red flag should have been clear to me when on the tour I asked what the dicsipline protocol for the school was to Ms. Oyomii and her response was .“ We don’t ever have any issues so there isn’t one». When escalated to Ms. Cassandra she blamed .are you ready? «the city of Long Beach!» Because these children come from possibly broken homes it’s their fault that this school is run like a circus. I feel so sorry for the working parents that don’t have the time to stop in and observe what is going on at this school but I urge you to PLEASE DO! It’s not safe and they do nothing but kick you out if you bring attention to the mess at the school as opposed to resolving it for the betterment of the kids.
And the finale… I saw a baby in the infant room fall out of the swing. Under the care of Ms. Oyomii. Several times I’ve seen close calls as they don’t believe in buckling these sweet ones in. I’d bet money there was no incident report written for that one.smh. Runnnnnnnn!!!

I am including my previous review of Montessori on Elm below, as it no longer shows up. I gave them 5 stars then and am happy to give them 5 stars again.
I would like to specifically address a few comments that have been made regarding Ms. Cassandra. To say that she doesn’t care about the kids could not be further from the truth. Instead of opening several schools in affluent areas (like members of her family have) in order to make money, she chooses to be in Downtown Long Beach because she feels that EVERY child deserves to have access to a quality education. She is personally involved with every child, she knows them all by name, knows their parents, is aware of each child’s academic progress. She can be difficult to get in touch with because she is so hands on running her school. I agree that she should consider hiring someone to handle the administrative aspects (returning calls, etc), but I can’t reduce her score for being too invested in the kids. Our son aged out almost 5 years ago and to this day I wish that he could go back. He thrived academically, socially, and emotionally at Montessori on Elm and he left with a passion for education and learning. My wife and I often say that if we had the money, we would fund Ms. Cassandra to open K-​12 just so we could send our son back there. You would be fortunate to have your child in a school like Montessori on Elm.
Previous Review:
We enrolled our son at Montessori on Elm mostly by chance. The Kindergarten programs in our area do not offer after school care so public school was out. Although this does help to explain the failure of our educational system. We live in a low socioeconomic area, translation, WE ARE POOR. So how are people who have to work supposed to get their kids into Kindergarten? Not to mention single parents. Sorry Timmy, we can’t afford to eat until you finish Kindergarten because I can’t work and get you to school. Yes, I know the rain leaks through the cardboard hut, now be quiet and do your homework. Anyway, we had been searching for a few months to try and find a nonreligious private school to enroll him in. We had almost reached the point of giving up when we found Montessori on Elm. We went in to look at the school and we fell in love with it right away. The school principal sat with us for nearly 2 hours answering all of our questions and explaining the school’s curriculum and philosophy to us. What we really liked on top of the great academic program was the way that the principal views education. Our son is being exposed to music and art far beyond what the public schools do. We also found the school to be a fantastic partner, not only in educating him, but in making him a good person. Our first though was that we could never afford it, but we actually ended up paying slightly less than we had been for daycare. We started him in their summer program right away so that he could acclimate before kindergarten started. The summer program is still very academic, but has a lot more fun in it as well. They bring out ponies, science shows, firemen, police officers, water play, and so much more. What we liked was that all of the fun stuff also had built in lessons. The first week he was there they had a «science/​magic show» and our 5-​year-​old came home telling us how air pressure works. I am a college student currently applying to PhD. programs and I felt stupid. Now that he has settled into Kindergarten and they are out of the summer program I could not be happier with his education. While the public schools are teaching the alphabet and counting in the first few months of school my son is reading, writing, doing double and triple digit addition and subtraction, he comes home excited about science and explains how the world around him works. The school really focuses on each child as an individual and teaches to each child in the group. We could not be happier, we only wish that we could keep him there longer. If you enroll your child here be aware that the school has high expectations and our son has an average of 30 – 60 minutes of homework each night and parents are expected to be involved in helping and are expected to reinforce good behavior, manners, and discipline at home. While this is not a problem for us, I know that some people expect the schools to parent their children, if that is you, this place may not be a good fit.

My child attends this school. Every administration is different, but my experience with Ms. Cassandra has been awful. While there are a few Montessori-​trained teachers on-​site, it is very obvious that she does not require all teachers to be classically trained. I find her administration to be extremely poor. She doesn’t care about the children. If she can rest well knowing the chaos that goes on in some of her classrooms, it’s clear she’s not investing in education. We are pulling our little one out at the endof this year. We love Montessori, but this onesies not meet the standards.

I felt the need to write a review… even though I never do about anything but I saw the negative reviews Montessori received and I know they don’t deserve it.
I have my now 5 year old here and I do understand that communicating with them is sometimes difficult… but they’re taking care of our kids! Ms. Cassandra doesn’t just run the school from her desk she knows every child by name and they know her. Ms. Aomi who is also administration goes to each class and helps give the teachers breaks since they’re only human and Ms. Cassandra does the same. They are a little smaller than other schools in the sense that they don’t have a dedicated office staff, everyone helps where it is needed so they may be difficult to contact at times, but not all the time. If you make an appt then you will get a grand tour and the whole theory of Montessori and get all your questions answered.
I visited many schools before I decided on this one: kinder care which was more like a daycare than a school, Childtime was great but more expensive and any added programs cost more, and the Montessori on Atherton was frightful. Its by a creek that is full of mosquitoes and actually the mosquito guy was there to spray again when I was visiting. Most schools had one large room with all the teachers there and it was just chaotic.
When I came to Montessori on Elm all there were separate classrooms with one teacher to about 12 children, refreshing.
And now, 2 years later my daughter just started kindergarten at MOE and she can read and write and add and subtract and is excited about it. I like the Montessori method because I don’t believe in pushing my little one when she is so little and I just needed to put her in a program because she was 3 and was asking to go to school.
Her time with Ms. Aida was golden because the manners we would learn at home were reinforced in school. And now with miss Mary, she knew a lot already, but now it has all blossomed. Now it has all clicked and become easy. Just tonight she asked if she could read in her bed after all her nightime stories were read because she is so proud of herself that she can sound out the words, the light in her eyes is such a joy to see! I could see how she could be knowing too much by the time she starts 1^st grade (we plan on moving to public school) and I’ve talked about that to the teachers, but just with anything we just need to keep encouraging her at home and continue to have it grow with fun learning activities and games when she gets home. Now my 2^nd daughter is starting in November because I can’t deprive her of all the wonderful things that her sister experienced.
Give MOE a chance because I gotta tell you it’s worth it!

My kids attend the school, the teachers are awasome for my oldest child, but how ever my youngest have the worst teacher ever, the teacher misplaces this lunch container, dipers are missing, and getting bit or hurt every other week, they need to get more help for the little ones. I keep a record every time the baby get injured, because I don’t want the doctors to think I beat my kids. But when I show them the papers of the OUCH REPORT I am in the clear. I love this school only for my oldest child. Best education, and academic structure. but would not reccommend for the little one. I hate to change schools but may have to.

My daughter has been attending this school since she was 5 months old, she is now 16 months old. I couldn’t be happier with the care that she receives there. All of the teachers are wonderful! They go above and beyond all of my expectations. Not only do they provide competent loving care to the children, they provide structured learning that can see the benefits and results from. My daughter loves it there and even cries sometimes when we pick her up. Thats a sign that she is truly well taken care of there!

I never experienced directly with this school, but was put off by the email and phone communication I had. Ms. Cassandra emailed me a week and a half after my online inquiry. I said specifically in my email that I was out of the country and would not be reachable by phone and the type of information /​pricing I was looking for. I got sent a «cookie cutter» FAQ email with no answers to any questions.
So, I called — even though it’s $ 2.29 per minute, and we talked for a couple of minutes (I don’t even think she was listening to what I was saying), and then she asked for me to call her back in five minutes because she had another call. I restated that I was calling her internationally and she still insisted I call her back.
Needless to say, I didn’t waste another penny on calling her back.
Poor customer service. If she is this careless and thoughtless on the phone, I would not trust her with my newborn.