News

November 10, 2009
By Kirsten Laskey Community Editor

Bilingual Montessori School relocated to its new building at 115 Longview Drive Oct. 1 and everyone  from the students to the teachers are noticing and appreciating the differences.

The school, owner Odalys Fernandez said, needed a bigger space than its former 111 Longview Drive building. to accommodate its larger student population. The number of students grew from 37 to 50.

These 50 students have plenty of space in the new building, which features five classrooms, a portal for 1-year-olds, a playground, kitchen and teacher’s lounge.

“Everybody has their own space,” Fernandez said.

It’s not just the play space for the children that increased, storage space has also expanded, she added.  

“We have more play space for the kids, storage space, all around it’s much better,” Fernandez said.

“Everybody loves it,” she said.

Her feelings were shared by several of the students.

Several students shared what they liked best about their new school.

Lily Shevitz said she enjoyed jumping on the trampoline in the new all-purpose room and,  “I like the library.”

Vincenza McMahon said, “I like to do art in the all-purpose room. I like to learn stuff. I like the outside playground.”

If Luke Gonzales had to choose between attending class in the old school and having his class in the new school, he would pick the new school.

“This school,’ he said, “because me and my grandpa tried to peak through the windows (when it was being renovated).”

Gonzales added he likes “that it has a bigger space for the playground and it has a bigger library.”


January 27, 2009
By Kirsten Laskey Community Editor

Since opening Bilingual Montessori School in June 2008, Odalys González Fernádez has experienced many accomplishments in less than a year. Not only did she fulfill her dream of operating a school, but enrollment has climbed up to 30 families.

Today, González Fernádez is heading to the Capitol Building to be recognized for a new accomplishment.

She is one of 20 Small Business Development Center clients to earn a 2008 success client award.

“We feel great of course,” González Fernádez said. She added they “feel honored,” to receive the award after being in business for only a short period.

“She was chosen because we worked with her to see her business come to fruition,” Venessa De Los Santos, business advisor, said.

De Los Santos said González Fernádez worked with the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos Small Business Development Center for two years to open the school.

“She just had the dedication to keep going,” she added.

Bilingual Montessori School, according to its website, combines Montessori and Spanish language education to develop young minds. The school employs five teachers, an assistant and a volunteer to teach students and combines an exclusive curriculum based on Montessori and bilingual education with childcare services.

Enrollment is open to 3-month-olds to 6-year-olds. González Fernádez said the school offers everything from infant massage and exercise to arts and music.

“It’s a very loving care facility,” she said.

At the Small Business Development Center, De Los Santos said, “we provide free confidential business counseling.” This is available to business owners, people starting up a business or people interested in becoming entrepreneurs.

“We help bring up other questions. We help evaluate … we can do everything from helping them with business plans, finding the right resources (to) marketing and helping current business owners with problems that may come up in the business,” she said.

In addition to the Small Business Development, González Fernádez thanks the community for its support, adding she is grateful to receive this award. “This is an honor,” she said.

It won’t be fit for a king – but a princess will feel right at home.
Although the floor has yet to be placed, Bilingual Montessori School, LLC, has already began to look like a child’s paradise. Little giraffes and flowers lie about, waiting to decorate the walls. Six white cribs are ready to go in the infants’ room. Tiny, blue toddler-cots recline against a wall, as does a large table with holes in it designed for high-chair-type seats – keeping children together and making mealtime less of a challenge for teachers.
And in the girls’ bathroom, above a low sink is a pink-framed mirror with the word “Princess” inscribed above the glass.
Within the next few weeks, Odalys González Fernández plans to completely remodel her space at 111 Longview Drive, beside Dance Arts Los Alamos’ (DALA) White Rock studio.
“Everything’s going to be built to kid-size,” she said. “To their level.”
The school will serve three age groups: infants (6 weeks old to 14 months), toddlers (14-36 months old) and children age 3-6. The school will stay open until 6 p.m., instead of 5:30 p.m. like many other schools, for 3- to 6-year-olds, so that parents can run errands on their way home from work, she said, before they have their children in tow.
Summer session will take children up to age 8.
She and Irina Yazikova, an administrator/teacher at the new school, will place wrestling mat-like coverings over the floor in the infants’ room so new crawlers and walkers don’t scratch or hurt themselves. Homemade sheets are in the works for the toddler-cots. In order to enter the school, parents will punch in key codes – different codes for each age-separated section.
Enrollees also have dance – through a partnership with DALA – and gymnastics to look forward to.
“We’re doing this to serve the community,” Fernández said, explaining that Los Alamos already has excellent schools for older children, but parents of younger children have long desired another option.
“The need has been here since ’85,” she said, “when I came to town. I tried to address it where I was teaching (at Ponderosa Montessori), but it was never enough … Now, people learning about the school are saying to me, ‘My God – thank you!’”
And although registration doesn’t officially open until May 1, the infant section is already full, she said.
She decided to make the school bilingual mainly because, to her knowledge, there is no other bilingual Montessori in northern New Mexico.
She said that although young children pick up a second language very quickly, many whose parents or grandparents speak Spanish either don’t speak it at home, or do but then lose it after a few years of school.
At Bilingual Montessori in White Rock, students will watch Spanish-language children’s television programming, sing Spanish songs and learn practical Spanish-conversion skills.
“They can order at Taco Bell in Spanish,” Fernández said. “They can talk to their grandparents. And it gives them power to do something not everyone can do.”
In the Montessori tradition, the school will teach a variety of practical skills, such as cutting bread, making their own sandwiches and peeling potatoes. Not only do these activities help children build independence, but they also promote finger/hand strength and coordination, which helps children with writing later on.
Also in line with other Montessori schools, students will learn in mixed-age classrooms, where older children teach the younger ones, and everyone can go at his or her own pace.
“The older kids love to be teachers,” Fernández said, adding that the school highly encourages sharing of toys as well as knowledge.
“We promote the concept of the family,” she said. “It’s not yours. It’s not mine. We’re a community.”
Fernández plans to bring that idea out into the community as well, partnering with DALA and the White Rock Senior Center, where she hopes to connect children with senior volunteers – benefiting both the children and the seniors, many of whom are separated from their grandchildren.
One of her former students took the sharing lesson to heart – and came back to prove it years after he knew Fernández in school. Andy Spall, 23, now a resident of Chama, called his former teacher and volunteered to paint her school, which is several thousand square feet.
“He said, ‘Since you helped me so much, I want to help you,’” Fernández said. “He spent two weeks painting the whole school … That was really touching.”
She added, “That’s why you teach. They grow up and remember you.”
Bilingual Montessori will hold an open house from 5-6 p.m. May 29. The first day of summer school will be June 2, and the fall semester begins Aug. 18. Check out www.bilingualmontessorischool.com for more information, including registration forms, or call the school at 672-1800.