Christian Montessori School of Ann Arbor

🚀 Our Summer Program Finished with a Trip to Space! 🌎✨

For our final week of Summer Program, our students explored all things SPACE! 🪐🚀

We had a special visit from Mad Science, where the children learned about what life is really like for astronauts in space. They were challenged to think like scientists and engineers, working through real problems astronauts face and exploring creative solutions for how we can live, work, and survive beyond Earth. 👩‍🚀🔬

It was a great way to end a summer filled with curiosity, hands-on learning, discovery, and plenty of fun!

Thank you to all of our students, staff, families, and special guests who made this summer one to remember. 💙

☀️ Summer has flown by! We’re already halfway through August, and before we know it, our classrooms will once again be filled with the excitement, curiosity, and joy of a new school year.

As we prepare to welcome our students back, there is still time for new families to join the Christian Montessori School of Ann Arbor community for the 2026–2027 school year!

At CMSAA, children are given the opportunity to learn and grow in a faith-filled, child-centered, Montessori-aligned environment where they are encouraged to explore, discover, build independence, and develop a lifelong love of learning.

If you’ve been considering a different educational experience for your child, we would love the opportunity to show you around, introduce you to our community, and share what makes CMSAA such a special place.

🏫 There’s still time to enroll!
📅 Schedule a tour today at cmsaa.org/tour

We can’t wait to see our returning families and welcome some new faces this fall! ❤️

♻️ Making Old Things New Again! ♻️

This week’s Summer Program theme was Recycling, and our students got to experience recycling firsthand!

The children took used paper, shredded it into tiny pieces, added water, and worked through the process of turning it back into brand-new sheets of thick, handmade paper. Once their recycled paper was ready, they decorated their creations, transforming something old into a completely new, made-from-scratch piece of art! 🎨

Students also got some hands-on experience with our composter, learning how food scraps and other natural materials can be recycled in a different way, breaking down over time and becoming something useful for the earth again. 🌱

It was a wonderful week of discovering that things we might normally throw away can often be given a whole new purpose! 🌎💚

🦋 New Life at CMSAA! 🦋

This week, our first three monarch butterflies emerged from their chrysalises in our Toddler and older classrooms! After weeks of watching tiny caterpillars eat and grow, form their chrysalises, and completely transform, our students finally got to see the beautiful result.

One of the most amazing things about monarchs is the journey behind these little butterflies. The monarchs that return to Michigan each year are part of a multi-generational migration. It generally takes about three to four generations for monarchs to make their way north from Mexico, while one special “super generation” makes the entire journey south again in the fall. When they return it is usually to the same general area that their ansestors came from. That means the great-grandparents of the butterflies emerging at CMSAA may very well have visited and feasted on the same milkweed and flowers growing around our school. And now another generation is preparing to continue that incredible cycle. 🌱🦋

CMSAA will always be a place where we seek to cultivate growth and an appreciation for new life, recognizing the hand of our Creator in the world around us.

Welcome to the world, little monarchs! 🦋❤️

https://youtu.be/1rLEa2iVwpo?is=6IAj1aEI_bMAUgPq

Cooking, Music & a Whole Lot of Hands-On Learning! 🎶🍳
Our Summer Program theme was Cooking & Music, and our students had plenty of opportunities to explore, create, taste, listen, and learn.

👨‍🍳 Chef Ben stopped by and brought the kitchen to life! Students learned how to make roasted peppers and homemade mac & cheese using fresh ingredients. We also had several wonderful parent volunteers join us throughout the week to share some of their own favorite dishes with the children. We are so grateful for a community that is willing to jump in and share their talents with our students!

🎺🥁🎻🎶 Ms. Patty hosted a Musical Instrument Petting Zoo, giving students the chance to see, hear, and actually try out a wide variety of instruments representing all four instrument families: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion!

One of the best parts of summer at CMSAA is giving children the opportunity to learn by doing. Whether they were preparing food, trying a new flavor, strumming a string, beating a drum, or discovering how an instrument makes its sound, there was something new to experience around every corner.

A huge thank you to Chef Ben, Ms. Patty, and all of our parent volunteers who helped make this week so special! 💙

🚧 Construction Week was a huge success at CMSAA! 🚧

Our students spent the week designing, building, creating, and exploring through hands-on construction activities. The highlight of the week was an incredible visit from the Washtenaw County Road Commission, who brought their impressive trucks and equipment for the children to see up close. Thank you to the Road Commission for taking the time to share what you do with our students—it was an experience they won't soon forget!

It turns out the construction wasn't limited to our classrooms. 🦋 Even our monarch caterpillars joined in by beginning construction on their beautiful chrysalises! Watching this amazing transformation unfold has been a wonderful reminder that some of God's greatest works happen one step at a time.

"For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything." — Hebrews 3:4

We can't wait to see what next week brings!

Insect Week at CMSAA! 🦋🐛

This week our students discovered that even the smallest parts of God's creation have an important purpose. From watching our monarch and black swallowtail caterpillars grow into beautiful butterflies, to exploring the woods on nature walks, studying life around the pond, and getting a close look at a fascinating dragonfly nymph (Similar to the larva of a dragonfly), every day was filled with wonder and discovery.

Back in the classroom, our young scientists used magnifying glasses to investigate aquatic insects, created insect-inspired artwork, and asked some fantastic questions about the amazing world God designed.

What a joy it is to learn about God's creation through hands-on exploration! 🐞🌿

Robotics Week was a huge success at CMSAA! 🤖

This week, our students explored the exciting world of robotics through discussions, hands-on crafts, creative building challenges, imaginative play, and continued work with electrical circuits. It was amazing to watch their creativity and problem-solving skills come to life!

🐔 Our feathered friends also had something to celebrate. The chickens enjoyed a BERRY special treat of fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and they wasted no time showing their appreciation!

🦋 We also have some exciting classroom science happening! Several of our caterpillars have formed their chrysalises and, if all goes as expected, should emerge as beautiful butterflies around the start of Insect Week on July 20. We can't wait to share this incredible transformation with our students!

Another week full of discovery, wonder, and hands-on learning at Christian Montessori School of Ann Arbor. We can't wait to see what next week brings!

🔬This week's theme was STEM Week, and our young scientists had a blast exploring hands-on activities, including building their own simple electrical circuits!

We also stayed cool with lots of water fun, celebrated a very exciting milestone by collecting our first egg from the CMSAA chickens, and wrapped up the week with a festive Flag Hunt!

A special thank you to for generously sponsoring the prizes for our Flag Hunt. We appreciate your support in helping make the day even more memorable for our students!

Take a look at some of our favorite moments from the week!

🐾 What a fantastic first week of CMSAA Summer Program!

Our Animal Week was filled with unforgettable experiences. The children met everything from a fennec fox, parrot, snakes, and spiders with Animal Magic to chickens brought by Ms. Anna and Ms. Tina. They explored, asked great questions, got hands-on with some amazing animals, cooled off with water play, and proudly sported their new CMSAA summer shirts.

Here's a look at all the fun from an incredible week! ☀️💦🦊🐍🐔