Many Rivers Montessori

This week, our Elementary and Middle School students put their creativity and curiosity to work during STEM Camp! 🚀🔬

We love seeing our campers learn by doing, exploring new ideas, and bringing their creativity to life through hands-on experiences!

🎭✨ The stage is set, the costumes are on, and the smiles say it all!

Our Elementary Summer Camp students have been hard at work bringing Robin Hood to life—building confidence, collaborating with friends, solving problems, and having fun along the way. Thanks so much to Story Book Theatre for helping our kids have a wonderful experience this week!

Opportunities like these are about so much more than putting on a performance. They nurture creativity, independence, teamwork, communication, and the confidence to try something new. Did you know that MRM students put on four different plays each school year too?

If the leading kid in your life is still looking for the right cast to join, we do have a limited number of openings in our Elementary program for students entering 1st through 6th grade.

📞 Contact us to schedule a tour or learn more about how Montessori helps all kids shine.

Career educator. Returning Northlander. Coffee lover. Rugby player. Lifelong learner. Mom. Leader.

These are just some of the words that describe our new Head of School, Dr. Catherine Gillach, and we're delighted we can now add MRMer to the list.

"Be Your Whole Self" is one of Many Rivers' guiding values. From our very first conversations, Catherine showed us that the way she leads is deeply connected to who she is.

Yes, her résumé reflected decades of experience. But the person behind it embodied the spirit of Many Rivers. Catherine keeps children at the center. She listens before she speaks, asks thoughtful questions, embraces complexity, solves problems creatively, and leads with confidence, humility, and joy.

We're glad she's here.

Leading a small school is a big job. In her first week, Catherine has already been getting to know MRM from the inside out—observing summer programming, studying staffing schedules, changing air filters, and laughing with kids in the hall, all while preparing thoughtfully for the school year ahead.

Please join us in welcoming Catherine to Many Rivers. We invite current and former families to share a word, phrase, or memory that captures what makes our school special to you. Your contributions will help Catherine get to know the people, stories, and traditions that make our community what it is.

Learn more about Catherine and her path to MRM: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lbB73RMpS51NuJVAl4DtY3tP_EvuHtT6/view

Open House
Wednesday, July 22
3:00–5:00 PM
RSVP in comments

Come explore our historic building and learn more about Montessori!

Whether you're actively considering enrollment or just want to learn more about our school community, we'd love to welcome you!

Light refreshments will be served.

Many Rivers Montessori
We look forward to meeting you!

Summer is a season of transition, as one school year comes to a close and another begins. This year also marks a transition in leadership for MRM.

Please join us in celebrating and saying thanks to Interim Head of School Jenny Keto for her steady, compassionate leadership over the past year. We are so grateful for all she has given to our community and are delighted that she will continue to be part of MRM as she returns to lead Rapids, our reading support program.

Feel free to shout out Jenny in the comments below, and please stay tuned for an intro to our new Head of School later this week!

Sometimes the smallest discoveries leave the biggest impression.
🌿

During Outdoors Week at Summer Camp, our elementary explorers are slowing down, observing, and connecting with the natural world—one tiny creature at a time. Earlier this week, curiosity led to a close encounter with a slug, reminding us that every living thing has a story worth noticing.

In Montessori, we believe nature is one of the greatest classrooms.

Open House
Wednesday, July 22
3:00–5:00 PM

RSVP here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4FAAAD23A1FECE9-64707734-mrmsummer #/

Come explore our building and learn more about Montessori!

Whether you're actively considering enrollment or simply want to learn more about our school community, we'd love to welcome you!

Many Rivers Montessori
We look forward to meeting you!

Yesterday, we welcomed back many of our MRM alumni who are now graduating seniors at high schools across the Northland. They spent time with our Upper Elementary students reminiscing about their years at Many Rivers... sharing memories of Camp Storm Spirit, plays, reports, friendships, and the experiences that helped shape who they are today. 💙

It was a powerful reminder of the importance of the Montessori three-year cycle and the capstone years that complete it. These final years in each plane of development are where students step fully into leadership, confidence, independence, and mastery; carrying forward the skills and experiences they have built over time.

This week, we celebrated another important capstone milestone with our 3rd Grade Biography Presentations.

We also look forward to celebrating our students completing their cycles next week:
✨ 6th Grade Presentations — Tuesday 6/2 at 2:00 PM
🎓 8th Grade Graduation — Wednesday 6/3 at 1:30 PM
🌱 Rising Ceremony — Thursday 6/4 at 10:30 AM

Our Rising Ceremony recognizes students who are completing and transitioning from each three-year cycle:
• Kindergarten → 1st Grade
• 3rd Grade → 4th Grade
• 6th Grade → 7th Grade
• 8th Grade → High School

These moments are some of the most meaningful in a Montessori journey, and we are so proud of every student as they prepare for what comes next. ❤️

Protecting concentration is at the ♥️ of Montessori education, and it’s more important than ever in today’s distraction-filled world. When children are given the opportunity to concentrate, they experience joyful engagement while building essential cognitive and emotional skills.

At MRM, our classrooms support this through extended, uninterrupted work cycles lasting 2–3 hours for all students, from toddlers through middle schoolers. During this time, children choose meaningful work, repeat activities as needed, and complete tasks at their own pace, helping to develop concentration, executive functioning, independence, and a lifelong love of learning.

Learn more about Montessori's approach to concentration here: https://www.montessori.org/supporting-the-development-of-concentration/ and reach out to our Admissions Coordinator at 218.464.5570 if you'd like to explore the possibility of Montessori for your child here in Duluth.