Welcome to Starflower Montessori, a Wildflower School in Minneapolis, MN.

Starflower Montessori provides an authentic Montessori education for children ages 16 months to 6 years. Our Toddler Community serves children 16 to 33 months and has a ratio of 1-6. Our Children’s House environment is for 33 months to 6 years old children and the ratio is 1-10.

Our mission is to affirm the identities of every child and free them to rise to their highest potential. We are a community embedded school that welcomes and nurtures children and families in a culturally sustained environment. We cultivate mind and body in a way that allows children to create justice in the world around them.

We are a member of the Wildflower Network of schools. Wildflower is an ecosystem of decentralized Montessori micro-schools that support children, teachers, and parents. Wildflower aspires to give all children and families the opportunity to choose high quality, beautiful learning environments as they follow life’s unfolding journey.

Please contact us to receive more information about our school.

Donate to our school to help us offer scholarships!

Our Teacher Leaders

Krista Lucas

Founding Starflower Montessori Teacher Leader

Krista grew up on the East Side of St. Paul and now lives in South Minneapolis. As a teen she volunteered with children and decided to get a job doing what she was already content to do for free! She has completed two Montessori certifications, one for children ages 3-6 and another for ages 0-3. She has been a Montessori Guide in North Minneapolis since 2014. Her favorite part of teaching is getting to know the individual personalities of each child. In 2020 she began doing administrative work and is proud of developing her Quickbooks skills. Her passion is making high quality Montessori education accessible to all families. Outside of school she enjoys spending time at local parks, reading sci-fi and fantasy books, and trying out new recipes in the kitchen.

Sylvie Dosseh

Founding Starflower Montessori Teacher Leader

Sylvie’s career in education began in 2001 as an educational assistant for Robbinsdale Area School District. In 2004 when employed as an assistant teacher in a Montessori school, she fell in love with the Montessori pedagogy and knew she wanted to learn more. It did not take her long to enroll in the Primary Teacher Training Program the following year at the Montessori Center of Minnesota in Saint Paul. She earned her Montessori certification in 2006 and worked in prominent schools in the Twin Cities. She is overjoyed to be the Teacher Leader of a Montessori school as she strongly believes that Montessori education is an unfailing gift to offer a child. She lives in Minneapolis and enjoys spending her free time with her family and going on long walks.

School Details

⬇️ Click on the tabs below for more information ⬇️

Full Day

Full Day 8:00am-3:30pm

Extended Day Program

Aftercare: 3:30pm-5:00pm

Toddler Community

8:00-8:30 Arrival
8:30-10:30 Work Cycle/Morning Snack
10:30-11:00 Toileting
11:00-11:45 Outdoor Time
11:45-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:00 Toileting
1:00-3:00 Nap
3:00-3:30 Afternoon Snack
3:30-5:00 Dismissal/Aftercare

 

Children’s House

8:00-8:30 Arrival
8:30-11:45 Morning Work Cycle/Snack
11:45-12:45 Outdoor Time
12:45-1:15 Lunch
1:15-3:30 Nap/Afternoon Work Cycle/Snack
3:30-5:00 Dismissal/Aftercare

Our school year runs from September-June (with a summer program in July-August) and has similar start and end dates to Minneapolis Public Schools.

 

Additional holidays our school observes throughout the year are: Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, & Memorial Day.

 

We have parent teacher conferences twice a year to collaborate on your child’s development.

The following are available to make Starflower accessible to all.

  • Convenient monthly payment plans
  • Limited amount of scholarships depending on family income
  • Families on Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and Think Small voucher accepted

Please contact us for more information on financial assistance.

Nutritious meals and snacks are provided to all children. Children are welcome to bring lunch each day if they prefer.

Admission & Enrollment

Schedule a visit

To begin the enrollment process, schedule a visit and sit down with our Teacher Leaders to learn more about our school. Clink this link to schedule your visit, or give us a call. We look forward to meeting you!

Complete an Application

If you decide to move forward with us following your visit to our school, fill out our online application.

Admission Confirmation & Tuition Deposit Payment

After reviewing your application we will notify you of your child’s enrollment status. A tuition deposit is required upon receipt of this notification. Starflower Montessori School charges a tuition deposit fee that is equal to ½ month of tuition. This deposit will be applied towards the invoice for the last month your child is enrolled at the school.

Non-discrimination Policy

Starflower Montessori School s a 501c3 nonprofit, which does not discriminate on the basis of: race, color, culture, creed, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation/affectional preference, disability, age, pregnancy, marital status, family structure, economic status, veteran status, status with regard to public assistance or genetic information in its employment, programs, and activities.

News & Events

Information Sessions

coming soon…

Open Houses

coming soon…

Parent/Family Nights

coming soon…

Resources

Learn about the Wildflower network from its founder, Sep Kamvar

Montessori from a father’s point of view

Consider a charitable gift to Starflower Montessori. We believe educational opportunities should be available to families in our community regardless of financial means. We appreciate any support you might offer our community as we strive for social justice through quality, authentic Montessori education.

Donate

Starflower Montessori is a 501(c)3 nonprofit school so all donations are tax deductible.

Board Members

Angelina Momanyi

Angelina Momanyi  currently serves as the Starflower Montessori Board president.  She is a teacher, parent and lifelong northsider. She currently works at North Community High School. Additionally, Angelina works to support her fellow teachers of color as an organizer, facilitator and teacher educator. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys going on long walks around her neighborhood with her family.

 Melinda Kozo

Melinda grew up in Hungary. After a bilingual Hungarian-Italian high-school, she earned two Master’s degrees – in History and in German – from the University of Szeged (Hungary). In 2002, she moved to the US with her husband. She is the mother of two beautiful daughters.

Melinda first learned about the Montessori method in 2010 at her younger daughter’s school and fell in love with the Montessori way.  Two years later, she joined the staff as an office assistant and an assistant teacher, then from 2014 as a Montessori teacher in a 3-6 classroom. In 2013 she started her Montessori training, and in 2015, she earned her AMS/MACTE Montessori Teacher Certification (3-6) through the Greater Cincinnati Center for Montessori Teacher Education.

Melinda is a Teacher Leader at Magnolia Blossom Montessori in Louisville, Kentucky and currently serves as the Starflower Montessori school Board treasurer.

Join Our Board!

Interested in joining the Starflower Montessori School Board? Email us at [email protected] for more information.

Wildflower Schools

Starflower Montessori is a member of the Wildflower Schools Network

Wildflower is an ecosystem of decentralized Montessori micro-schools that support children, teachers, and parents. Our schools aspire to give all children and families the opportunity to choose high quality, beautiful learning environments as they follow life’s unfolding journey.

About Wildflower Schools

Wildflower is an ecosystem of decentralized Montessori micro-schools that support children, teachers, and parents. Our schools aspire to give all children and families the opportunity to choose high quality, beautiful learning environments as they follow life’s unfolding journey.

Our aim is to be an experiment in a new learning environment, blurring the boundaries between home and school, between scientists and teachers, between schools and the neighborhoods around them.Our schools are small and teacher-led, with deep parent engagement. At the core of Wildflower are 9 principles that define the approach.

Our network is supported by a foundation that works to build capacity, systems, tools and research to grow and strengthen the network.

Learn more about our story.

Our Principles

Blurring the boundaries between home-schooling and institutional schooling, between scientists and teachers, between schools and the neighborhoods around them. At the core of Wildflower are 9 principles that define the approach.

Read about them here.

Our Network

After the first Wildflower school was created in January of 2014, there was intense interest in the school and the approach. This interest led us to open-source the model and help other family groups and teacher-leaders to create new Wildflower schools. Each teacher-leader at each Wildflower school serves on the board of at least one other Wildflower school, creating a community of schools that are linked by both a shared philosophy and a network of shared relationships.

View our network.