Welcome to Water Lily Montessori – a Wildflower School – located in Lowertown Saint Paul, Minnesota

We collaborate with families to nurture the minds and spirits of children ages 33 months-6 years in an authentic Montessori environment. We strive for equity, community, and connections with nature.

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.

Location & Hours

Location

Water Lily Montessori
499 Wacouta Street
Saint Paul MN 55101

Contact Us

[email protected]

(651)227-7483

Hours

Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 3:30pm

Before & After Care

Due to COVID-19, before and after care is not available at this time. Please inquire if you have specific needs. Thank you.

Transportation

Please contact us for transportation needs.

Lunch & Snacks

Healthy snacks are provided for all children. We can accommodate most dietary needs. Lunch can be purchased or brought from home. Students that qualify for free and reduced lunch have the fee waived.

About Our School

Water Lily Montessori School is an authentic, urban Montessori educational environment. We offer a nurturing learning environment for children aged 33 months to 6 years, as well as quarterly parent education sessions and seasonal cultural community gatherings.

Our Montessori school environment is designed to assist the individual child in developing life skills, literacy, mathematical competency and the ability to work independently.

The entire classroom environment is constructed just for the children which maximizes their independence and self-discovery, while learning how to be part of a greater community of individuals. 

During the day, children at Water Lily Montessori will have an uninterrupted work cycle in the classroom where they are free to choose work they have a presentation on and repeat that work for as long as they desire during the work period. There are four main work areas within the classroom environment – practical life, sensorial work, language work, and math work.

There is nothing more beautiful and hope instilling than seeing children developing the confidence, self-esteem and agency as they engage in the meaningful and self-selected work in the Montessori environment. At Water Lily, we believe we are a community of learners that embraces our mistakes and welcomes the joy in our success. 

Our Calendar

Our school year runs from September 8th, 2021 to June 10th, 2022.

Winter Break is December 20th , 2021 – January 3rd, 2022.

Additional holidays observed are Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day and Memorial Day.

Water Lily Montessori school calendar aligns with Saint Paul Public Schools calendar.

Water Lily 2021-2022 Full Calendar -Subject to change due to Covid

Assessment Calendar

Fall Assessments: October 19th – October 23rd

Spring Assessments: May 17th – May 21st

Our Teacher Leaders

Amanda Jakowich
Director / Founding Teacher Leader

Amanda is an educational leader committed to collaborative learning that engages students, staff, families and the community.   Amanda began her journey by receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Music, from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, where she studied vocal-choral music education.  Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, she immediately dove into family life and utilized her experience as she developed a new identity of being a Mom. After many other adventures, Amanda set off down the path of self-exploration which offered grace, refinement, and growth, in the interest of child development; observing the unique gifted qualities each child possesses.  In the spring of 2019, Amanda completed her Montessori Primary Training at the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota.  Thus, earning the highest, internationally recognized Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) credential.  In the spring of 2020, Amanda completed her Master of Arts in Education from Saint Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  In her free time Amanda enjoys time with family and friends, baking, yoga, almond flavored lattes, adventures in nature and being at home in Minneapolis.

Enroll Now

ENROLLING NOW FOR 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR

We are currently enrolling for our Preschool program, if your child is 33 months-4 years old, please fill out our preschool application.

If your child is 5 years old by September 1st 2022, please fill out our online Kindergarten application. If enrollment becomes full, a waitlist will be available.

Guidance on our Enrollment and Admissions Policy

Click here to learn more about our enrollment and admissions policy.

Tuition

Preschool tuition is $1100 per month for full day 8:30am – 3:30pm​.

We are dedicated to making preschool affordable for every family who applies and have scholarship opportunities. Water Lily Montessori school is a Four Star Parent Aware program.  Please reach out ​to us for more information.

Kindergarten tuition is free. ​We are a public charter school authorized by Osprey Wilds to provide tuition-free kindergarten.

Non-discrimination Policy

Water Lily Montessori School is a nonprofit organization and does not discriminate by race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, sex, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or status with regard to public assistance. Furthermore, Water Lily Montessori School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Water Lily Montessori Policies and Plans

Water Lily’s policies and plans can be found here.

Parent Workshops and Water Lily News

Minnesota Wildflower Montessori School Board Elections

Thursday May 19, 2022 from 6:00-7:30pm

Elections will take place via a Zoom Meeting. Link will be provided to interested candidates. Please reach out to [email protected] for further details.

Resources

Why Montessori?

Why Wildflower?

Consider a charitable gift to Water Lily 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

Water Lily Montessori is part of the Minnesota Wildflower Montessori School public charter, a 501(c)3 nonprofit. All donations are tax deductible.

Wildflower Schools

Water Lily 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.