About Us

Our Campuses

Each classroom contains a robust curriculum including botany, zoology, experimental science, art and music (composition, theory, and appreciation), geography, history, sensorial materials, mathematics, language, and practical life.

Our Forest Campus, located at 544 Canton Hollow Road, Knoxville, TN 37934, offers two Early Childhood (3-6 years) classrooms, one Lower Elementary classroom (1st – 3rd grades), one Upper Elementary & Adolescent classroom (4th – 8th grades).

Multi-age learning communities are a hallmark of Montessori pedagogy.

Featuring

  • Little Free Library
  • Robust Student Library
  • Child-Sized Furnishings, Sinks, and Amenities
  • Secure Entrance (monitored 24/7)
  • Playgrounds
  • Outdoor Classrooms/Patio Spaces
  • Covered Areas for Outdoor Group Activities
  • Picnic Tables
  • Apple Mini Orchard
  • Hazelnut & Blueberry Bushes
  • Greenhouses
  • Student Gardens
  • Butterfly Garden
  • Sensory Garden
  • Beehive
  • Compost Bin
  • Hiking Trail

Our Core Vales

(W.H.I.S.P.E.R)

WONDER

We protect the child’s curiosity, concentration, and creativity at all costs.

HOLISM

We nurture the whole life of each child: social, intellectual, emotional, and physical.

INCLUSION

We celebrate people of all races, families, cultures, abilities, religions, ages, orientations, and gender identities.

SCIENCE

We engage in a rigorous, responsible search for truth.

PEACE

We help each student meet their needs in cooperative, not competitive, ways.

EXCELLENCE

We expect everyone to do their personal best at all times.

RESPECT

We regard each person, adult and child alike, with the utmost respect.

Passionate Professionals

Our teachers are highly trained & degreed, passionate professionals who lovingly nurture each child’s natural curiosity. Many of our supportive parents also volunteer their time and talents to help enhance the school in a variety of ways. As educators, we feel privileged to come alongside children as they engage in this natural process of learning.

Our campus Directors, Jamie Watts and Allison Jones are Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) certified Administrators.

Inclusivity Statement

At Little River Montessori School, we strive to nurture a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion. From time to time, we get questions from prospective parents about what that looks like in the life of the school. While we are still learning and growing in this area, here are some of the practices that we employ:

  1. Whole-world engagement – We source age-appropriate library and classroom resources created by and featuring people of all races, family structures, gender identities, sexual orientations, cultures, and abilities.
  2. Whole-world community – We practice a variety of recruitment and admissions strategies to attract families and faculty from many different races, family structures, gender identities, sexual orientations, cultures, and abilities.
  3. Academic responsibility – LRMS does not indoctrinate students to any group’s worldview. We offer diverse materials to students and create safe opportunities for thoughtful conversations.

We hope that these practices resonate with your values and that you will want to come along with us on this journey to make our community a more welcoming place for everyone!

School History and Affiliation

The school was established by Aleta Ledendecker in 1978, a teacher trainer with The St. Nicholas Montessori College. The College was formed during Dr. Montessori’s life in Great Britain as a Charitable Trust by its principals, Margaret Humphries and Phoebe Child. Trained and approved by Dr. Montessori herself, both of these educators were specifically authorized to provide Montessori teacher education through “distance learning” for practitioners too remote to attend the formal AMI courses which only Dr. Montessori herself was allowed to conduct at the time.