A Manitou School education is an investment in your child’s future. Strong academics, a high teacher-to-student ratio, early second language education, and interactive project based learning, set children on a different trajectory in life.
At Manitou, we have crafted a learning environment highly tuned to our students and how they learn. Motivated teachers, a focused curriculum, indoor and outdoor learning spaces, and a diverse community give children every opportunity to thrive.
Teachers – At Manitou, we have approximately one teacher for every eight students. Our teachers come from leading educational colleges including Bank Street, Sarah Lawrence, Columbia Teacher’s College and leading institutions in Latin America. They have taught at established private schools and have excelled in academics personally. Each teacher is tasked with understanding how each child learns and finding a way to connect.
Narrative Evaluations – There are so many facets to a child’s growth that go beyond a test or grade. What parents need to know is how a child interacts with peers, areas of a cognitive and academic strength, what a child’s true passions are, their ability to self-reflect, where they might need support. Our “report cards” are not checks against a list but rather narrative evaluations incorporating insights and observations from our teachers. We periodically meet with parents to discuss more specifically how their child is learning and what we can collectively do to help a child grow. These narrative evaluations form the basis for a multi-year individual learning plan.
Bilingual Education – At an early age, children have an incredible aptitude to learn a second language. Taking advantage of early brain plasticity by introducing a second language while young has benefits that extend beyond language learning by making a child’s brain more conducive to learning new information. We incorporate lessons in Spanish throughout the day for all grades including preschool. Children who start at Manitou in preschool will develop fluency by the fourth grade.
Inquiry-Based Learning – Interactive experiences between teachers and students, students and peers and students and their surroundings define our program. We start every unit of study by asking students what they want to learn. Then we teach them how to find answers to their questions, often through a fun project. Finally, we reflect on what we have learned – this reflection turns short-term experiences into long-term memory. Children in the process learn to ask better, deeper questions, and to find new, more creative ways to answer them. This is the one of the best lessons you can teach a child: how to think for themselves.
Multi-Sensory Experience – By combining music, art, movement, science, storytelling into every lesson, every day, we create a warm and engaging environment that sparks curiosity and discovery. Our students are taught outdoors and nature learning, including a school garden, is part of the core curriculum. By offering so many unique experiences, we are better able to touch each child’s passions and accommodate individual learning styles.
After School Enrichment – At Manitou, our students participate in a wide-range of extra-curricular activities including karate, international cooking, robot making and semi-private art classes. We offer music education before, during and after-school in piano, violin and percussion.
Community – Our parents and students play an active role in community building both at the school and beyond its borders. Parents at Manitou have an opportunity to bring their own passion into the mix – whether this be camping, photography, pottery, engineering, the arts – and actively shape the educational experience.