Summary

Mountain View offers a high quality, learner-driven, progressive educational setting for students in grades UTK-8. We are a multi-age school where students of different ages learn together by design, and children remain with the same teacher for two years. Mountain View School provides a challenging, supportive learning environment through nurturing, welcoming classrooms which emphasize social-emotional learning, thematic project-based curriculum, and opportunities for all students to be leaders for positive change in the community.

A Constructivist Design

Mountain View views the theory of constructivism as its core learning philosophy. Following this theory, our school believes that students learn best through real experiences and by discovering knowledge within context.Mountain View practices constructivist education across all age levels and subjects, in which teachers facilitate learning experiences for students based on their individual needs, interests, and skills. Our educators carefully build experiential, hands-on activities to support high engagement and deeper learning.

Project-Based Learning

Project-based thematic units of study form the basis of the school's constructivist teaching and learning approach. Projects offer real-world learning opportunities for students to take a deep dive into topics of interest, complete research, and integrate all content areas to develop a final product. Guided by their teachers, students take control of their own learning by planning, creating, and reflecting on their projects. Each year begins with projects focused on changemaking, and ends with Passion Projects- an opportunity for students to engage in a independent, student-driven project based on any topic of their choice. Each season, students work with their classmates and teachers to prepare presentations of project-based learning at Project Night. During Project Night, families and the community are invited to celebrate student learning. Students benefit from the opportunity to make their work public and teach others what they have learned during each unit.

Social-Emotional Learning

Mountain View educators aim to support all students in developing critical social-emotional skills. Kids (1) learn and practice how to manage emotions in ways that are age and setting appropriate; (2) apply skills for effective conflict resolution; (3) develop empathy and use that understanding to interact with others with respect and tolerance; and (4) practice and apply changemaking skills of empathy, teamwork, problem solving, and leadership to take initiative to drive positive change. Current research in education has shown that a school culture with a strong social-emotional foundation can have a profound positive impact on social and academic outcomes for students.

Multiage Classrooms

Mountain View is a multiage school by design, in which students of more than one grade span are intentionally grouped together for classroom instruction beginning in Primary Multiage/1st Grade. Students remain with their teacher for a period of two years. Our multiage program consists of Primary Multiage (1st and 2nd grade), Elementary Multiage (3rd and 4th), Bridging Multiage (5th/6th), and Middle School (7th/8th). Benefits of multiage classrooms include (1) reducing number of student-teacher transitions and allowing for continuity of expectations and instruction; (2) the development of powerful long-term relationships between student, teacher and family; (3) opportunity for all students to learn from peer models and take on mentorship roles as they engage in hands-on learning; and (4) the opportunity for each child to learn at their own developmentally appropriate level in a differentiated, student-centered learning environment.