Sunshine Montessori School

ABOUT US:

Sunshine Montessori is a small non-profit, parent and staff-operated school, administered by an elected Board of Directors. Originally founded in 1977, Sunshine moved to its current SW Minneapolis location in 1992 and became a non-profit back in 1979! We have been focused on educating our youngest citizens with a commitment to Montessori education and community building ever since. 

As a community non-profit dedicated to almost 45 years of helping Minneapolis children develop their unique potential, we are proud to continue to further our work and commit to being an inclusive environment. Sunshine strives to build a love of learning and instill the values of belonging to an inclusive community. 

WE BELIEVE:

At Sunshine, we believe that EVERYONE should be surrounded with the tools and environment they need to reach their full potential, while simultaneously feeling safe and accepted. We embrace the lived and diverse experiences of each one of our staff, students and families, who vastly enrich our school. We acknowledge systematic inequities and injustices exist based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and disability, and that lived experiences vary, and privileges exist, which have different impacts to those within our community and the world. Our community is committed to the ongoing learning, unlearning, bravery, and work required to confront these inequities, knowing that we all must continually work to recognize and understand them as well as the conscious and unconscious biases which are embedded within each of us. 

Anti-Bias Anti-Racism (ABAR) is an approach to teaching that dismantles systemic inequities, taking deliberate actions and intention to support and affirm all people. These practices have been built into the history of Montessori education and a cornerstone of our work as we believe we have the duty to uphold the rights of all our learners.  Having ABAR embedded into all our programming, curriculum and materials, allows us to better serve and represent all students, families and staff members. Our work as educators is never complete and we make this commitment to always be reflective and active in our own learning and journeys. 

 We strive to ensure that students experience Sunshine not only with a sense of belonging, but a sense of purpose. We believe education is the first step to a just society. Educators have the power to impact, empower, and create lifelong learners who advocate for a better world.  Our goal as educators is to equip children with the tools, providing the foundation they need to become lifelong advocates that address injustices and inequities in their communities.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us along our journey and continues to support us so we can further our work with children for years to come!