Welcome to Orchid Montessori School, a unique and inclusive Montessori program for ages 1.5 to 9 years that opened in September of 2024.

Orchid Montessori School is located in West Warwick, Rhode Island, and also serves students from Warwick, Coventry, Cranston, East Greenwich, and the surrounding areas.

Our goal is to empower all children to learn, thrive, and explore their passions. We offer both full and half-day programming.

We are now accepting applications for the following start dates:

Spring 2025

Summer Camp 2025 (June 30 – August 8)

September 2025

Click HERE to complete an online application for our academic year program.

Click HERE to complete an online application for our 2025 summer camps or to learn more about the camp program!

Click HERE to join our mailing list

Our Rhode Island Montessori school provides a home-away-from-home atmosphere with an intimate design, warm decor, and an inviting outdoor space for gardening, crafts, and free play. We have multiple outdoor play areas and provide children with opportunities to learn outdoors (weather permitting) and engage with the natural world throughout the day.

Our unique program is an inclusive Montessori lab school. We believe that all children have unique strengths and challenges, and we have designed our physical space, classroom routines, and curriculum in a way that allows each child to develop holistically and at their own pace. For example, a child might be ready to explore reading, math or music at an accelerated pace but need additional support in developing fine motor skills, improving spatial awareness or cultivating friendships. Our goal is to embrace and meet each child where they are!

Our system of individualized supports was designed in partnership with Access Speech and Allied Therapy Group. Access Therapy has a satellite office in our West Warwick, Rhode Island, building, and their amazing team is able to provide speech and occupational therapy services to students who need them on-site. We also communicate with families frequently to ensure that parents have the opportunity to connect their children’s experiences at school to their life beyond the classroom.

Orchid Montessori is 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.

Daily Schedule and Calendar

Our school follows a ten month academic year calendar and also offers optional summer programming. Please reach out to info@orchidmontessori.org to receive the most up-to-date version of our school calendar.

Montessori Mornings

8:00-8:30 before care

8:30-11:30 morning work period (snacks/ movement breaks as needed)

11:30-12:00 outdoor time, dismissal window for morning students

Afternoon Program

12:00 -1:00 lunch, rest/nap time starts (as needed), free play

1:00-3:00 afternoon work period/ classes, continued nap/rest time (as needed)

3:00 dismissal time for full day students

3:00-5:00 after care (outdoor time, enrichment activites, free play)

Tuition

At Orchid Montessori School, we believe that a high-quality Montessori education should be available for families regardless of income. We have a flexible sliding-scale tuition model. We work with each family to find the right tuition rate based on their income and expenses. We also accept CCAP vouchers.

**Please note that the number of remaining flexible tuition slots for the 2025-2026 school year is limited! We encourage you to apply ASAP if you’d like to be considered for one of these slots!**. 

Please contact us at info@orchidmontessori.org to receive a copy of our tuition schedule or with questions about our tuition model.

Our Team

We are a team of teachers, therapeutic professionals and parents. We are passionate about providing a high-quality early learning experience for every child. Our extensive and diverse professional backgrounds have allowed us to design a unique approach that allows each individual child to thrive.

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Katie Rodrigues, M.Ed.

Founding Teacher Leader and Lead Primary Guide

Katie (she/her) has been working in Montessori primary and elementary classrooms since 2007. Katie received her B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College in 2002 and her M.A. in International Studies from Rotterdam University – Netherlands in 2004. After working in nonprofit administration for several years, Katie went on to earn her AMI Montessori Diploma for ages 6-12 in 2010 and her M. Ed. in Montessori Education in 2013. She is also a certified preschool teacher and is in the process of completing her Montessori primary training. She is thrilled to be serving on Orchid’s teaching team because she feels that every child, regardless of their unique gifts and challenges, deserves to learn in a classroom that embraces their individuality. She is so excited to be involved in this innovative partnership with Access Holistic Therapy Group!

Jo’Nella Queen Gueye, M. Ed.

Teacher Leader and Lead Toddler Guide

Jo’Nella (she/her) earned her Bachelor’s Degree in American/Ethnic Studies from Brown University. She has a Master’s Degree in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education and a M.Ed. in PK-12 Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy from Fordham University. As a school leader in TFA’s Green Fellowship, she has served communities in Providence, RI, as a Dean of Student Culture, Learning Specialist (Special Education), and Instructional Coach for first-year teachers over the past two years. Presently, she is pursuing her Infant/Toddler Montessori Accreditation at the Northeast Montessori Institute. Jo’Nella is excited to guide your children in navigating a fulfilling learning experience that ignites creativity while continuing to prioritize equity and inclusion for all students.

photo of a smiling white adult with brown bangs and brown eyes

Stephanie Izzi, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Inclusion Coordinator

Stephanie (she/they) will serve as our inclusion coordinator this year. An autistic adult herself, Stephanie specializes in designing robust programming for students with communication support needs. Stephanie completed their Ph.D. in Genetics at Stony Brook University, and M.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. They are also the co-founder and Executive Director of Autism Included and Access Holistic Therapy Group, a nonprofit supporting those with communication disorders/differences. Stephanie’s background as a research scientist provides a unique approach to their work, and their individualized, strengths-based approach to student learning and growth are a great fit for the Montessori method and for our program!

Contact Us

245 Legris Avenue

West Warwick, RI 02893

info@orchidmontessori.org

401-206-5850

Visit Us on Facebook!

Click here to visit our Facebook page!

colorful illustration of three small houses on a road with two flowers

Orchid 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 the Wildflower Schools 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 the Wildflower network.

Orchid Montessori 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.