Felix Bradley flashed a broad smile Tuesday morning after solving a math problem using didactic materials while working with his teacher Laura Tamucci at the Steamboat Montessori Charter School west of Steamboat Springs.

“We believe that we’re being very developmentally appropriate in our approach to how we’re teaching kids and what we’re exposing kids to,” said Emily Barnhart, head of school for the Steamboat Montessori Charter School. “We’re finding great success with making sure that kids have hands-on access to didactic materials that then is translating into success academically as they get older.”

The students’ success is also a big reason the Steamboat Montessori Charter School, at 27285 Brandon Circle, has earned “Performance with Distinction” honors from the Colorado Charter School Institute the past three years. The school was among 13 schools that earned the award for their performance in the 2023-24 school year, which was announced last December. Schools that receive this rating rank in the top 25% of all schools in Colorado with reportable academic data and have demonstrated strong financial and organizational performance as well.

“Montessori itself has these ingenious materials that were created long ago where students use the materials themselves to learn lessons,” Barnhart said. “Students use math materials, language materials, and then they’re able to practice the actual academic lessons that they’ve gotten on those materials, and they’re self-correcting for them, so students don’t necessarily need an adult to tell them whether they got something correct or not. It happens via computer now, but the Montessori materials have kind of done that for decades and decades.””

Students in Montessori use the didactic material to complete everything from addition and subtraction to multi-digit multiplication, multi-digit division, squaring, cubing and algebra. The materials can also be used to teach English and writing skills and every other subject, according to Barnhart.

“The Montessori materials are manipulative, so they’re beads, chains or blocks for math, or they’re small pieces of the paper that students can move around to create sentences or even paragraphs,” Barnhart said. “The materials maybe color-coded to teach the parts of speech and used to make sure they have complete sentences.”

While Steamboat Montessori focuses its classes on the Montessori method, Barnhart said the school provides a rounded educational experience that includes performing arts, Spanish and physical education, as well as digital literacy.

“At the school we teach kids how to use technology as a tool,” Barnhart said. “Starting in third grade, the kids do start taking a digital literacy class where they learn about different tech tools and learn how to use them responsibly.”

The Montessori method of education has been around since 1907, when Maria Montessori introduced in it in Rome, Italy. Today the method can be found in countries around the world.

“Montessori has been in Steamboat Springs for a really, really long time — I would say since the early 2000s,” Barnhart said. “There has just always been a presence of Montessori education in our valley.”

At one point there was a Montessori classroom in Strawberry Park Elementary School, and there was also a Montessori School across the street from the high school that went through kindergarten. In 2016, Steamboat Montessori opened its doors. Today it has 155 students in seven classrooms as it makes its way through its ninth year.

Steamboat Montessori is part of the Colorado Charter School Institute portfolio, which ranges from micro schools to high schools with 2000 students and is accredited by the Colorado Department of Education.

“What we really want to highlight is that we’re a free option in our community for kids, and we’re not a private school,” Barnhart said. “Obviously, kids are very different, and we’re always looking for the right fit for kids — the one thing that we really love about Montessori is it just isn’t a choice for families, but an alternative for families that are looking for something specific.”