Smart Steps Montessori School

This school is wonderful! I am very happy I came across Unilocal and found this school Ms Jamilla and Ms Sharon are great teachers and my son learned alot. I like the student teacher ratio as well. Thia school is highly recommended ;)

This is the second year that my son is attending Smart Steps Montessori and I am extremely pleased with the decision I made. I visited several other Montessori schools in the area and none compared to this one. All the other schools boasted about their Montessori curriculum yet the classrooms seemed full, almost to capacity, and it was very loud. Seemed contradictory to what I head read about the philosophy. When I walked into Smarts Steps, I knew we had found the perfect place. The student/​teacher ratio was much more what I expected and all the students were so well behaved and respectful. All the children were happy and quietly working with their activities. My son quickly adapted to the other students and the learning method. Mrs. Jamila is very patient, sweet and the children love her. She truly loves being a teacher and it shows through her students and how much they have all grown intellectually and socially. My son just turned 4 years of age and he is already learning the things that my 7 year old is learning in the 1^st grade. The key to any great teacher is recognizing the potential in each child and helping to foster it. That is exactly what Mrs. Jamila is best at doing. If you are looking for a school that will set your child up for success academically or socially, then this is the perfect environment for it. My only regret is that I did not find Smart Steps sooner; otherwise, I would have sent my daughter there as well.

My son ages out of his awesome preschool this year, so my husband and I wanted to review it. I told my husband that I’d write a google review if he wrote one for Unilocal.He asked me to post it for him (he doesn’t have a profile, and didn’t want to come off as a poser/​bought review.) See below. I love this man.
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We moved our son from Stepping Stone to Smart Steps just before he turned three.
Honestly, I quite liked Stepping Stone and the teachers there. That said, I had read good things about the Montessori method, and Smart Steps was both closer and more economical.
Stepping Stone was fine, but it could be rambunctious; our son, back then at least, was quite quiet, and my impression was that he found it slightly stressful. I didn’t blame him. I had just assumed that was how it was with a bunch of youngsters together all day; If we happened to pick him up early, when they were in full flow, we would likely be met with a cacophony of screaming, reprimanding, and other types of chaos.
When we arranged to have a tour of Smart Steps, the contrast was very clear. Though we had arrived during an outdoor play period, the children, (spanning two to five years old), were all playing quietly together in a toy boat. Nobody was acting up, or indeed took the opportunity of Miss Jamila being distracted (with us) to act up. In the 2+ years our son has attended Smart Steps, that experience proved not to be a carefully staged anomaly.
I’m not suggesting it is like walking into a firm of accountants, but I am always impressed when I stop by and the children are just getting on, doing their work independently, without fuss. I’m sure not all Montessori schools are equal, but I understand this to be a common experience, and a testament to the method, and Miss Jamila’s skill with it.
One of the peculiarities of traditional day-​care, is the ‘artwork’ that the children pretend to produce. I would collect an ornate hand-​print Thanksgiving turkey creation from his Stepping Stone teacher; blanking the elephant-​in-​the-​room who knew my son had little-​to-​no involvement in the art’s creation, since he was both a) not very good at art and b) two. Maybe it burned a few minutes of the day, maybe the parents expected it, but it always seemed a little silly.
A refreshing part of the Smart Steps experience has been that the stack of art we receive at the end of a school week has dropped markedly in quality. Refreshing, since it indicates my son is clearly wholly responsible for it. A squiggle on a bit of folded paper, though less likely to find a place on the fridge of a grandparent, was clearly the genuine idea and execution of the boy himself. These pieces have proven a good gauge of his progress (though art is still not his thing), and a sign of the bounded independence the children are given.
Though our son’s reading and writing are good for his age, it is this ability to be constructively independant that I am most impressed by. He has taken the Montessori attitude home, and on a rainy day is well capable of entertaining himself by setting and completing a project, needing neither to be told to do so, or oversight. Though he graduates soon, I am really hoping we are able to find a Montessori school as good as Smart Steps for him to continue his education.

My wife and I did a good deal of searching before finding Smart Steps Montessori School. Once we walked in we knew it was the place for our son to be. It is located in what I consider to be the nicest neighborhood on the east side of Round Rock. The administrator, Jamila, is very kind and patient. Our boy has learned a great deal from her and interacting with other children. All of this is and the price is also very good. After only 6 months I can’t imagine have sending our son to anyplace else. I’m so glad we found her.