{"id":21681,"date":"2025-06-26T16:39:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T16:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/childrens-kiva-montessori-school-is-named-a-spotlight-school\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:08:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:08:25","slug":"childrens-kiva-montessori-school-is-named-a-spotlight-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/childrens-kiva-montessori-school-is-named-a-spotlight-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s Kiva Montessori School is named a Spotlight School"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Children\u2019s
Children\u2019s Kiva Montessori School in Cortez was named the American Montessori Society\u2019s Spotlight School. (Journal file photo)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s Kiva Montessori School in Cortez has been named the American Montessori Society\u2019s Spotlight School, earning recognition for fostering a global approach to education, curiosity and community connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a very rural, low income area of Southwest Colorado, but we offer the most global approach to learning that I have ever seen,\u201d Kiva Montessori Head of School Lurleen McCormick told AMS in an interview. \u201cWe have four highly esteemed international teachers, two from Colombia and two from Jamaica, who share their backgrounds and culture with our staff, families and students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school for kindergarten through eighth grade students was highlighted for its approach to educate the whole child, supported by a passionate team. The school\u2019s commitment to Montessori principles has resonated locally and globally, according to AMS, showcasing how a rural campus can make a significant impact.<\/p>\n

McCormick also highlighted Kiva staff go above and beyond to make children feel welcome and safe on campus, adding that a highlight from this year was seeing a sixth grade student learn to read.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love how our staff members meet the needs of our students and families. We have three to five staff members in the \u2018Hug and Go\u2019 lane every morning and afternoon to welcome each child and see them safely off campus at the end of the day,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cWe personalize instruction to meet our students where they\u2019re at without causing them shame. Seeing a sixth grade student finally learn to read brought us all to tears this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school atmosphere was also shared as a special part of Kiva.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of all, I love that we are extraordinarily unified. Visitors often comment that they can feel the love when they walk in our doors. At staff meetings, my greatest joy is having to wait five full minutes to let the laughter fade down before continuing whatever we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the school says farewell to students after eighth grade, the school takes extra steps to ensure the students feel loved as they head to high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the year we also have a \u2018moving-on\u2019 ceremony for our eighth grade students. Each student gets a certificate and a candle to remind them that while we did our best to help spark their learning while they were with us, it\u2019s up to them to keep their light burning and take it into the world for others to enjoy and add to,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cThe other students, staff members and families make the bridge by connecting hands at a peak across from each other and the eighth grade students walk under a human formed bridge as they exit our building for the last time as students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school\u2019s story is featured in an AMS spotlight interview<\/a> at https:\/\/hubs.ly\/Q03tqHmm0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

was awarded the recognition, showing a rural campus can still make a big impact<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,155,28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77415,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21681\/revisions\/77415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21681"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}