Founded in 2016 Cabrillo Montessori is nestled in the heart of Santa Clara, with easy access to all major expressways and freeways.
Cabrillo Montessori offers a fully implemented Montessori Program for children ages 2 through Kindergarten.
What is most unique about Cabrillo Montessori besides spacious classrooms and wonderful staff, is the expansive playground areas, garden, grass and outdoor classroom environments. Children wait patiently to pick the fresh peaches from the tree and have fun carrying the fully grown pumpkins through the yard.
I whole heartedly recommend the Kindergarten program at Cabrillo Montessori. The close knit community has been great for my daughter and her love for learning has only increased since joining. She can now read short books on her own, and I have been impressed with her progress on arithmetic as well. My daughter is kind and respectful, values that are emphasized daily at Cabrillo. The field trips are always exciting, and they have a lot of fun!
Cabrillo Montessori strikes the perfect balance between promoting independence and fostering a fun and caring community for our little one. Here, we are confident she is learning useful life skills every day. As difficult as it is to part with our 2 year old in any circumstance, it feels great to send her into a clean, warm classroom with lots of loving smiles around. It sure is a testament to how the right amount of structure serves the children well whenever we walk in and they are each peacefully working on their own tasks, but also just as awesome to see them in circle time or at the playground having a great time together.
My child loves it here. She always talks about something new and I learn something new too! The teachers are so nice, I don’t know anything about Montessori when I started a year ago and now my child I can see it working. I love Montessori. Thank you Ms. Milinh.
I remember my own kindergarten year well. We learned to tie our shoes (-this was before velcro :), made applesauce and paper mache Easter baskets and took naps each day on blankets on the floor. I am sure I probably learned the letters of the alphabet and some counting of numbers. Ann may not remember all the details of her kindergarten year when she is older, but she will have reaped the benefits of her time in this Montessori oriented curriculum many times over. During the past year I see her developing a deeper enthusiasm for learning new things and being excited about "what's next" in her kindergarten class. She is already able to read books at the pre-K and Step 1 books and counts to 120 (-frequently). More importantly, she understands the concepts behind the words she knows and the numbers she can articulate. Ann will invariably ask me "what does ________ mean?" when she hears a new word or phrase in a book, movie or song and she will remember most or all of my explanations. We have many conversations about the library books we read to her, the characters' motivations in stories and her own thoughts about the world and the things she encounters from day to day. All this is to say that I think Ann's time in Cabrillo Kindergarten is helping her to grow in her love of learning and provides her with the tools to succeed admirably in first grade and beyond. So if you happen to be listening to Paul Simon's song, You Can Call Me Al, and your child asks you the meaning of "incidents and allegations," you can thank her/his Montessori education. Thank You all!
Our son started at Cabrillo Montessori when he turned two. It is amazing to see how he has blossomed from being a shy, anxious child to a confident little toddler in a matter of few months. We had researched long and hard before deciding on Cabrillo Montessori and we are extremely glad we chose this school. Its really nice to see teachers being so passionate and professional in what they do. They are montessori certified as well! Their understanding of children and their respect for individuality and uniqueness of each child is evident in the way my son is thriving! We trust them completely and feel like we are working with them closely as a team for the progress of our son. We like how the curriculum is centered towards emotional and social well being of the child as well as academic. My son's vocabulary and emotional awareness has increased leaps and bounds. At an age where children often have big feelings, my son is better able to articulate them and manage them all by himself and this sometimes amazes me! We liked how the atmosphere in the classroom is bright, airy, clean and spacious. How activities like age appropriate gardening and cooking are utilized to teach skills and qualities like independence, empathy, respect for the environment and community. We are grateful to the director, the teachers and the support staff for being warm, compassionate and so so driven in what they do and we highly recommend Cabrillo Montessori!
This was our first and only pre-school experience. Ever since we enrolled him, we saw great improvements in his independence and confidence. The combination of the Montessori teaching methods and philosophy has allowed my child to excel both academically and personally. We can be at ease when he is at school knowing he is cared for, and safe. We feel extremely blessed to have found such a wonderful group of teachers and staff. And here is the litmus test: after observing my child, if people often ask about the name of the school he goes to, it could only mean that Cabrillo MSOSV is amazing, period!
Cabrillo’s Kindergarten program is amazing! Cabrillo Kindergarten program gave Madden the flexibility to learn and challenge herself daily at her own pace. She had a nurturing learning environment with teaching professionals who truly cared about her. Cabrillo’s program has given her the tools to be a compassionate and intelligent young girl! Unfortunately, our family relocated out of state and Madden transitioned to another school. We would have loved for her to complete her school year if the circumstances were different.
Head of School
Ms. Cindy joined Montessori School of Silicon Valley in February 2021 as an Assistant Teacher in our primary community at Main Street Montessori, but after just 8 short months she became Assistant Head of School while continuing to also work in the primary community as an Assistant Teacher at our Calaveras location. Most recently, in July 2022 she was promoted to Head of School at our Cabrillo location.
After graduating from California State University Sacramento in 2018 with her Bachelor’s in Child Development, Ms. Cindy worked as a teacher’s aide at Carroll Elementary in Elk Grove prior to joining MSOSV. She is currently enrolled in a Preventative Health, Safety and Nutrition class through Theoria Technical College to further her knowledge as she grows in her role as Head of School.
From a young age she knew that she wanted a career path that would allow her to work with children, and her third grade teacher played a role in that and became a real source of inspiration. The love and care her third grade teacher presented gravitated Ms. Cindy toward wanting to do the same for children. She wants to be able to provide her students with the best experience that they will remember through their adolescent years. In addition, it is rewarding when parents share their positive experiences, which inspires her to continue working closely with the families.
As Head of School, Ms. Cindy has the privilege of communicating with families and building a relationship that instills love and trust with their children as well as building bonds with her teachers and ensuring that tasks are being met, and ensuring that all this is done with a big smile! She also admires watching each child’s different personalities shine through their own work as well as being able to watch the children grow and accomplish different milestones while learning to do it independently.
In her spare time she loves spending time with her son at the park or lounging on the couch binge watching her favorite TV shows with a nice cold beverage in hand. You might also find her experimenting different recipes in the kitchen, like keto dinners and desserts!
Fun fact: Ms. Cindy enjoys collecting post cards and magnets when traveling to different places. So perhaps the next time you visit a new place, consider sending her a post card!
Assistant Head of School
Ms. Sarah first started with MSOSV as Assistant Head of School at Main Street Montessori School in August 2019. After a year she was promoted to Director of Marketing Operations and is part of our Leadership Team and helps to run all of our marketing and technical support. She will now be supporting Cabrillo as the Assistant Head of School and we could not be more excited!
She was born in Singapore, and moved to Fremont, California when she was 10 years old. While in Singapore, she had the privilege of being a part of the pioneer Kindergarten class at P & J Montessori School; which continues to thrive today.
After graduating from Irvington High School, Ms. Sarah J. attended the University of California Santa Cruz where she majored in Film & Digital Media. Throughout her high school and college career she enjoyed spending her summers working with children through her church community as well as other outdoor camp programs.
Prior to joining the Montessori School of Silicon Valley, she worked as a program manager at a tech company. However, after almost 5 years in the fast paced tech world, she wanted a change of pace. She first heard of MSOSV after a friend asked if she would work one-on-one with their child who was attending Calaveras Montessori. After a few months of being in the classroom full time, she learned that although she enjoyed working with the children, her strength was in administration.
She enjoys learning more about the Montessori philosophy as an adult after having been a Montessori child!
Lead Primary Guide
Yellowstone Community
Ms. Alyssa was born and raised in Milpitas, California and is a mother of two children. She has a son who is currently 11 and a daughter who is 4.
She first joined the Montessori School of Silicon Valley team in 2009 at our Calaveras location and led the Nido (infant) community for the first few years. As her love for the Montessori philosophy grew she became curious in exploring working with other age groups and shortly after, got the opportunity to lead the Pre Primary community.
After about 3 years working with Pre Primary, Ms. Alyssa decided to take her Montessori training for early childhood at the Montessori Teacher Education Center (MTEC) where she graduated in 2015.
After receiving her diploma, she spent the next few years leading the Primary community at Calaveras. In February 2020 she moved locations and joined the team at our Cabrillo location, taking over the Yellowstone community.
Working with children has been such a wonderful experience over the years and Ms. Alyssa is so glad that she has the chance to work with such a hardworking, dedicated team of people who believe in creating a beautiful, safe and authentic Montessori environment for every child that truly stands by their motto “Children First, Always”.
Lead Primary Guide
Sequoia Community
Ms. Arlin joined Montessori School of Silicon Valley in August 2017. She has been teaching for 4 years. She started her career as a teacher assistant in 2016 and attended school while gaining experience as a lead.
Ms. Arlin completed her AMS training in August 2020. What inspires her to be a Montessori teacher is the impact that the materials in the classroom have on the children. Children have a great capacity to retain so much information and it is a great feeling to see children comprehend what is taught to them all while having fun.
Her favorite thing about being a teacher is being able to help children and seeing them accomplish so many things.
In her spare time Ms. Arlin loves to hike, cook, and complete various DIY projects.
Lead Pre Primary Guide
Pinnacles Community
Ms. Nelly has been teaching since 2011 and spent about four years with the Montessori School of Silicon Valley from 2016 to 2020 across our Main Street and Cabrillo locations. After some time away for personal reasons we welcomed her back in March 2022, again at our Cabrillo location and once again as Lead Pre Primary Guide in our Pinnacles community.
She earned her Associates degree in 2011 at De Anza College and in 2015 she completed her Montessori AMI Assistant course.
Ms. Nelly loves the Montessori philosophy and in particular loves working with the toddlers and watching them become independent. She also strongly believes that early childhood education has a big impact on a person’s life. Some of her absolute favorites about being a teacher are guiding the children into becoming independent and self reliant, helping them build their confidence, and watching their happy faces daily!
In her free time, Ms. Nelly enjoys riding her bike, nurturing her garden, and spending time in her backyard with family. When she isn’t at home, you’ll probably find her exploring new places with her family.
