Bloomington Campus
8800 Queen Ave So.
Bloomington, MN 55431
Phone: 952-921-6500

Apple Valley Campus
15004 Glazier Ave.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
Phone: 952-432-3131

Ramalynn was founded in 1985 as a Montessori school for children age 2 to 6 years and has since evolved into a premier prep school, serving children though age 14. Ramalynn has produced talented students, welcomed at the best middle schools and high schools in the state and in the world.

Who was Maria Montessori?
By Dr. Phyllis Povell

Maria Montessori, 1870-1952 When Maria Montessori is mentioned today, many people associate her name with the thousands of Montessori pre-schools which have sprung up all over the world. Her influence, however, is more widespread. The innovations which Montessori introduced in education, in and of themselves, would be enough to reserve a place for her in the history of education, but Montessori was also ahead of her time in many other aspects of her life. She made decisions that enabled her to overcome the vast restrictions put on a woman born in Italy in 1870.

As a woman at the turn of the century, Montessori faced head-on some of the challenges that women are still struggling with today. She defied social convention at the young age of thirteen when she chose to further her interest in mathematics by studying engineering. This decision necessitated that she attend a technical school where Montessori and one other young woman were he only female students.

In 1892, after great perseverance, she entered medical school at the university of Rome. While there she was greatly influenced by professors who were actively committed to schools, children, and the equality of women. She interned at the Scuola Orthophrenica where she worked with children who had mental challenges and developed a system utilizing sensory materials that enabled them to learn.

In 1896, Maria Montessori became one of the first nine women to graduate from medical school in Italy. She continued to devote her energies to improving the lot of women and children. Within a year, she helped found a women’s association in Rome, spoke at the first Women’s International Congress in Berlin, petitioned for women’s suffrage, and began lecturing on the relationship between pedagogy and medicine for children with special needs. Her early activism and eloquent language set the tone for future social and educational equality and laid the groundwork for her pivotal decision to open the first Casa dei Bambini in Rome on January 6, 1907, one hundred years ago.