Realty Collective Brooklyn Real Estate Specialists

As we announced in our blog last week, that Realty Collective will be doing all we can to support other women who own small businesses in Brooklyn. Today is our first spotlight on a women-owned establishment. Elite Minds Montessori is a multilingual (English and French) private preschool for children ages 2 1/2-5 years of age opening just in time for summer school.

We spoke with Natania Cortijo, who is the Educational Director and co-owner/founder of Elite Minds along with Laurie Torres. Below is what she had to say about her experience in early education and her new school opening soon. Check out the photo gallery as well!

I am a New York State certified teacher, and have been working with early childhood education since 1999. When my daughter was born in 2004, I started researching different approaches to early childhood education and fell in love with the Montessori method. I visited almost every Montessori school I could find in Brooklyn and at 2 1/2years old, I enrolled her at Midwood Montessori. There my passion for a Montessori education evolved. I volunteered and observed. I continue teaching with NYC Department of Ed and began applying my knowledge of Montessori. In 2011 I opened an afterschool learning center in Carroll Gardens and it was quickly a success, so I left my full time teaching job to dedicate more time to my new business. Both my children attend(ed) school (elementary and junior high school) in Carroll Gardens, and so I became very connected to the community, specifically families with children. I have been searching for a good location since 2015 to open a Montessori school in Carroll Gardens. We decided to incorporate a bi-lingual program (French and English) due to the growing French community in Carroll Gardens, giving French speaking families an opportunity for their children to acquire English (spoken and written) at an early age.

Elite Minds Montessori has a strong focus on arts, our program includes not only traditional Montessori activities and learning but an emphasis on creativity, movement and music. While each child is unique in his/her abilities, talents, and personalities, Elite Minds Montessori educators encourage their uniqueness and allow them to adapt to our learning environment at their own pace. If your child prefers art over literacy, or math over geography, they can spend as much time in that center as they would like during our daily 3 hours of uninterrupted play. Our French inspired curriculum is embedded into the Montessori Day through art, song and dance. We will also frequent Brooklyn Bridge Park and Mother Cabrini Park daily.

Our summer program will run July 9th through August 17th from 8am-2pm. Enroll before 4/30 for an early bird discount. Our school year will run from September through June with full day, partial day/partial week, extended day and early drop off options.