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United States, San Francisco
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Ernest Mahr founded AIM in 2009 after directing two other immersion-Montessori schools in the area. Located at the Berkeley/Oakland border, AIM offers a Montessori program with language immersion for children from 18 months through 12 years (toddler/preschool through 6th grade). The school has grown to more than 130 children and a staff of over 25. The full-immersion approach enables students to comprehend, speak, read, and write in two languages.
AIM has an active, engaged parent community led by the Parent-Teacher Association. Each family contributes 5 volunteer hours per child per year, and many families participate more. The parent community is highly involved and organizes community-building activities. Recent activities include events every 4-6 weeks (waffle breakfast, carnival, book fair, and game day) and weekend play dates or park potlucks; parents also volunteer for chaperoning field trips, helping with library tasks, snacks and flowers, and various office tasks.
Led by the Parent-Teacher Association, the AIM parent community coordinates activities and fundraising. Events every 4-6 weeks include a waffle breakfast, a school carnival, a book fair, and a game day. Weekend and evening activities include monthly play dates, park potlucks, community bike rides, moms' nights out, and class potlucks. Volunteers support field trips, furniture-building for the yard, library cataloging, snacks and flowers for classrooms, and office tasks. The PTA also raises funds for projects such as the school library and outside improvements.
American International Montessori School (AIM) is a bilingual Montessori day school serving toddlers to elementary students on two Berkeley/Oakland–area campuses. Founded in 2009 by Ernest Mahr, AIM offers three Montessori programs: Infant Community (18–36 months), Children's House (3–6 years), and Elementary (1st–6th). Language immersion is embedded across all divisions, with toddler tracks in Japanese and Mandarin, and elementary bilingual options in English/Chinese or English/Japanese. Immersion is 100% in the target language for younger children, with English introduced in the afternoon for older students; elementary classrooms maintain all-day language immersion. Classrooms emphasize authentic Montessori materials and native-speaking teachers. Two campus sites host distinct language tracks, with Montessori-trained staff across every classroom. The campus features bright, natural-light rooms, child-sized furnishings, two large play yards, and abundant outdoor and garden activities. After-school enrichment includes sports, art, and dance—most notably Yosakoi Japanese dance—and annual cultural events like Setsubun, broadening students' world awareness and curiosity.
