A kind, gentle North Austin community school
“The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.” –Maria Montessori As we head into the heat of another Austin summer, the children are cheerfully milling about the classroom this week. We can’t help but notice how much the […]
Academics at all levels have researched how we learn. There are myriad pedagogies that we won’t get into here. (It probably goes without saying but we like Montessori best!) One aspect within the question of how we learn is “What happens when mistakes are made?” Carol Dweck made famous the phrase “growth mindset” in her […]
Imagination in full display on our playscape
If you’ve ever seen a two-year-old work her way around a room and pick up nearly every item within reach, then you know the appeal that simple objects have to a young child. Everyday items can be so attractive for the child to look at, to pick up and carry around. Over a century ago, […]
We are now two weeks past Halloween and two weeks until Thanksgiving. While October in Austin is a busy time with ACL Festival, Formula 1 and Halloween (and we usually spice up the month with our camping trip), October pales to the excitement of the weeks from Thanksgiving through New Years. At school, we embrace […]
The sun may be scorching outside, and we wish we could spend more time on our playground, but it is SO nice to be back! The classroom is again buzzing with activity. Summertime can be a chaotic. We travel, go to various summer camps, grandparents visit. It’s hot outside, so we go to movies, stay […]
Every morning we prepare for our work time with a brief yoga session. Some are surprised that these active, wiggly, questioning 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds can sit for a few minutes of quiet breathing, movement and stretching. But clearly these kiddos themselves understand the rewards because they ask for it daily! After our early […]
We’ve seen it again and again–the young child of just 1 or 2 years old who really, REALLY wants to read. They eagerly watch the older children in our classroom. They look at picture books and say they they are reading. All of our little students are so eager to read books, but it takes […]
Recently two of our older students, a 5- and a 5 1/2-year-old, have been enjoying working on embroidery together. And by recently, we mean, the past 6 or 8 weeks. They have done a few other Montessori works here and there, but sewing has been their main focus. It’s been long enough that we teachers […]
Frequent followers of our updates know that we like to refresh our shelves. Returning from Winter Break, the kiddos are always excited to find fresh and new materials on our shelves for them to work with. The chill of January was no exception to this, and we got to do it again for February! First […]
December is always so busy. With all of the events, shopping, travel and more it can be hard to keep up. With adults so busy, even the children can get drawn into it and feel an extra level of excitement. This year, more than most years, our kiddos have been drawn to the classroom’s art […]
This weekend our Fall Camping trip was another lovely time enjoying the natural surroundings of the Texas countryside. Nature always gives us twists. This year, the river was too low for swimming, but we found that instead we could just walk right across to the far bank. Instead of thousands of tiny green worms like […]