Imagination in full display on our playscape
Author: rickweller
Our Sensorial Shelves
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, […]
Embracing Holidays
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 […]
Hot Summer, Cool Classroom
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 […]
Our Morning Yoga
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 […]
How do we develop such young readers?
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 […]
Love the work you do
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 […]
Wintertime Fun
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 […]
Holiday Art & Cheer
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 […]
Camping and the Solar Eclipse
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 […]
Transporting Us Inside this August
In early August HMS teachers returned, with our annual ritual of preparing the classroom for a new school year. With this unending heatwave we have also re-organized our normal daily schedule to accommodate the blistering afternoons. We’re used to spending the end of our school-day on our lovely playground, but this month we’re enjoying the […]
International Tastes
This spring when we began studying desserts a conversation was started among kids and adults. What we thought might be a few weeks’ study of food and nutrition was lengthened by the children’s enthusiasm and curiosity about cuisines and cooking and the stories that accompany our food choices. At first, we brought in pies and […]