A kind and gentle North Austin community school
To those who know of their lives and teachings, it’s no surprise that Mahatma Gandhi and Maria Montessori were kindred souls. They were born within a year of each other—he in October 1869, she in August 1870. Both spent chunks of time in London, both spent their lives fighting for a peaceful world, he as […]
Visitors to HMS marvel at the varied activities going on at the same time. This morning we noticed these two age-appropriate activities happening at the same time. To the untrained eye, these may seem two different activities, but what is going on is simply that children of different ages have different abilities. It is well-known […]
Dr Montessori observed that “Children display a universal love of mathematics,” and true enough over 100 years later, children seem to keep finding math. Of course, there are designed math lessons in the classroom, but very often children find math on our playground without knowing what they’ve done. It’s clearly part of their nature. On […]
We adore Mr. Rogers. His long-running show, and its spin-off Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, are the only TV shows we recommend to our families. He not only has a universal message of love and compassion, but he had a way of saying it all so simply, speaking to children and adults alike. One of our favorite […]
History is a part of a pre-school curriculum that is easy to gloss over. But it is all around us in the stories we tell. With a little bit of intention in how we approach these stories, a young child can begin to grasp historical ideas. Learning about history begins with understanding time. These are […]
Our playground is more than just a place to relax and unwind. While we definitely run and dance and play, several curricula intersect here. This unstructured time is central to Social Emotional Learning. Here we are within nature where we stop to learn about biology and ecology. We watch the bugs and birds, especially butterflies […]
During these first two weeks of 2026 we have been discussing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s messages, focusing on his words of love, kindness and friendship. Children under age 6 are known for their concrete thinking. Abstract thinking and large, complex thought and reasoning is still under development. As we know from our readings in The Whole […]
We regularly speak about the importance of consistency in the lives of young children. From school drop-off to lunchtime procedures to bedtime, routines help kids find comfort and a sense of place in our busy day-to-day lives. Indeed, Dr Montessori established that it is through the repetition of everyday tasks that children learn best. How […]
At the end of his very, very busy day off Ferris Bueller reminds us that “life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” For many of us in Austin, October is a busy month, what with two weekends of ACLFest and the Grand Prix. […]
Walking a maze that they created
Every August, after weeks of preparation by our wonderful teachers, we welcome returning students back to school. They return to a classroom with many of the materials they know well from last year, and some new stuff to spice up. And so they did return last week. After weeks of preparation it’s so refreshing to […]
“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 […]