Respecting your environment is a basic tenet of Montessori teaching. But who knew cleaning things could be so fun, especially when you do it with friends?
Author: rickweller
Mandala Art
Our students have been learning about mandalas, and set out making some of their own using pastels, watercolor and some other media. Yes, mandalas are more than the sand that we see on display! Play the video to see some of the results.
Manipulation and Invented Spelling at work
This morning several students were independently working on writing & spelling activities. It is fantastic seeing these expressions of Maria Montessori’s own observations from over 100 years ago. In her book The Montessori Method she describes how while spoken language is a social instrument of humans, so it is that “written language may be considered in […]
New School Year
The first day of school is more than just the new faces that have joined our school, it is changes within school as well. Most of all this year, the beloved “nook” is now the art closet. And, here’s a couple of works that are new to our shelves and walls this August. What changes […]
Children spill things
In case you didn’t know… children spill things! Of course, this is not shocking news to anyone. However, children are also drawn to an orderly, clean environment. All too often we act like it’s a surprise when a child spills something. Whether it’s a cup of water, a jar of paint or a bowl of […]
Order and the Montessori child
We’ve noticed a trend spreading among our students this spring. A couple of months ago, the maps (USA, world and continents) were very popular. There almost wasn’t enough floor-space at times. As these things go, the interest in maps waned a bit, but recently several children have been found organizing the pieces by color, more […]
Bugs
It’s been a rainy spring and the bugs that come out have their blessings and challenges. The blessing is that many of our students, especially the older ones, LOVE finding bugs (mostly roll-pollies) and are so curious to find more and investigate when they find new ones. And that is the challenge for teachers and […]
Making Stepping Stones
Our art teacher, Dorte, is on Day #3 of working with the kids to make stepping stones to put on our playground. This is a beautiful example of the kids learning about process and order through their work at school.
Lunchtime thoughts
See up there in the right-hand corner where it says “Lunchtime thoughts?” That’s a new page that will get regularly updated. Please head there for ideas about what to pack in your child’s lunchbox. Even better, think it over and send us your ideas and we’ll include them in our updates.
Art, yoga and Canada
It was a busy morning with some art, yoga and lots of Montessori work time. Mostly, we are grateful that one of our parents today came to school to tell us about their next vacation to Prince Edward Island. There is lots of water, red beaches, lobsters and it’s still cold up there!
Using the Pendulum in four easy steps
Parents, you may have noticed a new feature on our playground after Spring Break: the Pendulum. The pendulum is an excellent tool for developing eye-hand-coordination, since the “pull down to make it go up” notion is not intuitive for children. They can also be creative about what goes into the bucket, and using the bucket as […]
Maps
Lately, students of all ages have been enthused by maps.