A kind, gentle North Austin community school
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Kids are inherently curious about everything around them. This winter at HMS has been no exception.
One sunny afternoon last winter, our playground saw a group of children spontaneously gather each other for a game. Not just a simple imagination-type-game, but this group of children between the ages of 2 and 5 decided to play a game of charades. The rules of the game were that one child would get up […]
It is a stage and so much more…
our students have been asking about the rain, where it comes from, where it goes. And why it’s now gone?!?
All year long, we’ve been expanding our outdoor classroom, and this month was no exception. We’ve brought outside a full compliment of Practical Life materials for kids of all ages. These activities, such as pouring water, spooning rice, watering the flowers and sweeping (both practice and actual) are things that we do every day. These […]
“But what do humans do?” Khuloud asked during today’s lunchtime discussion about the sun and trees and what they “do.” After a moment to reflect, a 5-year-old responded “To not pollute the Earth!” Dr Maria Montessori spoke often of a Cosmic Education. She believed that we are all one, that the whole planet–plants, rocks, animals, […]
Our holiday materials are back It’s December, and that means cooler weather and new works on our shelves. After a month of smashing golf tees into pumpkins and learning the parts of a turkey, now we’ve moved on to cutting out snowflakes, learning the parts of a snowman and sorting wreaths and candy canes. but… […]
This fall, enjoying the outdoors is our #1 prevention tactic against “the virus”–as the children call it. As such, it seems appropriate to use this space to discuss just how our playground operates. This post is not about is how, little-by-little, we’re bringing our Montessori academic materials outside–that’s an on-going, still-evolving structural change to be […]