A kind, gentle North Austin community school
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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!
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 […]
Lately, students of all ages have been enthused by maps.
Between lunch and Zen time, the “non-nappers” have some time to work alone. Here is some of today’s work….
Earlier this morning, we paused to celebrate Passover at school. We are grateful to Matt Berg for coming to tell the story of Passover, share some matzo with the students and hide the afikomen. Yes, we even had gluten-free matzo! Breaking and tasting the matzo… The afikomen has been spotted!
Friday was such a nice day, both inside and out…
After starting with spinach ink last week, our students have been hard at work this week, making more ink out of beets, cabbage and onions. Students making paint from yellow onions this morning. Our collection of ink: 3 different kinds of cabbage and spinach!