A kind, gentle North Austin community school
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 […]
This morning we had a meeting to learn about hand-washing, and how it makes germs go away. We had our 3rd annual springtime visit from a H.S. Biology teacher. (See results from 2018’s experiment.) The kids were excited to learn that they get to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” over and over again! This favorite […]
We routinely change out the materials on our shelves. With the turn of the calendar and the change in the weather, this weekend the teachers were busy making new works. The children were eager to try out the new materials, including a variety of counting works, coloring calaveras, basting water into pumpkin molds and the ever-popular […]
Like many Montessori Schools, we go out of our way to celebrate birthdays. We do so in a way that emphasizes the passage of time a child’s life. The children discuss how the Earth goes around the sun each year, getting an idea of their place in time. Essentially these are among the first History and Science lessons […]
This new school year has brought with it some brands new works on our shelves: flowers and dinosaurs. With the help of our awesome parent community who brought in some cut flowers, we are happy to offer a flower-arranging tray for our students. To complete this multi-step work, they are asked to choose from the available […]
Visitors to HMS know that our playground is a special place. We love our shade trees, flowering shrubs, the playhouse, playscape, the mud box and the “stage” (photo, right). We eat lunch outdoors and watch the squirrels and grackles watching us. While our classroom has a fair amount of structure, our playground subscribes to what […]
One aspect of Montessori that differentiates it from mainstream schools is the multi-age classroom. At any given time, about 1/3 of the students in our classroom are in their third year at HMS. In fact, a Kindergarten student is in her fourth year with us. Thus, in our classroom, when a child asks a teacher for help it […]
Springtime has arrived, both on our playground and inside the classroom. Bugs are on the shelves and blue and yellow (ahem, green) paints are on the easels. Art class has been outside several times, “baby” loquats and peaches are on the trees, butterflies flit around the playground, and flowers tend to come into the classroom. […]
This spring, teachers have left many “buggy” materials on our shelves. More and more every week! We are doing bug puzzles counting bugs drawing bugs writing about bugs making our own bugs. In the process, we are learning the names of the body parts, learning about the life cycle of bugs, finding the similarities and differences between spiders and […]
Valentine’s Day is a popular one for children. We started a few weeks ago with various heart-shaped materials on our shelves (why do we rotate our shelves?) and discussions of what and who we love. This week, students brought in their homemade Valentines to the school, and, like past years, the holiday culminated with our […]
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 […]
After a break from the classroom for the holidays, this morning the students were eager to get back to their Montessori works. As usual after breaks from school the children arrived to find the usual Montessori materials on the shelves (middle and bottom photos), mixed in with some new items to work with (top photo).