A kind, gentle North Austin community school
Our decidated art teacher, Dorte, has just finished a lovely sculpturing project with the students. In her words, here is how these works of art came to be: After opening some boxes of furniture, I was somewhat surprised to find that they didn’t use plastic or styrofoam to protect the parts, but just chunky pieces of […]
We love our playground so much! We run, and jump and play, and yesterday we had a colorful, fluttery visitor alight. The kids were entranced, and yet were so patient passing it back and forth to each other. We are so lucky–this isn’t the first time we’ve had butterflies join us at playtime. It was […]
UPDATE: On Thursday morning (9/7) we found that our first butterfly had emerged, and by the afternoon we had three more! Three more arrived by Friday morning and on Friday afternoon we released them on the playground. (Scroll down for latest pictures.) On Aug 24, we received 10 caterpillars for our classroom. They ate very fast, grew […]
First a physician and later a psychologist, social worker and pedagogue before these professions existed, or certainly before women were “allowed” to hold these jobs, Dr Maria Montessori was a brilliant mind working far before her time. Born on this day in 1870, Maria Montessori grew up the daughter of a civil servant and a well-educated mother. […]
This morning we simulated the eclipse in our classroom, then after lunch the older students viewed it with a pinhole camera and a hole-punch camera. Just a little warm-up until we have a total eclipse here in Austin in 2024!
We are so happy to be back at work after our short summer break. So great to see old friends and make new ones! As shown by the pictures below, we are beginning this year learning about the Universe.
“Sarah! There is a spider in the library!” So goes a not uncommon announcement heard around our classroom this year. Such announcement is not uttered out of fear but out of excitement and a sense of discovery. Our young students have come to admire and like spiders over the many months of school. Way back in September the announcement of finding […]
We went and did it again–we had an awesome camping trip to wrap up the month of April. As always, it’s so nice to see everyone outside of the confines of school. It was so much fun, we’re gonna do it twice next year! Here are some of the highlights…
“To teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.” –Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence Children ask questions! As teachers, we seek to enable them to answer their own questions. What kinds of things are magnetic? What floats and what sinks? From pouring water between different containers […]
On weekdays our students come to school to work. On Saturday, their parents came to work–and great things happened: a bigger garden, a new playhouse, an outdoor water filter, cleaned and sealed decks, and new tree stumps. Good times!
Last weekend many of our parents attended a fun-filled workshop led by our wonderful art teacher, Dorte. Parents learned first-hand what it’s like to be in the Art section of our school. But, don’t take our word for it. Hear it in their own words, and pictures! “It’s like art therapy!” “I really enjoyed getting a […]
Kids move!