A kind and gentle North Austin community school
A couple of weeks ago, we received 10 caterpillars for our classroom. In a little over a week, they had each made their chrysalis, only this year the butterflies emerged much more quickly than they did last year. Several of them emerged from their cocoon during the school day while the curious students were able […]
Five of our caterpillars made cocoons last night, and that wasn’t even the most exciting thing that happened today! We also had not one, not two, but THREE special visitors! First, we had a special Halloween visit from one of our student’s Grandma’s, who came all the way from New York City to help us […]
Yesterday Mrs Laura stayed a bit longer than usual and joined the students on the playground for an extended music class. It was even more kinesthetic than usual, with versions of “High and Low,” “I’m a Little Monkey,” and “You Walk and You Walk and You Stop.” And, for the first time our younger students […]
Dr Maria Montessori’s curricula have been used in schools for over 100 years. One of the main concepts behind of her ideas is control of error; the material design sets the child up for success–and growth–through small, acceptable failures. After 2 years in our classroom, our students are so accustomed to accepting new challenges and learning from their […]
One of the popular themes so far this year has been our “Air, Land or Water” materials. Part of our Montessori Science curriculum, these works can come in a variety of forms; check out two of them here.
It was rainy this morning, but that didn’t stop us from our first day of fun–and learning–of the 2016-17 school year.
The reviews are in. This morning our students saw, for the first time, the tires that were set up in the playground over the weekend. “That’s cool!” said one. “So much to climb!” said another. “They’re buried?” asked a skeptical third. We think they like it…
Many thanks to one of our creative dads for our new water work. These mobile green ramps (“slides” to the kids) are fun for all. We have learned about water flow and the children quickly figured out how to conserve the water and recycle it to create the “waterfalls.” The older students are interested in […]
Last week, our students made paper together! Not only was it fun, but they got to use it for some art to take home. We love our Art!
In a Montessori classroom, many materials on the shelves come and go, but one of the staple materials in our classroom is the Metal Insets. Earlier this month, some of our five & six year old students started making books about the solar system using the Metal Insets. They used the circle inset for the planets and free hand for meteors. […]
Our classroom is warm and dry, and busy as always. But we still love to go outside! On this spring’s un-sunny days, we like to have fun in the mud… mudplay from Highland Montessori School on Vimeo.
A popular topic among many of the older students last week was the planets, so true to Montessori our teachers followed that interest and we got out some of our spacey books and materials, and the students created some of their own. They are still busy with them this week!