Walking a maze that they created
Category: materials
The Instruments of Intelligence
Every August, after weeks of preparation by our wonderful teachers, we welcome returning students back to school. They return to a classroom with many of the materials they know well from last year, and some new stuff to spice up. And so they did return last week. After weeks of preparation it’s so refreshing to […]
Learning from our Mistakes
Academics at all levels have researched how we learn. There are myriad pedagogies that we won’t get into here. (It probably goes without saying but we like Montessori best!) One aspect within the question of how we learn is “What happens when mistakes are made?” Carol Dweck made famous the phrase “growth mindset” in her […]
Our Sensorial Shelves
If you’ve ever seen a two-year-old work her way around a room and pick up nearly every item within reach, then you know the appeal that simple objects have to a young child. Everyday items can be so attractive for the child to look at, to pick up and carry around. Over a century ago, […]
Hot Summer, Cool Classroom
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 […]
How do we develop such young readers?
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 […]
Love the work you do
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 […]
Camping and the Solar Eclipse
This weekend our Fall Camping trip was another lovely time enjoying the natural surroundings of the Texas countryside. Nature always gives us twists. This year, the river was too low for swimming, but we found that instead we could just walk right across to the far bank. Instead of thousands of tiny green worms like […]
Transporting Us Inside this August
In early August HMS teachers returned, with our annual ritual of preparing the classroom for a new school year. With this unending heatwave we have also re-organized our normal daily schedule to accommodate the blistering afternoons. We’re used to spending the end of our school-day on our lovely playground, but this month we’re enjoying the […]
Love is all around us
Today may be Valentine’s Day, but we’ve been talking about it for several days already and no doubt it will last into next week. Here is a glimpse are saying and doing this week…
Math Is Everywhere
As we move around our playground, we keep finding math lessons! Dr Montessori observed that “Children display a universal love of mathematics,” and we have definitely found that this spring. From simple quests like “go find five different leaves” to doing impromptu lessons with wood cookies and sticks (at right, and above) Of course, we […]
Practical Life – Outdoors
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 […]