A kind and gentle North Austin community school
Parents and teachers often remind children to “wash your hands.” It is not a stretch to imagine the child who wonders “Why do I wash my hands? They look the same before and after!” Last month, one child’s parent, a high school Biology teacher, offered to help our classroom do an experiment that would show the […]
Since the first of the month, our older kids have been working collaboratively to make a wall calendar. Along with circle-time discussions, especially birthday celebrations, calendars are essential to children learning about the basic concepts of present and past, the beginnings of our history curriculum. Calendars also teach us about the days of the week and […]
We all know that toddlers olds are active. They learn about the world through movement. Picking up objects, turning them around in the hand, sliding them along the floor. One facet of Montessori curriculum that enables, say, a two-year-old to succeed is the Practical Life area. Practical Life activities, such as pouring, wiping, setting a table, […]
As a part of our Geography studies, we rotate themed works based on continents into all of our academic areas. In the fall, we studied Europe, and in the spring we will learn about South America. This Winter we are learning about Antarctica. However, this unit is admittedly a bit less diverse than the others. Let’s […]
We love to represent holidays in our classroom. December is perhaps the most obvious example of this, so we thought this would be a good time to explain how these works fit into our Montessori curriculum.
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 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.
“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 […]
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!
One of our awesome grandparents returned for an encore performance of last year’s geology lessons. This time he brought all-new rocks, except for one special request by the students. The meteorite made a return visit–we just had to see the “space rock” again!
A Montessori classroom is ever-changing. Of course, the pink tower, counting beads, red rods and many more materials are always available to students. But in an effort to keep the kids’ interest and connect the classroom to the outside world there is an on-going rotation of works. Since children cannot help but to notice the […]