our students have been asking about the rain, where it comes from, where it goes. And why it’s now gone?!?
Category: Montessori
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 […]
We Are All One
“But what do humans do?” Khuloud asked during today’s lunchtime discussion about the sun and trees and what they “do.” After a moment to reflect, a 5-year-old responded “To not pollute the Earth!” Dr Maria Montessori spoke often of a Cosmic Education. She believed that we are all one, that the whole planet–plants, rocks, animals, […]
Happy Birthday, MLK
Monday might be his holiday, but today MLK would have turned 92. In honor of this event, and so that our young students might be aware of why Monday is a holiday, this morning we read a book about him, Martin’s Big Words (by Rappaport and Collier). (Note: for our ages, the story is abridged, […]
‘Tis the Season
Our holiday materials are back It’s December, and that means cooler weather and new works on our shelves. After a month of smashing golf tees into pumpkins and learning the parts of a turkey, now we’ve moved on to cutting out snowflakes, learning the parts of a snowman and sorting wreaths and candy canes. but… […]
Our fantastical loose parts
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 […]
Spooky new materials are on the shelves
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 […]
Birthdays as History Lessons
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 […]
New Year, New Works
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 […]
Little Texans on the Playground
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 […]
Friends help friends
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 […]