A kind, gentle North Austin community school
After a week of teachers’ preparation and anticipation, this morning we welcomed returning students to HMS. Some students went back to their old favorite works, while others explored some of the new options on our shelves. It’s great to be back! Placing stars in the sky
Last week, we said good-bye to some students who we have know for three years and are moving on to Kindergarten. Even more bittersweet, we also said goodbye to our Art Teacher, Dorte, who is retiring to spend more time with her family. Dorte has been at HMS since our earliest days, and has inspired so […]
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 […]
This year, we had not one, but two wonderful camping trips! Last weekend, HMS invaded Palmetto State Park and found lots of excitement. We found lots of animals: spiders, butterflies, birds, frogs and caterpillars, all of many different colors and sizes. The river was great for fishing and wading, and hiking trails provided a test […]
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, […]
“The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.” –Maria Montessori We’re back from Spring Break, and the students are cheerfully milling about the classroom this week. We can’t help but notice how much the students are happy to […]
See some of the love that’s been going around the last couple of weeks…
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 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 […]