A kind and gentle North Austin community school
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 […]
Springtime has arrived, both on our playground and inside the classroom. Bugs are on the shelves and blue and yellow (ahem, green) paints are on the easels. Art class has been outside several times, “baby” loquats and peaches are on the trees, butterflies flit around the playground, and flowers tend to come into the classroom. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
UPDATE: On Thursday morning (9/7) we found that our first butterfly had emerged, and by the afternoon we had three more! Three more arrived by Friday morning and on Friday afternoon we released them on the playground. (Scroll down for latest pictures.) On Aug 24, we received 10 caterpillars for our classroom. They ate very fast, grew […]
This morning we simulated the eclipse in our classroom, then after lunch the older students viewed it with a pinhole camera and a hole-punch camera. Just a little warm-up until we have a total eclipse here in Austin in 2024!
“Sarah! There is a spider in the library!” So goes a not uncommon announcement heard around our classroom this year. Such announcement is not uttered out of fear but out of excitement and a sense of discovery. Our young students have come to admire and like spiders over the many months of school. Way back in September the announcement of finding […]
We went and did it again–we had an awesome camping trip to wrap up the month of April. As always, it’s so nice to see everyone outside of the confines of school. It was so much fun, we’re gonna do it twice next year! Here are some of the highlights…
“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 […]
On weekdays our students come to school to work. On Saturday, their parents came to work–and great things happened: a bigger garden, a new playhouse, an outdoor water filter, cleaned and sealed decks, and new tree stumps. Good times!