Heather, Author at Raintree Montessori • Page 2 of 7

Animals of Raintree
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Animals of Raintree

Early Childhood, Raintree

Animals of Raintree

Heather2023-06-10T16:42:44-05:00January 26th, 2023|Categories: Early Childhood, Raintree|Tags: animals, community, independence, nature, responsibility|

The longer I work at Raintree, the more I wonder about the stories that collect around these fourteen acres of land. The tales that are told with the most joy and humor are those of the animals. Some are woven into the Raintree quilt, the earliest threads of the school story. Some are retold at staff gatherings or parent/teacher conferences. All are cherished memories that remind us of our responsibility to the small and delicate life around us. The chickens are visited daily by children, [...]

What Is It Like to Be a Raintree Substitute (and also a Raintree Parent)?
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What Is It Like to Be a Raintree Substitute (and also a Raintree Parent)?

Early Childhood, Elementary, Montessori, Raintree

What Is It Like to Be a Raintree Substitute (and also a Raintree Parent)?

Heather2023-06-10T16:41:20-05:00December 18th, 2022|Categories: Early Childhood, Elementary, Montessori, Raintree|Tags: community, love, Montessori, parenting|

Some names in the story have been changed. After making my way down to the Lower Far East toddler community, I find the children gathered around the tables joined by a few parents and/or guardians, having a cookie exchange. It’s the penultimate day before winter break and although the children may not have a full grasp of how much their routines are about to alter for the foreseeable future, they can certainly grasp the growing buzz around campus as the holiday spirit begins to take [...]

Raising Adults
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Raising Adults

Parenting

Raising Adults

Heather2022-12-11T19:07:52-06:00December 11th, 2022|Categories: Parenting|Tags: community, freedom, grit, independence, parenting, soft skills|

Raising Adults Last week I was listening to NPR and was quite touched by a short interview with Michelle Obama on her latest book, The Light We Carry. In this interview Obama talked about her mother and the way she was raised. Her mother “had a clear philosophy about parenting, which is unusual for somebody of her generation. She said, I'm not raising children, I'm raising adults.” It reminded me of Dr. Montessori’s writing, “The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at [...]

Montessori Language
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Montessori Language

Early Childhood, Montessori

Montessori Language

Heather2022-11-29T12:14:02-06:00November 29th, 2022|Categories: Early Childhood, Montessori|Tags: education, language, Montessori|

by Lisa Erber, Primary Guide in Upper Far West There are four schemes in preparing the language area of the Montessori primary. Dr. Montessori believed that you must prepare the hand to manipulate ever more refined, to guide the tool of writing to create symbols. When using tweezers to transfer materials, or removing the Knobbed Cylinders the Montessori Guide demonstrates the three-finger grasp. Fine motor control of the hand by repetition of the three-finger grasp develops strength in the pincer grip. Secondly, taking into consideration [...]

Montessori students exhibit a more richly connected semantic memory network
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Montessori students exhibit a more richly connected semantic memory network

Montessori

Montessori students exhibit a more richly connected semantic memory network

Heather2022-05-15T20:09:24-05:00March 25th, 2022|Categories: Montessori|Tags: brain development, creativity, education|

by Eric W. Dolan March 6, 2022 in Cognitive Science The type of education a child receives appears to influence how they represent knowledge in long-term memory, according to a new study published in the journal Science of Learning. The findings indicate that Montessori students tend to have a more richly connected network of semantic memories. “We are facing many changes, and education seems to be a crucial point to prepare young people to face these changes. However, we do not yet have an educational [...]

A Glimpse into the Primary Upper West
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A Glimpse into the Primary Upper West

Early Childhood, Montessori

A Glimpse into the Primary Upper West

Heather2022-05-15T20:17:01-05:00February 4th, 2022|Categories: Early Childhood, Montessori|Tags: concentration, flow, freedom, normalization, self-regulation|

By Laura Hosek, M.Ed., Primary Guide, Upper West It’s been a strange couple years for everyone, everywhere across the sphere we call home. Humans have been stretched and balled, left to rise, deflated, then molded into an adaptive new. I’ve been baking a lot on the weekends— it’s fun and sets up a beautiful analogy... We, adults, are much like bread in the oven: while still a bit pliable and a few tricks can work to keep us changing in the direction we prefer, but [...]

The Black Strip: A Glimpse into the Lower Elementary South East Loft
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The Black Strip: A Glimpse into the Lower Elementary South East Loft

Elementary, Montessori

The Black Strip: A Glimpse into the Lower Elementary South East Loft

Heather2022-05-15T20:01:53-05:00November 12th, 2021|Categories: Elementary, Montessori|Tags: education|

By Laura Sinkler, Lower Elementary Guide The Long Black Strip is a lesson in humility. It is 100 feet of black fabric representing the 4.6 billion years of Earth's history. The Black Strip is an impressionistic lesson given to demonstrate the length of time it took to form the Earth's crust, fill the hollows with water, and the oceans with salts, before the first living creatures came on Earth told in the last 10 feet or so of the strip, with the last half inch [...]

My Amygdala Made Me Do It
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My Amygdala Made Me Do It

Early Childhood, Parenting

My Amygdala Made Me Do It

Heather2024-05-25T07:46:32-05:00May 25th, 2021|Categories: Early Childhood, Parenting|Tags: brain development, parenting, self-regulation|

Written by Maren Schmidt (5/3/2014) Learning to control impulses is an important task for our children, and all of us, to learn. Until our children learn to control urges to hit, kick, punch, pinch, bite, spit, name call and more, we’ll see all those behaviors emerge when life becomes overwhelming. How is self-control established? Let’s look at the young child’s brain. Our brains are perhaps best viewed as three brains in one. Our reptilian brain (cerebellum) takes in all sensory information and handles issue of basic survival, [...]

The Child’s Inherent Love of Nature
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The Child’s Inherent Love of Nature

Parenting

The Child’s Inherent Love of Nature

Heather2022-05-15T20:17:59-05:00May 15th, 2021|Categories: Parenting|Tags: nature, parenting|

by Maren Stark Schmidt What do you do to find yourself when you are out of sorts? Frustrated? Sorrowful? Despairing? If you are like most people, you try to find a quiet spot to commune with nature and seek peace or solace. Solace, a word from the Latin sol for ''sun,'' meaning ''to find the sun.'' We have to be close to nature to find the sun, and in the process we find ourselves. This connection to peace is formed within each of us as [...]

It is Often Through Change That We Experience Great Growth: Helping Children Face Transitions
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It is Often Through Change That We Experience Great Growth: Helping Children Face Transitions

Montessori, Raintree

It is Often Through Change That We Experience Great Growth: Helping Children Face Transitions

Heather2021-05-07T14:30:17-05:00May 7th, 2021|Categories: Montessori, Raintree|Tags: community, education, grit, Montessori, parenting, separation|

by Jennifer Baker Powers Spring is often referred to as a time of growth and rebirth. Just as the grass becomes green again and the buds come back out on the trees and flowers, humans experience change and renewal. Sometimes, that growth isn’t easy. There are many clichés and quotes we are all familiar with such as “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” or “stuck in a rut” and talk of “growing pains”. What all of these sentiments have in common is the idea [...]

About Heather