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 [...]
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 [...]
By Jennifer Baker Powers, M.Ed. A Montessori classroom is by design an extension of the home and family environment. Just as the child learns developmentally appropriate practical life skills at school, the Montessori classroom also provides ample opportunity for learning social skills and relationship navigation. The mixed-aged classroom, a unique hallmark of any Montessori environment, may in many respects mimic the dynamics of siblings in a household. If this is true, you may ask, then why does my child behave so differently at school with [...]
by Jennifer Baker Powers One of the first things a child learns upon entering a Montessori classroom is the unspoken relationship between freedom and responsibility, or as Maria Montessori called it “liberty.” In 1964, she wrote “discipline must come through liberty” and “when he [the child] is master of himself and can therefore regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to follow some rule of life”. In the Montessori classroom, the child quickly comes to know certain benign boundaries to this freedom such [...]
by Jennifer Baker Powers Classroom teachers at all levels, both in Montessori schools and in the public sector, are observing a noticeable decline in some students’ core strength. Core strength encompasses the muscles that engage the stomach, back, gluteus and pectorals. These muscles work together to provide an optimal posture for learning. Children with a weak core often demonstrate an inability to sit cross legged on the floor without bracing their knees for support rather propping on one arm/hand for assistance or leaning forward for [...]
By Jennifer Baker Powers Although for many of us the upcoming holiday season is going to look a little different this year, I imagine that there will still be a fair amount of giving and receiving of gifts. Perhaps even more so as parents and grandparents try to make up for the loss of time with extended family and the lack of seasonal travel. Here are a few tips to help children, who are generally outspoken and honest by nature, navigate both getting and giving [...]
By Lauren Fox, Lawrence Journal World, October 30, 2020 For over a year, 10-year-old Dylan Tenbrink has been standing outside Raintree Montessori School on Friday mornings, protesting about climate change with her sign, “Our planet, our future.” Dylan, a fifth grader, became inspired to speak out about the climate after watching a short video about Greta Thunberg, the 17-year-old Swedish climate activist. “She had a really strong voice and she was able to be heard,” Dylan said of Thunberg. “She had strong feelings about the [...]
By Maren Stark Schmidt And They Call It Veggie Love… When do we learn to love vegetables? For most of us, it is usually before the age of seven. During the first six years of life children are in a sensitive period of learning that involves refining the senses, which includes, of course, taste and smell. Introduce new foods ten times. Presenting a variety of vegetables to the young child helps create a later preference for vegetables in the older child and adult. When introducing [...]
By Lynne Lawrence, Executive Director of AMI What an incredible year it has been to mark the 150th birthday of Maria Montessori, yet what a perfect opportunity to reflect on her work and show us how relevant it continues to be today and into our future. While we had planned to celebrate so much in person, sharing our work, our vision and our achievements this year, we have still found ways to connect across the world and I am grateful to the AMI community for [...]
School and events are shutting down, impacting children in unexpected ways. Here’s how to deal with the letdown. By Erinne Magee March 18, 2020 • Taken from the New York Times When I told my 10-year-old daughter that her elementary school would be shutting down for two weeks, she didn’t seem to mind. But after Lexi had time to process the news and realized a friend’s birthday party, a dance competition and the “Jump Rope for Heart” fund-raiser at school were also looped into the [...]
