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So far Heather has created 66 blog entries.

Functional Learning Posture

2021-04-14T16:19:26-05:00January 14th, 2021|Categories: Parenting|Tags: , |

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 [...]

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The Grace and Courtesy of Giving and Receiving

2020-12-29T13:26:44-06:00December 1st, 2020|Categories: Parenting|Tags: , , , , |

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 [...]

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Inspired by Greta Thunberg, Raintree student leads weekly protest about climate change

2020-12-29T13:50:59-06:00October 30th, 2020|Categories: Montessori, Raintree, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |

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 [...]

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Food and Life

2020-12-29T13:49:10-06:00October 1st, 2020|Categories: Parenting|Tags: , , , , |

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 [...]

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Celebrating 150 Years – A Birthday Message

2020-12-29T14:05:42-06:00September 1st, 2020|Categories: Montessori|Tags: |

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 [...]

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Handling Your Kid’s Disappointment When Everything Is Canceled

2020-04-11T17:12:07-05:00April 11th, 2020|Categories: Parenting|Tags: , , |

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 [...]

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Want to Raise Thoughtful, Well-Adjusted Children? Let Them Hear You Say These 11 Things, According to Parenting Experts

2020-04-11T17:29:27-05:00March 1st, 2020|Categories: Parenting|Tags: , , , |

I recently wrote about what parents should let their kids see them doing to role-model well-adjusted behavior and have been planning this follow-up piece. Why? Because helping children to grow up successful and levelheaded is about ensuring they see you doing and saying certain things. Plenty has been written about what not to say in front of your children but not so much on the opposite. So I enlisted the help of parenting experts Patrick A. Coleman, parenting editor at Fatherly.com, and Daniel Wong, author [...]

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Anxiety & Anxiety Disorders in Children: Information for Parents

2020-04-11T17:42:43-05:00February 1st, 2020|Categories: Parenting|Tags: , , |

By Thomas J. Huberty, PhD, NCSP Indiana University Anxiety is one of the most common experiences of children and adults. It is a normal, adaptive reaction, as it creates a level of arousal and alertness to danger. The primary characteristic of anxiety is worry, which is fear that future events will have negative outcomes. Anxious children are much more likely than their peers to see minor events as potentially threatening. For example, giving a brief oral report might be slightly anxiety-producing for most children, but [...]

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How to Help Kids Learn to Love Giving

2019-12-05T15:50:00-06:00December 5th, 2019|Categories: Parenting|Tags: , , |

by Jason Marsh During the holidays, opportunities abound to help kids understand why and how to help people in need, with food drives proliferating and countless organizations making pitches for end-of-year donations. And there’s scientific evidence that kids should be receptive to those messages: Research suggests that they have a deeply rooted instinct to share and to help others, from the time they’re very young—one study even found that toddlers enjoy giving to others more than they like getting treats for themselves. Kids, it seems, have a strong, natural drive [...]

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How the Outdoors Makes Your Kids Smarter

2019-12-05T16:42:05-06:00December 5th, 2019|Categories: Parenting, Raintree|Tags: , |

The freedom to move and play outside inspires creativity and improves brain function By Katie Arnold When I was eight years old, I spent an hour every autumn day after school shooting baskets in our driveway in New Jersey. I was small for my age, had little talent for the sport, and didn’t love it all that much; what I loved were the stories I made up in my head as I practiced my layups alone. I loved how my mind was free to wander [...]

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