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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 [...]

Siblings: Your Child’s First Friendships
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Siblings: Your Child’s First Friendships

Montessori, Parenting

Siblings: Your Child’s First Friendships

Heather2021-04-14T16:36:16-05:00March 14th, 2021|Categories: Montessori, Parenting|Tags: love, parenting|

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 [...]

Freedom with Responsibility: from the classroom to your home.
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Freedom with Responsibility: from the classroom to your home.

Montessori, Parenting

Freedom with Responsibility: from the classroom to your home.

Heather2021-04-14T16:18:20-05:00February 14th, 2021|Categories: Montessori, Parenting|Tags: freedom, Grace and Courtesy, independence, parenting, responsibility|

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 [...]

Functional Learning Posture
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Functional Learning Posture

Parenting

Functional Learning Posture

Heather2021-04-14T16:19:26-05:00January 14th, 2021|Categories: Parenting|Tags: health, yoga|

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 [...]

The Grace and Courtesy of Giving and Receiving
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The Grace and Courtesy of Giving and Receiving

Parenting

The Grace and Courtesy of Giving and Receiving

Heather2020-12-29T13:26:44-06:00December 1st, 2020|Categories: Parenting|Tags: community, empathy, Grace and Courtesy, manners, parenting|

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 [...]