Here’s a glimpse you might enjoy of the summer world here at school.  Staff members returned the first of August from attending conferences, connecting through Montessori eStudy groups, reading books that support and enrich their work and otherwise immersing themselves in activities and efforts that further integrate last year’s experiences while leading minds, hearts and spirits toward the new school year.  Guides, leaders, and assistants, returned to their classrooms the first week of August and began the monumental annual task of converting mere rooms full of packed up materials into exquisitely prepared developmental learning environments for children, with the able assistance of a great support staff. Read more »

August 10, 2013 robbieb Austin Montessori News Comments Off on Preparation for another Great Year at Austin Montessori School

We’d like to share with you the message of our founder to our newest alumni of Austin Montessori School.

Dear Newest Alumni and Parents,

Don and I regret that we were unable to be present for your commencement ceremony. Here is the message I would have spoken to you that evening, from my heart to yours.

You are now alumni of Austin Montessori School and veterans of the Rome trip. You leave together and, even though you go your separate ways, be that sooner or later,you will remain bound by a deep common bond of shared experience. It will not be easy for you to explain to others whence you have come nor, therefore, whither you go — or more exactly — how you go and why. Read more »

June 18, 2013 robbieb Austin Montessori News Comments Off on Commencement for Graduates of AMS

Dear Parents,

It is long been our school’s practice to provide advice for parents whenever we know that horrific violence will be at the center of news forecasts for a while. It is very gratifying to see how many advocates for children in our society as a whole have, over the years, become more and more sensitive to the needs of children in such times. This is true progress! We are happy to provide you two such examples below. Read more »

April 18, 2013 robbieb Austin Montessori News Comments Off on Let’s turn off the news until the children are asleep

WINTER*

Let’s help our children grow in rhythm with the seasons. Let’s help them experience the differences, adapt to them, and develop a tolerance in their systems at an early age while their potential for flexibility is greatest.  At school we set our thermostats at 68 to 70 degrees in winter and 78 to 80 degrees in summer.  In this way the out-of-doors is not so unappealing and not such a shock to the children’s systems as they go between indoors and outdoors.  Furthermore this helps the child live moderately in today’s world and prepare for tomorrow’s world of energy shortages.

When the weather begins to cool, you can help your child dress for the weather.  Depending on your child’s comfort level s/he may need tights, undershirt, sweater vest or sweater, woolly socks, corduroy pants, long-sleeved flannel shirts, or combinations of these in layers.  Please keep in mind:

1. The temperature may be much warmer by the time we go to the playground in the afternoon.  A heavy slipover sweater with just a thin undershirt underneath only      allows a choice between two extremes.
2. Though children are often more comfortable in cooler temperatures than adults, they are also closer to the floor, and heat rises.
3. At school the children often work on mats on the floor.
4. If your child wears a thin, short-sleeved top, it may cause her/him to want to wear a jacket all morning.  Loose, bulky jacket sleeves can bring disaster to a child’s lengthy, elaborate work with Montessori materials having many small pieces, science experiments, cooking equipment, calligraphy tools and etcetera.
5. Heavy outdoor wraps or ones with hoods are not worn indoors, but removed and hung up.  Light-weight, long-sleeved sweaters or knit shirts with fitted sleeves that are snug at the wrist work best for the children to wear while working and studying indoors.

 * From “The Weather,” Austin Montessori School News, Donna Goertz, December 1978

December 1, 1978 robbieb Austin Montessori Archives Comments Off on Winter Clothing