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Montessori Blog

Brain Development

Essential Planes of Your Child’s Development

Maria Montessori spent many years studying and observing children and the development of their brains. Her understanding of this process improved drastically over her years as an educator, and we now know that there are essential planes of brain development that every child goes through. These planes are critical to understanding how to support a child’s growth and development, and they provide a framework for parents and educators to make informed decisions about the care and education of their children.

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Alphabet for Humanity

A New Alphabet for Humanity

Children’s Book A New Alphabet for Humanity Offers a Joyful Upgrade to Our ABC’s.   Families love this Vibrant and Mindful book that children are asking to read again and again. Have you read it yet? We have been following along in our classrooms each month, focussing on each word and the lessons they offer. Starting in the new year, our words of focus were Forgiveness and Gratitude.   We have expressed Forgiveness as a way for each person to feel

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Perception of Personal Capability

Having a belief in one’s own personal capability (self-efficacy) is essential for success in life.   Feeling capable is more than just having confidence in our acquired academic knowledge and skills; it is the deeper confidence in our own minds that makes it possible to acquire knowledge and skills and achieve success. Our perception of personal capability influences our ability to identify options, apply problem solving skills, and make wise decisions based upon values and principles. This sense of personal

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we forget

We Forget, You Know

We forget, you know. Forget to appreciate. We get complacent, move through our days as if everyone lived and learned as we do, in such surroundings as ours. We get mired in occasional challenges and lose sight of the big picture. We forget that our children are independent learners, free to explore their own interests, develop their own individual skills at their own rate, using materials designed by an educational genius (Maria Montessori), who discovered the right tools for each

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imagination

On Ninjas, Nintendo & St. Nick

It is important to the well-being of our children for us to understand the difference between fantasy, imagination and creativity. Our confusion of these abilities can be detrimental to their progress:   Fantasy: a retreat from the real world through mental conception of unreal images Imagination: a way of mentally visualizing what one has learned of reality Creativity: imagined (real) facts are presented in an original way   Thus the exercise of a child’s imagination, expressed in role playing (such

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Hero

What Makes a Hero?

This month, most of us have had an opportunity to talk about war heroes, and honor them for the sacrifices they made, so that we could have a free and peaceful country to live in. Along the same line of thought, consider talking to your children about collecting their own heroes.   An aspect to focus on for this month could be the courage it takes to live life fully, no matter how difficult the circumstances. Talk about the courage

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Empowering Our Children as Creators

When children, however young, are included in the family decision making process, they begin to see themselves as active rather than passive members of the family. They begin to problem-solve and think beyond just their own immediate needs. As this process continues, they begin to see themselves as creators of change rather than victims of society. This leads to giving them a better sense of their purpose in the family, in the community and in the Universe.   In the

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feeling safe

Feeling Safe

As the new school year begins, it warms our hearts to observe our new little ones gradually relaxing in their new environment, as they feel safe and loved.   Actually I observe a tangible difference in comfort levels between many of today’s children and those who first entered our school in 1985.  There seems to be a general increase in anxiety and a wariness of what could cause them harm.  It is vitally important to their well-being that we do

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graduation

Graduation June 2022

Graduation 2022   What a busy and interesting year! We as a faculty team have been saying that we cannot believe we are at end of the school year already. And what a year it has been, full of many great moments as we evolved out of the pandemic, needing to be cautious along the way. Throughout, we have held to our Montessori vision of providing the very best for all the children, following each individual child, encouraging and holding up a

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Dayguards’ “Forest Floor”

Dayguards (childcare workers) in Finland built a “forest floor” and changed children’s immune systems.   Within 30 days of playing in forest soil and leaf garbage, Finnish preschoolers had increased the number of T-cells and much more varied intestinal bacteria. In a fascinating experiment, Finnish researchers have recreated the environment on a forest base on the playgrounds of four urban day care homes. Understanding the importance of nature, they covered the playgrounds with forest soil, moss, meadow grass, dwarf moose,

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