Promoting Fluency through TPRS Readers’ Theatre is a highly engaging activity that helps a story to come to  life for the students.  Think of it as a mix of collaborative reading,  “improv” theatre, and memory work.   Here are the plays that the students in Lower Elementary, Middle Elementary and  Upper Elementary worked on during September and October.   Each of the plays  involved many activities like reading, art, memorization, writing, etc. Lower Elementary Animales Salvajes (Where the Wild Things Are) Risito de Oro (The 3 Bears)  Las 3 Ratitas (The 3 Little Mice)                                     Middle Elementary Alicia.     Mamba Verde (Green Mamba) Pantalones Pequeños (The Boy with Small Pants) Upper Elementary El Zorro.  Hay un chico famos...

Abintra is proud to announce our 3 new artists in residence that have joined our community this year.   Kari Buishas is with EC students every Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon doing music.  She recently moved to Nashville from Illinois to be closer to her children and grandchildren.  In Illinois, she had a thriving Musikgarten business.  Prior to her Musikgarten business she taught piano for over 15 years in a private setting. Kari started teaching Musikgarten in January of 2007 at different facilities.  Kari started the music program at one of these schools.  She received the Musikgarten Achievement Award, which means she has been certified in every curriculum that they offer.  She has also been given the Exemplary Award for the past 4 years which means she has taught over 4 curriculum at the same time. Kari has invested extensively into teaching materials and instruments. Duncan May is with LE students every...

Duncan May teaches music to Lower and Upper Elementary students.  He was born in Nashville, and after fifteen years of living in other states, returned to the Nashville area in 1993. Duncan received his Music Theory degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 2000 and has been not only teaching lessons on guitar, bass, drums and piano since then, but has also been a touring performing artist. He has written, recorded and produced seven full-length albums as well as scored an award-winning soundtrack to an independent film.   In 2009, he became involved with a non-profit organization called Star Education where he worked in community centers and public schools to offer young students the experience of learning and performing songs as a group on electric instruments. This after school program was introduced to Abintra by Duncan a few years ago and has enriched and inspired many students and families within the Abintra community.  To take the music educ...

The students are having a lot of fun working on the EC porch.  Moving through various stations we practice crawling, balancing, climbing, rolling, and spinning. Walking the balance beam is one their favorite activities.    Beam exercises are great for children, strengthening core and leg muscles while also developing a stronger sense of balance and agility. Also very popular is the "spinning chair," a small legless seat that requires the activation of legs, feet, and core in order to send their bodies spinning! I only wish we had a larger one!  Before returning to class we strengthen and stretch our bodies by practicing yoga. Children easily assume the role of animals, trees, flowers, and warriors, standing strong like the tree, hissing like the cobra, and stretching long like the dog. Yoga and gross motor practice help to strengthen the powers of concentration and attention. Self-esteem and self-acceptance are bolstered as children gain cont...

The UE class visited Old School Farm on Monday. The weather once again thwarted us from working on the farm in the morning, but we decided to have a picnic lunch. After we ate, Rachel Stubbs, one of the farm managers, took us on a tour of the farm, followed by a lesson about the luffa plant. Students worked in groups to observe and compare freshly-picked and dried-out luffa gourds. They picked both types of luffa apart to examine the seeds and and to feel the fibrous skeleton of the dried luffas. Working in groups, they came up with curiosity questions and developed a few of them into possible experiments. Next week, we will be conducting one of these experiments. We hope to find out if luffas need to be exposed to oxygen in order to turn brown.

Cultural lessons began during the second week of school with the First Great Lesson, "The Birth of the Universe." This lesson directed our attention to the laws that govern the universe and make it possible for humans to investigate and make predictions about our world. The Second Great Lesson is "The Coming of Life," which allowed us to look at the great diversity of life.  "The Coming of Humans," the Third Great Lesson, focused our work on the human experiences of communal living, tool-making, shelter and communication needs, survival, and migration through the world. The work of the playground reflects these intense developments.  The lower playground, "the woods," is an ideal place for the children to do the work of planning, building, hunting and scavenging for materials, negotiating for desired objects, cooperating and collaborating within a group, communicating and solving differences, and developing systems of trade a...

It is an exciting time in Lower Elementary as the Second Great Lesson, "The Coming of Life," is studied. This lesson is an integral part of the Montessori curriculum as it spawns a whole series of lessons in Zoology, Botany, and History.   The timeline presented in this great lesson represents the beginnings of life on Earth from the simplest forms through the appearance of human beings. A great variety and magnificence of life is presented, with each organism a contributor to a vast, cosmic scheme.   The students were "all eyes" as the living things were presented and placed in their respective time periods on the timeline. Some of the students took part in the lesson, playing the roles of Sun, Water, and Air. These students read lines to their cl assmates that explained why living things are necessary to earth. As follow-up work, the students will lay out the timeline independently and research the relationship between all things.  One of the ...

The Practical Life curriculum is designed to give children the skills they need to function independently in the world. The activities within practical life are guided by the following general principles: Children should be active participants in family and community life.   Children want to feel purposeful and included. Children crave independence. Autonomy breeds self-confidence. The skills of concentration and self-regulation are best attained by activities that ground children in reality. These skills are prerequisites for academic success. Individual lessons in practical life also target foundational academic skills. Many practical life activities include an emphasis on: Refinement of hand movements in preparation for writing Exposure to early mathematical concepts Experience with sequencing Parents frequently ask what they can do to support the work that is taking place in the classroom. For your child to be truly successful in a Montessori learning en...

Abintra is off to an exciting start in the Arts! Early Childhood artists worked with the new EC art guide, Sarah, and some UE students on a collaboration piece for the Wine & Cheese Social.  Each child in ECA and ECB painted a large canvas that was cut into strips to hang origami books that the Upper School students made.  Sarah will be teaching art every Thursday with EC children starting in October.  Upper School artists created over 100 origami books.  The books and canvas used were all recycled pieces. This beautiful installation cost only $8! One of our goals in art for Early Childhood is to introduce the elements of design: color, line, shape, pattern, space, texture, and form.  This month the students are focusing on color.  They learn what the primary colors are and how to mix them to create the secondary colors. While exploring the mixing of colors, students l...