Our production of "Alice in Wonderland" was a delightful success.  The children were amazing in their ability to memorize their lines, entrances and exits, and blocking. They were unanimously supportive of each other, providing lines when someone forgot, reminding each other of where to be and when to be there, making sure that they had their props, and creating their costumes and props. Several who had asked for "little" parts expressed the desire for a larger part next time. This intense work helped them to bond with each other in a more empathic way. Numerous studies have demonstrated that students engaged in drama often experience improved reading comprehension, maintain better attendance records, and are generally more engaged in school. Drama contributes to a student's understanding of the work being performed and can help develop a better understanding of other works and of language and expression in general, including story recall, re...

How to stretch a single lesson into hundreds of interesting activities. Caroline Cercone, a Nashville potter and Abintra mother, collaborated with Lower Elementary students on a recent tile project that depicted a story in Spanish.  Each student prepared a sentence in Spanish with an illustration, which they transferred on a clay tile using sgraffito: a technique scratching directly into clay or through a layer of slip with a pointy tool. They learned about the American studio potter Jan Edwards who loves to travel  and draw.  She uses her travel sketches as the beginning of her work  when drawing on pots and tiles using sgraffito. What a wonderful journey for all of us! Middle Elementary and some Lower Elementary students are knitting beautiful items. They all look forward to the last minutes of Spanish class to listen to music or our Spanish novels while they knit or weave.  One of the projects is to knit squares to make blankets that will be donat...

As Early Childhood artists learn about the  Caribbean  in their class, they created Molas:  Folk-art from Panama.  They learned about layering, adding details, focusing, and what molas are used for. Early Childhood artists learned about the different layers of the rain forests in South America and created these rainforest collages.   Early Childhood artists brighten a gloomy day by painting rainbows in the sky. Early Childhood A  artists created self-portraits to contribute to the school-wide collaboration of this years yearbook cover. Early Childhood B artists learned about the portraits of Frida Kahlo and created their self-portraits inspired by her work. I'm so proud that all of my Early Childhood musicians returned from their Winter Break remembering their rhythm patterns and our ensemble piece. Their focus has strengthened when each of them are on the melody instrument. It's difficult not to wander to your neig...

February Conferences: Celebrating our Children's Growth Child development is a process, and every child demonstrates readiness for new work at their own pace. They demonstrate this at home and at school in very different ways. That is why February conferences are so important. Your child has grown and changed a great deal since October. Sitting with your child's guides and sharing information is vital to maintaining the parent, student, school triangle. What I love about Montessori is that each child's developmental trajectory is respected and supported. The students inspire each other within the community, respect the boundaries of the classroom and the progress of each individual child, and support each other as the guides have modeled such support. When difficulties arise we have a team of excellent faculty and staff to help students and families build needed skills. I am grateful every day for the environment in which we work, for the ...