North Star Montessori Blog
Read additional articles and information about our school, education and more!
85% of Brain Formed By 3: What Are You Doing To Support Your Child?
Last month I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the annual AMI-USA Montessori Refresher Course in New Orleans. Being that Montessori for under 3 year olds is fairly ‘new’ to Canada (limited number of schools offer this here) it was very important for me to attend this conference and be immersed in a very vibrant and large Montessori Infant & Toddler community from the US. There were over 1,200 Montessori educators at the Refresher, ranging from Assistants to Infancy all the way...
Communication Skill Building: Easy Steps For Children To Hold Others Accountable
While taking a course in Crucial Accountability, I realized how much easier my life would have been if I had been taught this skill at a younger age. Learning the skill to successfully hold others accountable when faced with a broken promise has had significant positive impacts on both my personal and professional life. After speaking with the Head of School and adapting the formal steps to learning Crucial Accountability to match the developmental level of the students in my care, I began...
Trying to Keep Up With Technology
It is becoming harder and harder to keep up with ever changing and evolving technology. With news of self-driving cars and one day living on Mars, it is difficult to stay present with what is happening right under our own roof. The idea of children embracing technology is one of most challenging topics to address. With the society we are living in today, it is inevitable that children will be exposed to gaming and social media at some point during their childhood. As parents, caregivers and...
Keeping Practical Life Practical
The Practical Life area in the Montessori classroom is one of the key ways to help a child achieve normalization. This area is the basis for all the rest. It directly and indirectly prepares the children for all the Sensorial, Language, and Mathematics activities. The skills that the child learns through the Practical Life activities will help them be successful in everyday life. And, they must begin right away, from the moment the child enters the classroom! The dictionary states that...
Finding the Solutions Behind the Symptoms (ADHD, anxiety…)
In Canada, 6.1% of school age children have ADHD. 11.6% are diagnosed with mood and/or anxiety disorders. 31.5% are overweight with 11.7% classified as obese and these percentages are increasing. Parents, teachers and medical professionals are equally concerned about these alarming statistics. So it was to a packed room of Early Childhood Educators, that I found myself attending a lecture given by Michelle Riddle, Occupational Therapist and Holistic Nutrition Consultant. In two hours she...
Alternatives to Punishment
This article is a blog post written by Maren Schmidt www.marenschmidt.com. When you sign up for her Kids Talk blog, you will receive a free copy of her book titled, 7 Parenting Problems You Can Avoid. "Maren has over 30 years experience working with children and families. She holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale, as well as an M.Ed. from Loyola College in Maryland. ALTERNATIVES TO PUNISHMENT Six-year old Bobby walks into the kitchen...