North Star Montessori Blog
Read additional articles and information about our school, education and more!
Supporting Beginning Readers and Writers at Home
Following our recent Elementary parent night on Language, I wanted to pass along some tips for helping children to develop foundational reading and writing skills to those parents who could not make it that evening. While reading can come very easily to some children and they may become competent readers by the time they finish the Casa Program, other children simply require more time, repetition and support at home in addition to their learning at school. The first skill that needs to be...
Writing About and Raising Fearless Girls
There’s a movement afoot, a seismic shift among educators and parents, a longing to engender “Mighty Girls”*, to create “The Gutsy Girl”*; daughters who are resilient, persistent, courageous, problem solvers; female students who know themselves and are willing to push their limits. Girls who fulfill their potential, stand up to bullies, and hold their heads up high. We know that shattering the glass ceiling, rather than wearing the glass slipper, is as much about education and opportunity as...
The Building Blocks for Life-Long Success
We all want our children to be independent; to make good choices, be responsible, self-sufficient, respectful, passionate, driven, etc. But how do we set our children up for this type of success? By providing them with particular experiences at home and at school. The Montessori philosophy has many components but a huge emphasis is placed on our belief that children need freedom with limits. You might think of this as two totally opposite ends of a spectrum. And interestingly, this is the...
Kids in the Kitchen
Cooking with your child is a great opportunity for family bonding, learning life skills and sharing life long memories. Cooking is an important life skill that also has the added benefit of reinforcing language and math concepts learned at school. It requires children to read the recipes, measure the ingredients, count the amounts and best of all it instills healthy eating habits. In a Montessori classroom, Practice Life activities show the children activities of ‘everyday life’ in...
The Power of Stories
Each week I find myself in the privileged position of being able to tell an age appropriate story in Sitka and Arbutus classrooms. These can be traditional tales, myths and legends, animal stories, family stories or anecdotes. Some stories the children know, some are new, and some become requested favourites, while others remind a listener of an experience that they wish to share. When choosing the stories to share, I usually make a large pot of tea and happily work through my many...
A View Through the Window
Yesterday afternoon I witnessed something in the Extended-Day classroom that typically would not occur in a Montessori class until later in the year, if at all, depending on the make-up of the class. I reflected on what I saw several times throughout the evening and I thought it was well worth sharing today as it speaks to the caliber and diligent efforts of the teacher (and foundation of the previous years in Casa) as well as to the respect and trust which is clearly the foundation of...