Contributed by Shelby Driskill Over the last year, we’ve mentioned the wonderful Montessori Guide videos several times and now we’re happy to share another with you. This video features bead stringing in a toddler classroom, providing viewers with a glimpse of the beautiful concentration that can lead to enormous satisfaction. One facet of bead stringing that might be overlooked is …
Flower Arranging With Children: Inspiration and Resources
Arranging flowers is a traditional Montessori classroom activity that places emphasis on the care of the classroom environment. The careful selection and placing of flowers in a beautiful container is a favorite among TMS Primary students and is a pleasure for our entire community. For parents who might like to share flower arranging with their children, or who might consider …
Extended Day Options
As TMS teachers look forward to the 15-16 school year, we are excited to present school-day options to supplement our traditional offerings. The new 3:00 pm dismissal time as well as our current extended care options are designed to serve the evolving needs of our parent population while maintaining the high standards you have come to expect from Tuckahoe Montessori School. NEW: Extended Primary Day …
Springtime Reading Suggestions
Contributed by Shelby Driskill The search for books that say “spring” has taken me rather far afield: warm weather muddy fun resulting in more baths inspired the selection of Mo Willems’ The Pigeon Needs a Bath! and there are many books about new friends and old, relationships that are often on children’s minds as they transition to a new schedule. Several titles deal with …
Math and the Montessori Classroom: Video Resources for Parents
Since September, we’ve created several video introductions to the areas of the TMS classrooms. In December we brought you Ms. Charlene’s tour of the Sensorial area. In February we featured the Language curriculum across the Toddler, Primary, and Elementary programs. This month, in preparation for the release of our math video, we wanted to share some of the wonderful resources that …
When Tech-Saavy Parents Are Tech-Cautious
Contributed by Shelby Driskill, TMS Great Books teacher (Elementary) Early in the school year, a story in the New York Times Magazine caught my attention: “Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent.” In response to some criticisms he had raised about the new iPad, the author, tech journalist Nick Bilton, received one of Jobs’ hard-hitting phone calls. “So, your kids must love the …
Joy in Artmaking at TMS
Contributed by TMS Studio Teacher, Julia Schneider The studio has been buzzing with creativity this fall as our Primary students make new art projects each week. The primary students have taken on a combination of product-focused and process-focused work. Though as I’m sure most of you will agree, at this age: PROCESS RULES! Here’s why…. Through process oriented art our young …
Children in the Kitchen: The Delights of Food Preparation
Contributed by TMS Assistant Teacher, Danielle Hines Parents often hear the phrase, “I can do it myself,” coming from their little ones and still may want to take the reigns on the situation. One of the most beautiful things about the Montessori philosophy is that it fosters a child’s independence by encouraging adults to help a child do it herself. Maria Montessori saw …
Practical Life: Bringing the Lessons Home
A significant part of the Primary day at Tuckahoe Montessori is devoted to learning how to take care of our environment and ourselves. In the classroom all the children are responsible for keeping the space beautiful. Supplies such as towels, sponges, brooms, and vacuums are always available for students to use during the day. They really enjoy keeping the room clean and …
The Beauty of Silence
One day in Rome, over a hundred years ago, Maria Montessori brought a sleeping four month old infant into a classroom. When all the children had gathered around her, Montessori pointed out the stillness of the child as it slept. After drawing the children’s attention to this stillness, she offered a challenge to the young students: could they make themselves …