Guidepost Montessori at Reston

Happy first week of Fall!
Wishing you all a cozy and fun season! 🍁🍂

🌟Please join us in celebrating our Children’s House Lead Guide, Ms. Bia, on her 2 year anniversary!🌟

We are so thankful for you and your dedication to your students and our school!✨😍

🪴Watering Plants / Regar Plantas🪴
 
What is it?
• The child uses a watering can to water the plants in the environment.
• The guide may include as part of this lesson testing the soil of the plants to see if it is dry and the plant needs watering.
• This activity can also be connected to watering plants outdoors, potting and repotting plants, sprouting seeds, etc…
Why do we do it?
• Coordination of movement of the whole body.
• Orientation and adaptation to the environment.
• Fine motor control.
• Motive for repetition and concentration.
• Care of the environment.
• Indirect preparation for botany.

“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn.” -Maria Montessori

Happy grandparent’s day to all our guidepost families🧓🏽👵🏽🤍

🟨🟥🟦Trinomial Cube: Building By Colors🟨🟥🟦

What is it?

• A box with twenty-seven wooden cubes and rectangular prisms painted in various colors.
The child carries the box to a table, removes the lid and places it at the corner of the box so that the doors of the box open around the lid. One at a time, she removes each piece from the box beginning with the piece closet to her on the top level. She proceeds to remove all the top level pieces moving from outside to inside. All the top level pieces are placed randomly and grouped together. Next, she removes all middle and bottom pieces one at a time from outside to inside. All the middle and bottom pieces are placed randomly and grouped together by level. The child builds the cube outside the box by colors.

Why do we do it?

• Shows the pattern in plane dimension
• Prepares for mathematics
• Prepares for the cube of the binomial
• Prepares for cubed root
• Introduces to algebra
• Prepares for the proof of the formula: (a + b + c)3 = a3 + 3a2b + 3a2c +3ab2 + 6abc + 3ac2 +b3 + 3b2c + 3bc2 + c3

How to help at home?

•Play puzzles and build with blocks.

On Labor Day, our school had the exciting opportunity to host our local fire station, bringing a spark of adventure to our students’ day! 🧯🧑‍🚒🚒

Happy Birthday Maria Montessori! 🎉🎂

We will be having our Grandparents breakfast on Friday, September 6th from 8:30-9:30AM👴👵🥞☕️

We are looking forward to seeing everyone!

Embarking on a journey of wonder and learning in the Children’s House program, echoing Maria Montessori’s wisdom:
“The greatest joy for educators is to witness children fully engaged, working as if they were not present.”

🍽️Setting & Clearing the Table; Serving Food

What is it?

We encourage children to participate in setting the table with real dishes and utensils, offering, serving, and passing food as a community, and clearing and cleaning the table once they are finished eating. Often, one or two children may be given the responsibility of setting the table for the class for a full week or other period of time.

Why do we do it?

To support the child in developing independence with the meal time routine; to give the child a sense of ownership and pride in participating in community life; to aid in the development of functional independence

🏠How to help at home?

Have your child participate in setting or clearing the table at home. Present meals family style, and invite your child to serve himself from the shared serving bowl. (Participating in preparing and serving food is also a good technique to use with picky eaters, who are more likely to try food they helped to make or serve.)

We will be having our parent’s night out on Friday, August 30th from 6PM-8:30PM💃🏻✨

If you’ll be joining us, Please check tuesday email for the signup link!
RSVP is required

We had a good first week of the new school year last week! All smiles and refreshed for the new school year📚

🧩Metal Insets: Initial Presentation & Serpentine Fill Line
What is it?

•Ten metal geometric shapes with metal frames (in contrasting colors).
•The child chooses any shape and its frame. He places the frame on specially cut paper that is the same size as the frame and traces the empty space (where the shape inset fits). Then he places the shape over the outline and traces it. This creates 2 lines very close to each other. He then very carefully colors in the shape without lifting his pencil using serpentine lines.

Why do we do it?

•Mastery of the hand in using and controlling a writing instrument: both in keeping within limits and lightness of touch.
•To cultivate a sense of geometric design.
•To enhance the artistic sense.

Two Sizes Too Small Sale & Swap📚👕🧸

As the new school year is upon us and closest are being re-organized, we wanted to let you know that we will be hosting a Swap & Sale event here at school on Saturday, August 25th from 11:00 - 1:00 p.m. There will be options to donate or sell gently used clothing, toys, and books.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Our Ice Cream party turned out to be a success! Children and parents congregated on the playground and enjoyed some freshly scooped ice cream🍦🌤️

round

Happy, Happy Birthday! May all your wishes come true! 🥳🎂

Morning Canvas and Croissants!

Please join for breakfast on August 13th at 8:30M-9:30AM, we will be showcasing our children’s house art class artwork! 🥐🎨

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Sandpaper lettets🔤

What is it?

•The individual letter of the alphabet made of sandpaper on colored boards (blue for vowels, pink for consonants).
•The adult gives the child a Three Period Lesson to introduce the shapes of each sound. They continue with these lessons (a few a day) until the child knows all the letters of the alphabet.

Why do we do it?

•To give the child the symbols for the sounds of his own language by means of three senses: touch, vision, and hearing.
•Preparation for handwriting.

🧩Cylinder Blocks: Four Blocks at a Time
 
What is it?

• Four wooden blocks each containing 10 cylinders with k***s, each cylinder fits into a corresponding hole.
• The child will use all four blocks at a time.
• Block One: The cylinders change in two dimensions; width and length (diameter). The diameter increases from 1 cm to 5.5 cm. The height is constant at 5.5 cm.
• Block Two: The cylinders change in three dimensions; width, height, and length. The diameter increases from 1 cm to 5.5 cm and the height increases from 1 cm to 5.5 cm.
• Block Three: The cylinders change in three dimensions; width, height, and length. The diameter increases from 1 cm to 5.5 cm and the height decreases form 5.5 cm to 1 cm.
• Block Four: The cylinders change in one dimension. The diameter remains constant at 2 cm. The height increases from 1 cm to 5.5 cm.

Why do we do it?

• Visual discrimination of dimensions
• Indirect preparation for handwriting; how to hold a writing instrument
• Indirect refinement of voluntary movement
• Indirect preparation of the mathematical mind
• Indirect preparation for mathematics

How to help at home?
• Provide hands-on sensorial experiences with objects of different dimension.

🌷Arranging Flowers 🌷
 
What is it?

• The child learns to measure, cut, and arrange flowers in to a pleasing (to them) arrangement that they then place somewhere in the classroom.
• The child carefully selects the flowers she will use, decides which vase to use, uses a funnel to pour water into the vase, and uses sharp scissors to trim the flowers.
Why do we do it?
• Hand-eye coordination.
• Development of order through following a logical sequence of activity.
• Development of aesthetic perception.
• Care of the environment.
• Social cohesion.
• Indirect preparation for botany.

Thrive 2024 - Professional Development Days

Guidepost Montessori will be closed for our yearly professional development days this summer from August 14-16, 2024

This will allow the administration and the guides to review and refresh their knowledge and to dig deeper in a multitude of topics to help us all be the best caregivers to your children.🏫🎓

Our children’s house enjoying the nice weather outside on the monkey bars! ☀️

Our toddlers enjoying some fresh watermelon during outside time to cool down!🌞🍉

Happy, Happy Birthday! May all your wishes come true! 🎊🎁🎂

Grades don't work. Find out why, and what we use instead, in our newsletter — comment "GRADES" and we will send a copy right to your DMs!

This week's newsletter covers how to take these principles from the classroom and bring them into your home.

Comment "NEWSLETTER" and we'll send you a DM with a link!

You don't have to accept a status quo education. Want to learn more? Comment "NEWSLETTER" and we will DM you the full newsletter about how Montessori works for older kids.

To download the guide, comment "PACK" and we'll send it right to your DMs!

We put together a whole summer’s worth of Montessori-inspired activities — that kids will love doing, with materials you already have at home.

We’ve included modifications for all age groups, which means kids of any age (and siblings and friends) can get involved, too.

By back-to-school season, your child will have:

• Honed their skills

• Developed new ones

• Gained some wonderful summer memories

Comment "NEWSLETTER", and we'll send the full newsletter right to your DMs!

If it's hard to motivate your child, a role model can be a game-changer — they can show your child an example not just of the type of job they might do someday, but the kind of person they could become.

Finding role models isn't always easy, though, which is why we wrote our latest newsletter all about what to look for and where to find them.

To read the full newsletter on why we don't force kids to apologize (and what we do instead!), comment "NEWSLETTER" below and we'll send the link right to your DMs.

Turns out, the airport might just be the best place to practice letting your kids exercise their agency.

Find out why we do this, and how to try it with your little ones, in our latest Substack (link in bio!)

Kids don’t need to believe in themselves before they can do things. Doing things is what makes them believe in themselves.

When you realize this, you realize that opportunities to build your child's self-esteem are everywhere.

We can turn the daily chores and activities that we take for granted into opportunities for our children to become more confident.

You don't think twice about sorting silverware, but a toddler who can do it successfully gets a huge confidence boost.

And you might totally zone out at the grocery store, but the teen who can buy all the groceries by themselves gets the thrill of tasting independence.

Raising confident kids is all about giving them chances to witness just how capable they are — and there are plenty of chances to do just that all around us!

Comment “KITCHEN” below, and we’ll DM you the link to our latest newsletter filled with dozens of age-appropriate activities to try in the kitchen with your kids, whether they’re babies, toddlers, or teens.

Letting your kids help takes a little patience at first, but it’s so worth it in the long run — not just because it’ll give you a helping hand, but because it’ll give them the gift of independence!

Optimism has become a lost art, and our kids are becoming cynics — but the way we teach history can change that.

We can raise a generation who believe the problems of the world are solvable, a generation who has hope for the future.

To find out how, check out our latest newsletter — comment "HISTORY" and we'll send the link right to your DMs.

If you're deciding between sending your kids to kindergarten or doing the third year of Children's House, this week's issue of the Parenting Guide is for you.

Check out our newsletter (see the link in our bio!) to learn more. 📖

Don’t we all want reassurance that our kids, with all their strange (and often annoying) behaviors, are “normal”?

It’s normal to spend the toddler years in survival mode, right?

It’s normal that my kids hate school and don’t want to do their homework, right?

And isn’t it normal for teenagers to slam doors, call you names, never look up from their phones, or always be in a mood?

Well, these behaviors might be common — common enough to make them seem normal.

But Maria Montessori defined “normalcy” in terms of healthy human development — not what was considered common in culture or society. This is “normal” the way a doctor might use it: meaning the absence of disease, or the presence of health.

Her vision of normal, healthy development looks slightly different from one stage to the next. But it looks nothing like what we consider to be “normal” today.

Learn about each developmental stage (and what your child needs to develop normally) in this week's issue of the Parenting Guide (see link in bio!).

Summer learning loss is real, and that's especially true in higher grades.

But what’s the answer? Designing the perfect summer curriculum for our kids?

Thankfully, no.

We could force our children to spend their vacation doing math worksheets and reading Dostoevsky.

But if we do that, we’ll inadvertently teach them another lesson: how to hate learning.

So, to get your kids to stay sharp over the summer, you’re going to have to figure out how to make learning fun.

Which is where we come in — with activities to cover every subject this summer, from reading to math, check out our newsletter at the link in our bio!

Your home can be set up intentionally, in a way that beckons your child to interact with it and participate in life — teaching them that the world is a fascinating place.

On the flip side, when your home is full of areas your child can’t go and things they can’t touch, the world can seem unwelcoming and scary.

The idea that the environment can support (or hinder) a child’s development came from Maria Montessori, whose innovative ideas on education have persisted for over a century — for good reason.

So, what makes the “Montessori environment” so special? And why does it matter?

You can find the answer in our latest Substack (see the link in our bio!)