Summer at MCH

Playful, meaningful connection with the world outdoors needs to be a fundamental ingredient of every childhood. An integral part of the Montessori philosophy is the belief that children learn through personal experience. The summer at Montessori Children’s House focuses on increasing the child’s awareness, particularly in the area of life sciences. The summer is an ideal time for exploration of our natural areas, bird life and other animal life surrounding our school. The children plant and maintain their own garden of flowers and vegetables.  Many practical life activities like washing, scrubbing and polishing are moved outdoors. The program is designed to involve children in environmental education through interactive stories, songs and games.  They create arts and crafts projects and conduct experiments and scientific studies.  Regular cooking classes take place in our summer kitchen and feature healthy products picked from the garden. Outdoor exploration includes nature walks and scavenger hunts as well as tending our MCH garden and creating a mini-Farmer’s Market and lemonade stand.

A special session in late summer focuses on increasing the child’s awareness, particularly in the area of music learning.  Parents recognize the earliest signs of musical interest when children begin to capture portions of songs and move in response to music. To reinforce a child’s spontaneous musical activities leads to enhanced natural development of communication, expression, and cognition. It is also a lot of fun! Along with the American Orff-Schulwerk Association we at MCH are united in our belief that music and movement—to speak, sing and play; to listen and understand; to move and create—should be an active and joyful experience.   

Summer programs at MCH are open to current, past and future families who seek a nature based play environment where their children can explore and learn in a community of friends.

For more information visit our website or call 645-2445.                      
 







Hello, Julia Child!

This spring break I did not attend the annual AMS conference (I do intend to listen to some of the workshops via the folks at EGAMI A/V). I did visit an intriguing Montessori site, though, while in Pasadena, CA.
The Aria Montessori School on Euclid Avenue dates back to 1913 and surely must have been the school attended by Julia Child. It was also visited by Maria Montessori herself in 1917 a few years after her famous demonstration class at the pan-pacific expo in California.