Devon Beidler, Assistant Head of School
- Dec 16, 2016
Executive Function Skills: Strategies to Help Your Child
“Why aren’t you ready for school yet?” “I can’t find the book I need for class.” “Have you finished cleaning your room?” “Why do I have to clean my room – it looks good to me.” As a parent, I had conversations like these numerous times with my daughter, and I suspect they were not exclusive to my household. Often, adults ask children to complete large, multi-step directions and forget that they are still building the skills needed to complete the complex tasks successfully. S

Becky Alukonis, Beginners Division Leader
- Dec 13, 2016
Cabin Fever? Art is the Answer!
Winter weather often leads to extended periods indoors both at home and at school. Art activities are a wonderful way to help curb cabin fever! Here are a few suggestions that can be easily incorporated into the home environment. Homemade Play Dough I recently made Kool-Aid Play Dough for the classroom and highly recommend it! An added benefit is that the children can help make it. You will need: 1 cup flour 1/2 cup salt 1 envelope (0.13 oz. to 0.23 oz.) KOOL-AID Unsweetened

Krissy Canastar, Primary Drama Specialist
- Dec 9, 2016
“Behind the Scenes” of Primary Drama
Children are natural performers. They are uninhibited, a little wacky and can cry on cue! All you need to do is watch a few minutes of recess and you will see a variety of plays happening: family, princesses, good versus evil, etc. Primary Drama is, in part, about harnessing this natural “dramatic play” and channelling it onto the stage. What are the plays about? This year each Primary Classroom will perform a play based on a Patricia Polacco book as part of an author study.

Caitlin Bowring, Elementary Division Leader
- Dec 9, 2016
At NMS, “Engineering is Elementary”
This year, NMS has partnered with the Boston Museum of Science to bring their exciting “Engineering is Elementary” curriculum to the Lower Elementary classrooms. This curriculum pairs perfectly with the Montessori physical and earth science curriculum. It presents children with real-world problems and asks them to apply both their creativity and knowledge of science, technology and math to find a solution (or even better, more than one solution). One of the core understanding
Devon Beidler, Assistant Head of School
- Dec 2, 2016
Instilling (and Practicing) Lifelong Learning Habits
As educators, we value creating a community of learners both for children and adults—teachers and parents alike. The best way to help our students be life-long learners is to model this expectation in our lives, and we do so with ongoing professional development. There are several avenues of professional development and learning available to teachers throughout the year, from books, to on-campus presentations, to off-site conferences. Division Leaders choose texts to discuss
{"items":["5f5fd2b643bc1d001793bf10","5f5fd2b643bc1d001793bf0f","5f5fd2b643bc1d001793bf0e","5f5fd2b643bc1d001793bf0d","5f5fd2b643bc1d001793bf0c"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":false,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":0,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":670,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"themeName":"color_15","value":"rgba(0,0,0,1)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":670,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":670,"galleryWidth":702,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}