During this time of year, especially when it is cold and grey, wet and snowy, we may be thinking a lot of the warmer seasons and all the fun that we and our children can have outdoors. It’s so easy: just apply sunscreen and off we go. Fun in winter appears to be a bigger undertaking, needs to be planned and prepared, is time consuming, seems less doable on a whim. Thinking of the wind, the weather, the layers, all that bundling up—there seem to be many reasons to not step outside. What if a trip to the wintry outside is not elaborate, not complicated? What if we can make it just as doable as any outdoor activity throughout the rest of the year? Winter shouldn’t keep children from adventures.
Observe a moment in one of our classrooms. As one student identifies that another student might need help, he looks at his teacher. When she encourages him, he lends his own hand. The other student then offers help in the same way, unprompted. Notice the confidence and joy in both children as they work together. What is empathy? And how do we as parents and teachers instill empathy in toddlers? Empathy is, in fact, a skill and learned behavior. New research suggests that empathic people are “made, not born.” While the capacity for it is inborn, it still needs to be developed, fostered and taught. Understanding and showing empathy is the result of many different social-emotional skills that a
“Going green” has evolved into a relatively recent phenomenon. It has taken many people by storm in an attempt to help the environment and hit “pause” on all of the damage that the human population has already done to planet Earth. This process is nothing short of complex, as it involves many intricate choices regarding organic food, purchasing cleaning supplies that are low in toxins, using fewer disposable materials, and upcycling old items that would otherwise be trash. In an effort to lessen their own environmental impact, people shifting to the use of renewable products often take steps one at a time, as the alternatives can be expensive or require a new family routine. Here are my top
Longtime Wellan teacher Sister Lauretta Maynard shares her heartfelt and inspirational philosophy on education in our latest blog post. After starting her teaching career in St. Lucia, Sister travelled to the U.S and discovered Montessori philosophy, where she felt she found her "niche"—and we are so lucky she did! Richard E. Mayer defines learning as "the transformative process of taking in information, that, when internalized and mixed with what we have experienced, changes what we know and builds on what we do"—and while this is a valid definition, my experience as an educator has led me to believe that learning is a lifelong process. It is ongoing, always evolving, and it affects the who
During our work day, how often have we worked on a project and then thought, “I need to get up for awhile?” Often, that quick cup of coffee or stroll around the office is just what the mind and body need to reset for the next task at hand and have a productive day. Children are no different—and while they aren’t making coffee, their movements help them prepare their minds for the next task at hand. Here at Wellan, we pride ourselves on recognizing that movement in a child’s day is as much a part of their independent work as is language or math. From gathering materials to choosing just the right spot in the classroom to work, our students from Beginners through Voyager are moving. But why is
