It's a pretty celebratory time of year! Around the world, religious and secular, national and intimate, there are so many reasons to celebrate. Children are often recipients of gifts, sometimes because it's a special occasion →

We're hiring an AMI trained Primary guide! Whether you've recently completed training, or come with an abundance of experience, one of our driving principles at Baan Dek is that we're all always learning. →

For a podcast of this post, scroll to the bottom of this page or subscribe on iTunes. It’s the start of the school year, a time fresh with possibility. When we resume school, or when →

The Zine is hitting a milestone -- 100 issues! To celebrate, we’re sharing one hundred of our favorites (in no particular order). Enjoy! Our Team Creativity Podcasts Our mascot, London Mr. Rogers Big conversations Uno →

When we’re thinking about how to make summer special, those dollar signs sure can fly by! While we all wish we could give our children the world, summer doesn’t need to be expensive. Here are →

Montessori is known for independence. It’s more than a buzzword, it’s a way of life. We’re constantly striving for independence, though it is a rather fraught word. We think of independence as “I don’t need →

We’re eager to grow -- as a school, as Montessorians, together. Sioux Falls is consistently among the top places to live, and the community here is hungry for a change in education. Are you hungry →

In her exceptional new book, The Montessori Toddler, Simone Davies sets out to set the record straight: "Toddlers are misunderstood humans." The key part to this thesis, which is a subtlety that might go overlooked, →

Anya Kamenetz has written, what we believe to be, the definitive text for families concerned about the role technology plays in the life of their children. Her excellent new book, The Art of Screen Time, →

While we don’t have Tests in Montessori, per se, we do have Evaluations. We’re always moving forward from a place of mastery, and the only way to know if a child has mastered a material →

We sometimes think, we got into Education because we love learning. At Baan Dek, one of our Guiding Principles is, we're always learning. We're never done. It naturally follows that we love engaging in continuing →

It’s the first week back to school, and we could hardly be more excited! It’s so joyful to see new faces, and to see how children have changed over the Summer. Some of us have →

The internet is an interesting place. It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of Pinterest, or find a thousand quotes which seem to be written just for you in just this moment of life, →

We recently held a webinar on the topic of Siblings! We often receive questions from families about the sibling dynamic: We're expecting, now what? How do we help prepare our child (and ourselves!) for welcoming →

Nearly a decade ago now, when we started to think seriously about building a Montessori school, we decided to reach out to a handful of internationally renown architects. Why not? We chose individuals or organizations →

So, your child will be staying at school full-day. How exciting! Whether they are 16-months or 6, if they've been in full time care since they were an infant or if this is the first →

As we get ready for school, we’ve gathered our supplies, maybe purchased new shoes, and many of us are toting a new lunch box. But then, the big question -- what to put in the lunch →

We're so excited to get back to work. The next coming weeks and months are going to be awesome. That is not to say every day is going to be easy. In fact, we all →

A new school year is so special. It's momentous. We have cultural routines marking this special occasion -- a new calendar, an indicator of Fall, fresh starts. Children are often caught up in all this excitement and →

August 31st is a special day. Maria Montessori would have turned 146. She passed in 1952, but her legacy lives on. Children all over the world are working daily in classrooms just like the one →

It’s officially Summer! The days are long and warm, and many schedules are disrupted, for better or for worse, for these few months. Some look forward to adventures this season brings, others wonder how to →

We were transfixed by Donna Bryant Goertz's book, Children Who are Not Yet Peaceful. Not only did it offer a reasonable engagement with the current state of traditional education, it also sought to ascertain the →

We have a new logo at Baan Dek! We’ve also taken this opportunity to refresh our website. We’d love to explain the reason for the changes and elaborate on some of the key new features. →

Every day is the same, and every day is different. Very young children thrive on consistency and routine, so every time they walk into the classroom, the materials are in the same place, they know →

We like to think what we do here at Baan Dek is rather unique. We thought we’d outline some of those aspects here: We are the only first and only accredited Montessori school in the →

It's September, the air is a little cooler, and we're all feeling ready to get back to school. Here at Baan Dek, our staff is working tirelessly to make sure everything is polished and prepared, →

It’s been just over two years since we last updated our website. For us, that’s an extremely long period of time. In terms of the internet, that’s a lifetime. By updated, of course, we mean →

Dear Maria Montessori, It’s so hard to believe, but today marks the one hundred and eighth year since you opened the first Casa Dei Bambini, in Rome, Italy. So much has changed since that initial →

We sat down with Mrs. Bauer, the leader of the Young Children's Community at Baan Dek, and put together a few basic tips for parents, which we hope are helpful, on how best to inspire language and math development, →

In the first of a new video series, we sit down with Ms. Charlotte Wood, a primary Montessori guide, to discuss language and literacy in Montessori. Ms. Wood walks us through some helpful examples of →

“The child bathes in language.” - Delacroix The acquisition of language is the stuff of magic. It seemingly just happens. One day the child ‘babbles’, as if unable to articulate any words, let alone an →

A few days ago, we happened upon one of our toddler students, working on washing her hands. Keeping in mind that one of the overarching purposes of this activity is to teach children the necessity →

Happy New Year! As Amy Weber dropped her daughter off for school today, she shared with us a few valuable insights, insights that she had gleaned from her own childhood. We twisted her arm, twice →

Our very own Charlotte Wood wrote an excellent article for Maria Montessori dot com. The article is entitled, "Don't Should on your Parents". You should check it out! Way to go Miss Wood! We're so →

Our friend, Jim Fitzpatrick, who has been involved with Montessori for more than forty years, gave a wonderful TEDx presentation on the power of the binomial cube. He jested, in all seriousness, that it's the →

We are so pleased to showcase this very special TedX Video, Raising a Child of Possibility, with Hugh Weber and his beautiful daughter Emerson. We encourage you to take a few minutes to watch it. →

We have so many things to say & share. First, we wanted to say thank you to Hugh Weber. The OTA Sessions is the single greatest annual event in the city of Sioux Falls, and →

You might have heard us say it before. We're growing, and we're looking for someone to grow with us. We have a unique culture. We think it's a pretty special place. We also think you →

When we stumbled upon this excellent video introduction to the educational philosophy of Reggio Emilia, with Carla Rinaldi, we thought we would take the opportunity to briefly share the history of the Reggio Emilia approach →

The American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on School Health issued a policy statement in which they expressed the "academic, social and physical benefits for children of all ages", of attending recess. The LA Times wrote →

Happy Holidays from our friends at Baan Dek! We managed to capture a rehearsal of our Winter Celebration on video. Hope everyone enjoys! It's been a wonderful year, and we can't wait for next year! →

No matter how many times we observe a new student engaging with the cylinder blocks for the very first time, we are absolutely overwhelmed. Watch as this student attempts to find the correct hole for →

"Has knowledge become obsolete?" This is one of the many fascinating questions that the folks at Ericsson have prompted, one that is laid out in their new video on the "Networked Society". There are a →

We're starting a new project to help inspire children to continue to learn the art of writing (cursive) and we need your help. We want to send you a postcard and we'd love it if →

Throughout the world, students, teachers & parents are preparing to celebrate Maria Montessori's 142nd birthday. We need your help to wish her Happy Birthday! www.happybirthdaymontessori.com With over 20,000 Montessori schools globally, we're hoping to exceed →

One of our parents, Hugh Weber, has decided that he wants to pursue writing a book about Montessori. Well, it's not actually about Montessori, per say, but rather, about the insights that he has learned, →

Trevor Eissler launched a new video. We thought you might want to take a look. In our estimations, this video enacts a substantial departure from his previous work. While the mission is the same, to →

We wanted to provide everyone with a little update about our Montessori Kickstarter project. In case you missed it, and thanks to your support, we successfully funded the Montessori Blueprints! Yes, that's us, pictured below, smiling! →

We have some very exciting news to share. One of our parents, Hugh Weber, along with Bobby George, has just launched a Kickstarter project, called "Montessori Blueprints". Check it out!  The ambition of "Montessori Blueprints" →

The Baan Dek Montessori is proud to attend and participate in the OTA Sessions. Do you know the OTA Sessions? "They were born out of a desire to see the Midwest shine as hub of →

A few months ago, we announced that we would be partnering up with a "sister Montessori school" in Massachuttes, named The Riverbend Montessori School. Collectively, we decided that it would be a unique opportunity to share →

Control of Error, the ability to recognize and then correct your own mistakes, without having an external person let you know if you did the activity "right or wrong", is a mainstay of the Montessori →

You've probably already seen this poem. Some of you might have even read it multiple times. It's worth reading again, until you feel sufficiently inspired, to read it once more. The rhythm, the flow, the...hope →

Before we opened our school, over five years ago now, we spent a lot of time thinking about our mission at Baan Dek. We came up with a number of different phrases, and taglines, but →

As we prepare for our first round of "parent / teacher" conferences this year, we thought we would take a few minutes to help articulate how Montessori handles these meetings. In many respects, we treat →

We recently sat down with Charlotte Wood, our new directress, to discuss how Montessori implements the use of sounds in the classroom. As opposed to letter names, in Montessori, we concentrate on letter sounds. The →

Have you heard the news? Superwoman was already here. Daniel C. Petter-Lipstein is the father of three children that thrive at a Jewish Montessori school in New Jersey. He graduated from Harvard College and Columbia →

As I’ve said before (and will probably break the record with), one of the best things for us as parents in choosing Baan Dek for Mimi to learn was an emphasis on culture and an →

Trevor Eissler's passionate new video about The Montessori Fire has caught ablaze. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Does he capture the Montessori spirit? What's your Montessori story? We'd love to hear.

As many of you know, each year, we host a Children's Film Festival. We're very pleased to announce that Sanford Children's has decided, once more, to sponsor our annual event. Thank you, Sanford! With Filmdrome, a non-profit organization →

The power of observation is one of the many key elements to a Montessori classroom. Children are free to observe their peers, in so far as they don't interrupt their concentration, or otherwise disturb them. →

The thought leaders behind OTA Sessions asked us to share our thoughts on originality and action in Montessori, how it effects the community and what impact our students can make on the future. We chose to address →

We were recently interviewed by the Argus Leader on the importance of early childhood education in the community of Sioux Falls, SD.

We were fortunate enough to have a conversation with Maren Schmidt about her wonderful new book. Through a series of exchanges, going back-and-forth, we're more than happy to share our dialogue here. We hope you enjoy! What →