We’re extremely pleased to announce that Charlotte Snyder will become Head of School at Baan Dek. Charlotte started her career as a lead guide at Baan Dek in 2011, after receiving her AMI training in →

Our founders, June and Bobby George, have written a series of Montessori-inspired children's books. The latest, published with Phaidon, is called My First Book of Patterns. One of the great beauties of Montessori is how everything →

110 years ago today, something transformative happened. Maria Montessori opened the doors to her first Casa dei Bambini, or Children’s House, in Italy. It is unclear if Maria knew how transformative this new system of →

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We’re committed to the idea that learning doesn’t just happen inside a classroom. Learning takes place everywhere! Whether that’s at the zoo, or on a farm, or in an artisan’s bakery, the joy that accompanies →

We have some really exciting news to share! After literally scouring the planet for a teacher, one that would compliment our unique ethos at Baan Dek, we are very pleased to announce that Ingrid Geiger →

We're very pleased to introduce you to Montessori Guide, a new initiative by The Association Montessori Internationale. As an online resource tool for Montessori teachers, Montessori Guide strives to serve as an innovative catalyst to →

Drop-off and pick-up are two of the most important times of the entire day. Here are a few insights that we've gathered over the years. We hope you find them useful. These are many of →

As summer winds down and we get ready to head "back to school", we wanted to take this opportunity to offer a few general tips to help ensure a fluid transition. Whether you're a new →

We sat down with Ms. Wood to discuss some fun ideas to implement literacy over the Summer. Here's some of what we came up with: Library: Go to the library! A lot! "The library is →

You've probably read a thousand job descriptions. We want this to be your last. What we do at Baan Dek isn't a job. It's a way of life. It's a way of seeing the world →

We couldn't be more pleased to announce Montessori: Shape Work, the third book in our series from Abrams Appleseed. Out in August, it's now available for pre-order from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. We've been →

We have some very special and exciting news to share with you. We're going to open a Toddler program in the Fall of 2013. It'll be the first of its kind in the state of →

Greetings from Baan Dek! 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 can help us make it better. Interested? We want people who imagine things differently, individuals who want to be a part of something bigger than any one of us. We don't want employees. We want passionate, hard working optimists. Of course, rigor and precision are important, but so is joy and attitude. We strongly believe that quality teachers are our best assets.

We've teamed up with great folks at Abrams Appleseed to offer "Montessori Monday's"! This is a first in a series. As families prepare to head "back to school", we thought we would take this opportunity to offer →

We're very pleased to be able to introduce Letter Work & Number Work. Published by our friends at Abrams Appleseed, these titles, authored by Bobby and June George, are now available. We thought we would take this →

On Saturday, July 28th, our books, Letter Work & Number Work, were featured in the Saturday edition of the Wall Street Journal. We thought we would share the complete review with you: "Another pair of sturdy board →

We're very pleased to announce that Jamie Weimann will be joining Baan Dek! Jamie graduated from Northwestern College, where she holds a Bachelor's in Education.You can send her a note: jamie@baandek.org, and help us welcome her →

We wanted to take this opportunity to thank Filmdrome and Sanford Children's for sponsoring the Fourth Annual Baan Dek Children's Film Festival. Over two hundred people attended the festivities. Hooray! For some of the youngest, it was their very →

We're growing, and we're looking for someone to grow with us. We have a unique culture here at Baan Dek. We think it's a pretty special place. We also think you can help us make →

We've long been fans of the work of Oliver Jeffers. As a matter of fact, one of our very first students gifted the school a copy of one of his original titles. From that moment →

Opportunities don't always present themselves. Sometimes you just need to follow your passions, and try to realize your dreams. It sounds melodramatic, we know, but that's exactly what happened. That's also, exactly what children aspire →

Yesterday, we had our official Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting. Note the giant scissors, and a timid London, peering out to the crowd from behind the scenes. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank →

As many of you know, part of being an accredited Montessori school, is having a consultant visit on a regular basis, and verify that what we are doing is in line with the principles that →

Our friends, The Montessori Madmen, have started a new campaign. In an effort to continue to increase awareness about Montessori education, they've prompted schools to design the word, "Google", using the class materials. The hope is →

Did you know that Baan Dek is on Instagram? Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share photos. It's definitely worth looking into. Our username is: baandek. You should follow us! Also, we post most →

As of today, January 3, 2012, we opened at our new location. Hooray! We thought you might like to take a short tour of some of the many architectural things that make Baan Dek unique. →

Life circumstances as such, two of our students had to depart for new adventures in a new city. We decided to throw them a little going away party, where everyone had the opportunity to wish →

Over the weekend, as the weather started to change, and Winter reared it's head, we walked around the outside of the new space, noting the recently transplanted trees, and their position in relation to the →

It was brought to our attention, by our lovely builders, the Van Buskirk family, that a few, old, beautiful pin oak trees were scheduled to be torn down. They wanted to know if we wanted →

Yesterday, the roof of the new school went up. They'd been waiting to put up the trusses until the wind subsided, as we've been having some unexpectedly high gusts of wind. Well, now it's up! →

Yesterday, we had our first parent education workshop of the year. It was entitled, "The Importance of Practical Life." For those who were unable to attend, we've posted the bullet points below. A special thanks to →

The Montessori Madmen are born. www.montessorimadmen.com  "The mission of the Montessori Madmen is simple: To increase the enrollment of Montessori schools by facilitating their ability to promote themselves as well as Montessori itself." "The vision is →

Aidan McAuley, a Montessori parent, wanted to help out his local Montessori school, so he took matters into his own hands. He did what Montessori students would do: he offered to help. "I simply grew →

Our friends at The Post Oak School, one of the oldest Montessori schools in the United States, have a lovely interactive post up on famous Montessori students and advocates. You can view it here. For those interested, →

Baan Dek is elated to announce that we've just hired Charlotte Wood, a primary Montessori directress. Originally from California, Charlotte received her Association Montessori Internationale training from the Montessori Institute Northwest. Next Fall, Charlotte will be joining our →

The South Dakota Department of Education has approved The Baan Dek Montessori to be a state accredited non-public school, effective July 1, 2010. Essentially, this means that The Baan Dek Montessori will be licensed to →