It’s almost springtime, even though it occasionally looks like winter however we keep emphasizing grace and courtesy with each other, no matter the season.

During Montessori Education Week last week, the Primary community focused on the ‘Grace and Courtesy’ area of Practical Life. 

Maria Montessori regarded ‘Grace and Courtesy’ lessons as a basic human need of 3-6 year olds and incorporated them into her Practical life curriculum.  The lessons are presented at a time when the child is most apt to “pick up and fix” good manners. Precise lessons on how to behave or act in any given situation are taught, for example, greeting people, excusing oneself and interrupting.  By doing so, we “give them the means to be master of their own actions, and of the situation when and as it occurs.”  It is important not to expect anything from the child unless you have shown them; it is not enough to give verbal explanations. 

Lessons in ‘Grace and Courtesy’ are often presented to a group of children.  After the lesson, the child is not persecuted or constantly reminded to practice the manners.  The ideal is for the child to respond with manners that reflect an inner desire for cooperation and kindness.  The Practical life lessons in grace and courtesy become real when adults serve as models, practicing courtesies among themselves.  A common technique for presenting Grace and Courtesy lessons is to isolate a particular social skill or situation and present it in the form of a dramatization.  The child can then practice their skill of observation and focus on the reality of the skill and its usefulness in everyday life.

For example, we can set up rugs throughout our common work space and call older students to walk around them, not over or across them.  It is in this way that they demonstrate to the younger children how to walk through our classroom politely.

For those kindergarten students, it’s an exciting time of exploration as each child gets to visit our Radmoor Elementary classroom for a day.  He or she receives lessons and views first-hand how the next step – elementary – works.  It’s a fantastic way to get a glimpse of the future, and also how his or her current work extends into first grade.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

We celebrated Chinese New Year in February, with a visit from Jeanne Ratan-Loh, who talked with our students about this year, the Year of Dog, and also talked about the zodiac, and cultural traditions like cleaning houses for the New Year and getting haircuts and visiting elders.  The children especially enjoyed the discussion of giving red envelopes.

Thank you, Jeanne – celebrations come alive when they are shared by members of our community!

Classroom materials are vital additions to our classroom works, but sometimes children like them so much that they borrow them from the school. 

In other words, some of our materials are disappearing.  If you could check your child’s backpack or pockets and if you find anything that doesn’t belong to him or her, kindly send it back.  We need our materials to continue with lessons – and some of those items are really cool.  We like them too.

I will be seeing parents for conferences next week, March 12 and 13, and I look forward to that time.  It’s a privilege to share your child’s progress with you.

Best, Trish