Practical Life

This week, we ready our classroom for the summer (when custodians remove all shelves and other furniture to strip and polish the floors) and begin preparing materials for next year.  This presents a number of unique opportunities for Practical Life:

* separating and sorting new printed grammar cards into the appropriate Grammar Boxes (an activity that offered a wonderful practical life use of Roman numerals!)

* sanding crayon marks off of the wooden boxes my father made to support and contain cardboard crayon boxes
* washing art trays
* assembling math booklets for next year's first graders
* assembling next year's work plans
* using meter sticks to measure our area rug so that a new carpet may be ordered in an appropriate size

"Practical life" is a strand of the Montessori Early Childhood curriculum.  This includes caring for the classroom/home environment (sweeping, washing tables, feeding pets, setting a table, etc.), caring for oneself (buttoning, tying shoelaces, effectively washing hands), and "grace and courtesy" (pushing in chairs, using appropriate table manners, saying "Please," "Excuse me," and "Thank you").  The idea is for the child to develop independence by learning to do daily living tasks without adult help.  These activities also help the child develop concentration, organization, body coordination/control, problem-solving, self-reliance, and persistence.  It is for this reason that Montessori teachers so often insist that children carry their own backpacks and open their own lunch containers.  Rather than do for the child, we want children to care for themselves and be independent. 

Joan Goodman, professor at University of Pennsylvania's graduate school of education (and to my knowledge, not a Montessorian) asserts, "Anything a child can do, a teacher shouldn't."  This is pretty much the Montessori mantra for Practical Life.  As children enter Montessori Elementary, Practical Life is no longer an individual curriculum strand.  Activities move beyond unstructured time for isolated skills practice (learning to scoop and pour, for example).  Instead, elementary students use these skills in combination to perform specific, purposeful and necessary activities for the benefit of self and the community.  Practical life at the Elementary level might include:
* Letter writing
* Writing a thank you note
* Flower arranging
* Watering, pruning, transplanting classroom plants
* Planning and shopping for a meal
* Cooking/Preparing snacks
* Setting a table
* Serving food to others
* Cleaning and restoring the classroom after a class meal/celebration
* Crafts such as crochet, knitting, latch-hooking
* Gardening
* Planning a field trip
* Budgeting for a trip or managing classroom lunch money loans
* Sewing
* Repairing glasses
* Weekly cleaning of the classroom
* Facilitating class meetings
* Preparing and serving tea for guests
* Taking attendance
* Photographing and recording class events in a class journal
* Collecting trash after lunch

Find similar opportunities for your child to be helpful to your family at home!