It is unbelievable but true….a new school year begins this month!  This can be a time of excitement and sometimes anxiety for children and Montessori guides.   I have always loved setting up the classroom for the start of a new school year!  Many years ago, I started the practice of inviting other Montessori educators on our staff to come and look at the layout of my classroom and then I would ask, “How can I make it better?”   It is a joy to watch passionate staff members sharing their ideas and assisting each other with creating the perfect environment for our beautiful children.

It is important to always keep in mind our goal is to create an environment where the children can be largely independent from adult assistance. Strive to keep the goal of building independence and intelligence within the child foremost as you design the prepared environment.  From the time the children enter the classroom, I want to build independence in our procedures.  This will begin with the individualized cubbies with their names printed on them or a photo.   These need to be near the classroom/entrance and on the child’s level so their “first work,” is putting their items into their cubbies such as extra clothes or a lunch.   

When the children first enter our environment, we show them the materials in the Practical Life area.  So many of our parents do not understand the importance of the practical life exercises.   In the biography, Maria Montessori Her Life and Work, there is a description of the Montessori practical life exercises followed by this statement, “no other occupations which could be undertaken by the children at this stage (3 to 5) could be more important for their whole development – physical, mental – than these exercises of practical life as they are called.”    Dr. Montessori did not believe the most important thing was to teach them to read at an early age or do math problems in four hierarchies!  No, she said practical life exercises!  Why did she believe this?

In that same passage it is explained how visitors to her classrooms responded when they saw these young children doing practical life exercises: 

“The discerning visitor who observes the children at work on these activities cannot fail to be impressed, as much by the way they are doing them, as by what they are doing. Their profound concentration, the serious joy with which they carry out their work, the expenditure of energy.”  E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Work, p. 213

These activities build skills that the child will use for the rest of his life such as:

            1) Hand and Eye Coordination

            2) The ability to concentrate/attention span

            3) To care for themselves and the environment

            4) To learn to control their movements

            5) A logical thought process in working the materials builds the child’s intelligence

            6) As he/she cares for themselves they build self-confidence, an “I can do this!” attitude

            5) Lessons in Grace and Manners

As you begin the school year, I want to challenge you to “renew” your practical life area with new materials or “refresh” your current materials with a change in mats, pitchers, objects, trays, spoons, tongs, etc.    The materials really should “call” to the child.  As you begin the process of revitalizing your practical life materials keep in mind what Maria Montessori said, 

“When the child comes to school, then, about the age of two and a half to three, the observance of the first law in a Montessori classroom-- “A place for everything and everything in its place.”  “E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Work, p. 270

As you place these materials on the shelf be sure to place them in progressive order of difficulty.  Such as the fingertip grasping, spooning (large & small), how to use tongs, together in that order.  When placing them on the shelf, you should see the materials advancing in difficulty. 

What type of practical life exercises can we add that would be perhaps new and exciting?  

1)  Anything with food prep!  One of my favorites is to allow children to toast bread in a small toaster for their snack, spreading their own preserves or butter at the snack table. 

2)  Buttoning or zipping a real vest the children can slip on & off easily, then hang it on a hanger

3)  Arranging fresh cut flowers

4)  Washing a window or glass door with a squeegee 

5)  A hammering exercise.  Allow the children to “hammer” golf tees into clay or Styrofoam 

Think, “How can I make the exercises meaningful work?”   As a young mother, I remember my children would always want to be doing what I was doing rather than playing with their toys!  When I washed dishes, cooked or watered the flowers in the yard, they always wanted to help.  Children want activities that are purposeful.  These activities can give us the opportunity to build within the child a real love of work that will hopefully last them a lifetime!