Practical Life on a Montessori Classroom

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Practical Life Practical Life is a connection between home and school it at first helps the transition home to school and later enables the child to extend the knowledge of what they have already learned giving them a chance to practice day-to-day life activities before they need them to perform well in real life. In a Montessori class, we begin with Practical Life area, the foundation of a Montessori class. This is the first area introduced to a child. The child works in a free and non-competitive prepared environment specially designed to meet his needs for self-construction and preparation for life. When a pre-school child enters a Montessori environment, he is most sensitive to learning and seeks activities that will enable him to be the master of his movement. The activities in Practical Life aid the child in constructing himself from the life he sees around him and offer the opportunity to learn to care for his personal needs, to care and maintain his surrounding environment, to function in a social group and relate to peers and adults effectively and successfully, and to become aware of how his body moves and performs. This helps him to develop coordination, concentration, independence and order. As long as “man takes possession of his environment with his hands” (M.M.) in Practical Life special focus is given to the hand development and movements refining all the activities one way or the other brings about the use and perform of children’s hands. The activities found in different areas in Practical Life are: Grace and Courtesy, Practical Skills, Care of the Person, Care of the Environment, Food Preparation and Sewing and Weaving. The years between three and six are the years that the child most easily learns the rules of the human behaviors (this can also be referred to as the sensitive period for learning). These years could be constructively devoted
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