Author Archives: Alex Chiu

Five Questions to Ask at a Preschool Open House (Repost from October 2016)

As this is a common time of year for families to begin their preschool search for the next school year, we would like to once again share with you some pointers when attending a preschool Open House. An Open House provides parents with a firsthand impression that cannot be replicated via a website or a brochure. The opportunity for parents to establish a personal connection with the administration, the teachers, and the classroom environment is one that shouldn’t be missed.

Moreover, an Open House gives parents the opportunity to ask questions to help determine whether the school is the right fit for their family. If you’re just starting out on your family’s preschool search, begin by asking the following five questions when attending preschool Open Houses:

What is the school’s educational philosophy?

Today, there are dozens of different philosophies and methods applied in preschool settings. First, do your research. Once you know a bit about the different early education philosophies, you may be able to narrow your search based on what you believe fits in with your family’s values and educational goals.

At The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA), we believe that a Montessori education benefits children in so many ways. Montessori classrooms are designed to recognize and address various learning levels and styles. Teachers take unique roles as classroom guides and observers, providing children with the freedom and opportunity to learn at their own pace within a carefully prepared, stimulating environment.

It’s also important to determine how strictly the philosophy is adhered to at each school. This is particularly important if you are looking at Montessori schools. Many parents are unaware that the American Montessori Society (AMS) has established guidelines for adhering to Dr. Montessori’s practices. Programs that work with AMS are required to uphold high standards in areas including teacher certification, classroom preparation, and parent education regarding Montessori education. The Montessori Children’s Academy is an AMS Member School.

How does learning take place at the school?

Children must have opportunities to explore how things work, to move their growing bodies, and to engage in activities that they find enjoyable. Especially with preschoolers, hands-on activities involving multiple senses often better facilitate the growth of children’s natural curiosity and their interest in learning for learning’s sake. When attending an Open House, ask what types of activities the children participate in during their school day. How much time is spent in teacher-directed activity? Do children have opportunities to make choices and move throughout the classroom? What types of learning materials are used?

The materials in Montessori classrooms are attractive, inviting, and meaningful. They also grow with the children, as the lessons move from concrete to abstract concepts. Every aspect of the Montessori classroom promotes the development of fine and gross motor skills, the expansion of new knowledge, and the joy in learning. Children have a balance of independent work time where they choose what they would like to do, small group learning lessons, and large group activities. Learning opportunities are integrated into all aspects of the Montessori classroom.

What is the school’s standard for teacher qualifications?

Some early childhood facilities, like cooperative programs run by local parents, and traditional day care centers, do not require state or nationally recognized teaching certificates for their staff. Regardless of the type of school setting, it is important that preschool teachers understand how children grow and learn. You will also want to find out whether teachers and their assistants are trained in CPR and First Aid, and if they regularly attend continuing education workshops to stay current in their field.

If you are looking exclusively at Montessori schools, check that the teachers have their Montessori teaching credentials. This will ensure that they have been trained in the Montessori Method by a qualified teacher education program. You can learn more about AMS Montessori teaching credentials from the Montessori Center for Teacher Development.

How is discipline handled?

Preschools have a very important responsibility in how their teachers manage their classrooms and help children grow and develop in a healthy, safe environment. Since preschool is often a child’s very first school experience, how discipline is handled can make a difference in how children view school and how well they succeed in learning.

MCA focuses on positive discipline and conflict resolution. Teachers are keen observers in their classrooms, and they are carefully trained to manage a variety of situations before there is any escalation of improper behavior. Redirection, positive reinforcement, and logical consequences allow teachers to help children learn respect, self-control, and responsibility in the most natural of ways. Peace Education is also a significant component of the Montessori curriculum, and children are guided through conflict resolution techniques with the aid of teachers and peers. Montessori classrooms are communities, and children learn that every member of the classroom is valued and important.

Later this month, MCA will host guest speaker Teresa LaSala, a positive discipline expert and author. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, please consider attending this Parent Education event, as it is open to the public. Details can be found on MCA’s website.

What will a typical school day look like for my child?

This is an important question because it will help to alleviate some of the common anxieties that parents have when the first day of school arrives. Understanding how the day flows will help you to determine if your child will be comfortable in the classroom. As young children thrive on routines, it would be helpful to learn about things like what the procedures are for eating snack or lunch at school, using the restrooms, spending time on the playground, or having a resting time. It is important to know how much structure is in the school day. You might also ask what opportunities the children have for socializing with peers, spending one-on-one time with the teacher, or learning responsibility by having a classroom job.

At any Open House, it is important to get a feel for the facility and to meet the staff. Above all, you want to be able to picture your child in the classrooms. If possible, bring your child along to the Open House so that he or she can meet the teachers and interact in the school space. Watching your child explore might make your choice just a little bit easier.

The Montessori Children’s Academy is hosting Winter Open Houses at each of its campuses on the following dates:

Morristown: Saturday, January 21, 2017, 9:00-11:00AM

Chatham: Saturday, January 28, 2017, 9:00-11:00AM

Short Hills: Saturday, February 4, 2017, 9:00-11:00AM

Celebrating the Seasons the Montessori Way

One of the greatest gifts Montessori children receive as part of their education is the gift of time. They are given time to observe different types of work being done by peers. They are given time to make choices about what work they would like to do during the school day. They are given time to focus on their own work and time to explore without interruption during their three-hour work cycle. This gift of time provides Montessori students with many benefits. They learn about independence, decision-making, and the joy of learning for learning’s sake.

When holidays pop up on the calendar, Montessori students are given another gift. Instead of a holiday taking over one day on the calendar without any connection to the days before or the days following the holiday, Montessori classrooms embrace celebrations of the seasons in a more cross-curricular, more involved, less obtrusive way. For example, in the weeks prior to a holiday of importance, the Practical Life shelves may reflect the colors and symbols of the season in the pouring, sorting, or transferring works. The Language area and circle time activities will most certainly incorporate poems, stories, and songs related to the seasonal celebrations. Math works may use counting items that correlate with holiday themes. Art supplies change to stimulate the children’s unique artistic expression using materials inspired by the time of year. And perhaps the best part of the classroom to share information about specific holidays is the Cultural area, where the children may find continent boxes filled with photographs, artifacts, and items associated with various holidays and the cultures from which they originated.

The beauty of celebrating in this way is that the security and predictability of the child’s school day remains intact. Children rely on this type of schedule. They thrive and perform best in an environment where they understand the expectations and where they feel they have some control over their day. Instead of having one day in the month where things become chaotic (and we have all attended school holiday celebrations that leave us exhausted and overwhelmed!), the season of celebrations unfolds slowly. The children learn about the history, discover the traditions, and find delight in celebrating a variety of holidays over the course of time and within the parameters of how their school environment is already set up for them. To enhance this learning and make it even more meaningful at The Montessori Children’s Academy, parents, relatives, and special guests often come into the classrooms to share their personal experiences with special celebrations, giving the students great insights into and appreciation for other cultures and the people within their community.

If we really think about it, we will realize that there is more to learn about a celebration than can possibly fit into one classroom session for it to be truly meaningful. Montessori children learn about the celebration as something more than what they might see on television or in advertising. Most would agree that the commercialization of many holidays could easily cause children to misunderstand the true meaning behind the celebrations. However, in a Montessori classroom, the commercial ‘noise’ is silenced as children are provided with age-appropriate information about the people, places, foods, and traditions surrounding the holidays. Celebrating the seasons the Montessori way provides children with the opportunity to engage in meaningful activities that teach them so much more than about just one day on the calendar. By learning about holidays, they learn about other cultures. They also gain an awareness of what is different and what is similar among people worldwide. They learn tolerance and acceptance. They learn about what brings joy to people around the globe. The Montessori approach to celebrating special days is a gift to children as it expands their minds, their hearts, and their worlds.

Here are just a few Montessori-inspired ideas for making your family holidays more meaningful:

Visit your local library and check out books or music CDs related to the holiday before it arrives. Let your child choose one or two books to read each day leading up to the holiday and keep a CD in your car to listen to when driving around town.
Take out a map or globe and help your child find the part of the world where the holiday originated. In the days surrounding the holiday, share one new fact about the culture. If it is a more global holiday, research how it is celebrated in different parts of the world.
Turn down outside ‘noise’: If the media tends to overload commercialized messages about the holiday you are celebrating, consider turning off the TV and tuning in to what makes the holiday important to you. Make a ‘holiday happiness jar’ where you write the things that you enjoy most about the holiday on little slips of paper. Each day, take out one of the notes to remind you what is important about the celebration.
Share special memories you may have of celebrating the holiday when you were a child and discuss what things are the same and what things are different when celebrating today.
Include your children in the preparations. Let them create a special centerpiece for the table or make decorations to display on the front door. If special foods are part of the celebration, invite your child to help measure and mix ingredients.
Maintain a ‘normal’ schedule as best as you can. Children do best when their day follows a predictable pattern. If you have special outings or you know your daily schedule will be interrupted because of holiday preparations or celebrations, prepare your child so that he or she knows what to expect.
Carry on a tradition from your upbringing or begin a new one with your child to help make the holiday even more special and personal!

Exploring a Montessori Elementary Option

It is not uncommon for many parents to associate the word Montessori with preschool. While it is true that many Montessori schools focus on Early Childhood Education, it is important to note that what makes a school “Montessori” is not its name, but rather the practice of the Montessori philosophy. Although there are not as many as one would hope, it is possible to find schools where Dr. Montessori’s philosophy of hands-on, independent learning is successfully applied to programs serving students all the way through middle school, and occasionally even high school.

As most American public schools increase their focus on test scores, oftentimes at the expense of deeper, more meaningful learning, families have begun to explore educational options that allow for independent, child-centered learning and real life experience. Parents of kindergarteners more frequently are seeking programs that inspire and value learning over those that teach to attain test results. Montessori elementary programs are a natural progression for those students who have benefited from the Montessori early childhood cycle.

The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA) launched its Elementary Program in 2002. Many of our MCA Early Childhood parents felt their children were thriving in a Montessori environment and wanted to explore the benefits of a Montessori elementary option. To these parents, there was a great deal of value in both the academic and personal development opportunities presented in a Montessori environment. The innovative and unique MCA Elementary Program thus was born. For the 2016-2017 school year, MCA’s Elementary Program expanded to include middle school and now serves children through the 8^th grade. Our Elementary Program promotes academic excellence, critical thinking, cooperation, and civil responsibility in its students. Our dynamic program, guided by a team of passionate and experienced teachers, makes learning meaningful in all of the core subject areas of Language, Math, Science, Social Studies, Geography, and Culture. We also nurture our students’ growth in the areas of Technology, Health, Spanish, Physical Education, Music, Theater, Visual Arts, and Peace Education. In addition, MCA Elementary includes lessons and programs that are unique to our school. For example:

MCA Elementary’s on-site outdoor classroom provides students with a natural multipurpose learning environment. It is here that students have added opportunities for hands-on lessons in science, art, journaling, and conservation. This unique outdoor space allows our students to interact firsthand with their environment and to apply skills and learning from across their academic disciplines.
Our Elementary students utilize both their language and leadership skills as they mentor Kindergarteners in our Early Childhood Programs through pen pal correspondence, and they partner with the Millburn Senior Citizens for the Reading Buddies Program, as well.
Students are exposed to exciting S.T.E.M opportunities via the use of a 3-D printer and special enrichment programs in robotics.
Each year, MCA teams up with the Paper Mill Playhouse to expose our Elementary students to the beauty and culture of the theater through acting workshops and visits to the theater for professional performances.
Our Elementary students work within the larger MCA community to support outreach programs such as Girls on the Run and Pennies for Peace. They learn about the importance of giving and help to raise awareness about these causes in the local Millburn-Short Hills community.

Our students have been “Estuary Explorers” at Liberty State Park, budding chefs at a local culinary school, and photojournalists at the Jersey Shore. Field trips into the local community, as well as partnerships with local and international organizations, provide unique experiences to MCA Elementary students who learn their important role as active and contributing members of their communities and the world.

Hallmarks of a Traditional Montessori Elementary Program

What does Montessori elementary or middle school look like? There are a few important hallmarks of a traditional Montessori elementary program:

A focus on the “whole child”: Montessori’s work focused on the development of the “whole child”. She believed that incorporating a student’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive needs was the key to educating students for success first in school and later in the workplace. Montessori environments attend to all of these needs by providing students with hands-on materials, multiple opportunities for academic and social engagement in mixed-age classrooms, an emphasis on individual motivation, student-led projects, and experiences outside the classroom.
Independent learning and individual pacing: Every child learns at a different pace. Respect for this diversity is manifest in a true Montessori environment. During the three hour work cycle, you can observe students engaged in various forms of work. Some students work independently or one-on-one with a teacher, while others work together in a small group. Daily lessons span different subjects and attend to different levels of difficulty. Some lessons may be completed before the end of the work cycle, while others may be left in the workspace incomplete for a student to return to after a break. You will rarely observe a Montessori environment in which a teacher addresses the whole class from the front of the room; and seldom is there assigned seating. Teachers move around the room to observe and collaborate with students on lessons individually, addressing their personal needs to achieve satisfactory completion of their work.
No “grade level” restrictions: The Montessori tradition of a mixed-age classroom lives on through the elementary years. From an academic standpoint, students are able to work with materials that complement their level of ability. They are not inhibited in their exploration by rigid grade-level standards: if your daughter is ready for algebra, she doesn’t need to wait until 7^th grade to jump in! In terms of social-emotional development, important opportunities for peer learning and leadership manifest in a mixed-age environment that are otherwise absent among peers in a confined age group.
Progressive learning in traditional Montessori curriculum areas: Building on a child’s experience in a Montessori primary environment, a Montessori elementary environment involves curriculum areas delineated by physical manipulatives and learning materials. As lessons progress, relationships are drawn among the curriculum areas, and understanding moves from the concrete to the more complex and abstract. Work is scaled up in terms of difficulty. Collaboration between teachers and peers becomes necessary and “intangible” skills like critical thinking are employed to solve problems and complete projects.
Peace Education, or “Service Learning,” projects: Another intangible, but critically important, part of the Montessori curriculum is its incorporation of Peace Education. In a traditional Montessori elementary environment, students are presented with “real” experiences for involvement in their communities. From singing holiday carols with local senior citizens to washing cars to fundraising for a local charity, there are numerous ways for elementary-aged students to give their time to help others. Montessori students become positively contributing members of their local communities. They also become more globally conscious citizens as they learn about the needs of those in faraway communities. As the students gain awareness, they are charged to support causes and raise funds and awareness throughout a variety of charitable efforts. Such opportunities gift children with a sense of civic responsibility, tolerance, and empathy, traits that are not easily obtainable in a standard academic classroom.

If you are interested in learning more about MCA’s dynamic Elementary Program, please consider attending our Open House on Thursday, December 15^th from 7:00-9:00PM. For more information about this event, please call (973) 258-1400 or email our Senior Director, Jeanine Christiana, at jchristianamca@aol.com.

Seasons of Gratitude and Giving

This time of year inspires many of us to reflect on all that we are grateful for and to look for opportunities to help others. Indeed, Thanksgiving and the winter holidays invite us to treasure what we have and to share with those in need. Statistically, food banks receive the majority of their donated supplies during this time of year, and according to the Digital Giving Index produced by Network for Good, over 30% of annual giving occurs in the month of December (charitynavigator.org). People are very generous during this traditional ‘season of giving’, which makes a tremendous difference to those in need.

It is commendable that people, reminded of the needs of others during the months of November and December, take action and contribute to various charities. However, students at The Montessori Children’s Academy (MCA) are learning that there is something to be thankful for every day of the year and that there are ways to help those in need during every season. As part of the Montessori Peace Curriculum, the MCA community annually takes part in supporting a charitable organization. This year, MCA students, teachers, staff, administration, and families are working together to support the Girls on the Run of New Jersey East (GOTR) organization through a variety of efforts throughout the school year from September through June. The season of gratitude and giving at MCA extends through all four seasons as the children learn about and take part in a variety of activities to support the organization. As MCA students learn about respect and kindness in their everyday interactions and lessons at school, they also learn about civic responsibility and discover how everyone can play an important role in making the world a better place.

Part of the Montessori Peace Curriculum involves teaching children how to express themselves appropriately. At the beginning of every school year, Montessori teachers spend significant time engaging their students in “Grace and Courtesy” lessons so that children learn the polite way to greet teachers and friends, to ask for help, and to use the polite “please” and “thank you” responses that go such a long way when interacting with others. They are taught to wait for their turn when someone else is speaking, to offer to hold the door for someone behind them in line, to return classroom materials to where they belong, and to treat everyone in the same way they would like to be treated. They practice peaceful conflict resolution. They learn responsibility for their belongings as well as for their words and actions. While these things may seem small, they are significant in developing a peaceful and respectful community at school. Learning to care for their classroom, for their classmates, and for themselves helps children gain appreciation for the people, places, and things in their lives.

Once the Grace and Courtesy lessons have become the norm in the classroom, the children are ready to discover how their actions and interactions outside of the classroom can make a positive impact. Simple things like sharing a smile when walking down the street is one way to extend kindness to others in the simplest of ways. Picking up a piece of trash on the playground helps protect our environment. Setting out a bird feeder provides nourishment when it is hard for birds to find food on their own. Little acts of kindness make a big impact. Through these actions, children become aware that there are many things that they can do to contribute to the world in a positive way. The children then come to realize that there are many different types of needs among the people in and around their communities. They learn about different organizations that work to help others, and the school’s annual charity event becomes incorporated into their classroom discussions and activities.

To kick off this year’s initiative for Girls on the Run, MCA students participated in a mini fun-run at MCA’s Harvest Family Fun Picnic at Mayapple Hill in South Mountain Reservation. In addition to taking part in other seasonal activities at the picnic, the children enjoyed donning capes and tutus and running through a small obstacle course to ‘get running for Girls on the Run’. The school has set a goal to collect $5000 to sponsor 20 girls in the GOTR program in underserved areas. The Montessori Children’s Academy Family of Schools and Services, MCA’s parent company, has pledged to match donated funds up to $2500, and rapidly, donations have already started coming in to support this great cause. To view our progress, please visit our special Girls on the Run fundraising page.

To help the MCA students keep track of the donations, teachers designed a special bulletin board display at each campus. Using the famous Montessori Pink Tower as a progress chart, each of the ten pink cubes represents $500 in donations. The children will see that when the flag marker showing how much money has been raised reaches the smallest cube on the top of the tower, they have reached their ambitious goal! In addition to accepting monetary donations for Girls on the Run, MCA is collecting new or gently used athletic wear to share with the girls in the program. Items such as sneakers, sweatpants and sweatshirts, t-shirts, shorts, and headbands are just some of the items that are already filling the bins at each MCA campus.

Students become involved in each year’s charitable cause through many avenues that reach beyond fundraising. Students are educated about the organization in age-appropriate lessons and discussions, and a variety of activities help them gain insight and develop greater interest in each year’s chosen charity. Just some of the upcoming projects related to this year’s Girls on the Run initiative include class presentations on health and fitness by our school nurse and local athletes, demonstrations of Girls on the Run activities by organization representatives, and creating a ‘paper sneaker marathon’ display throughout the MCA hallways. The culminating event will take place at the Girls on the Run 5K in June where MCA students, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators will have the opportunity to volunteer in a variety of capacities to support the organization. More information about each of these activities will be forthcoming throughout the year.

It is important to note that the students’ means of contributing to the community reaches beyond taking up collections from family and friends. MCA students gain awareness about the needs of others in their communities through class discussions and then brainstorm ways that they can help in a hands-on, meaningful way. Student-driven projects from past years have included hosting lemonade stands, holding bake sales, washing cars, and offering to do chores in exchange for a donation, to name a few.

Just last spring, MCA students set up an information table in front of a local food establishment and created posters explaining the work that was being done to help others by one of their chosen charities for that year. As people passed by, the children engaged them in conversations about the charity and informed them about what they could do to help. This type of outreach provides the students with the opportunity to share their knowledge, practice public speaking skills, and connect with the people of their community.

The children learn that every effort to help others, big or small, is worthwhile. They become educated about needs within their communities and then become empowered, seeing that children can, and do, make a positive difference in their communities and throughout the world. Through these activities, our students come to realize that when people work together, the collective efforts make an impact that can positively affect people’s lives. Working together to better the lives of others is at the center of Montessori’s vision of peace through education, and MCA strives to keep this spirit of gratitude and giving alive throughout every season of the year.

Practically Speaking: Why Practical Life Matters

“The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence.” ~ Maria Montessori

Often at the beginning of a new school year, children in Montessori classrooms tend to choose much of their work in the Practical Life area over the other areas of the classroom. For one thing, they are drawn to the pretty materials, which are usually very colorful and inviting in so many ways. Transferring brightly colored rice from one container to another with a shiny silver spoon or pouring blue-dyed water from one large pitcher into three small cups is very appealing.

Children are also most comfortable with Practical Life work because it involves activities that they see being done every day at home. Things that are ‘real’ appeal to children who want to do ‘grown up’ types of work and make a meaningful contribution to their homes and classrooms. Practical Life is the area of the classroom in which children also receive the most lessons from the teacher at the start of the year, and for a very good reason.

On the surface, Practical Life activities provide the children with just that—practical, everyday skills that they need to survive. Learning how to button and zip, how to set the table and wash dishes, or how to do simple food preparation, is necessary. But even beyond these essential lessons, Practical Life, if you look at it closely, promotes additional skills that lead children to succeed in each and every other area of the classroom. How? Let’s look at just some of the skills that Practical Life teaches:

Planning and Order: The children learn, step by step, how first to take the work from the shelf to their work space and then set it up. Sometimes the work requires items from other areas of the classroom, such as an apron, a mat, a bucket, or other tools. The children learn where things are kept in the classroom and quickly realize the importance of putting things back in their proper places when they are finished using them. This ensures that everything is ready for the next person who wants to choose that work.
Self-Control: At first, children using the Practical Life materials may be tempted to rush through the activities. However, in the careful presentation of the work by the teacher, the children discover the beauty and joy of the work done with control. Instead of hastily scooping up beans with a spoon in a rushed, careless manner, the children learn to observe the beauty of the shape and color of the beans that they collect on the spoon and the lilting sound that they make as they are carefully spooned into the bowl. Their senses are attuned to each part of the lesson, and they begin to gain an appreciation for a work performed well and with control from start to finish.
Coordination: Grace in movement is important when using the Practical Life materials. Trying hard to not spill out any drops of water from a pitcher or bowl, the child learns to move with control and purpose. The children must negotiate how they travel from the shelves to the work space, making sure that all of the materials stay on the tray that they are carrying. Once at the workspace, the children develop a variety of hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. These grow as the children continue using Practical Life works specifically designed to support this growth. While teachers may adapt the appearance of the lessons (perhaps changing the color of the water or the types of materials being used), the essence of the lessons remains constant to help children continue to develop their coordination with each activity.
Patience: There is only one of each activity on the classroom shelves. Popular activities fly off the shelves quickly, and classmates learn that they must wait for their turn if something is already being used. There is no grabbing a work out of someone else’s hands. Instead, a child might be invited to watch while waiting. Similarly, a child must practice patience in order to complete the work. Many involve several steps, and each step, from set up to clean up, is equally important and necessary. If a step is skipped, there is a natural consequence that affects whether or not the work can be completed correctly. Children respond to these natural results and will strive to do the work to the best of their ability with the goal of getting it done ‘just right’ with practice and patience.
Persistence: The Practical Life work is attractive for a reason. It entices children to return to it again and again to practice important skills and achieve their goal of doing it correctly. Because the Practical Life area ultimately helps the children develop skills they need in every area of the classroom, persistence and repetition are especially important. Pouring wet or dry ingredients helps develop hand-eye coordination and estimation; using tweezers or tongs to transfer items strengthens the pincer grip needed for holding a pencil and other tools. These will become important across academic areas.
Mastery: The repetition of movements helps the children to eventually gain mastery over specific skills. This is the aim of the Practical Life works, as it is with everything found on the shelves in a Montessori classroom. The self-correcting materials let the child know whether or not the work was done well and with accuracy. If the water spills when being poured, the children know they need to pour it more slowly or that they need to pour less in each cup so that the cups don’t overflow. There is little to no teacher intervention required—the child can see for himself or herself if the work was done right. Imagine the joy when a child who has struggled with one skill or another finally sees that success has been achieved! It is that intrinsic feeling of pride that most strongly motivates children to continue to try, to continue to learn, in order to attain that wonderful feeling again and again!

Children’s time in the Practical Life area supports their success all throughout the Montessori classroom and extends into skills that help them all throughout their lives. Planning, concentration, persistence, patience, and self-control all contribute to the children’s effectiveness in learning every academic subject and in their success in managing social interactions as well. While Practical Life may seem simple, it is an area of significant importance for life skills. It is the foundation for all of the learning areas within the classroom and extends beyond it into all areas of life. As one parent commented to her son’s Montessori teacher, “I love that my child is learning to sew buttons in preschool. Not only will he be able to fix his own clothes when the time comes, but he may also make a fine surgeon one day!” Practically speaking, Practical Life really does matter!