Caring for the World Around Us

“We must give the child an environment that he can utilize by himself. Free the child’s potential and it will transform the world.”

Maria Montessori

Children at our school are given rich opportunities to care for the campus environment both indoors and out, developing skills and feelings of self-sufficiency at every age. In the Seven Circles Garden, our amazing gardening teacher, Adrienne Wallace, equips elementary students to become capable and caring “stewards of the Earth.” Our youngest children also learn gardening skills in our preschool gardens.

Indoors, all of our students, preschool through fifth grade, learn to clean up after themselves and to keep their classrooms organized and free of clutter. One of our school values has always been that order and the careful handling of materials equals beauty and harmony, and visitors often comment on the palpable feeling of peace in all our classrooms.

Teaching children the hands-on skills to create order and handle things with care also enhances their development and stimulates self-confidence. Parents often say, “I wish they did that at home.”

Here are some ideas for getting children to care for their environment at home:

Teach skills that make children feel more mature

We want to introduce skills while they still feel challenging to a child. An eight-year-old may not be interested in learning to sweep, but a preschooler is. In the Seven Circles environment, Adrienne teaches children starting in kindergarten to care for everything in the garden—raking, digging, building raised beds, as well as harvesting, cutting, and cooking vegetables.

In preschool, we color-code different types of shelves. Try cutting out photos or making drawings with your child of shirts, pants, socks, etc., and mounting them on drawers or outdoors where clothing goes or tools are housed.

Speak about the loving care of objects

The Māori people of New Zealand believe that everything has a soul. We can teach the care of objects by speaking of them as having needs. “Tools need to stay dry.” “These toys need to live here so they don’t fall out on the floor.” Talk in terms of the object’s “home.” “Let’s put the Legos back in their home.” “Silver is happy when it is polished.”

Patience, patience, patience

It takes time for a preschooler to learn how to sweep up crumbs or clean a table, but accomplishing these tasks brings great pride. We need to encourage children when the bed they made doesn’t look just right or dishes are on the wrong shelf. The intent to maintain their environments must be praised and nurtured, and they will bring those sensibilities and skills out into the world.

Enrichment Classes: ART

In addition to their academic classes, our elementary students attend “enrichment” classes that support and broaden the classroom curriculum—art, library, PE, garden, and theater arts. This week’s focus is our art program.

Lara has been helping her fifth grade art students with their self-portrait busts since the beginning of the year.

“The practice of making visual art is a valuable way to process the huge amount of stimuli we encounter every day,” says Lara Cannon, our art teacher. “Children are naturally oriented toward exploration and play. This makes them incredible artists.”

First through fifth graders have art class once a week. The class meets in our art studio (Room 16) for 45 minutes. Half the class attends at a time, allowing Lara to work with smaller groups.

Students in the lower grades learn how to use different materials. They do painting, drawing, collage, clay, found-object sculpture, and printmaking. They learn how to mix colors, create space using overlapping and scale, and explore patterns, shapes, and symmetry. “They’re learning to slow down and create more elaborate work,” Lara says.

In the upper grades, students learn about light and shadow, perspective, proportions, and more advanced color mixing. Over the course of the year, they do printmaking, collage, clay and papier mâché, painting, and drawing.

Lara often uses themes the students are studying in their classes as subject matter for her projects. “In third grade, they study water in science, so I teach different watercolor techniques. We talk about watercolor paper and how it has a special coating to slow absorption, and we experiment with what you can do with the paint in different stages of absorption.”

She also uses art class as an opportunity for students to apply ideas they’ve learned in math or science. “If they’re learning to measure, I’ll make measuring a part of the project. If they’re learning about 3-D shapes or tessellations, we’ll learn to draw them.”

The most fulfilling part of her job, she says, “is seeing the fresh and unexpected images the children create.

“When I design a project for my students, I want the final product to come from their ideas, not from mine. I want them to see the techniques and concepts I’m teaching them as tools that will help them achieve their ideas. By allowing them to make decisions and work through problems themselves, I hope to provide them with the most rewarding experience.”

Lara has a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. She was an illustrator before she had children. As an artist, she focuses mainly on painting these days. She has work in two exhibits, “Today Is the Greatest,” at the NIAD Art Center in Richmond, and “Chromatic,” at Milano Arts in Crockett. You can see samples of her work on her website.

Lara has been teaching at Meher School for seven years. Her son, Percy, is in our fifth grade. Her daughter, Ines, graduated last year.

Getting Enough Sleep

As we adjust to the time change and the loss of the luxury of evening light, it’s a helpful time to think about sleep and the long-term investment in teaching children how to sleep well.

The phrase “I didn’t get enough sleep” is ubiquitous and accepted as normal among adults in our culture, and we are acculturated to the idea that part of being productive is being able to sleep less. How does this affect young people? There is increasing national concern that older children and adolescents in our over-stimulated society don’t get enough sleep. Shorter sleep can affect cognitive performance and emotional and mental health.

Getting children to sleep is often a preoccupation for parents of babies and young children, as adults grapple with their own tiredness and whether children should be allowed in their bed. American parents, distinct from most families around the world, where co-sleeping is more often the norm, tend to see children sleeping alone as part of their independence training.

However, there is no evidence that keeping children out of the parental bed creates more self-reliant young adults as they get older. Many successful adults spent time in their parents’ bed. What really matters is the connection between parent and child and the attitudes children develop toward sleep.

Imagine your child as a high school or college student. What are your hopes for them related to getting enough rest? Here are some helpful attitudes about sleep and tools to get enough rest.

“I take time to relax thoroughly before I sleep.”

Learning to relax before sleep can be life-changing. Why not help practice the military secret to fast falling sleep. Close your eyes, breathe slowly, and relax your facial muscles, starting with the forehead and moving down until all the muscles in your face are relaxed. Then continue slowly down your body. Any kind of systematic body relaxation prepares children for peaceful, deep sleep, and there are many children’s books with delightful characters who model how to relax each body party.

“My bed is a place of comfort and nurturance, not socializing or work.”

It’s helpful for children to learn sleep hygiene early, which includes habits like not doing homework or playing video games on your bed. We sleep best when beds are used only for rest.

“I know my sleep issues and pay attention to getting enough rest.”

We have names for different sleep temperaments—the early riser, the night owl—but there are many other nuances to the subject, and some are treatable sleep disturbances. Additional stress can cause night waking or trouble falling asleep. Children with special needs often have more sensitive sleep patterns, and conditions like sleep apnea can be treated successfully.

As children grow, we want them to understand the value of good sleep and the best ways for them to achieve it, whether they are away from us overnight now or later when they may be living in a dorm. Prioritizing getting enough sleep is something whole families can work on together.