The 'work' of eating

Today I had an interesting conversation with one of the Children's House students. We were eating in the classroom since it was raining outside. The children where clustered around a few of our larger tables put together so we could enjoy a family style lunch. They all seemed really happy with the arrangement. chatting with one another and actually staying in their seats. It's much more comfortable and easier to stay in your chair when your feet can actually touch the ground. Our outdoor picnic tables are definitely not child sized and I think that's contributed to a lot of the problems at lunch. So even though eating in the classroom itself should have been an exciting new novelty, they took to it quickly.

Anyways the children were asking if we were going to play outside for recess and I said no, we were going to have indoor play today. One of them asked "Where?" and before I could answer another student spoke up "In the classroom!" They all giggled at that and I laughed with them, then said we were going to play in the day care room because the classroom wasn't for playing; it was for working. "And for lunch!" one of the kids interjected excitedly. "Well yes," I answerd. "But eating lunch is a type of work."

And it's true.

At our school we don't view lunch as something that just needs to happen every day. Instead it's another work for the child to accomplish. They need to remember all the steps such as: washing hands, getting their lunch box, setting out their napkin and eating their protein first. They're expected to manage their food and containers themselves. Whenever a child can't open something themselves we always have them ask another friend for help before coming to a teacher. They're also spending time practicing mastering silverware. I think yogurt seems to be one of the hardest things to learn how to eat! It's tricky, one minute it's solid on your spoon, then it drips off like a liquid!

We teachers also try to model good table manners. Staying seated properly at the table, not speaking with your mouth full (a really hard one when you're trying to manage the whole group and eat your lunch at the same time!). We encourage the children in conversation, their usual favorite topic is who has the same food as who. It's pretty entertaining how excited they get when they have carrots and someone else does too; like they never imagined anyone else could have had that 'rare' food!

Really noticeable today too was the after lunch clean up. Each child was not only responsible for packing up their lunch containers, but also sweeping up all the crumbs under their chair. We also provide a bucket of soapy water in case anyone has an especially messy time eating.

So, all in all eating a meal really is 'work' for the child. Real, purposeful work that is applicable in their lives and is helping them grow up to be competent adults.

Lunch!

The children are really settling back in after having a couple of long breaks with the holidays and the snow days (that were technically cold days), and one of the easiest way to see this is how well they follow the lunch routine. The children are dismissed to wash their hands, grab their lunch box and find their name tag in the lunch room. The name tags are a relatively new addition to ensure that the younger children end up at a table they can reach properly.

At the beginning of the year we send a note home with parents giving them some specific instructions for their child's lunch. We are a nut free school and it's important that parents do not send peanut butter sandwiches or trail mix to avoid this. We also request that they specifically pack a protein, vegetable and fruit in their lunch box. The children are taught which food is which and eat them in order to ensure that they get enough healthy and filling food. This is super important because we have some children who stay until 5 o'clock and not having a full stomach can make those last few hours miserable. The children are also in charge of cleaning up their own spot, sweeping or wiping with a sponge as needed, and packing everything back in their lunch box.

Today all the children where in the lunch room in under ten minutes. They remembered which food they needed to eat first (after all it takes some willpower to eat that chewy sandwich before those sweet strawberries) and generally sat nicely in their chairs. We have really been focusing on having them sit properly at the table and they have been really responsive to the point where it only takes asking "Could you scoot in?" to have them turn forward and eat over their place at the table.

The best part of this? When the children are settled and focused at lunch they eat faster, which means they get dressed earlier and we get more outside time. Recently we had a group sled dog race, I explained a little bit about the Iditarod and then paired younger and older children to be sled dogs and mushers. The children loved it and it's been hilarious to see them continuing the game independently during the recess free time. All this because they have a good lunch routine that fills them up, and still gives time for playing.

As simple as going for a walk...or not

A beautiful fall day. The kind of day where the leaves are just starting to fall and change but it's still warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt. Add a slight breeze to make the leaves go skittering across the pavement and rustle together and you've got a great day for a nature walk. Especially when there's the added excuse that the normal play yard is currently under construction to trim back some trees and put in a new fence. Now the children in the classroom were more than excited to watch the men cutting down trees and tearing out the old fence. They were even more excited when the miniature bobcat drove around the corner to help cart the debris away, but it definitely was not a safe place for recess. So we planned a nature walk for recess instead. Unfortunately that wasn't as simple as it sounds.

Our normal recess schedule begins when the first group of children finish lunch and change into their outdoor shoes. Usually these are the older children who are quicker at eating and cleaning up due to years of practice. While an adult takes this first group of children outside, another helps the younger ones finish cleaning up their lunches and changing shoes/putting on jackets. Normally this is about a 20 minute process (there's quite a spread between a 6 year old who is racing to put on their velcro shoes, and a 2 year old still trying to figure out the zipper on their lunch box).

Then today with our plan for a nature walk we added in a new kink in the system- a bathroom break. Normally in a Montessori environment the children are responsible for realizing when they need to use the bathroom and reminders from adults are kept to a minimum. The only instance where an entire group is actually brought to the bathroom by an adult is right before nap time (for what should be obvious reasons). But since we were not going to be near a bathroom we needed to get 21 children to at least try and go before we left. Now that is a long process. All in all, by the time each child was ready to go we had about 5 minutes left of recess.

Now I don't want this to  seem like I'm complaining. When I actually think about it, that's quite an impressive feat. 21 children have eaten their lunches, packed them up, cleaned their table and swept (if needed), changed their shoes and put on coats, and stood in an orderly line. Oh, and remember, they are all under the age of six AND did all of this with little adult intervention. That means that while we might have helped them snap shut a tricky container, even the 2 year olds put them into their lunch boxes and zipped it up on their own.

So after all that work, for a nature walk we went. Hand in hand the older children helped direct the younger ones to the safe areas in the grass or sidewalk. We walked in the sunshine, listened to the rustling leaves, and even picked a few flowers. Then we reached the end of the block and turned right back around. Ok, so we only made it one block from school, but did the children mind? Nope, not in the least. A few did ask why we weren't going further, but they completely understood when we explained that recess was over. Dr. Montessori recognized that children are process oriented, not product oriented. While an adult might have felt disappointed to not really achieve the product (the walk) the children were happy simply taking part in the process (getting dressed, lining up, etc.). Though as an adult, I still hope we can go a little further tomorrow!