Parents,
Thank you to those parents who provided snack for our first week of school. Snack will be done differently this next week. The purpose of snack in a Montessori classroom is not to fill empty bellies, but as a lesson in practical life skills. Please be aware of this and do not depend on snack as a meal, it is important that the children eat before coming to school. Last week we had snack all together as a group. We practiced waiting for everyone to have snack before we ate and used polite words like please and thank you. Next week our snack will not only teach us how to be courteous, but it will also teach us responsibility, independence, and self regulation. Snack will not be done together as a group. Instead snack will be available throughout the work period and the children will be able to choose when they have snack. The procedures for snack go like this. First the child will decide that they need snack, they will then get a snack tray and plate, serve themselves the appropriate portion of snack, sit at a table, eat it, then clean and sanitize their dishes. Snack will be cleaned up during our clean up time so it will then be unavailable. It is going to take a few days, maybe even weeks for the children to get comfortable with this, but they do. If (or I should say when) your child comes home and says they did not get snack. Please remind them of these procedures and that they make the choice of when they have snack. Usually when a child does not get snack they either forgot about it until it was too late, or are waiting for me to give them permission. I do not usually give reminders but if a child is acting out of sorts or complains that they don’t feel good I may suggest they eat some snack. It is important that the children learn to listen to their bodies’ needs so they are able to communicate when they need something.
We have about 28 kids in each class. A typical snack would be 2 to 3 apple slices and 3 to 4 whole grain crackers. Some snack suggestions are bagels and cream cheese, fruit and crackers, veggies and hummus. Please bring the food in the package, uncut/unprepared. We will prepare snack at school. I have looked over the class list and there were not any food allergies listed. If your child has a food allergy please let Ms. Martha or I know as soon as possible