Virtues in Montessori School

I just wanted to share what has been going on in my "virtue-al" world. At the end of last school year I approached my son's principal about adopting the virtues project as a character education program for the school. We met over the summer and decided on a virtue for each month. I gave the staff a short overview of the program and the strategies. (More training to come with parent workshop in January or February)

In October I introduced the school (about 35 students aged 3 to 10) to the virtues and we started the year with unity. The children made Noble people out of clay and each decorated their person with a glass bead that they had "mined" for in the first assembly. The bead represented the gems inside them… the virtues. The staff made a unity circle representing each student with their noble people and photographed the circle to hang on the wall in the school.

Then November was time for Peace. The older children made peace flags and the younger children coloured white doves and told what peace meant to them… this hangs in the front foyer of the school. December is Tolerance. The teachers and students have been watching for virtues in each other and during the assembly this month the students each received a virtues "necklace". Then they each received a bead to represent the virtue that has been seen in them during the past months. The necklaces will hang in the entranceway to the school and the beads will be added each month. At the end of the year the students will take their necklaces home to treasure their developed virtues from the school year.

We have an assembly each month and the teachers have embraced the program wholeheartedly. The kids are having a blast and I am very proud of all of them. One of the teachers has even gone through her storybooks and allocated virtues in the front of each one according to the "moral" of the story!

All the best for this holiday season… May peace and joy fill your hearts.

Renee Hyde, VP Facilitator Whitby,Ontario Canada

December, 2005