Patience Is Our Virtue

In Casa, We Choose Virtues!

At Montessori By The Sea, a key component of our school ethos is the cultivation of virtues. Each week, our newsletter features a different virtue. In this spirit, we have created a unique Casa Virtues Program that is tailor-made for our Casa-age students.

Instead of a “Virtue of the Week”, we explore a “Virtue of the Month” that has been chosen specifically because it is relevant and relatable to our children based on their plane of development and their everyday lives. Some examples are kindness, courage, teamwork, helpfulness, perseverance, and respect. We teach the children that they possess these virtues innately, and that – like any other skill – the more they practice the better they will become at making good choices and using their virtues all the time. This realization makes them feel empowered to improve their own lives, the lives of those around them, and the world in general.

We focus on just one virtue a month so that we can really explore each one in depth. We interweave the virtue into the language that we use and our learning curriculum. The children participate in group lessons where they hear famous quotes about the virtue and look at images providing examples of people (and in some cases even animals) practicing the virtue in a multitude of ways. We have a “Virtue of the Month” display on our wall filled with these pictures and quotes that the children can peruse individually or discuss with their friends.  They also engage in virtue-centered role play and we often reconvene as a class at the end of the day to give individual children the opportunity to share specific examples of how they practiced their virtues on that day.

Our Virtue of the Month in October has been PATIENCE. Please have a look at the gallery below to see some examples of the pictures and quotes we’ve been examining to inspire discussion and build understanding of what it means to practice patience. It also features some photos of the Casa students practicing patience in the classroom, as well as some direct quotes from them in response to the question: “How do you practice patience?”

Patience is indeed a virtue and it is one of the many that we look forward to cultivating with our Casa family as the school year progresses!