What Courage Means in Casa

This month in Casa 2, the children have been thinking and talking about the virtue of Courage. During a circle discussion we asked the children what they thought courage was and they shared some beautiful examples of how they display courage in their everyday lives:

“Courage means that you are brave.”

“When I was at horse riding, I had to practice canter and I was scared because I only ever had to trot before.”

“I had a wiggly tooth and my nanny pulled it out.”

“I went to the doctor’s and had to get a shot; I was scared, but I didn’t cry”

“When I went in for my surgery, I have a scar right here (child points to scar). I was in the playroom, but I couldn’t lift up any toys. Then I went home.”

Afterwards, we discussed how we feel when we must muster up courage when we don’t necessarily want to. Words like being scared, nervous and anxious came up and we discussed how it was okay to feel these feelings, and that these feelings allow us to build up our self-esteem and confidence.

Montessori classrooms are designed to help build self-esteem and confidence, and to foster leadership and teamwork. Having mixed age groups allows for older children to model positive behaviours and actions, demonstrate peaceful conflict resolution, work collaboratively with others, and provide support to their younger peers.

During the Toddler Transition Visits earlier this month, we saw just how much the Montessori environment provides these ample opportunities for older children to display their confidence on work they have mastered, and to develop courage when presenting these lessons to younger peers. Organic opportunities like these help give Casa children the confidence to practice and refine these important skills regularly in the work cycle, and help cultivate lifelong leadership skills.