Lunch Program

The purpose is to provide children with an opportunity to extend the Montessori experience to mealtime. Each child works toward grace and courtesy, as well as increases their awareness of good nutrition and practice healthy lifestyle. 

Setup

The children are responsible for helping prepare the environment for mealtime, by replacing clean placemats, napkins, as well as the silverware onto the lunch shelf. Once our community lunchroom is setup, children are invited to prepare their own space. This is a process which promotes order and routine. 

Children have the choice to bring lunch from home or they can have the hot catered lunch. There is no prorated tuition or additional cost for this time of day. There will be more details provided after you enroll for the year.

Community Lunch

Once all the children have prepared their spots and their meals, we sing the “Community Song” as a way to foster social etiquette and unity:

Look around and you will see
Community, a family,
We are brothers and sisters too.
Thank you for our lunch and enjoy!

During this time, children are encouraged to converse with their peers in a peaceful manner. 

Clean Up

When children have finished eating, they place their napkin onto their plate to indicate that they are ready to clean up, and ask, “May I please be excused?” As a way to further develop community and consideration for others, the older children are sometimes asked to help their younger peers with clean up.

As the school year goes on, children begin to develop an awareness of their immediate and community surroundings. This prompts them to become aware when the classroom needs to be swept, garbage cans emptied and deliver laundry so that it can be washed.

Gathering at the Rug

Once the classroom has been cleaned and is prepared for the next part of the day, the children gather for a group activity if they are in full day, and half day students prepare to go home at 12:30pm.