Our Montessori program spends much time on practical life tasks. Children learn time management, group cooperation and many grace and courtesy skills. These are learned along with a growing awareness that each individual has value as a contributor to our Renaissance International School community.          

In our Primary III classroom, grace and courtesy lessons have recently focused on the following:

1. How to use a hanger to hang jackets

2. How to carry a plate, glass, utensils, and place mat

3. How to clean up after lunch, and load the dishwasher

4. How to walk around rugs, paying attention to where we step

5. How to serve snack, following the menu

6. How to sit in circle

7. How to greet each other during drop off and pick up

8. How to sit in a chair properly

9. How to stand and walk in line

10. How to organize work trays

In the classroom, we discuss that respect means not interrupting those at work, focusing on our own work, carrying materials properly and working with them carefully. In circle, we respect each other by listening when someone is talking, and paying attention to our body movements so as not to distract others. Outside, we show respect by playing games that do not scare, hurt, or exclude others, and by using proper language when speaking to each other.

12th Annual Children's Art Show: "A Celebration of Children's Creativity"

Come see art work created by our students age two years old through middle school in a professional gallery setting at our annual children's art show.

DATES: June 8, 2014 to June 20, 2014

TIME: Mon.-Fri., 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.; Sat. and Sun, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Closed on Father's Day

PLACE: 542B-9th Street, Oakland, CA 94607

Visit our art show page for more details.

Our Junior High students recently left the Dimond district in Oakland where our Montessori school is located and traveled to Santa Rosa to attend the 3rd Annual National Heirloom Festival. They went there in order to do research for the garden they will be developing later this year.

Our students listened to speakers, visited booths, asked lots of questions, browsed books, met students from two Montessori schools and even saw a pig competiton!

The students were very interested in talking with all the experts they met. They left the festival with many ideas to further research, even including the possibility of aquaponics.
 

Travel is an integral part of our Montessori education program. The Renaissance International school's head of school, Leslie Hites and facutly members are traveling with 38 of our wonderful students in France.

During the first week of our trip, we performed a music concert with students in Trappes-En-Yvelines, located an hour out of Paris. The concert director and the music school staff there warmly welcomed us. Their program, like ours, is based on the Kodály method. We rehearsed together and there was an immediate harmony between our groups. After the rehearsal, our music program director, Jutka Kádas continued rehearsing with our choristers and the accompanist whom we had just met. All went very well.

The performance was well received. We also had an opportunity to hear a young pianist play for the group. After the performance, our host choristers gave our students small gifts as a thank you for visiting and in exchange our students gave them key chains from San Francisco. We were then treated to a small reception with the chorus families.

Tags: Montessori education program, Kodaly