Practical Life Album (EC)

The Practical Life Album is designed for teachers in primary/early childhood classrooms (ages 3 to 6+). It presents comprehensive lessons for the key areas of the Montessori Everyday Living/Practical Life program including:

• Preliminary Exercises
  
• Grace & Courtesy (SEL)
• Care of the Person
• Care of Environment
• Control of Movement

Click here to see a Practical Life Album Preview including the complete table of contents. You can read more about the albums in our blog post on Montessori Manuals/Albums. Learn how they can be used in an authentic teacher preparation program in our blog post on Teacher Education. 

ITEM #: ALBPRACT

Choose your Format

You can purchase our albums in three different formats:

1. View-only digital PDF on our Google Drive (no printing/downloading available)
2. Hard-copy that includes view-only access to the album on our Google drive
3. Printable/Viewable Digital PDC file that requires our secure viewing software (can be viewed/printed offline)

Option 1: View-Only PDF

You can read all of our albums directly from our Google Drive. If you choose this format, there is no option to print or download the albums.

Option 2: Hard-Copy

The hard-copy of the albums are printed on high-quality, 3-hole punch paper. No binders or tabs are included. All hard-copies come with free access to the Google Drive view-only version of the album.

Option 3: Printable/Viewable PDC File

Our PDC albums can be viewed forever and printed (up to three times) using secure software (the LockLizard PDF viewer). Here’s what happens when you purchase one or more of our PDC albums:

1. Immediately receive an email with a link to download the secure PDF file (a .PDC document).
2. Within one business day, receive an email with links to (1) install the software required to use the PDC file and (2) activate your license.
3. Install the software and activate your license. Once you do, you'll be able to view your PDC file on your own device and print it to any printer your device can connect directly to (usually not a print center's printer).

We’ve tested this on our devices (laptops, tablets, and phones) so we know from personal experience that the software is easy and quick to install and use. For more information, you can watch this video on how to open a PDC file.

You can activate your license on up to two Mac, Windows, iOS, or Android devices (e.g., your laptop and phone) but you can only print the files from a Mac or Windows PC. Once the software is installed and your files are downloaded, you can view and print the PDC files offline.

Note that printing a single page or multiple copies of a single page counts toward the total print count (e.g., printing only page 4 three times will use up your entire print allotment). Be mindful to choose the exact pages you would like to print and only print one copy at a time, otherwise you may use up your prints inadvertently. If you need to print the complete album more than three times, just purchase the product again.

Click here to see all the details on our Digital Support page.

Unified Presentations

Remember that the lessons we offer in each area of the environment build upon and rely upon the others. For example, the way we present the red rods in Sensorial is foundational for how we present the number rods in Math. For this reason, we recommend that you purchase ALL FIVE albums. It is best not to piecemeal the albums together with your existing program. The unified approach is best.

These albums on their own are no substitute for a teacher preparation program. These albums are a great support for:

(1) School leaders who need to create a common, school-wide approach across classrooms where teachers have diverse trainings.

(2) Montessori Instructors/Teacher Trainers and their students

(3) Trained Montessori guides looking to increase their knowledge and understanding of the pedagogy and align their practice with the authentic teachings of Dr. Montessori

These albums offer the mechanics of giving lessons and insights into how and why to give each lesson. However, the essential theoretical guidance on human development and the deep perspective shift required of the adult is not included. That is typically offered as part of a teacher preparation course. You can read Dr. Montessori's texts but the best course to prepare yourself for working with young children is to enroll in a teacher preparation program.