Practical life
The basis for all work in the classroom comes from the child's work in Practical Life, where he becomes aware of the need to care for self, environment and his neighbor. It is with these exercises –pouring, polishing washing, buttoning, etc, that the child acquires progressive independence, learns control and order and develops the ability to organize and carry through to the end of a project.
The child first does these exercises for himself because he is perfecting himself. Then when the child becomes aware of the group he is a part of, he does the exercise for the benefit of the group and for the environment. Some of the aims of these exercises are to help the child develop his ability to concentrate, to help the child adapt to his own group and environment and to lead the child toward physical and mental independence – "Help me to help myself."