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 from a phone or computer and printed from a computer 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).

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: Printing is only available from computers, not phones. 

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.

Instructor vs. Student Editions

If you are a teacher trainer or a trained teacher, you want the Instructor edition. The Instructor albums include:

• All theory
• Photos/illustrations clearly showing the key parts of every lesson
• All text-based information for each lesson
• Suggested age to offer the presentation
• Prerequisite lessons (e.g., the Sound game before the sandpaper letters)
• Purpose (also known as the aim, direct or indirect)
• Materials needed
• Step-by-step instructions for the Presentation
• Step-by-step instructions for all following exercises
• Pedagogical notes
• Accommodations (for select materials)

If you are running a teacher education program, you want your students to have the Student edition. This allows your students to add in the theory and photo/illustration portions of the album.

The Student (teacher-in-training) albums includes:

• All text-based information for each lesson (just as in the Instructor's album)
• Placeholders indicating where theory or other album elements should be added
• Photos and theory are intentionally omitted so that the guide-in-training will add their own

Made in the USA; Instructor's edition has 322 pages (full color); Student edition has 228 pages (black & white)