MONROE - Don't hesitate to invite a St. Victor School fourth-grader to your next formal affair.
They will know exactly how to act - they know not to slurp their soup, how to cut their meat and even understand the ins and outs of pleasant table conversation.
The students in Lisa DeMuth's fourth-grade classroom learned all these things and more in a recent unit on manners and etiquette. They celebrated and put into practice what they learned over the past eight weeks during a four-course luncheon Monday at Cafe Claudeen on the Square.
"Don't forget to scoop away from yourself," St. Vic's Principal Joe Peters cheerfully reminded his young tablemates during the soup course. The spoon should "scoop" up soup from the bowl in a motion away from the body - a fact Peters confided to students he hadn't known before.
This is the first year DeMuth has included manners and etiquette in her lessons. Good manners still are an important skill for students to have, she said.
"Families are so busy, they don't have time to sit down and have a real meal," she said.
DeMuth's goal was to make sure students would know how to handle themselves should they be guests at a nice restaurant or wedding or other social situation. She used the book "Manners Made Easy - A Workbook for Student, Parent and Teacher," by June Hines Moore and the DVD "Mind Your Manners" by Faber Int. Films Inc. to help instruct her students.
Topics ranged the gamut: The class learned the difference between a salad and dinner fork, etiquette at a sleepover party and the importance of writing thank-you notes.
Student Garrett Gogin learned to leave the last few drops of soup, regardless of how delicious it may be.
"Never pick up the bowl and drink what you can't get out with a spoon," he said.
He also learned the importance of napkins.
"At home I don't even use a napkin. I use my sleeve," he admitted.
Kelsee Saalsaa likewise learned never to flick out a napkin to unfold it. She noted she had practiced her manners with her family on a trip to Texas Roadhouse in Madison.
After the chicken noodle soup, students navigated their way through a tossed salad - not an easy feat for the unpracticed - a macaroni and cheese entree and dessert of chocolate cake. The students were remarkably genteel, eating quietly and only occasionally jabbing a fork at their lettuce.
Nash Von Kaenel offered suggestions on making dinner conversation. Appropriate topics might be "how your day was or what you did over the weekend," he said.
Overall, learning and practicing proper etiquette was "pretty easy," Tammy Gentry said, lightly dabbing the corners of her mouth with her cloth napkin before taking a sip of milk.
And even those, like Brandon Dorsey, who thought hard but couldn't pinpoint anything specific he learned during the manners curriculum, undoubtedly walked away with some new habits.
"I had something in my head, but I lost it," he said.
But even as he spoke, his butter knife, not in use, lay across the top of his bread plate with the sharp side facing in - just where it should be.
They will know exactly how to act - they know not to slurp their soup, how to cut their meat and even understand the ins and outs of pleasant table conversation.
The students in Lisa DeMuth's fourth-grade classroom learned all these things and more in a recent unit on manners and etiquette. They celebrated and put into practice what they learned over the past eight weeks during a four-course luncheon Monday at Cafe Claudeen on the Square.
"Don't forget to scoop away from yourself," St. Vic's Principal Joe Peters cheerfully reminded his young tablemates during the soup course. The spoon should "scoop" up soup from the bowl in a motion away from the body - a fact Peters confided to students he hadn't known before.
This is the first year DeMuth has included manners and etiquette in her lessons. Good manners still are an important skill for students to have, she said.
"Families are so busy, they don't have time to sit down and have a real meal," she said.
DeMuth's goal was to make sure students would know how to handle themselves should they be guests at a nice restaurant or wedding or other social situation. She used the book "Manners Made Easy - A Workbook for Student, Parent and Teacher," by June Hines Moore and the DVD "Mind Your Manners" by Faber Int. Films Inc. to help instruct her students.
Topics ranged the gamut: The class learned the difference between a salad and dinner fork, etiquette at a sleepover party and the importance of writing thank-you notes.
Student Garrett Gogin learned to leave the last few drops of soup, regardless of how delicious it may be.
"Never pick up the bowl and drink what you can't get out with a spoon," he said.
He also learned the importance of napkins.
"At home I don't even use a napkin. I use my sleeve," he admitted.
Kelsee Saalsaa likewise learned never to flick out a napkin to unfold it. She noted she had practiced her manners with her family on a trip to Texas Roadhouse in Madison.
After the chicken noodle soup, students navigated their way through a tossed salad - not an easy feat for the unpracticed - a macaroni and cheese entree and dessert of chocolate cake. The students were remarkably genteel, eating quietly and only occasionally jabbing a fork at their lettuce.
Nash Von Kaenel offered suggestions on making dinner conversation. Appropriate topics might be "how your day was or what you did over the weekend," he said.
Overall, learning and practicing proper etiquette was "pretty easy," Tammy Gentry said, lightly dabbing the corners of her mouth with her cloth napkin before taking a sip of milk.
And even those, like Brandon Dorsey, who thought hard but couldn't pinpoint anything specific he learned during the manners curriculum, undoubtedly walked away with some new habits.
"I had something in my head, but I lost it," he said.
But even as he spoke, his butter knife, not in use, lay across the top of his bread plate with the sharp side facing in - just where it should be.