[Ang Mo Kio/Bishan/Thomson/Toa Payoh] Preschools
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Jul04,
Serene is the principal and the founder of totsville.
She has many years of experience in another well known montesorri school. She is a very nice lady and totsville is a Full Montessori school, not partial. They do engage non montesorri trained asst teacher, but they will not teach montesorri based curriculum, they will only be assisting the Montessori trained teacher.
Although they are strong in phonics, but I also heard that their chinese isn't very strong. Very little emphasis is put into Chinese. But I guess that is very common. Other pre schools also have the same problem, except nanyang kindergarten or pre school that is Chinese based.
Hi green bean,
Do u mind PM me about the Montessori that u went? The one you mentioned about the kitchen next to the toilet.
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Thanks greenbean for the very detailed write-up. Now I am so tempted to send my boy to Totsville for enrichment too!
:celebrate: -
greenbean2011:
Kinderland has its own unique in-house Phonics.
It is not Letterland, not Zoo, not Jolly phonics.
I talked to a kinderland cent before, they told me they are using zoo phonics. :? -
hello jul04,
Serene’s role is diversified. She is the founder of Totsville montessori, Principal, Teacher cum Administrator. She is the administrator, because most of the time when parents call up Totsville, the first thing parents ask to speak to is the Principal direct.
you ask me - why I go both Totsville and Ykidz ?
my child was born in 07.
Last year when she turned 2, I enrolled her into a traditional Methodist church kindergarten. I want her to know God, want her to receive the blessed Christian character building moral education via - singing church hymns, listening to bible stories, so that she can absorb and learn the important character values from the bible stories, bible heroes who had gone through difficult trials, much pain & suffering in life. I want her to glean wisdom & insights into life. So that she grows up - knowing how to appreciate the small, little, little fine things in life, which many of us take for granted. I want her to have a happy childhood, - grow up happily with love, joy, faith, wisdom and God in her heart, guided by our God Almighty above. I do not want her just know academics alone. If academics is all I care for, I might as well send her to a good PCF will do.
Last year, she started Pre-nursery PM session church kindergarten, Mon – Fri, 3 hrs.
However at the same time, I also want her to benefit from a good Montessori programme. I want to expose her to Montessori - as the teaching pedagogy is different from a typical, traditional kindergarten.
In Montessori, using real life objects and concrete material to feel and to touch, children learns faster. This way, the retention of memory stays longer in a child permanently forever.
Since she is free AM, I brought her to Totsville Montessori Playgroup 3 times a week. 2 hrs per session, 9 am – 11 am. I did not bring her there everyday. 3 times per week is sufficient, as she is also attending PM church kindergarten, daily 3 hrs.
Her 9 am Totsville Montessori morning class is fully packed, with 10 kids. Not all are local SG kids. Some are from other countries too.
In her Playgroup aged 2 to 3, for phonics - they are taught Zoo phonics.
At Playgroup level, they learn how to pronounce each of the 26 sounds, from a to z. They learn from singing the Zoo phonics song joyfully, from tracing alphabets on sand paper. They also learn from coloring phonics worksheets, from singing English nursery rhymes, music and movement, from sitting down, listening to stories read out by Teacher.
for Maths in Playgroup, they are taught numerals, from tracing numbers on sand paper, and from coloring worksheets with numbers.
for Chinese in Playgroup, they are taught nursery rhymes, sing nursery songs, recognize simple Chinese word characters. Teacher also read aloud Chinese stories from storybooks to toddlers.
Totsville is good !
After half a year, at age 2.6, my girl mastered all the 26 sounds phonetically, a to z. I felt that she is ready to move onto the next stage – ie. learn how to blend 3 simple character sounds together. example: cat, fat, mat, bed, hen, ten, pig, dig, hit, hot, dog, pot, hug, bun, etc.
However, my daughter is very active. She can’t sit still for > 5 minutes. Her attention span very short – 5 minutes, at most. She can start her school work, but never complete. Half way through - she’ll abandon her school work, run off to play, never complete her task. This was the feedback given by her church kindergarten form teachers, during PMT (parents meet teachers session). I know she is still young. Yet, this kind of feedback received …. somehow worry me.
In short, she needs discipline. She needs one to one personal attention from teacher. If I continue to place her in the weekday Playgroup, it’s not going to help her - as the group got 10 kids. Teacher can’t possibly give her all the attention. Besides, she is also ready to move on stage 2 … how to blend sounds.
So, I decided to withdraw her from the weekday Playgroup, switch her over to a Saturday weekend Phonics enrichment class. Hoping that she can receive more personal attention from teacher, plus learn to blend 3 character sounds asap - so that she can move on quickly to read books, by herself. I am yearning for the day to come … see her able to read books independently. I had purchased many nice, good, simple storybooks, all lined up nicely in the bookshelves, ready for her to read.
Initially, I wanted to switch her over to Totsville Saturday morning weekend. But Serene’s schedule on Saturdays always very busy. She may not be around to teach my daughter every Saturday. And my girl likes teacher Serene so much ! My daughter got character. If she likes someone very much, she’ll stick to that person. She specifies to me that - apart from teacher Serene, she doesn’t want other teacher to teach her at Totsville.
Alternately, Serene suggested she can teach her phonics on Tues, Wed, Fri, from 3.30 pm – 5 pm. Unfortunately, this timing clashes with her PM regular church kindergarten sessions, daily 3 hrs. Also, she needs a late afternoon nap after her daily lesson ends, where she is tired.
Around the same time, on Saturday morning, my mother wants me to bring her visit a close relative at United Medical old folks nursing home every Saturday, which is diagonally located opposite Ykidz Montessori, Toa Payoh Lorong 6. So I thought … might as well give Ykidz a try. After all, it’s so convenient. While my mother visits nursing home, I can bring her across to Ykidz, which is just opposite the nursing home. So one fine Saturday morning, I visited Ykidz for the very first time.
Ykidz is bright, cheery, very clean premises, gives you a sense of freshness.
That Saturday morning, Principal Yukai happen to be teaching a group of “Parents accompanying toddlers” phonics enrichment.
The music beat played for phonics was loud and catchy tune… you hear it, you feel like dancing on the spot immediately ! I heard much laughter and cheer from parents and kids inside … when Yukai said “Bubble, bubble burst!” They were having a great time, enjoying themselves so much !
Then teacher Lin came out. She is not Chinese. She took my daughter in, started the lesson proper. After one hour assessment, she came out. She said … my daughter needs discipline. She feedback to me exactly what my girl’s church kindergarten form teachers told me before…. unable to concentrate, cannot focus, cannot sit still, likes to run around. So I asked how ? She said give her sometime. She’ll use the soft, gentle, but very firm approach to gradually win her over, slowly motivate her, with lots of love, assurance, hugs and constant encouragement.
As teacher Lin continue to talk and provide me valuable feedback … in my heart, I knew that she is the right fit to teach my daughter … based on her unique personality, temperament and her stubborn character. Yes ! Indeed, there can be many teachers in a preschool, many teachers in an enrichment centre. But finding the right fit for your child … is not easy. It’s like finding a lost pin in a stay of hay.
Time flies! Within one and half months, teacher Lin took her in her hand, quickly helped her accelerate, revise 26 phonics sounds, from a to z. Then move on next, taught her how to blend 3 letter sounds, using concrete LMA (large moveable alphabets) Montessori tool set to teach. After each lesson, teacher Lin points out to me the worksheets she’d done – those she’s weak in, doesn’t quite grasp how to pronounce properly, so at home I revised with her. Teacher and parent work hand in hand, complement each other to help the child. Next lesson re-revise those she’s weak in quickly, before teach her something new again.
Today, I am happy with her progress. She no longer runs around anymore. She can sit down for a long time, concentrating in class. She can read phonetically sounded simple storybooks. She likes those books with one big, colourful very big picture in the centre, and with a few words of description. She role play, by reading to the younger toddlers (born in 08) in her group. She enjoys, because it boosts up her ego … makes her feel like a jie jie big sister, makes her feel like a mini assistant teacher (xiao lao si), teaching the younger toddlers.
So far, she only attends Saturday enrichment lessons. Ykidz also have weekday programmes for Playgroup, Workgroup. But I can’t comment on other teachers, since my girl doesn’t attend regular weekdays. Perhaps you can make friends, chit chat to those parents waiting at the school gate for school dismissal, when lessons finish on regular weekday classes. They will be more than happy to help you answer yr queries / concern. They can give you better, accurate, valuable fresh insights. Every visit, you learn something new.
In general, what does Montessori curriculum cover, from age 3 to 6 ?
===============================================
a)\tSensorial
-\trefines the visual sense (like size, colors, shape, pattern)
-\trefines the sense of touch, hearing, smell, taste
-\tintroduce names (like colors, shapes) and vocabulary
-\tintroduce pre-maths, pre-literacy activities.
b)\tCulture
-\tintroduce geography, history
-\tintroduce the culture of different race, religion, countries
-\tintroduce biology (includes nature study)
-\tintroduce Science.
c)\tLiteracy
-\tintroduce letter sounds of alphabets (phonics)
-\tintroduce non-phonetic words
-\tintroduce phonograms
-\tintroduce grammar
-\tcultivates good reading habits
-\tdevelops reading and writing skills
-\tdevelops comprehension skills.
\t
d)\tPhonics
-\tPhonics is broken down into 3 schemes (pink, blue, green)
-\tPink scheme teach:-
i.\tsounds of alphabets (a – z)
ii.\tbeginning sounds & ending sounds
iii.\tshort vowels. eg: cat, fat, mat, hen, ten, pig, dig, hit, hot, dog, pot, hug, bun.
-\tBlue scheme teach:-
i.\tbeginning blends (eg: cl, fl, gl, gr, br, fr, sl, sw, etc. – words like flag, clap, grab, slap, swim)
ii.\tending blends (eg: mp, nt, nd, st, ck, etc – words like stamp, stand, stick, clock).
-\tGreen scheme (last stage) is complex.
It teach phonograms, long vowels, split vowels, etc.
(eg: ay, ai, ee, ea, ir, ur, oy, etc – words like car, tray, tea, bee, fur, toy)
e)\tMathematics
-\tintroduce numbers
-\tdevelops concept of counting, associate numbers with quantity
-\tdevelops decimal system concept
-\tintroduce number bonds concept
-\tintroduce fractions, tables, time concept
-\tintroduce length, mass
-\tintroduce money, various methods of measurement
-\tintroduce add, subtract, multiply, divide.
f)\tChinese
-\tChinese character strokes
-\tsongs, nursery rhymes
-\tChinese vocabulary, reading, writing skills
-\than yu pin yin. -
Hey Greenbean2011,
I tink I know u...were u the one who gave out the phonics CD in totsville to other mummies? -
hello jul04,
On regular days (no enrichment), school bus takes approx. one hr to reach Newton kindergarten from my place, because there’re so many kids to pick up.
however, not all kids sitting inside the same school bus happen to take the same enrichment programme as my daughter.
On those days with enrichment programme (eg: Friday), perhaps only 4 kids interested in taking Speech & drama, same as my child. School bus pick up fewer students on such days – unlike regular days where got more kids. Since trip is shorter, so reach school faster, in 15 minutes time.
I live in East, near Kembangan.
School bus fees: $160 per month, 2 way.
My girl wakes up 8.45 am, returns home 4.45 pm, dinner 5.15 till 6 pm.
after that, she naps one hour, 6 – 7 pm.
sleeps 10.30 pm, sometimes 11 pm latest. -
hello smurf,
in yr 2000, my friend’s son attended Kinderland, Pandan valley branch. Back then, they still using their own in-house Phonics.
perhaps over the years they’d changed, started using Zoo phonics.
I think I know who you’re.
you’re that tall, slim, very pretty mommy with long hair… whom I’d met at Totsville last year.
kekekekekeke … nice to meet you here !
how ?
did you use that Zoo phonics cd to play, let yr younger son hear ?
time flies!
your elder son in Pri 1 this year. He likes his new school, teachers, class mates? -
greenbean2011:
Er, no lah...dun say that leh...
I think I know who you’re.
you’re that tall, slim, very pretty mommy with long hair… whom I’d met at totsville last year.
?
My boy ok, he is very kuai in school, coz he is very afraid of discipline master! But I think he is still very blur, sometimes ask him something, he also dunno...haha...
I kinda prefer letterland phonics coz its from UK, so I'm still deciding between montessori and newton... :lol:
I think maybe different kinder land operate differently? :? Some uses zoo phonics some uses others? I'm not sure leh... :oops: -
hello smurf,
following enrichment programmes found at Newton kindergarten are also found in St James kindergarten. The common enrichment programmes are:-
a)\tEnglish speech & drama, by Helen O Grady.
I agree with you that Helen O Grady is good.
the acting scenes for kids are all very expressive, creative, enjoyable and fun !
what’s the purpose of speech & drama ?
===========================
to help a child be confident.
speak confidently, not shy to stand in front of a group of people.
b)\tBrain development - Fast Track kids.
This is the same programme taught in Pat school.
c)\tKinderArt, in the past.
a number of parents feedback that TOL ArtVenture is better than KinderArt. So wef 2011, Newton changed KinderArt to TOL ArtVenture.
for your younger boy, to have the best of both world, perhaps I suggest for initial two years Pre-nursery and Nursery, engage him in Montessori activities. It’s good, gives him a solid foundation in languages and Maths ! Later come either mid Nursery or latest K1, then switch him over to kindergarten.
Since your elder boy had gone through mmk before, and there is no tingxie or spelling at K2 - might as well let your younger boy try out Newton.
If no tingxie or spelling even at K2 – later go Primary 1, when these become suddenly new, compulsory and to be tested in class, the adjustment to him / learning path - becomes uphill. He has to learn tingxie / spelling fast. Fast enough to be ready to sit for spelling tests.
In contrast, if younger boy goes Newton where kids learn tingxie / spelling at K2 – later go Primary 1, it’s something that he’s already very familiar with, as he’d got used to before in K2. The learning curve becomes smooth, not uphill.
My point is – why wait till come to Pri 1 let him struggle, when you have so many years beforehand in kindergarten to facilitate him, help him eased in, get adjusted ? Sooner or later, he got to face spelling / tingxie.
besides, 4 hrs curriculum dosage daily Mon – Fri, will teach younger boy more things. He will definitely benefit more.
Letterland phonics UK (popular in Primary schools) – which you prefer is also there.
extra 10% Chinese dosage daily – will help prepare your younger boy cope with Higher chinese in Primary school.
go MOE website, read – what are the advantages in taking Higher chinese (HCL).
Kids at this age adapt very easily. Adapting to changes is easy for kids, unlike we adults. So do not fret, if you switch him over from Montessori programme to traditional kindergarten - either at mid Nursery, or latest K1 switch.
So long as you explain the reasons gently to him - why you are making that switch to benefit him, even a young child at 3 yrs old is able to understand. The child may be young, but doesn’t mean the child doesn’t understand. Explain to him the reasons one by one, get him mentally prepared.
In any case, you’re already very familiar with mmk, since yr elder boy had gone through it. Recycle worksheets for yr younger one. Let him practise all mmk worksheets; mmk strong in English.
The Catholic vs. Protestant Presbyterian faith between mmk and Newton is neglible, at kindergarten age. When comes to makan, all mean the same thing –give Thanks before eating. Amen ! -
greenbean2011:
hello smurf,
following enrichment programmes found at Newton kindergarten are also found in St James kindergarten. The common enrichment programmes are:-
a)\tEnglish speech & drama, by Helen O Grady.
b)\tBrain development - Fast Track kids.
are part of the reason why I'm considering Newton!
for your younger boy, to have the best of both world, perhaps I suggest for initial two years Pre-nursery and Nursery, engage him in Montessori activities. It’s good, gives him a solid foundation in languages and Maths ! Later come either mid Nursery or latest K1, then switch him over to kindergarten.
I agreed. But hor, not say you want to switch u can switch leh, newton is also quite popular, must see got space or not mah. I spoke to the vice principal, and they said this year, only two classes of pre nursery, so maybe next yr, nursery also two classes...sigh...
Since your elder boy had gone through mmk before, and there is no tingxie or spelling at K2 - might as well let your younger boy try out Newton.
Yah, I'm more keen in newton, but not keen in the school fee...haha...
If no tingxie or spelling even at K2 – later go Primary 1, when these become suddenly new, compulsory and to be tested in class, the adjustment to him / learning path - becomes uphill. He has to learn tingxie / spelling fast. Fast enough to be ready to sit for spelling tests.
actually it depends. Coz a child with very strong phonics may not have any problem, he or she will be able to spell without difficult, just see the words few times and he or she can spell.
My point is – why wait till come to Pri 1 let him struggle, when you have so many years beforehand in kindergarten to facilitate him.
besides, 4 hrs curriculum dosage daily Mon – Fri, will teach younger boy more things. He will definitely benefit more.
Letterland phonics UK (popular in Primary schools) – which you prefer is also there.
I agreed!
extra 10% Chinese dosage daily – will help prepare your younger boy cope with Higher chinese in Primary school.
erm, with his Chinese standard, I can only pray that his Chinese is ok, not hoping for higher Chinese...haha...
The Catholic vs. Protestant Presbyterian faith between mmk and Newton is neglible, at kindergarten age. When comes to makan, all mean the same thing –give Thanks before eating. Amen
you are right!
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