All About Montessori

[mistermerz]

buds:

I lurve your personal intro...

\"Husband to only one, Father to only two.\"

Especially the first one.. :lol:
The key word is \"only\"... :laugh:

Yah.... for children too. Missusmerz's (nice one :)) usual reply to relations when they ask when's the third one - cannot. hubby's that one tied with rubberband already. :!:

buds:

Wink back..

Err... ... :oops: ... sorry missusmerz... that's just a
friendly welcome to the forum wink... :oops: ... *gulp*

Haha checked with missusmerz, no harm was done.

buds:

Wow.. and when did your girl start with the school may i ask?

2.5yrs... hmmm... oredi \"mastered\" all the sounds? Wow.

Does she know the letters/alphabets... that makes the sounds?
As in does she oredi know her aaays beees and ceees?

I need more background info..

Ok, like i mentioned in my last post, she's turning 3 in 2 months. She joined her first preschool when she was 2 mths short of turning 2. The principal of the school allowed her to join only after she noticed how independent dd is - putting on her own shoes for example. And after abt 3 months, teacher commented how focused dd is. Then another few months later, at our second parent teacher meeting, teacher exclaimed dd is going pretty fast for a 2.5 yr old. (She was 2.5 then. now turning 3. again i feel terrible for not remembering).

Based on what teacher told us - dd could give her the 3 letters to most 3 letter words like CAT, when said slowly - /c/a/t/. And that she has now moved on to blending sounds. We had no clue what blending sounds were then. Teacher gave examples - a,t = at. put a 'c' in front, becomes cat. Teacher said to practice a,t and a,n (or something like that. could be e,g. Can't remember).

Currently dd knows her aay bee cees to zacck. When i ask whats the sound of cee, she'll say /c/c/c/. Missusmerz, on the other hand, likes to ask what's the letter for the particular sound. And she'll give her the right letters. Maybe this is what teacher meant by 'master'?

buds:

mistermerz:

So for the past 2 months, (with no knowledge or little knowledge, reading from the internet) we have tried to teach our girl to combine sound of a and t = at (aaht) and sounds of a and n = an (aahn) but she will only give the sounds separately, not combined. She'll give /a/a/a/ and sound /n/n/n/.

Dis arh... you try to teach yourself issit? :scratchhead:

Ideally, if your child is already placed in a Montessori centre, they should
be at the word building stage prior to this double letter blending instead...

Teacher told us to expose dd to more blending sounds when at home. I assumed she meant teach dd blending sounds. So yar...i try to teach her once in awhile, missusmerz does it all the other once in awhiles. What we did was to place a and t separately on the table, then slowly push them together, sounding the letters and finally say 'at' when the letters are side by side'.

Are we doing it right? :?

DD's also starting to notice (out loud) the many alphabet she sees around her. Eg:- exit (when at malls) or 'on' 'off' on the fan remote. Sometimes she makes the sounds of the alphabet she sees. (Sensitive period ?)

buds:

Is the centre using this material?

http://www.postimage.org/

Or.... are YOU using this material?

We were told to purchase Ants on the Apple upon enroling her into preschool. So she's been listening to it since 2yrs old. Missusmerz purchased Leapfrog's phonics dvd afew months back. I felt it is better cos the rhyme goes \"The A says /a/\", instead of repeating /a/a/a/.

buds:

Click this blue link to read my presentation of a single letter sounds lessson.

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/montessori-phonics-introduction-single-letter-sounds-lesson-1

Thanks for the link. Very helpful indeed.

I was peeling a banana last night and DD was watching me. She then told me \"B is for banana daddy\". Not really paying attention to her, I asked her what else starts with the letter B. She went on to list - ball, boy, bean, book, blue, bubbles, Boing boing Boing and blaaaaaaaaack! I put down my banana (the fruit) and :shock: at her. Did she memorise? I really can't tell.

buds:

Btw, can she pronounce the sounds clearly
or is there still baby-ish pronunciation? When you say master... :idea:...
Can she match the sound you pronounce/say to her to the corresponding
letter/alphabet? Can she trace the letters/alphabet in the proper fashion?

Missusmerz is very anal when it comes to broken english/babytalk. So dd has been exposed to proper English and other languages (we come from multiracial background) since young. DD speaks pretty clearly. She can write most of the alphabet (no idea what the proper fashion is but majority of the letters she writes are like how I would write them myself) except maybe afew - y, w, e and k.

buds:

She cud be able to do so by sight reading the word cards in the box... and
when the children first work on it... the directress may be breaking the
sounds for her... reali slowly... one letter sound at a time instead of saying
the whole word \"cat\" in one breath... hence allowing her to find the letters
in the LMA (Large Moveable Alphabets) and putting them together... In this
instance it is done with guidance, every step of the way... then when the
word is formed... teacher goes, \"Say cheese!\"

So correct me if i'm wrong, DD is to first find the separate letters to 3 letter words based on the letter sounds before she can read the word ? Or do I carry on with sound of a + sound of t = at?

Thanks bud! :salute:

[mtdt]

wow.. so detailed!


My boy was in CM for 2yrs... was abit surprised with ur review

since u r in the NE area, can check out \"bridge montessori\" in pgl. heard tat they are more \"pure\"

[mistermerz]

Hey bud,


Just saw your pink object box post. Misussmerz is excited to make one now. To get the box n print the words are easy enough, but to get a variety of small toys....gotta really search for them. Since the reports on toys made in china found to contain lead, my dear missus hasnt bought any cheap plastic toys from the ahpek shop downstairs. (but I feel he has some of the most fun looking toys, some fun-er looking than those sold at toys r us.)

[jul04]

Hi mtdt


What're you surprised abt? The lack of emphasis on Montessori or the state of the bldg? As i said, it could be a misunderstanding on my part abt the curriculum, or that the Chinese teacher wasn't aware of the details of the M curriculum.

Thanks for your recommendation on Bridge. I'm actually looking for something ard Toa Payoh! Popped into the sengkang ones as a matter of convenience (coz i'm just kpo-ing )

[jul04]

Anyone has any idea what are the \"purer\" Montessori pre-schools in Spore? I know that there's no truely \"pure\" Montessori here but I'd like to check out a few that at least less commercialised & academic & worksheet-worksheet-worksheet based.


I'm not against worksheets & group learning. I just don't want a school that operates essentially like a traditonal kindy but buys a few Montessori materials, adds in 30min of working with them, & call themselves Montessori. Feels very cheat-money :shock:

Anyone has heard of/are sending/have sent their kids to :
1) Montessori for Children @ Newton
2) Little Woods Montessori @ Novena
3) Singapore Montessori Kindergarten @ Thomson
4) Lumiere Montessori House @ Serangoon
5) The Montessori Playroom Kindergarten @ Upp Serangoon

[smurf]

I visited SG Montessori at Thomson before. High academic standard, very organized. But they do not have mixed age group, the children are segregated into their own age and they wear uniform.

[Brainkid]

Buds,

Thanks for your reply. :lol:

Problem with me as a parent is I AM KIASI. :oops:
As my ds is currently under the care of my mom, I am only looking for a 2-4 hr playgroup. I want him to learn something rather than staying at home and hitting the pots and pans everyday. BUT I am worried about sending him to Child Care Center because of the hygiene. I am kiasi he will fall sick in CC environment as there are more children.
>So Ichiban and Amazing is out...

>Hanis is muslim....Grrr....I am not keen on that kind of environment lei.

> CS..Sadly, he is in the once a week weekend program now. I wanted to transfer him to the daily program but there is no vacancy. Although the MD of CS was assuring me ds will have no problem switching to a daily class, it is a problem now... So here I am finding alternatives and seeking help from the guru- YOU:laugh:

:oops: Do you have other recommendations? How about Seedlings Hub Montessori in Bt Panjang? You heard of it?

It is not easy finding and enrolling the kid to a good montessori.When you find one good one, chances are vacancies are NIL. :stupid:

BTW, what is a good set-up for Montessori? For CS, they are putting kids between 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 together which I think is a big age range. Is this the way it should be?

[jul04]

Brainkid:

I am going to recee Borders for the first book you recommend from Borders. I hope I can find it in its closing down sales.

Did you manage to get the books? I managed to find a couple in NLB.

Brainkid:

Problem with me as a parent is I AM KIASI. :oops:
As my ds is currently under the care of my mom, I am only looking for a 2-4 hr playgroup. I want him to learn something rather than staying at home and hitting the pots and pans everyday. BUT I am worried about sending him to Child Care Center because of the hygiene. I am kiasi he will fall sick in CC environment as there are more children.

Hehe me too. But also bcoz MIL might not be happy if I suddenly pluck babe out of her loving arms & send him to evil CC where they won't spoon feed watery gruel lovingly, make 200% sure he doesn't fall etc.

Brainkid:

BTW, what is a good set-up for Montessori? For CS, they are putting kids between 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 together which I think is a big age range. Is this the way it should be?

Hmm I prefer the mixed age. When they're too narrowly divided, I find that they tend to do more group teaching & less Montessori (from my keen observations after visiting the 3 CCs )

[jul04]

smurf:

I visited SG Montessori at Thomson before. High academic standard, very organized. But they do not have mixed age group, the children are segregated into their own age and they wear uniform.

How do you tell if they're of high academic standard? :?

[smurf]

The children works on the wall, their worksheets, etc show it.