All About Montessori

[buds]

smurf:

buds:

Yes. But i am \"pure\".

My heart is pure as gold. :lol:

That's for sure! Otherwise, you wouldn't be spending time helping us poor mummies mah...

:love:

smurf:

buds:

If you've been around..

Yup yup, been reading...

Good for you! :celebrate:

smurf:

buds:

... the journey of a pure educator IS to bring out the best in the children to achieve the best of their potentials. Agree?

Can't agree more! :celebrate:

:hi5:

You see... teaching is a human-reliant industry where it is the person
that matters. If one works for the sake of the job, then the job works
one down... unlike if one has passion for the job then one makes the
job work... in more ways than one! Now that \"one\" trait not everyone
has. A teacher has to truly enjoy teaching and not find teaching a
chore, regardless of all the paperwork & preparation involved..
For me, the preparation part is the best. I get utterly excited even
while planning my lessons. I can imagine how excited the children
will be when i share with them the fun stuff we're gonna do for the
session. :please: When i finally get to do the fun stuff with them &
they enjoy them soo much, the satisfaction i get just from that is
priceless! :love:

smurf:

Erm, I wanted a pure Montessori education for my boy so much that I even intend to take up the full montessori course so that I can teach him instead of sending him to partial Montessori sch... :oops:

But I reckon that that would be a bit too much lah... :siam:

I didn't start out believing in the methodology honestly. It was only after
hands-on opportunities when working with actual children can i then see
and feel the immense pleasure of the methodology working its magic &
all the stuff i read and learnt in theory finally made sense and just flowed..
I was sold then..

Errrmmm.. a good handful of my students' parents are Montessori trained.
They either find they do not have time for the children due to work and
cannot wait for the end result... or they do not have the space and the
resources to work the methodology to its best. Some of their spouses
said, they wasted their time studying it in the first place. My take is that
it wouldn't be an entire waste cause they can bring the Montessori their
children have learnt in the day into their homes when they're around...
like a support system. Well... unless of course... when they come
telling me that they already returned to teacher everything they have
learnt over the years. Hehee.. :politebleah:

Having the materials at home just means that you MUST know how to
work with them to meet the intended objectives and know what to look
out for when your child comes to a road block in the midst of your lessons.
Else, the resources no matter how expensive and of what fantastic quality,
will go to waste.

[buds]

lil_jade:

buds:

When you receive the materials, check for splinters and protruding plastic pieces or thin wires. As most of the products are made of wood, ensure they are sand down nicely before working them with your child.

Thanks buds! Will see if any local lobang... else may really have to pray hard the stuff from china no lead or melamine or whatever crap they put it... !!!

Like i mentioned earlier, no harm trying out a few of their products first.
Preferably the not-too-costly ones. How old is your child again? If around
say... 18 mths thereabouts you can try asking your husband to purchase
the dressing frames for starters. May not even be the whole set but just
a couple of frames if possible to gauge the quality from that supplier.

Frames of good quality shouldn't be loose after a couple of times you and
your child work with them. The dressing frames are fantastic for supporting
our children with self-help skills. iel. buttoning, belting, zipping etc

If they're relatively good, the next time your husband goes for biz trip he
can also help me buy! :evil:

lil_jade:

buds:

First and foremeost, remember to get your child a mat.

Uh... why mat??? So the kid can lie down and sleep?? Or jump around? :idea:

You crack me up big time there! :rotflmao:

jul04:

Liljade

The mat's for kids to do their work. They have to spread out the mat, bring the material to it, work on it, then keep the materials back in its original place n state, then keep the mat.

Sort of a work zone or discipline, if u like?

Yes my little sweetie pie. You are right!

In Montessori classrooms our children work on mats. Call it a work mat
if you wish. The mat defines every child's work space. If you're only
working with one child (your own) then all the better for you as the
child is shown that he/she can only work with one material or play
with one manipulative at one time. Before taking another material,
the child has to keep the one on the mat very nicely just as how
it was taken from the shelf and then to return the item back at
exactly at the same space.

This routine helps children keep their work space clean and they will
have the unspoken discipline to keep things where they are. For the
parents, it is waaayyy helpful for YOU will never step on toys or
materials and you will never have to keep them. You
may sing a particular favourite song that encourages the
keeping of toys... like the one from Barney or from any
kiddy audio cds they're currently exposed to... or even
make one song up yourself! Can be a simple song,
using the tune of \"Here We Go Round The Mulberry
Bush\"... and just go...

This is the way, we keep our toys...
Keep our toys... keep our toys...
This is the way, we keep our toys...
After we're done playing...

Then, after the child has finished working for the day, the
mats are rolled and kept away till the next time he/she
wants to do more work again.

Hope this clarifies. :love:

lil_jade:

Honestly, I was inspired by YOU leh... cos in some earlier post you mentioned you send your child to regular kindy but most of the learning with you at home doing Montessori! I wanna TRY to do that..

Are you a stay-home-parent? :idea:

And you mentioned you're in Woodlands? :idea:

And you mentioned your children are 3.5yrs & 18mths... hmmm..:idea:

Hmmm.. who knows? Mebbe can work something out, aye? :evil:

I think first arh... :politebleah:

lil_jade:

Plus, my #2 is now 18 months.. #1 is 3.5 YO... So was very intrigued about the mixing of ages.. cos now it's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to sit down with #1 to read or practise some work cos #2 will always be hanging around and insisting on taking part... but #1 work too chim for #2 what!! How to tell him? Hopefully Montessori can help me out!!

I feel so honoured.. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php

Thank you, lil_jade for making my day! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php

My intention of coming in here IS hoping i can inspire parents with my sharings.. :love:
There are a gazillion things we can do with our children really despite people
saying AND thinking that stay-home-parents (male & female) only
shake legs when we're at home with the children. At most we're only
good for house chores. :nunchuk: Scrap that mentality! Our office is
24-7 hokay..

That said, full time or part time... stay home or not... it is up to us to find
the balance. While it may not be what we want all the time, slowly things
will work itself out.

Firstly, you have to prepare your environment to cater to handling two
children of varied age group. Meaning you will need sufficient materials
for the children to be able to work with at the same time. This includes
written assigments as well. If one is tracing, the other can do colouring.
If one is cutting, the other can do pasting... :love:

On your next outing, recce for a few materials and manipulatives plus
activity books your children will enjoy doing and arrange them within
a space in your house where they can be easily accessed by them.

And get 2 mats, yah! :lol: Oh yes, make that 3! One for yourself too!

[jul04]

Yo buds


I have a question abt \"The Discovery of the Child\" by M. Montessori.

I'm in the midst of reading the chapter abt speech. :snooze: All that stuff about A, M, channels & whatnot... browse skip skip.. browse skip skip skip..

Anyway, I'm reading the 1970s version coz NLB doesn't loan out the 1980s version :scratchhead: Is there a difference? As in, could the style of writing be more modern (thus more reader-friendly) in the later version? I'm thinking of buying a copy for myself to keep & refer to on & off. There's just too much info to absorb & remember. In fact, I can only agar-agar skim a few pointers here & there and by the time my boy's at that age, I would have forgotten everything! :roll:



Oh one thing abt dicipline : What happens when the child takes the material, works with it, then refuses to keep it? Or he plays with it not in the intended way it's meant to be used? Do we :

1) Take the material away & let the child throw a tantrum?

2) Let the child use it however he wants to, & let him get used to the system then try to slowly correct him?

3) Give up?

This isn't addressed in the book (or I haven't reacher there yet. I did read abt the Discipline chapter but it's more on the attaining of discipline as a benefit of the Montessori education) :scratchhead:

[jul04]

Hmm.. why am I aws reading OLD books? :?

[mumluv]

Hi,


I would like to know what is the difference between normal phonics and phonics using montessori method. I’ve just signed up my kid for the phonics montessori at CC and attended the first lesson. Worksheets given are typical ones used in PCF kindergarten and I just like to know what to expect when the course used the word "montessori".

TIA

[buds]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and
write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds
of spoken English with letters or groups of letters (e.g., that the sound /k/
can be represented by c, k, ck, ch, or q spellings) and teaching them to
blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate
pronunciations of unknown words.

Phonics is a widely used method of teaching to read and decode words,
although it is not without controversy. Children begin learning to read
using phonics usually around the age of 5 or 6. Teaching English reading
using phonics requires students to learn the connections between letter
patterns and the sounds they represent. Phonics instruction requires the
teacher to provide students with a core body of information about phonics
rules, or patterns.

For the Montessori part of it, it is to be multi-sensory and also using the
Montessori Phonics materials of course; to be deemed as going through
the Montessori Method and the teacher has to be Montessori trained to
work the programme effectively as per the methodolgy.

1st day worksheets may be similar to typical worksheets as they cover
all the single letter sounds first. Probably just penmanship or tracing of
letters repetitively plus colouring pictures that make the beginning letter
sound of a particular letter.

Most phonics worksheets may have similar concept to it as the works of
phonics skill is somewhat the same across the board except for how it
is done and what materials are utilized in a certain phonics programme.

[smurf]

buds:

You see... teaching is a human-reliant industry where it is the person
that matters. If one works for the sake of the job, then the job works
one down...

I wonder why its so difficult to find such a devoted and dedicated teacher such as u...

buds:

Errrmmm.. a good handful of my students' parents are Montessori trained.

Wow...so u r master of the masters...:politebleah:

Erm, so when r u opening a trial class ha? :preen: :rubhands:

[buds]

Oh no no..


Bu shi wo! Not moi!

:dowan:

smurf, if you still in Yishun then still quite near me.. :evil:

Trial class?

Ooohh that?

Okay!

.

.

.

.

.

I think first! :idea:

[smurf]

In central lah...but can travel a bit. :rubhands:

[jul04]

smurf


I went to the MFC parent presentation yesterday and asked abt whether they will pluck the child out to another class if he's advanced. Nope, the child will stay in the same class throughout his pre-school yrs so that the same directress can follow through his progress.

The only time they 'change class' is if they stay for the extended day coz some will choose Montessori, some will choose Chinese etc. But even so, the 2nd class remains unchanged throughout too.