All About Montessori

[buds]

Yes pea, balance is the key.

Try not to over teach lah.. But then
again with your friend's child, this is
an obvious example how no two kiddies
are alike. Not all children work the same
way. So parents really gotta observe their
kiddies' strengths and build on from there.

This part subjective lor, okay..

On your friend's issue with Phonics methodologies...
You didn't mention the child's age in your earlier post,
however I personally find that Letterland phonics is
fun to learn especially for the younger aged kiddies.
What with so many songs and colourful resources to
add to the introduction to Phonics. I do think though
that the digraphs part, a bit too many stories and a
few rather lengthy. It can sway a bit from the Phonics
lesson itself but nevertheless not easy to find stories
relating to Phonics sounds, but Letterland has it.

Different variations of Phonics is unlikely to distract or
confuse her child cause the phonetic sounds are generally
the same except for some vowel sounds if done in either
the British or American twang. It's just another way of
approaching the topic.

For Montessori Phonics, i hafta say the teacher quality is
imperative. Cos a dull teacher who may not be that pro-
active with extra activities or someone not so creative...
may result in a child not enjoying the process of it all.

I do have to say, apart from the duration taken to learn
stuff especially in the case for our young kiddies, the power
to keep lesson fun and captivating will definitely help to keep
those lessons in more effectively. Fast-going technique may
not equate to concreting the knowledge. ie. Even if a child
is ahead of the pack, how much does he/she retain the
information without much fuss on home reinforcement...

Children who enjoy lessons will naturally retain more in a less
stressful way. The kiddies can be obliviously repeating what
sounds they have learnt and the songs that may come with it
even when they're playing with their toys. That shows how
much fun and how much impact the lesson has on them.

Do share more on your friend's kiddie's progress. ie. when she
means slower as compared to Montessori... how often is Phonics
being covered in her child's classes and to whom is she comparing
the progress to... cos hearsay alone does not necessarily mean real
ya know... hehee...

Teacher quality is important in inspiring the process of learning...
be it Phonics or a million other things. Dunno if this answers your
query larr.. So lemme noe if you need further clarification, aye!

Cheerios!
:celebrate:

[vfong1]

buds:

vfong1:

So far he likes the classes and he is learning his a-z basic phonics. For maths, he is learning his adidtions.

Centre is on at a good pace, vfong1.

Cheers!

What's the next step after he has learn this? He told me about different colours of bead stairs and counting from 1-9. Teachers also gave him a lot of alphabet writings.

At home, we taught him somemore writing by asking him like how to write big A and small a without looking at the book. For maths, we have taught him to join the dot to dots numbers from 1-20 and counting verbally from 1-30.

[buds]

Montessori method gives sufficient practice

for concrete to abstract work for all the 5
areas. This helps children have a concrete
and sensorial feel to everything they are
introduced to in the Montessori areas. ie.
Practical Life, Sensorial Activities, Cultural
Subjects and Geography plus the Montessori
Mathematics and Montessori Phonics.

The coloured short bead stairs is the
pre-stage to introducing the teens..

ie. 11-19

These coloured beads will denote the
units which will be placed on right and
the ten-golden beads bar on the left.

So, it will go like....

One ten-bar and one makes 11.
One ten-bar and two makes 12.
One ten-bar and three makes 13.

And that is the concrete part.

The teacher will then use the Sequin Board
to introduce the numeral/numbers part of
the teens lesson.

So that is the abstract part.

Subsequently, children will use both golden
ten-bead bars and the short bead stairs to
work with the Sequin Board.

That will be when you combine quantities
with the written symbols.

:celebrate: to you too!

PS : Whatever you're doing with your child
at home... you're doing it good. Keep it up!

[vfong1]

Thanks, bud.


Does the sequin board has the numbers in wordings too?

[buds]

Sequin Boards look like this...


The wooden Sequin Board A and B are also known as the teen and tens board respectively.
Sequin Board A - to teach the child the symbols & quantities 1-19 Sequin Board B - to teach the child the symbols and quantities 10 to 99.

http://www.postimage.org/


These are short bead stairs.


http://www.postimage.org/


And these are the golden beads (ten-bead bars).



http://www.postimage.org/

[vfong1]

Thanks for the pics. I have a better understanding on how it works now.


How about the phonics part? He has mastered basic a-z. Is the blending of 3 letter words next step?

Thank you.

[vfong1]

What are the different colour towers purpose in the learning?

[pea]

Hi buds. Thanks for your explanations!


Since you so kindly asked, I'll tell you the long story...

My friend's girl is 4 this year. Her kindy teaches Letterland phonics, about 1 letter per week. The girl still only knows about half of the alphabet's letters and sounds. And seems to have forgotten some earlier ones! Then my friend found out that her friend (this is getting confusing, haha, so let's call my friend A and her friend B), who has a girl of the same age, attending a Montessori kindy, is already starting blending. A then discovered that B's kindy runs Montessori phonics enrichment classes in the afternoon, and was very keen to enrol in that. A would still like her girl to continue in the present kindy because she is well settled there.

However when A spoke to the Montessori principal, the principal was not keen to take her girl in for enrichment class, as she said that with her ongoing Letterland program at her kindy, it would be too confusing for her. So now A is wondering if that is true, and whether she should try another Montessori enrichment centre or forget it.

And yes, I've encouraged my friend A to join the KSP forum. :lol:

[smiles]

Would anyone like to advise where we can find good Montessori playgroups in the AMK/Bishan/Thomson area?


I've visited Greentree and Character Montessori (AMK) but found them less ideal than expected...

I've also visited a Cherie Hearts centre near my mom's place and found its environment bright and clean, though it is non Montessori. Does anyone have any comments on their curriculum?

Thanks

[buds]

smiles:

Would anyone like to advise where we can find good Montessori playgroups in the AMK/Bishan/Thomson area?

How about United Montessori House?
Click the blue link here http://www.unitedmontessorischoolhouse.com/index.htm

You can read up discussions and post questions for Cherie Hearts here.
Hope this helps. http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=554