Sending 3-year-old to nursery (N2) class

[phtthp]

clonob:

I am looking for purely kindergarten. Do you know of any kindy that are Montessori? Thanks

see below which kindy nearest your place.
visit the Montessori kindergarten you're interested in.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jwqRI0a02acJ:www.moe.gov.sg/education/preschool/find-a-kindergarten/files/kindergartens-by-mother-tongue.xls+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=sg

make sure that that you choose a reliable one.
ie. EVERYDAY (Monday to Friday) your child ought to be exposed to Individual work:-

- minimum 45 minutes for Phonics, or other English lesson (eg: grammar, vocab, simple sentence construction, reading, worksheets , etc).

- minimum 45 minutes for Maths (can be either individual Hands Maths montessori material or worksheet or Maths related lesson)

- minimum 45 minutes or 1 hour Chinese learning.

beware of \"fake\" Montessori pre-school(s).
i) on paper when they present to potential customer(s), the Principal tend to paint a rosy picture - \"Yes, if you enrol your child with us, your child will learn this, learn that.\"

ii) but in reality, the Montessori only purchase the set of Montessori teaching material and teach in GROUPS, but Not let individual hands exposure for each child. Refer to Maria Montessori philosophy. It should be individual hands on learning.

if this kindergarten merely use the Montessori material to teach in GROUPS, then it operates no differently from any normal non montessori kindergarten. Just that they happen to buy M material, and use for teaching purpose, in group(s).

i personally encountered this before, so withdrew my child after 1 Term. But that was a M childcare centre, not a M kindergarten. I do not want you to make same mistake wasting 1 Term's precious time, thus alert you in advance.

iii) for children at K1 / K2, minimal must be 45 minutes Daily exposure for Montessori Maths, plus ANOTHER 45 minutes allocated for Montessori Phonics / Grammar, Vocab, Sentence construction, etc.

some kindergarten - before you enrol your child in, Principal (trying to entice customers into kindergarten) say \"Oh Yes, Mam. Our curriculum works this way. Don't worry\". On paper, everything sounds nice, great !

But after you paid up & enroll your kid, is a different story. In the end turn out only - 45 minutes exposure for both Montessori (Maths + English) combined together. Two subjects, Total spend 45 minutes clearly not enough. We're talking about K1 / K2 child, not N1 / PG or N2 kid. If not, how to complete the detailed comprehensive Montessori syllabus in time, for P1? Montessori Maths is very thorough, more than sufficient to prepare your child not just up to P1 Maths syllabus, but up to P3 level. Provided you choose a reliable kindergarten.

maybe for younger N1 / PG kids ok, because afterall they're still young, their attention span may be short. But not for K1, K2 kid. Please clarify carefully, before sign up in that particular Montessori kindergarten chosen. Request for the school detailed daily Montessori time table. If they got nothing to hide, they should let parents know openly what is their daily time table like. ie. confirm - Everyday on daily basis, how much time is your child spent in learning each subject ?

iv) then another type calling herself Montessori pre-school also funny / weird.

Throughout the whole week Mon - Fri, out of 5 days per week, the childcare centre only spend like 3 hrs in Total on Montessori teaching stuff per week. Very little ! And for the rest of the time, what do they do ? They expose kid to non-Montessori related stuff. Be careful.

v) make sure the Teachers are Montessori trained.
not hire foreigner teacher(s) eg: Filipinos, let them learn on the job training.

it makes a world of difference between 2 Teachers -
one that is trained vs. another who is untrained, who claim \"Oh well ! our school train us teacher(s), as we go along.\"

Truth is:-
\"Train as we go along = untrained\"

[clonob]

Sorry, I have been away from Singapore for some time. Just saw a few more response from parents here …

[clonob]

Shoe:

Hi Clonob, I think you're better off sending child to a full day school with a more demanding curriculum in K2... My dd was attending school right up to Christmas in her K2 year and it kept the momentum going for her transition into P1 and subsequent learning...


Another thing to consider is that even if a child is advanced academically, there are other things he can learn from being in the company of his peers.. Eg.. Social skills, negotiation, compromise, discussion etc... Important to find a school that facilitates learning of these skills....

Hi Shoe, your first paragraph does make me think further. Maybe I need to consider more for activities prior to P1.

[clonob]

ahbombom:

I'm just thinking academics aside, are there concerns that being younger and likely smaller physically and weaker motor skills, DS/DD could be more likely injured accidentally if put in a class of older kids? I would imagine most preschool would want to give priority to age appropriate kids where possible?

Maybe for these questions, I may need help from experienced parents to help me understand whether these are a concern.

Hi sleepy, does your child encountered these issues when transferring from playgroup to nursery? :scratchhead:

[clonob]

Phankao, SAHM TAN, Phtthp, thanks a lot for the info. That does open up my options. Will search further more.


Phtthp, thanks a lot for the details when choosing the school. That helps a lot

:thankyou: