All About Montessori

[buds]

Psssst... :please: mistermerz... you drive Mercedes issit?

Just curious over your nick? :lol:

[mistermerz]

buds:

Psssst... :please: mistermerz... you drive Mercedes issit?

Just curious over your nick? :lol:

LOL!

Pls don't let my nick fool you. It's actually part of my real name. Person not rich, only name sound rich. hehe.

Ok will let u know more abt my child, actually she's turning 3 in 2 mths. I didn't realize that .... :slapshead: ... Paiseh. How fast they grow.

Gotta feed the whining toddlers and meowing pussy some breakfast now. Will be back!

[jul04]

Ok I recce-ed 3 Montessori Childcare Centres this morning. MMI was having an open house, so I decided to drop by Character Montessori & Amazing Star Montessori as well. Here are my personal opinions (I didn't bother to check out much on meal menu, nap & shower arrangements etc as I'm just on a first fact-finding trip - not really looking for CC)


Character Montessori

I spoke to the Chinese teacher who teaches playgroup. There was 1 child there, and 2 other children who belong to 2 other teachers. But the teachers didn't bother to speak to me so I was stuck with muddling through with my half-past 6 Chinese

Class Set-up

CM has playgroup (18 mths - 2 yrs), pre-nursery 1 (2 - 2.5 yrs), pre-n 2 (2.5 - 3 yrs), nursery (3 - 4 yrs), kindergarten 1 (4 - 5 yrs) and kindergarten 2 (5 - 6 yrs). Why are the classes so narrow in age? Whatever happened to mixed age learning? Am I missing something here? It's not just in CM, but in AS & MMI as well. In fact all 3 CCs seem to feel that separation into age groups is better for the children so that they can do group teaching. Isn't Montessori not group teaching but mixed age so that younger ones can learn from older ones & older ones can reinforce their knowledge by teaching etc etc? And it's individual attention & work so that the teacher can observe & the child can do free play as long as he likes on what he wants to do? Hmm.. unless group teaching is only for the non-Montessori subjects which take like 90% of the day? :?

The class size is something like 7 - 10? (Can't really remember). According to the teacher, the segregation is to keep the class small so that the children can have more personalised attention, esp at the lower levels where they need more of it.

PG has 2 teachers (1 Montessori Math teacher who also takes English & 1 Chinese teacher). The older classes have 3 teachers (1 Montessori Math, 1 English & 1 Chinese teacher). Can't exactly remember abt the PN. For the PG & maybe the PN, the teachers take turns to be the leading teacher & asst teacher. Eg when the Chinese teacher is teaching, the other is the asst & vice versa. I think the teachers sort of swop between classes for the older ones, such as they share the Chinese teacher, Montessori Math & English teachers so their timetables are staggered for the lessons.

The PG & PN classes are in their classrooms for all subjects, while the older classes are spilt into groups via partitions in their respective classrooms to conduct Math, Eng & Chinese separately.

Montessori

According to the timetables, M is conducted about 50min daily. This looks so miserable. Yet it seems to be the case for all 3 CCs. Is 50min enough to cover as much as I'd like? I seriously have my doubts. And I think there's no such thing as free play where the children can choose what they want to work on

The impression I get from the teacher is that M is basically used for Math. English is just English! This is weird... doesn't M consist of the 5 parts of which language is also one of them?

I didn't manage to see the M materials laid out in order and neatly on the shelves as described in my researches. I hardly recognised any M materials, but it could be that I was looking out for obvious things like golden beads & large moveable alphabets & pink towers, of which I didn't see. Guess it's lack of space and most of the things are boxed up. It's ironically in the PG classes that I see low shelves with fish tank, toys in baskets, but they are hardly M. Just toys

Other Curriculum

Chinese is taught in themes. I see xi(2) zi(4) worksheets in the K class. And also English worksheets where it goes something like this (I'm making it up coz I can't remember the exact work :
\"The fat cat sat on the mat.
The fat cat went to catch a rat\"
with all the \"at\"s highlighted by the students. I gather this is Phonics lesson? But it's conducted by the non-Montessori teacher? Very strange indeed And that's all I saw in the student's file. Only xizi and Phonics worksheets. I didn't see anything on Maths.

There are enrichment activities in the afternoon which are foc - Chinese painting, pottery (taught by external vendor), Chinese Speech & Drama, Cookery, English Lit, Music appreciation? The only activity parents have to pay for are swimming.

School Bus

There is school bus service by the school itself. 2 trips in the am, 2 trips for the half-day children, 2 trips for the full-day children. But I think it only services the immediate vicinity and even the outskirts of Sengkang have to be considered on the basis of whether a large detour is needed and that may impact the existing children too much in terms of timing.

Discipline/Control

I asked what they do if new children cry & when the children fight. The teacher mentioned that they would see which teacher the new child likes best & try to get that teacher to carry/coax/distract/play with the child till it gets settled in.

As for fighting, they will teach the child that hands are for loving. They should love the other child. Instead of telling the child not to do the negative, they tell the child to do the positive.

I suppose these are SOP at all CCs?

CM does character development too, which I gather is a form of moral education.

Environment

There's a lap pool but it's secured. Saw that there's a netting over & around the pool to try to stop falling leaves but there are some who got in.

The compound looks rather run down. There're potholes in the porch and some discarded steel bars or some such near the back of the compound. But I think the children are not alloweed there.

There are hardly any trees and a really small patch of grass with 1 or 2 playground items like slides & whatnot. Most of the tricycles, Fisher Price stuff are in the reception area where the kids can play in bad/hot weather or while waiting to be picked up. There're some books as well to entertain them. I didn't see any TV. Oh and it's a 1-storey house. There're 3 toilets amongst which the children are divided for their showers.

Comms with Parents

I glanced through this report book which is supposed to be shown to parents twice during parent-teacher meetings. It had standard items such as \"can perform this & that\" with columns to tick 3 levels (basically CMI, OK or steady ah!)

Other than that, I didn't manage to see any M \"observation form\" which I suppose aren't released to parents anyway?

Overall Impression

I think there's hardly any emphasis on Montessori, and I may have gotten the wrong impression from the Chinese teacher but M for Math only? Hmm.. I like the additional enrichment activities in the afternoon at no charge. And they look interesting, not just for the sake of killing time. I didn't get a chance to observe any classes though. I feel that the place is rather homely & caring. But I do wish the building was better upkept.



Amazing Star

The admin mgr was occupied with an enrolling child so I was shown the place by this asst Chinese teacher who was on her last day!

Class Set-up

There's PG (18 mths - 2 yrs), PN (2 - 3 yrs), N (3 - 4 yrs), K1 (4 - 5 yrs) & K2 (5 - 6 yrs).

The place is rather small, so there're only 6 children in PG, 10 in PN and a little larger for N, K1 & K2.

The children have their lessons all in the same room for their own level.

There's 1 Chinese teacher for all the students so they engage 1 Asst Chinese teacher to help out with classes which the Chinese teacher are not teaching, & for when new children join & it's more chaotic. I think basically to shore up the teach:student ratio :lol:

Montessori

M time's only 50min daily here too. What else is new? I give up

I didn't see many M materials being laid out on low, open shelves either, but... I did get my hands on this blue, thin, cheapo notebook that I used to use in Pri Sch :love: I saw stuff like, \"Scooping beads equally into 2 bowls: K can easily scoop beads & divide them equally into 2 bowls.. Mastered.. Or K is having difficulty dividing the beads equally.. Needs Practice\" that sort of thing. But it's labelled \"Sensorial\". Does that mean they only do Sensorial stuff? Or are there separate notebooks for \"Culture\", Practical Life\" & the like? I forgot to ask :x

Other Curriculum

There's the usual Chinese lessons. Then there's enrichment in the afternoon like gym, waterplay once a week, etc etc. I can't really remember the details.

But I was being kaypoh & looked through this boy's bi-weekly report to parents. There's a page of info such as, \"K finishes most of his food... K can say pelican, emu, ostrich clearly... K is helpful and independent\" etc. The Chinese teacher gives her feedback in Chinese. And there's a small slip clipped top the page stating the things taught for the 2 weeks. The theme now is Birds, so the school moves from flightless birds, to featherless birds, to.. well whatever! The theme changes every term, I believe?

School Bus

Same issue - limited to the vicinity of Sengkang & Punggol, although it's run but a pte operator.

Discipline/Control

When asked how they treat a child who bites/hits other children, they said they'll bring the child away from the others after explaining that the victim is hurt/ouch/painful. If the child tries to rejoin the group, they'll carry him away to a corner again. They repeat this till he gets the idea that hurting others is not desirable and that it's better to behave himself so that he can have fun with others. Is this naughty corner?

Environment

It's a 3-storey terrace corner house. The rooms are rather small, with the 2 smaller rooms on each level sharing a toilet and 1 bigger room at the front of the house. Think this has no toilet? The younger children are on level 2, while level 3 is for the kindy kids. The stairs are all protected by safety gates at each level.

There're some Fisher Price type slides, rocking horses, & a higher slide & swings outside on the grass patch. There's a huge urn filled with drying plastic containers which are supposed to be used for water play. On the whole, the premises are pretty well-kept.

Comms with Parents

As mentioned above, there're the bi-weekly reports to parents in addition to the usual twice-yearly parent-teacher meetings. There's a bi-monthly newsletter too, where parents get a page with photos & some simple captions to show them what their darlings are up to in school. They only get those relevant to their kids though, not for every level.

Overall Impression

What struck me most abt the place is the comms with parents. I see menu, class timetable, school fees etc on the notice board where the parents drop off their kids for temp checks in the am. Plus the newsletter, bi-weekly report etc.

I didn't ask that much abt the curriculum here, but I think the afternoon classes aren't as \"fun\" as those at CM. And the usual disappointment & disillusionment abt M



MMI Sengkang

They were having an open house so it was a professionally run visit with admin people at the recep to receive you, teachers waiting to show you ard, rehearsed spiels from the guides etc. I had to cut short my visit & dash off so.. didn;t manage to ask more questions.

Class Set-up

There's the usual PG (18 mths - 2 yrs), PN (2 - 3 yrs), N (3 - 4 yrs), K1 (4 - 5 yrs) & K2 (5 - 6 yrs).

I gather they have 1 class of PN and 2 each of N, K1 & K2.

I didn't ask how many teachers there are in each class. Nor whether they're split for subjects etc. Oh but the guide did spout off the MCYS numbers abt 1:15 for issit K1 level, but they stop at ard 22 children to 2 teachers? Hmm that means each class must have 2 teachers and each class isn't small then?

But each classroom was huge, with 1-2 shelves each for the 5 areas for M. Again, I forgot to ask if they divide the students up with teachers & get assigned to do different things.

Montessori

Got the detailed spiel on what are the 5 areas of M, saw the materials laid out on shelves. They look quite substantial - I saw buttoning frames, pink tower, knobbed cylinders, the sound shaking thing, large moveable alphabets, sandpaper letters etc.

But.. M time is 30min in the morning & 20min in the afternoon. So if a child attends half day, he only gets 30min? Hmmm...

There's a form for observations. It's a formal piece of paper, with 1 row for each child & a column each for the 5 areas. For eg, something like \"Scoop beads equally into 2 bowls\". There'll be a tick when it's mastered. A slower child could have \"Scoop beads into a bowl\" instead.

Other Curriculum

Didn't ask much abt the curriculum actually. Only gathered there'll be Chinese immersion which includes Chinese Speech & Drama, English S&D, swimming, can't remember the rest. These are supposed to be foc.

One thing I don't get is that they Have M enrichment. Erm.. they're a M they need M enrichment? A parent asked what that was & the reply was that sometimes the M time isn't enough & that the child needs individual attention for teachers? I don't get this

School Bus, Discipline/Control

No time to ask

Environment

It's a huge compound by itself, with a smaller admin building, followed by 2 bigger bldgs which house the classrooms. There's a pool which looks relatively well-kept. The paint isn't peeling & the carpark is nicely paved. Wonder how much of this is done up for the Open Hse

The classrooms are huge too, with 1-2 shelves each dedicated to the 5 areas of

Comms with Parents

There's a parent-teacher meeting every term, BUT only 2 are individual face-to-face meetings. The other 2 are mass sharing sessions.

I saw a blank Comms bk. It looks like a diary to me. \"Just January, Day, some lines\" 3 times on each page. I didn't have time to browse thoroughly.

Overall Impression

Feels like a conglomerate compared to the other 2 :lol: Everything's professional, on large scale, etc etc.

I did mention to the admin abt the lack of Montessori & she did reply that to cater to the requirements of parents, the demand for M just isn't there in Spore.

I did notice that the teachers there are pretty young. Is that normal?



Conclusion

I doubt that I'll sign up for any of these CCs. For one, I don't need a CC. If the Montessori programme is exceptionally good, I may consider it, but these 3 places are just skimming the surface. I can't justify the inconvenience esp when there's no transport!

[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?