Our theme in Nov

Do you want to know what we have been learning in Nov? We learned that it has six legs, wings, antennaes, head, thorax and abdomen? Yes! Insects! There are millions of insects in this earth but we chose butterfly as our topic. Children love them because they are colourful. We began our butterfly topic by reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle which the children love very much. It illustrates the life cycle of a butterfly.

We prepared a butterfly nursery and raised the caterpillars. Children observed and noted the progress from caterpillar to butterfly every day. Unfortunately only 1 out 3 formed into a butterfly. Today we set the butterfly free. The children kept asking why we let the butterfly go. We explained to them that the butterfly needs to continue its life cycle from egg to adult buttefly again. We had fun as we learned other insects too. This is such a fun theme, as there is a lot of exploring and discussing.

Activities done -

Language – The Very Hungry Caterpillar story sequencing cards, learned the name of body parts – head, thorax and abdomen.
Math – We used different colours of craft pom poms (our pretend fuzzy bugs) and sorted them into different sized containers.
Science – Observed the life cycle of a butterfly - You could easily get these caterpillars from Penang Butterfly Farm.
Snack – We ate caterpillars!! We used bananas for the caterpillar body.
Arts and Crafts – We made caterpillars from egg cartons. We add wiggle eyes and pipe cleaner pieces for the antennae and legs.
Dramatic Play – We went to Botanical Garden on 14th Nov for a picnic.
Songs – The Fuzzy Caterpillar and I’m a Butterfly

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Hi I really didn't think posting up photos would take this much time to finish. I kept telling to myself that the photos must be up before this year. Don't forget almost everyday we do happily snapping photos of our children in action. So they do add up to the album.

This morning when we reached school, first thing we noticed was a black beautiful creature flying in our butterfly nursery. When we looked closer, it was a butterfly. We couldn't be any happier. It's like we watch the butterfly slowly changing from caterpillar and now to a beautiful butterfly. It's like raising your own child. It's totally amazing.

The children were all very excited. Not only the children, I was excited too as this was the first time I have seen real life cycle of a butterfly. One of our children invited her dad to come inside and take a look at our pride of joy. It was really great to see that the children have a love for living things. Another parent even told me that she'll try to raise her own caterpillar this way too!

Yeah! Finally, our hungry caterpillar has changed to a butterfly!



School Holiday Pirate Camp. We had treasure hunt in the garden on that day.



We were revising the sound of Bouncy Ben. We also made butterfly to go with the sound of b.

Well, that's all I have to share for right now.

More photos

As promised, i am posting some photos again today. Wish I had chance to sit down and do it all in one go.


We build a maze using Long Rods on green mat. We concentrated very hard and did a very good job. We walked in and out again and again.

We learned the sound of the letter d. We started by singing the Dippy Duck song, made a door knob hanger craft and finished off with a worksheet.



To go along with the sound of Dippy Duck, we learned the difference between salted duck's egg and a chicken's egg. We experimenting with the eggs and had fun cracking them. We were amazed that the duck's egg was actually white after we washed off the damp black charcoal.

Photos taken in July

Can't believe that Dec is coming up so fast. There are tons of photos waiting for me to post them up here. I better do so before year 2008 is gone as I'm really really late in posting these photos. It's going to take days or even weeks to post them up so pls bear with me. Hmm...now..where do I start with??

She enjoyed blowing and chasing after the bubbles. She was excited to see all the bubbles around her. I asked her to pop all the big bubbles. Since then, she has been asking for bubbles everytime we go out to the garden.

They were asking me how deep was the sandbox. I told them that they could try to bury their feet in there and they will find out the answer.

What was happening in Oct...

In Oct, we were busy working on our miniature little town, we have cars ready, painted houses and buildings. The children had lots of fun learning when should cars stop and go at traffic lights. They also learned things they need to fly in an aeroplane. Children took turns to be pilot, flight attendant and passengers. We had our Halloween party with costumes, cookies decorating, treats, jack-o-lantern toss the bean bags and parading around the environment. What children most excited about was the trick or treating part.

Reminder to parents: Please say a sweet but short goodbye to your child before you leave in the morning. It may seem easier for you to “sneak” away, but it can be very confusing for your child. Separation has been harder for some, but children are settling in to the routines and the environment comfortably once they are engage in activities.

In a Montessori environment, children are given freedom to work with any materials and to move around. If they stray from expectations, they are quickly and firmly redirected. It’s not advisable for two or more children to work with the same material together. One thing that children need practice right now is “order”. To work with a piece of material, first, they need to lay out a mat on the floor/ table, choose a material, work with the chosen material and return it to its place. I’m very proud that my two year-olds can follow this practice.

Can toddlers below age 2.5 follow a lesson ?

Currently we have 3 children fall under this age group. If you are working with toddlers of this age group, you know that you should hold on to giving those three period lessons until age 2.5, and put out activities the toddler needs no help with.

Why are younger toddlers so hard to sit down and give a lesson to (Montessori 3 period lesson)?

1) They do not have the attention span because one day they do, one day they don't. We let the child move freely and explore in the environment.

2) They are still in a large motor movement stage of development, so they will not sit for long.

We always introduce toddlers to Montessori materials from Practical Life shelves. Always remember that your toddlers need to master their skills based on 4 areas of Exercises of Practical Life

AREA 1 - Elementary Movements and Preliminary Activities
Classroom Conduct for Directress and Child
Development of Fine Motor Skills - Pouring
Transferring
Opening & Closing
Threading, Cutting, Sewing, Folding
Walking on a line
The Silence Game

AREA 2 - Montessori Exercises for the Care of Self
Changing Shoes
Dressing frames; Zip, Velcro, Buttons, Press Studs, Hook & Eye, Buckling, Bow Tying, Lacing
Polishing Shoes & Folding Clothes
Blowing Nose & Coughing
Care of Teeth, Nails, & Hair

AREA 3 - Montessori Exercises for the Care of the Environment
Dusting, Sweeping, Polishing
Use of Clothes Peg, Washing up
Scrubbing of Tables, Floor..etc
Care of Garden, Indoor Plants, Flowers
Planting Seeds
Care of Pets
Classroom Skills
Cooking Skills
Fire Drill

AREA 4 - Montessori Exercises for the Development of Social Skills, Grace & Courtesy
Greeting People,
Interrupting with Excuse Me
Coping with an offence
Conduct with a visitor
Speaking to a Group
Behavior on Outings,
Special Occassions
Helping Out
Table Manners and Use of Eating Utensils
Serving and Sharing Foods
Individual Snack

Our role as a Montessori teacher is to observe toddlers and have activities that do not require a lesson. Observing toddlers in the environment for their interests likes and dislikes; and their skill level eg. can they put in a piece of puzzle, can they recognise objects around them, can they build blocks, hold crayon, brushes or pour water yet?

And by observing them, we can add and change activities based on our observations.

Take a look at our Halloween photos

We came to school dressed in our Halloween costumes. Can you spot a bee, ladybird, butterfly, princess, lilo & stich or even a scary ghost? We had fun gathered inside our environment and paraded around the environment. We sang our Five Little Pumpkins and Knock Knock Trick or Treat songs, created arts and shared treats.

Our Halloween Party so far...

Sorry everyone....school work has taken over. We have been very busy this month planning for our Holiday Camps in Dec and taking registrations for next year. I'm glad that the response turned out good. Here are a few photos from our Halloween Party!


We were waiting patiently for the party to start!!



We counted until 10 but the party hasn't started. Probably our friends were not here yet.

spoilt with choices

I spent a good portion of the day researching for wooden furniture and equipment for my school. It's simple, they must be the right size for children, environment safe, accident free, have curved edges and done over with non-toxic surfaces. I tried to search for ready-made furniture if there's none that satisfies me, I will opt for custom-made. To make things worse, I am an extremely fussy lady but that's because I wanted the best for my school and children. I have catogorised them as follows :

Storage unitsBook displays

Seating units
Kitchen units

Sand and water units

Easel and Art equipment

Housekeeping units
Tables and Chairs

Role play units
Montessori materials shelves

Wall displays

Wooden play equipment

Most of my teaching aids come from the UK and USA. I sourced them overseas because they have a good range of educational toys, art and craft, furnishings. Those are very valuable items like Montessori materials, I can't start the school without these classroom essentials. In my list, there's also quality learning materials from Oxford Reading Tree and Letterland just to name a few, art and craft materials and educational toys from Plan Toys, Selecta Spielzeug and Orchard Toys.

My general idea was to create an ideal environment for the children. I really love the above ideas but I had a hard time source for these locally. If I can find the right supplier or carpenter.

talking about education

When I was in secondary school, on nice days, my friends and I will walk from our school SGGS to Pulau Tikus for snacks. As we walked up the road, we will pass St. Christopher's school. The sight of children with blue eyes and blonde hair caught our eyes. Leaning against one of the trees, we'd sit and watch the children leaping high and playing with joy...In my head, although I was only 17, I was hoping to own a school that the children enjoy coming to.

I focus on the kind of education the school could offer. I don’t talk as much about the beauty of the school, but the quality of the education. I know that children learn best when they’re actively engaged. They are naturally curious. I know they learn science, math, reading and writing concepts through hands-on, sensory-oriented activities. I believe that all children are talented, capable and special, whether they enjoy music or math. That's why eventhough at home, I give them lots of activities based on Montessori teaching. Just a simple activity like having a meal. You could incorporate Montessori teaching into your daily life. Practical Life is one of the subjects in Montessori teaching that i love the most. By providing plenty of space and time for them to explore, along with lots of support and love, you and your child sure will have fun.

how I got to know about Montessori

I'd never heard of the word Montessori before and it was 10 years ago when i was introduced to the word Montessori. This is still fresh in my thought though. My friend, Caryn told me - at that time I was already doing research for a good quality preschool. Caryn told me about Montessori. What is so special of Montessori school? Ohhh...it's a very fun school...the children get to play and learn in a fun way. I was so so excited!!! Cool...tell me where is it in Penang that i could find this school.

After several days of exhaustic research on the web, let me tell you, Montessori schools look like heaven. You will wish that u were a child again and you would beg your mum to send you to Montessori school. They look too lovely to miss....

"Our aim is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his inmost core." -Dr. Maria Montessori
So......for the first-timers whom never heard what is Montessori.

I'm blessed to have a chance to practice what is Montessori all about.......