Started my gal at her weekend montessori playgroup this morning. half of her classmates today are newcomers too. and as usual lah, the newcomers would wonder around in their own world instead of listening to teachers and the kids whom have been there for sometime tend to listen to teacher and do their own work on the mat.
Being the 1st time to a montessori environment, I was totally lost when teacher handed the inspector 3 jars and told us to work on it, and to put it back to where it came from after finishing with it. one has got big red beans inside. the other 2 are empty. after asking the teacher, I realised that it is actually to train a child's hand-eye alignment cos we have to pour the beans from a jar to another without spilling anyout.
Needless to say, after some successful pours, this inspector started inspecting the room, touching this and that until she came across a puzzle with removable pieces that come in diff sizes/shape. she has to place each of the shape back to their original location. To my surprise, she actually worked on it for quite a long long while like 5min+! Her usual attention span is like from a few sec to 2min type so it's actually an accomplishment to me! The teacher explained that in montessori concept, they believed that by giving a child something that they have interest on, they would work longer and longer on it as the time passes. This in turn will help to develop focus and concentration span. Wah, if this concept really works for this inspector ah, I will be extremely thankful to montessori forever man!
Anyway lets see how things go. After all, it is only the 1st lesson today!
mrslim:
Congrats on ur #2!
school - think maybe you wan to check with school on the checklist items to bring? schools usually has a ready checklist. like bring mattress sheet on monday and bring home on friday. then in the school bag, bring 1 towel, 1-2 clean change of clothes, water bottle, sunblock lotion, swim wear, milk, lunch box (if prefer to bring food from home during the initial few days) etc. these items are usually brought home at end of day, and put separately away from clean clothes. if got any special requirements/ instructions/ allegies to include in the communication book in writing.
sandy:
hey thx for ur recommandations! think I'll just call up PD sees wat he recommands! Thanks!!
ag:
enjoy ur trip! I just packed 2 big packs of diapers for my gal on a calculation of 6 diapers per day. if not enough, I'll just have to get more over there! I dun wan to take chance with the diapers. wait ganna diaper rash then not fun liao. Planning to buy her fav bread the nite before we fly so that in event she doesnt like the food, there are still her fav bread to makan in additional to milk. as the day approaches, I am beginning to think if I'd been too ambitious to have planned to go on a holiday for 8 days. duno the word "DIE"
sheepish:
oh .. the 1st link's in english. looks japanese rite? the first time I came across the website I also had the same impression! hehehehe ....! I cant read japanese well. So usually I copied the entire chunk of japanese words to Mr Google Translator for him to translate into english. Most of the time have to guess here and there abit cos it does a direct translation so the english is quite funny to read. haha!
gracechua:
hey it has been a long time since u last posted! where have u been?