All About Montessori

[The Little Cheng Mommy]

Hi, really appreciate all the replies & inputs


I visited the centre on Tuesday and really have a good impression of the place and the lady (Yvonne) patiently explained to me the program details.
However, I still do have doubts in what my son could learn in that short 1.5 hrs/week session. Maybe I'll just get a Montessori book and have these activities with him at home?? However, I'll definitely be enrolling him in Kindermusik next year :lol:

[smiles]

Hi all.


I'm new to this forum as well as the world of local child care.

We like the Montessori approach and are thinking of sending our boy to a Montessori playgroup in AMK/Thomson area.

Does anyone have any comments or personal experience with Greentree and Character Montessori (AMK)? Especially the latter, someone has asked earlier and there has been no response so far.

Buds,
Your contributions on the Montessori approach. How nice of you to spend time and effort informing others. Kudos to you!

[shirleyfong]

My son is from Brighton Montessori at Fort road since he is 18 months. He is now 5 years old in K1. I think he is progressing very well in this school.

Will put my daughter in this sept when she is 18 months.

Bud, any comments on Brighton?

[buds]

Heyya smiles, it's my pleasure.

[buds]

Heyya shirleyfong, generally what i hear about

Brighton is that the main directresses are the
ang-mohs and our locals only the assisting
teachers. Since your child is attending
Brighton, you would be the best person
to share with us many things about the
school?

I have not personally sent my kiddies there,
nor have i friends who have sent them there
either. I'm a westie. Hence am not the best
person to comment on this centre in particular.
No personal experiences to share.

[pea]

buds:

Heyya sunny, how old is she... forgot lah..

Being able to write is as important as being
able to read. In our attempt to get our children
to be good at reading, don't forget thee other
stuff that matters too... ie. tracing, writing,
speaking properly, good manners, sharing..(etc).

Thanks buds for your many valuable tips!

Would like to ask you what is the age where you would start teaching them to write (not scribbling or colouring).

My friend's son attends a kindergarten which has started getting them to write out alphabets on worksheets as they are learning the basic phonics. But he is only in N1 (3 years old). My friend has to train him to write out the letters repeatedly over dotted lines, as asked by the teachers.

My son, who is about the same age, can't even hold a pen properly. My mother told me not to force him to write if he is not ready, as this may hurt his fingers. Is that true?

Can you teach more advanced phonics and reading skills without having to learn to write first?

Thanks in advance.

[buds]

pea:

Thanks buds for your many valuable tips!

You're always welcome!

pea:

Would like to ask you what is the age where you would start teaching them to write (not scribbling or colouring).

Safe age wud be around 4 years old when the finger muscles are
much stronger and the pincer grip wud have had more practice...
But beginning actual writing wud be more on individual letter
writing practice, short words (penmanship)..

pea:

My friend's son attends a kindergarten which has started getting them to write out alphabets on worksheets as they are learning the basic phonics. But he is only in N1 (3 years old). My friend has to train him to write out the letters repeatedly over dotted lines, as asked by the teachers.

My son, who is about the same age, can't even hold a pen properly. My mother told me not to force him to write if he is not ready, as this may hurt his fingers. Is that true?

This should be tracing. Not writing yet... cos still dot-to-dot mah... So i
think its okay. Mebbe the teachers are beginning tracing practice with
jumbo crayons / pencils to provide pincer grip practice and also to
reinforce the alphabet sounds that have been taught.

Dotted alphabet tracing at this age is fine... again depending on how
much the child has to write on a daily basis lah.

Pincer grip can also be developed through painting activities, self-feeding
of food using a spoon, using chopsticks, working with play-dough.... (etc)

If a child is \"forced\" to write the same thing repeatedly on a daily basis,
i suppose it will hurt lah... cos their finger muscles may not have fully
developed the pincer grip as yet. Practice is fine... Forcing is no fun lah. :lol:

pea:

Can you teach more advanced phonics and reading skills without having to learn to write first?

Thanks in advance.

Of course can.. but just as a personal opinion i don't quite favour it lah. :roll:

This is the main reason why children should be taught skills in accordance
to their age ie. age-appropriate. Cause when all of children's learning
skills are all fast-forwarded there will be no end. And it is true that some
of these kiddies will find school extremely boring in future as they aren't
stimulated with lessons they find that they can do or the lessons are just
too easy.

I'm not so inclined with suggestions teach a child to over-read at the
expense of being able to do many other things that a child should be able
to do as well. A child should grow be a wholesome person... and not just
good at doing one thing. That's why centres offering a holistic curriculum
are rather popular. Also children who just read for the sake of reading are
not really much fun. Children should ideally be motivated to read for the
love of reading.

It offers children to grow in an environment that helps stimulate a
wholesome child, who need not necessarily grow just in terms of reading
and writing abilities alone... but also mould children who can be confident
speakers, good with gross motor skills like jumping, climbing, running...
children with great sportsmanship through organized games/races...
children who can sing, dance and play... (etc) just like how happy
and normal children should grow.

That said, i am not sure how to answer this question accurately as i have
to determine what your idea of advanced phonics actually is... and also to
advance-teach a child of what age... need more details.

Preferably reading-writing skill can come hand-in-hand... ie. concurrently
complementing both skills in children's daily routine, instead of just one
being more advanced than the other. It is with practice that a child will
learn to write (legibly & coherently) and not cos the child is able to read
widely or not. Writing is not a natural ability. It is best guided.

For example :
A child who is able to read 'A fat cat sat on a mat' at 3 years old may not
be able to write the sentence as his finger muscles are still delicate and
not fully developed to conform to the pincer grip as yet. And it may hurt
if asked to be done repeatedly till the child gets it right. And when the
said child is ready for writing at say... around 4 years old, he/she still
gotta be able to begin writing simple sentences. And already being able
to read the child may get frustrated why he/she needs to write 'baby
stuff' (simple stuff that he already knows).

The child may perceive that he/she already knows cos of the ability to
read it... but not necessarily the ability to write it or understand it.

Writing is more complex as there are many aspects to it, for example
the grammar part, the spelling ability, punctuation and writing order to
guide children with and not something that will come automatic to
children especially children who are not raised within an all-English
speaking environment.

Other parents and teachers may choose to attempt/look at this issue
from a different perspective. So this is just my humble opinion with
regards to this. What do you personally think about it anyway, pea?

[pea]

As usual, you have presented a very enlightening viewpoint to me. :salute:


I was a little confused, as I had initially thought that my friend was jumping the gun by making her son trace letters repeatedly on worksheets. I had told my mother about this and she was shocked and told me not to make my child (of about the same age, 3 yo) do this.

But now I see some point in introducing writing, or tracing as you call it. As long as you don't overdo it, right...?

The reason I asked you about linking reading and writing is because I hear all these conflicting stories... A friend told me that her aunt (a teacher) only got her daughter to read, and read, and read ... voraciously. She only taught her to write just before she entered P1, by which time she could already read fluently. Her daughter is now in JC and is still an avid reader, and also excellent in her studies.

But I also see your point about developing reading and writing skills in tandem. I guess in the end it boils down to the parent's, and the child's preference. But as in most things, I guess moderation and balance is the key.

Sorry, since we are on a Montessori thread, can I ask you something else on behalf of my friend? Her daughter is learning Letterland phonics at her cc but progress seems quite slow. She's thinking of enrolling her in a Montessori phonics and reading enrichment class. Will the different styles of the phonics lessons be confusing to her girl? What should she do?

Pai seh :oops: but really appreciate your views. :udawoman:

[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.