Fa La La La La....

Christmas is around the corner and if you are (STILL) scrambling to buy gifts or cracking your heads to what to get for your kids or friends...here are some of my 10 recommended Montessori Xmas gift ideas! (In no particular order)

 

1. Movable Alphabet

 

photo credit: here

 

2. Stamp game

photo credit here

 

3. Montessori beads

 

photo credit here

 

4. Number and red Counters

photo credit here

 

5. Montessori Pink tower

 

photo credit here

 

6 Grammar kit

 

photo credit here

 

7 Sentence Analysis

 

photo credit here

 

8. Knobbed Cylinders

 

photo credit here

 

9. Golden Beads

photo credit here

 

 

10. Continent Map

 

photo credit here

 

 

I probably have another 10-20 other favourites but these are straight off my head (which means they MUST be my 10 MOST favourite). Granted, these are rather costly, but if you are in the season of splurging these are GREAT buys! Oh, if you are going to ask me where to buy these locally- try Right to learn. Erm, no, I am not given any commission for directing traffic over there (I WISH!).

 

 

3 activites we did this week with doll...

These are the main activities we did this week.

 

 

Sorting/classifying fruits and animals.

 

 

I am not a phonics fan but still this activity is too fun not let Doll have a go. She had to sort the pictures by their beginning sounds.

 

 
 

Counting each column and placing the corresponding number below it. 

Mandarin with Sonshine

 

We rarely, or maybe even never, speak in mandarin at home. The result? Sonshine can read, recognise words and understand mandarin passage but cannot communicate in mandarin. I would have let it pass if not for the oral examinations in primary school. :(

 

I try to speak as much as I can but my mandarin is limited. The next best thing I thought I can do is to make him read aloud a simple mandarin book everyday. I make him read the same book over and over and over again until I think he's got them in his head. The purpose is to get him familiar with the mandarin sentence structure, phrases and hearing himself speak in mandarin.

 

 

This is a typical book he would read each night. I deliberately choose a very short & simple book so that it won't deter him from reading. These are Pelangi books which are readily available in most Popular book shops.

 

A look inside the book. Picture illustrations for each sentences; I find this helps him to understand sentences that he does not know.

 

And yes, there is Hanyu Pinyin- that is deliberate too. Why? While my mandarin isn't great but I dare say my Hanyu Pinyin is superb. I learnt it purely by reading books with Hanyu Pinyin- but that also means I read the Hanyu Pinyin more than the words itself. Hence, I made Sonshine read this book so to brush up his Hanyu Pinyin.

 

 

Of course, I worry that he reads the Hanyu Pinyin and neglect looking at the words. But my worries were unfounded, fortunately! I made these cards based on the new words he learnt in the book. I had him read those words; I mixed the cards & he arranged them accordingly. Other than recognising words, I also want him to be familiar with phrases. So far, this method seems to be working. He is able to use the phrases in the books and apply them in simple conversation. But, he still has a LONG way to go. God bless me & him!

Mish a Mash

So, we have been out of action- I totally blame it on the Korean wave. I have been watching too many dramas and entertainment shows. *Hiak Hiak* Also, I have been too lazy to take photos, edit and type a post. It is getting a bit of a chore lately. :(

 

Anyway...here's some meager effort I made.

 

 

Doll wanted to paint so I reluctantly obliged. On the whim, I threw in a toy corn, a piece of Lego and a car wheel. I let her paint on them and stamp/roll them on the paper. And there you go! Sensory play in an instant! :D

 

I love to make learning material using felt! I sew a tree & call it 'counting tree'!

I place a numeral at the side and doll has to put the correct number of counters on it.

 

My DIY counting cards in mandarin.

 

We have been reading about body parts in mandarin for a long time so I decided to make her these cards for her to practise. Glad to discover she's recognise the words!

 

I dug out this number sequence card again- for Doll to learn counting BACKWARDS. Learning to count backward is important for learning subtraction. So instead of starting from 1, I made her start from 10. I also tried to introduce to her the term 'before' by asking her 'What number is BEFORE 10?'

 

There you have it, these were the work done this week. Simple.

Montessori- Stamp Game (Division)

 

Sonshine is learning about division in school, so I decided to 'help' him out. Well, not exactly. He already knows how to divide but I thought he has trouble identifying a division problem sum from the last time we tried it which was like months ago.

 

Since I have the Montessori Stamp game, I thought I might as well present to him Division using Montessori Stamp game.

 

 

Apart from the Stamp game kit, I prepared slips of paper on which I wrote division word problem sums.

 

We read the first problem sum together. But before I could do any presentation or explain anything, Sonshine dished out the kits like a pro, allocated the stamps correctly and declared the answer. I was momentarily stumped (since he was never exposed to this activity before) but found enough composure to ask him to move on to the next question. By the 3rd question, he gave me the answers even before he finish dividing the stamps and he did the same for the rest of the sums.

 

 I told him since he was acting like a smarty pants, he was to divide 72 by 2 for me without using the visual aids. At first, he said it was too difficult. I pointed to the stamp game and told to 'use this method'. He took a moment to calculate in his head and told me 36. Then I gave him more divisions like 85/5, 82/2 and even 250/2...he gave all the right answers.  

 

I am in total awe of Montessori yet again!

 

I truly doubt Sonshine could mentally divide (beyond the 11 times table) before this game. This game gave him the visual to help him instantly understand the concept and calculate quickly in his head by 'seeing' the stamp game in his head. Thank you Montessori- you are genius!

 

If you want to read more about this activity on the how to- go here.

 

Cards & Counters: Montessori

 

 

It is one thing to be able to rote count, it is another to understand the quantative value to each number. The objective of cards and counters activity is to help the child understand the latter.

 

I love how this activity shows the child what '1' means, how many '2' is etc. It is visual, clear and very easy for a young kid to digest.

 

I am glad babydoll has progressed and is now able to allocate the correct quantity to each number. Whoohoo! I was looking back at how she started and recall at an earlier point I wasn't even sure she was going to get over counting! But she has come to this point and I am reminded the importance of being consistent, persistent, patience & have faith.

 

So anyway, one does not need to own these materials to do this. You can always write numbers on cards and use simple household items like straws, cotton balls, Lego, Duplo or...

 

 

 

You can purchase these from Daiso for $2 and use them as counters! To make it interesting and fun, use a variation of counters.

 

Have fun!

Learning grammer the Montessori way

If you are a grammar nazi, you know that I am very weak in grammar. I know that very well- my best friend has no qualms telling me that! But that's how I learn.

 

Sonshine is, no better. He's spoken language is quite a pain to hear. :( Hence, I have been researching on methods to teach him the technicalities of grammar. Honestly, I am discovering things I never knew! You can tell I didn't pay attention in class huh?

 

 

 

By far, I found Montessori method (surprise, surprise) the best for us. It is clear, concise and each lesson doesn't take long. We are now working on the mechanics of a sentence. Sonshine is currently learning that a simple sentence involves a subject and a verb.

 

I first showed him the above. I asked him if this made any sense and if it was a proper sentence. We concluded that this is not a complete sentence because there is no subject in it.

 

I added on 'a baby' to the previous strip. We now have a complete sentence because there is a subject ('baby') and a verb ('crying'). At the same time, he revised that every sentence starts with a capital letter and end with a period. I gave him a red marker to correct the punctuations.

 

He also learn other areas where he needs to capitalised the letters i.e. proper nouns. I gave him a few strips of papers like the above and he had to correct them.

 

He also learn when to end a sentence with a question mark.

 

I should do more of these activities with him. It is so much more fun than making him do assesment books. But I wish I have more time and energy!