Activity 1....sorting lids into colours. I placed one lid of each colour in each container (segment). She started off well, and did the task correctly, but her concentration lapsed after a while. Then she started getting confused and putting different colours onto the same dish. So then we started activity 2.
Activity 2....Copying a red and green pattern Using a hot pink background was not the brightest idea for this pattern. Red in particular does not stand out against this bright pinky-red background. I have suspected for a while Zari may have some red-green colourblindness. My brother is colour blind, in every single way that a person can be colourblind, so although I am not colourblind it isnt surprising to have a child with red-green differentiation problems. Strangely, I never noticed my son having any colour vision problems and so presumed I was not a carrier for this condition. We had a lot of difficulties with this pattern. She could not get the red-green-red-green sequence, but more from trouble differentiating between the lids, as to her the colours were too similar. I have tested her on other red and green objects, and she calls green things red, and red things green. Reminds me of my brother all over again. I had to help her a lot with this activity, as she was genuinely confused by my correcting her. From now on, I will chose really contrasting colours- and backgrounds.
Activity 3...All one colour followed by all another colour pattern This was more successful, although she used the activity to make a balloon picture. Note again, the red/green problem. She really struggles with those colours.
Activity 4...Trying to make the letter "S" And not succeeding. I drew out the top half of the 's' shape with the white milk bottle tops, then placed some tops around the bottom half hoping she would fill in the gaps. Not so - although she can draw an 's' from memory on paper, she told me she did not understand what I wanted and didn't know how to do it. I drew the pattern with my finger, but to no avail. And that was the end of that. She left the room and refused to be lured back.
Rori (17.5 months) After Zari walked out on the activities, Rori came in so I attempted to show her some things to do. Too young. She picked up the lids, piled them up and played with them. The best I could hope for was when I asked her to pack them up, and she copied me by putting some lids into a pillowcase.
Rori's daycare centre, which is also a kindergarten - she attends there 1 session a week while I madly do all my shopping and appointments- held an Art exhibition to raise funds for the centre. The idea was that the parents would hopefully buy their child's artworks. I wasnt able to take too many photos for privacy reasons, but I was allowed to take these photos as you cant discern who the children are. The room was well set out, with partitions with artworks on both sides, a gazebo/pavilion with art dangling down from the ceiling, workers offering drinks and hors d'œuvres, a visiting clown and other attractions. It would have taken a long time and a lot of effort to set it all up. I just wasnt able to take pictures with a room full of people.
My 15 year old daughter found a sea-sponge on the beach and used it for a pencil case and lovely shelf decoration. Very imaginative I thought!
I took some photos at Zari's current kinder (non-Montessori) of her doing some pasting. I like that there are plenty of art activities to do, and many different work-stations to chose from. I am getting this kinder for a special price currently. When this special deal ends I will put her back into Montessori Pre-school. I like having them attend some days (not every day) pre-school activities, as they get good socialisation at the age when kids have not yet turned bad. That seems to begin about 4 years old. Hence I do not want to put them into school, which begins here at 5 years old (4 and a half to be precise, at the earliest). I have observed this through my experiences with my other children. 4 year old kinder for my son at one centre involved boys bullying him, which he only told me about recently. The other kinder had one child who was nasty to kids and cruel to the kinder pets. I would help out on fruit duty and found it very stressful trying to stop the animal cruelty. It traumatised my son also, as well as other parents and children. And it only gets MORE stressful and traumatising as the children attend school, with a myriad of personalities of students, teachers and parents to interact with. No thanks - not for me.
The ceiling (see pic below), walls and windows are all decorated with artworks. I'm trying to replicate the kindergarten atmosphere at home in my family room (schoolroom). I am studying a Montessori pre-school teachers course at the moment, so it is good for me to observe kindergartens and preschools, both Montessori and non-Montessori.
Hey all, I got my entry in - and now letting you all know about Montessori Print Shop's "12 Days of Christmas" Giveaway competitions.
Every day, between now and the 19th of December 2010, they are giving away ONE prize. Yep, you read right - one prize PER DAY. You have 2 days to enter each competition.
Have a look around their website - they have fantastic resources and are very popular with Montessori education fans worldwide.
Let me know if you win anything!! Good luck!
Also, stay tuned for more releases over the next few days on this blog, and competitions around the Christmas/ New Year period. Hope to be posting some ART today.
Basho Moskohas multilingual (French, Spanish, Mandarin and English) educational songs for children. He has allowed me to publish his Youtube clips here. His website is http://www.bashoandfriends.com/ and if you want to you can purchase his Spanish language downloadable CD at www.cdbaby.com/cd/basho ($9.95 for the album of 10 songs, or 99c per each Mp3 download). He will also be donating a couple of cds to a giveaway later on. Stay tuned... No need to describe his songs - you can watch them right here and judge for yourself. Just remember they are under copyright-no downloading illegally! Some of the songs have words and translations beneath them, and others have words in Spanish on-screen (you could transcribe them yourself).
Days of the Week & Months of the Year
Dia por dia (day after day) Hey hey, como estan? Qué día is hoy? Qué? No saben? Yo les enseño los días de la semana Ya listos?
Yo canto, Tu cantas Nosotros cantamos El canta, Ella canta Ellos cantan todos juntos Si quieres aprender los días Solo ven aquí Cantemos, cantemos Cantemos juntos, sí!
Enero, Febrero Marzo, Abril Mayo, Junio, Julio Agosto, Septiembre Octubre, Novembre Diciembre Doce meses al año!
Enero, Febrero Marzo, Abril Mayo, Junio, Julio Agosto, Septiembre Octubre, Novembre Diciembre El año 2x
Domingo (etc) (x4)
COOL, THE ALPHABET
ORALE, EL ALFABETO ¡Hey, Cosmo! ¿Cómo estás?, ¿Quieres aprender el alfabeto con nosotros? ¡¡Guao, Guao!!" Orale, será fácil. ¡Sólo canta con nosotros! A-B-C-D-E-F-G. . . H-I-J-K-L-M-N-ñ-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X. . . Y. . ZETAAAAHHHHH. (x2) Muy bien Cosmo. Ahora vamos a aprender, las vocales. Es algo diferente, ¿Estás listo?
A-E-I-O-U CON M ES. . . .MA-ME-MI-MO-MU CON P ES. . . .PA-PE-PI-PO-PU CON L ES. . . .LA-LE-LI-LO-LU
¡Muy Bien! ¡Otra vez!
(Repeat A-E-I-O-U)
¡Sí, Cosmo! Hiciste muy buen trabajo. Y Ahora sabes todo el alfabeto y las vocales también. Si quieres, maňana vamos a cantar otra vez, ¿Sí?.
Translation:COOL, THE ALPHABETHey Cosmo how are you? Would you like to learn the alphabet with us? "Ruff, Ruff!!!" Cool, it will be easy. Just sing along with us! A-B-C-D-E-F-G. . . H-I-J-K-L-M-N-ñ-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X. . . Y. . . ZEEEEEEEEEEEE. (x2) Good job Cosmo! Now we're going to learn the vowels. It's a little different. Are you ready?
A-E-I-O-U WITH M IT IS .MA-ME-MI-MO-MU WITH P IT IS. . . .PA-PE-PI-PO-PU WITH L IT IS. . . .LA-LE-LI-LO-LU
Very good! Again!
(Repeat A-E-I-O-U)
Yay, Cosmo, you did a very good job. And now you know the entire alphabet and the vowels too. If you want, tomorrow we can sing together again, yes?
BUENOS DIAS
BUENOS DIAS (Good Morning) Buenos días, buenos días ¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo estás? (x2) Muy bien, muy bien Gracias ¿Y usted? (x4)
Translation Good morning, good morning How are you? How are you? (a2) Very well, very well Thank you And you? (x4)
hora de jugar
baila con tu cuerpo (dance with your body).
Como te Llamas (audio only)
Catchy, aren't they? And easy to memorise!! Be great to have them all come out on dvds.
