Greentree Montessori Children Hub

Another week has gone by and with just 4 more weeks of the school term, our graduates to be will be leaving their preschool learning years and moving on to a brand new journey ahead of them.

 

Though we may be approaching the end of the school year which is incredibly scary, we have two more major events ~ Greentree Montessori Graduation Day and Greentree Montessori Forest Fair!

 

For those who are new to our centre and scratching your heads on what is Forest Fair, here is a brief introduction ~ Forest Fair is a mini carnival where games, food and drink stalls, art and craft stalls are set up. There will be children’s performance and craft items made by our children put up for sale on that day. It will be a fun day for everyone. Details of the event will be given soon.

 

As for this year’s graduation, it will be something different. J An invitation will be handed to you and details of this special day will also be informed.

 

The weather has been very hot this week. Even when the children just spend 15 minutes outdoors, they will be all sweaty and red! They have been reminded to drink plenty of water before they go out and after coming back in.

 

Momo continues to draw the interest of the children. Whenever they realized that she is not in her usual hiding place, they would start looking high and low for it. As for the younger children, they are still a little hesitant when they see a little furry thing walk past them. Though afraid, they continue to challenge themselves to touch her.

 

On Friday, the children had a mini music and movement session by one of our trainee teacher, where they were introduced to “Chinese Kung Fu” When they first heard the Chinese Traditional Music, all of them broke out in laughter. After demonstrating the various stunts, the children couldn’t wait to show off their new learnt skills. With the music as the background, all of them were doing “martial arts”. J

 

Next week, the children will be introduced to different air transportation and doing a little science experiment. J

  

With the introduction of the new pet on the block ~ Momo the kitten, children have been crowding around its cage, chasing it around when it walks around the environment, “disturbing” it when she is sleeping in her basket and screaming and running when Momo gives chase. J To what we can recall, this was what happened three years ago when Max first arrived in school.

 

Well, Momo is given a clean bill of health and will be able to get her first vaccine in another month’s time. She is currently 3 weeks old.

 

Attendance hasn’t been good this week. Children have been coming down with flu, fever and stomachache. I do hope it is not the stomach flu that is going around. L Do take care of one’s health and should your child be feeling out of sorts, do keep them at home.

 

Oh yes, the toddlers’ now have their very own entrance to their classroom. A little pavement has been created by their class teachers at the backyard. Parents are now able to send and drop off their children in the toddler’s class using this entrance starting on Monday.

 

This week, the children were introduced to the cultural and customs of Diwali ~ Deepavali. One must admit it is only now, that I realized Diwali is celebrated for 5 days and each day, different things are done. Embarrassing! L

 

They were also shown the various decorations ~ lamps, candles and decorative artifacts. Henna is also the main focus of the children. Since the day they realized there are henna on the table and the henna drawings on their teacher’s hand, a queue was formed daily to have henna drawings done. From simple flower patterns to complicated animal drawings!!!

 

On Friday, the rain came down as we were about to leave school to Little India. With their raincoats on, up the bus we go and off to Little India where the sun shone!!

As it is the eve of Deepavali, a crowd has already been formed along the streets and at the bazaar. Children walked past each stalls selling flower garlands, bakery and sweet stalls, and various grocery stalls all selling items for the Festival of Lights. We even went into a shop selling all the festive clothing. At the bazaar, with more things in sight, their little eyes kept looking up and around and the teachers had to remind them to watch where they are going at the same time.

 

A stop was made at a shop selling bangles, anklets and various jewelries. Bangles were bought for all as a little gift to them and small henna patterns were drawn at another shop along the way for some. Lunch was taken at Tekka Mall before we head back to school.

 

It has been quite an eventful trip for all and here’s wishing all our friends ~ “Happy Diwali”!!!! J

 

This week went past pretty quickly. Everyone in the classroom from the young ones to the teachers seems to have buried their heads into every task which they are engaged in.

 

With the preschoolers getting more and more adapted to their individual routine, activities from all areas of the classroom can be observed. It seems that everything in the classroom and the materials on the shelves have brought them to take notice of them. Children who initially have little interest in the Practical Life activities have been initiating their wants. Some would observe what their friends are working on and realized that they had not seen that piece of work before.

 

Having the children up and about moving more readily and purposefully in the environment, the teachers have to keep up much faster than them.

 

Planned activities have also been carried out for the past two weeks in the afternoon for our full-day children. Activities ranged from stories and music, art and crafts activities to science experiments and caring for the environment. They really looked forward to these activities after their nap. J

 

A separate outdoor environment has been put in place for our toddlers. They now have their very own outdoor classroom as well as having their own miniature outdoor equipment fit for their age group. J

 

On Friday, we celebrated Gabriel’s 4^th birthday. Though there wasn’t any cake, the children got together to sing a birthday song for Gabriel. Packs of biscuits were also given out to his friends as gifts.

 

It was also on this day when we took in a stray kitten that has been wandering around the bushes at our backyard. Children of all ages even little Anna was very excited to see the little kitten. This little one will be introduced to the others officially on Monday. J

 

Next week, we will be celebrating the Festival of Lights ~ Deepavali. Children are encouraged to dress in colourful traditional clothing and if possible, to put on the Indian traditional clothing as we will be having a little celebration and cultural introduction on Thursday, before our outing to Little India on Friday.

 

 

蒙特梭利教学法， 是在全世界证明唯一可以改变儿童的人格， 智能与社会情操的教学法。

在我们的园地里， 我们不断追求真实地体现玛利亚蒙特梭利医生的教育理念：教育是为着发展生命而服务的。在绿荫的园地里， 您会感受到大自然和谐的气息，更能感受到童真，童趣。

喜欢蒙特梭利教学法的您，让我们一起研究、学习与分享。

还不认识蒙特梭利教学法的您，真诚地邀请您一起来认识, 感受这与众不同的教学法。

A big welcome to those who just joined Greentree Montessori's Space.

Greentree Montessori is one of the first Montessori school to be registered with the Ministry of Education. She has been operating as a Billingual Montessori school for the past 18 years.

At Greentree Montessori, we believe in discovering the true nature of the child, allowing each child to develop and progress at their own pace and most importantly, to enjoy learning through play.

For parents who already understands this teaching method, we would like to invite you to view our space and watch our children at work.

For parents who are new and interested to find out more, you are also able to get useful information from this space.

Thank you.

It has been an eventful week with Children’s Day on Thursday, Mid-Autumn Festival on Friday and not forgetting our fun-filled trip to the Singapore Zoological Gardens to celebrate Children’s Day.

 

Before I go into the details of the two major events, which both teachers and children had tremendous fun, a few things to share in regards to the children adapting to their new groups and routine.

 

Since last week, children have been kept busy by our rambutan tree which has been shedding its leaves like “snow”. Every morning, from the youngest to the oldest age group, children would be sitting along the door-step to wait for their friends to arrive so that everyone will pitch in to sweep and pick up all the leaves in the garden. It’s amazing how efficient when all of them work cooperatively with each other. J

 

In the classroom, children have been busy working with the various Sensorial materials especially with the Thermic Bottles, Thermic Tablets, Geometric Shapes and many others which they already mastered. With a new baby doll added ~ Xin Xin, children have started to notice and initiate to bath her instead of AnAn. Whenever a child baths AnAn, they are always curious as to why she only has one arm. L

 

Rise and Shine!!! We’re going to the Zoo. The children were looking forward to this outing as they couldn’t wait to reach KidsWorld. Along the way, they were able to catch the Gibbons and Orang Utans doing acrobats on the tree near their habitat, “dine” with the lions!!!!! Not forgetting their interest of visiting the White Tigers.

 

At KidsWorld, they were welcome by many horses, big and miniature ones too. Goats, giant rabbits and guinea pigs……and their eyes widen when they saw the huge water area!!!! Check out the photos on our blog and witness the fun they had. J

 

Mid-Autumn Festival, it has always been a tradition of Greentree Montessori to have night-schooling. First up, I need to apologize for the mix-up in the timings. Let’s put the past behind us and follow the moonlight on this special night.

 

Children came in with their lanterns and to my surprise, many of them brought in the traditional paper-made lanterns. J J With the night slowly approaching, the legend of this festival was shared. Mooncakes, pomelo and tea was served as snack as we slowly prepared ourselves for fun and our finale ~ the Lantern Parade.

 

It was great to have all our families and friends to join us for the Lantern Parade. 月圆人团圆

 

这一周真是充满喜庆和欢愉的气氛，星期三去户外教学，星期四是儿童节，星期五是中秋晚会，哇哇哇节目可真是丰富呀！别急我们一样一样来回顾一下。

 

这次的动物园户外教学适逢儿童节前夕，所以很多的学校也组团来参观。这可说是我带孩子们来动物园最热闹的一次，几乎可以用人山人海来形容。不信看看我们网上的照片就知道了，买好票都必须排队等待才能入园。而老师们也发现到，其他幼稚园和托儿所的参观队伍都是大人比小孩还要多，而只有我们是真正老师带着一批孩子出来游玩的。年长的孩子也说：你看他们还要爸爸妈妈牵着，我们可以自己走。是的，家庭聚会和学校带团对孩子来说应该是截然不同的两个经验，所以我们都不鼓励家长随行，就是希望孩子能有不一样的体验。当然也要谢谢家长放心把孩子交给我们，我们会在照顾孩子之余，也努力想出各种不同的活动来给他们。

 

大部分的小朋友都来过动物园好几次，所以在路上可以听到他们和朋友讨论之前来过的趣事。猩猩，人猿，水獭，北极熊，倭种马，白老虎都是孩子们津津乐道的。孩子们甚至和狮子一起吃点心呢，这个经验够特别吧！

不过孩子最期待的还是玩水的时间，由于时间的关系，孩子们没有换上泳衣就直接下水了，不过影响不大他们依旧玩得很开心。也许是玩得太累，在回的路上，孩子们的脚步明显沉重了很多。在这里给亲爱的父母一个贴心小贴士，我们知道家长们怕孩子在户外教学时会有其他需要而准备了很多东西给他们；但其实只要给他们基本又足够的配备就行了，因为少一样东西就是少一分重量，而孩子们肩膀上的重量就会轻很多，走起路来也比较不容易累。

 

星期五的中秋晚会也是让孩子们兴奋不已，他们提着各式的灯笼，交换彼此的意见。吃着香甜的月饼柚子，听着有关中秋节的各种传说，今年甚至还玩了仙女棒。中秋节月圆人团圆，一年又一年我们希望的就是孩子们不要忘记我们华人的传统文化，让这些源远流长的习俗能够时代相传的发扬下去。

 

祝大家：中秋节快乐，但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。

I am sure by now, all of you are anxious to view the photos which were taken during Sport's Day. Apart from the many photos taken by Daphne & Daenah's dad & Yusheng 哥哥, there are a few shots which were taken during the days when the children were having their rehersals.

 

Enjoy......... :>

嘿，这个星期最受瞩目的是什么呢？当然是我们的运动会啦。为了我们在运动会当天能有最好的表现，孩子们都开始练习运动会中各种不同的项目。

 

在第一天，我们先来分组和列队。嗯，这有点难度，因为孩子们还不太习惯，所以队伍总是歪七扭八的，不然就是一直跑去朋友那组，不过一会儿他们就领悟到是什么一会事了。终于可以整齐地在自己的队伍前排列好。

 

接下来就是练习跑到终点再折返回起点。这对于大的孩子没有什么难度，他们都可以顺利的完成。不过幼小的孩子常常会跑到别的队伍那里，需要给他们“指路”。偶尔也会有等不及的孩子会和他的队伍一起跑，或是愣在那里不知道发生了什么事。来回几次的练习后，大家都很清楚的知道自己的起跑点和终点线了。

 

后来我们又和孩子进行了一些项目的练习，其中包括需要团队合作的项目（不能透露是什么不然到了大会当天就没有新鲜感了）。游戏进行时有的孩子会很尽力的想出解决的办法，有的孩子会很容易感到气馁，有的会一直为同伴加油打气，有的不顾一切往前冲，有的不想参与，也有的孩子一脸老神在在的样子。

 

轮到需要运水的项目，孩子们更是非常紧张，因为他们必须分秒必争和时间赛跑，在水漏完之前倒进桶里，所以呢他们可是各出奇招，跑快一点的，按着洞的，瞄准一点的，甚至还有把滴下的水舀回去的。

 

嗯，说了这么多是不是想看看孩子们的模样呢？那就记得准时出席九月十二日的运动会罗。

嗯,国庆日过去已经有一段时间,不过爱国的气氛还是回荡在课室里。因为小朋友不时还是会哼唱爱国歌曲，只要有一个人开始其他的小朋友就会跟着一起合唱。

 

这个星期天气又变得有点阴晴不定了,偶尔飘来的一阵雨会扫了正在户外玩耍孩子的兴致。有时正在户外照顾环境的孩子，也必须停下手中的工作，等待雨停。像是浇花，洗刷或是捡树叶的工作本周一直都有小朋友在进行。看着他们认真的在那里洗刷和整理花园，心里还是有一丝的感动，因为他们单纯的想要把环境整理好的那份心意。

 

室内照顾环境的工作如：擦桌子，洗桌子，擦亮铜器，擦镜子等程序性工作，不时都有孩子想要尝试。这一类的工作，其实是训练孩子秩序感的途径之一。因为每一个步骤，每一道手续孩子们都必须记起来。当然一开始他们需要一些时间来练习一旦熟练之后他们就可以自己完成整份工作。

 

美劳角落也是人流不断。像是缝工，做别针，剪吸管，编织等工作都吸引了很多的孩子。刚开始有的孩子的小肌肉还不是很灵活，所以做起这些工作，会需要老师的帮助。但随着练习的次数增加，孩子们的手渐渐灵巧起来，做起工作也就更得心应手了。

 

今年我们的运动会将于九月十二日星期六举行，所以在接下来的日子，孩子们就要开始为运动做准备和练习了！加油了，孩子们。