MONTESSORI PHONICS BLUE SCHEME by Budsy

Budsy finally commenced on the blue scheme of Montessori Phonics with chubs, when lil’ dragon_boi settled down in school.

We have successfully kept up with a daily morning routine of a few hours of work. Chubs has been given the freedom and flexibility on his daily choices of work; from the 5 areas of Montessori Education – Practical Life, Montessori Language, Montessori Math, Sensorial Studies and Cultural Explorations. As our sessions are now 1-to-1, Budsy is gradually increasing pace for chubs, to prep him for the rigour of mainstream education.

Budsy has officially introduced the Blue Object Box 1 to chubs. As an orientation session, we merely carried out word building activity with the box. This session was for Budsy to gauge his competence in listening to the sounds in longer phonetic words. Little emphasis was placed on getting the correct letters to form the words. Just an orientation session to kick in the new term with chubs.

The funniest moment during our orientation session was when chubs tried to form the word crab. Budsy let him try out both cr-ab and cr-ap combinations just to see if he was able to distinguish the right one. We had a good laugh over how different the meanings of both words were, with just the last letter sound. 

After we finished the word building activity, Budsy invited chubs to check his work using the word cards. This is the auto-education feature in Montessori; called the control of error.

Each activity in the Montessori Method has a control of error for children to learn the skill of self-check(ing). This feature is a wonderful way of gradually instilling work independence from when they first start on Montessori education. This skill will gradually on the children and they will unconsciously follow through this awesome habit, right up to the time they attend formal national education.

Chubs will make his own corrections to the words which he may have formed inaccurately. This indirect teaching gave him the confidence that it is totally ay-okay (and very normal!) to learn from mistakes. This control of error feature in Montessori education, allows children to improve and refine their learning skills in a non-stressful and non-threatening environment. They do not have to hear about the many things they have done wrong but instead, they learn how to make many things right……. all on their own. 

Ohhh the wonderful things about learning phonics using the Montessori Method.

Splash Kidz Amaze @ SAFRA PUNGGOL

BUDSY's FUN ESCAPADES

Splash Kidz Amaze @ SAFRA PUNGGOL

We headed northeast last weekend to explore the huge, newly-built 5-storey SAFRA Clubhouse at SAFRA Punggol. Alight at Sam Kee station if you're going by public transport. The clubhouse is just across the street from the station. 😉

Magnificent sights all around the picturesque building, which is located along Punggol Waterway Park.

You can choose to cycle and drive to the clubhouse too! There are bicycle racks where you can park your bicycles, should you like to explore the clubhouse after cycling around the park.

We were delighted to be invited to the preview of Splash @ Kidz Amaze at this new clubhouse last weekend. 

Once there, we registered our attendance at the registration booth. We received tags, goodie bags and headed straight for the entrance to Splash Kidz Amaze.

It's the first indoor water playground in Singapore which boasts a 3-storey play structure. During this preview, the children played and gathered feedback on the level of fun, safety and variety of the new attraction.

Crew were all ready to welcome the very first guests at Splash Kidz Amaze.

The children didn't wanna leave. 

The SAFRA Punggol Clubhouse will be officially opened tomorrow. If you're heading out for the official opening of Splash @ Kidz Amaze, scroll through the pictures to view the rates.

For more details, you may visit : http://www.safra.sg/punggol#.VxuCD0XEmnO

Do share your fun experiences there with Budsy, if you're headed for the clubhouse where the fun flows! 😉 Would love to hear all about them! 

They're open at 9am..

Are u ready?☺️

The countdown begins..

10 hours to opening day... 😊

Another new venue for our children to have some fun! 👍🏻💞

Working with Peter & Jane readers (Part 1)

In Part 1 of working with Peter & Jane, Budsy will share what Budsy did with lil' dragon_boi.

He has never been fascinated with the illustration in Peter & Jane readers. Neither has he been keen with repetitive words. However, he was keen in learning new sight words.

It was tough to get him to sit through even a short session. As he took little interest in these readers, his concentration span was extremely limited.

When lil' dragon_boi saw the word cards that Budsy bought for chubs, he showed interest in wanting to 'play' with us.

One of the activities was for chubs to unscramble the mixed up words in each sentence. He was to write the sentence in the correct order based on the corresponding picture given.

As lil' dragon_boi just turned 3, he has had very little exposure to pre-writing. To be honest, he has little interest in writing. In Montessori however, Budsy picked up his sensitivity to learning language. It was almost too much a waste to forego a teachable moment.

You know the thing about maximising our children's potential?

As parents and educators, we should focus more on our children's strengths and what they CAN DO, instead of harping on what they can't. Why? It is because we can help our children to push the boundaries of what they can do towards excellence by observing/finding ways they learn best.

So here was what Budsy did for lil' dragon_boi...

(1) The following night when the boys finally turned in for the night, Budsy flipped to the last page in Peter & Jane Book 1C, scanned and laminated the few pages at the back that were meant for written activities.

(2) Budsy cut out the word cards and out them aside. After which Budsy cut out the pictures too and turned them into individual 

picture cards.

(3) Following the basic lesson presentation of the Montessori 3-period lesson, Budsy introduced each word to lil' dragon_boi. Lil dragon_boi's strengths were :-

(i) blessed good memory skills

(ii) already phonetically trained in up to 3-letter phonetic words

(iii) enjoys hands-on lessons

FIRST PERIOD

Budsy introduced a few word cards to him in isolation.

"This is Peter. /p/... Peter."

"Peter is the name of this boy."

(showed him a picture of Peter)

"This is Peter. /j/... Jane."

"Peter is the name of this boy."

(showed him a picture of Jane)

"This card says/reads; here."

"/h/... here."

"/i/ and /s/ makes the word 'is'."

"This card says/reads; like."

"/l/... like."

"This card says/reads; and."

While pointing to each letter on the card, Budsy blends the sounds to him. "/a/... /n/... /d/ - and."

SECOND PERIOD

Budsy asked lil' dragon_boi to point to the corresponding word cards as Budsy calls/reads a word out until we were done with all the words/cards.

For example :

"Which card says... 'like'?

"Can you show mommy, where's 'and'?"

"Now, which one's Peter?"

Carry on with the rest of the words/cards. 

(4) THIRD PERIOD
Budsy invited lil' dragon_boi to select a picture card. 

Budsy asked him, "What can you see in this picture?"

"I can see the dog with Jane and Peter." He replied.

"Yes, they are playing with the dog."
"Peter and Jane like the dog"
"Let's make that sentence together."

"Which cards spells Peter? Can you pick it up and place it beside the picture?"

"Peter AND Jane like the dog."
"What word comes next? Let's find it!"

He continues to place each word card to form the sentence that described the picture he selected. The sentences are provided in the answer keys of the same book. ie. Book 1C.

(5) Lil' dragon_boi finished putting the words together to form the sentence and read it out aloud. 

He was enthused by his newly acquired ability to actually form a sentence with some guidance from Budsy, that he proceeded to work on the other picture cards on his own, with combinations of words to make his own story... 

So there. 

Budsy finally managed to get him to read the Peter and Jane readers all.