Merry Christmas 2009

Christmas was celebrated with much fun fare at our school. Children were delighted to have their parents join them in the celebrations.

We listened to the story of Christmas ...

sang Christmas carols ...

& got a gift from Santa!

Thanks everybody for joining us & spreading the joy and cheer of Christmas! Enjoy these pics - http://picasaweb.google.co.in/peacemontessori/Christmas2009?feat=directlink as we take a break & return back to school on 4th Jan 2010.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

Vegetable vendor comes to school

Just as we had called the Fruit vendor during the "Fruits" month, this month ("Vegetables" month) we had the Vegetable vendor come in to sell his veggies to the children. As we have been showing & talking about a new vegetable everyday, the children were familiar with most of the veggies in the vendor's basket & learnt a few more. They had even bought money with them to buy some veggies from the vendor.

First, we decide what to buy -

Then we weigh it -

Then we pay the money & pick up our bag -

Finally, we sit & check if everything is in order -

Sink or Float

This was a fun and informative session discovering objects that sink & objects that float. At first, children just sat & observed what happens -

Very soon, they all wanted to repeat the experiment themselves -

Introduction to phonetics

In our Montessori classroom children learn the phonetic sounds of the letters before they learn the alphabetical names in a sequence. The phonetic sounds are given first because these are the sounds they hear in words that they speak or listen to in their everyday life.

We have already introduced phonetic sounds of the vowels a, e, i, o, u to our children & request parents to practice the same at home. You can play I-spy games with them by placing different objects in front of the child, then saying “I spy something with my eye, something that begins with ‘a’ (Here, instead of saying the alphabet ‘a’, make the sound of ‘a’ as explained below)”.

How to make the sounds?
a for apple - Widen your jaws, then lift your tongue & pull it back while using your voice
e for elf - Let tongue push against lower teeth, open mouth & use your voice
i for igloo - Open mouth slightly, let tongue rest on sides of upper teeth & use your voice
o for ostrich - Open mouth, let tongue lay on the floor of mouth & use your voice
u for umpire - Let tongue lay on floor of mouth with tip against lower teeth, open mouth & use your voice

You can listen to the sounds here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ns8tUIWP0

Here’s a brief word list to get you started –
a as in apple, album, ant, act, axe, acorn, acrobat, alligator, ambulance etc.
e as in elephant, elf, egg, elbow etc.
i as in igloo, ink, inkpot, injection, instruction
o as in ostrich, old, ox, open etc.
u as in umbrella, umpire, under etc.

Once children are familiar with these sounds at the beginning of the word, you can
introduce words which have the sound in the middle of the word e.g. fan, stand, bag, cat etc.

Diwali 2009

Diwali was the perfect occassion to have a get-together for our wonderful children & their parents. Enjoy these moments - http://picasaweb.google.co.in/peacemontessori/Diwali2009?feat=directlink

Sensory awareness

I would like to share an interesting article on the Sensorial materials used in Montessori -
http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/sensorial-work-leads-to-sensory-awareness.html

This is where Montessori schooling simply excels the traditional schooling! Every experience is hands-on (the child is actually working with the objects not merely listening to the teacher & trying to imagine) & therefore, more likely to catch the child's fascination & interest.

Dandiya 2009

Check out the Dandiya celebrations at our school - http://picasaweb.google.com/peacemontessori/Dandiya2009?feat=directlink

What have toddlers been upto?

Our toddlers have been working, reading, tasting fruit juice, popping & blowing bubbles!

Snack Time

It’s never too early to inculcate good habits in children. We, at school, follow a daily routine of offering “Thanks” to God before our snacks.

Children get their chowkis, lay down their napkins on the chowki & keep their snack boxes on the napkin.

We all close our eyes & offer our prayers –

Thank you God for the world so sweet

Thank you God for the food we eat

Thank you God for the birds that sing

Thank you God for everything!

Plates are provided to the children for eating. Children eat their snacks, sharing it with a friend often times, especially when they want to trade the snacks :)

They keep the plates in a designated corner, put their boxes & water bottles in their bags & keep the chowkis back in place

Simple routines like these go a long way in inculcating a sense of order, discipline, caring & sharing.

Janmashtami 2009

Festivals are an integral part of our life in India, potraying our diverse cultures & rich heritage. We celebrated the festival of Janmashtami at our school on Thursday 13th Aug 2009 with our little Krishnas & Radhas.

The children enjoyed viewing the Krishna Jhanki & listening to tales & bhajans of lord Krishna...

Breaking the handi...


Making & savouring "besan ladoos" (after all, mehnat ka phal meetha hota hai!)…

Click here for more pics - http://picasaweb.google.com/peacemontessori/Janmashtami2009?feat=directlink

Thanks to all our parents for joining us in this celebration & making it a memorable one!

Children at work

We often say that children have no attention span but give them something interesting & watch them concentrate ...

Rainy Season

While the rains in Mumbai continue to play truant, we had a “Monsoon” theme last month at our school.

We talked about rain wear & demonstrated its use.

We talked about rain creatures & children were quite fascinated by the family of snails that Jyoti found for them.

All we need now is rain & that too, lots of it !!!