WEEK'S UP FOR WEEKENDING 13 JANUARY 2017

Hello everyone, welcome to the first Week's Up of 2017!

It is good to be back 'in full swing' and we are very happy to have all our children with us, some a little taller than we remember, some a little more 'sun-kissed' from their holidays and everyone looking generally pleased to be in class again!  Well generally, is the operative word as we did have teeny, tiny whimpers that dissipated as everyone became busy with the Montessori materials!

The new children continue their settling-in process and we are happy to say that most of them have adapted to their new environments.  Now, the real work begins as we progress with their journey into Montessori education. 

WUp from the Teachers - nope that's not a typo 😁, it is our 'buzz term' for the weekly note that we send you.  By now the parents of our new joiners must have received personalised mail from the teachers and you are welcome to share its content, with your child.  More to come as the term proceeds. Please remember to copy all correspondence with the school to, broadrick@montessori.edu.sg to ensure broadrick@montessori.edu.sg

LUNAR NEW YEAR 2017

Lunar New Year Holidays - We will be closed from Friday, 27th and 31st January 2017; sessions resume on Wednesday, 1st February 2017. 

The celebrations in school will be held on February 8^th, 2017 from 9 a.m.  There will be no regular sessions on this day, for both the Infant Community and Casa.  All children are invited to attend the celebration.  

Children are expected to arrive at school by 8.15 a.m. and, be collected by 11.00 a.m. The cultural performance is scheduled at 9 a.m.  Please contact the school bus for changed bus arrangements for this day.  Tel: 67755115

Here are pictures from the 2016 performance at school.

So, please do join in this auspicious event.  We would not be able to accommodate any cars in the compound and request that you park along Ramsgate Road, always being mindful of our neighbour’s access to the road. We suggest that you carpool and/or use public transport.

The celebration begins with a performance by our students, a repertoire of song and dance, followed by a professional Lion dance troupe doing their traditional blessing of the school and for all present, (so we may enjoy a prosperous and happy year ahead!). The finale will be the classic ‘Yu Sheng’! (tossing the salad of prosperity to which we invite all present – vegetarians too!)



IDENTIFICATION TAGS:

ID Tags were issued to who have applied.  Please contact the school office immediately if you have not received the above.  To ensure the safe dismissal of your children, please see that the person collecting a child from school is wearing (or is able to display) the ID tag we have issued.  Thank you for your cooperation.

WITHIN THE CLASSES...

(L-R) Extending greetings from one to another, a new child happily completing an activity, colouring a 'kolam', grace and courtesy - opening and closing doors gently, safely and securely

Group Discussions:

• The children excitedly shared their holiday experiences which ranged from a 'super stay-at-home vacation with the added bonus of grandparents (the kind we like with no schedules!)' to travels far and wide
• Many friendships were forged through introductions and the very useful  'Willaby Wallaby Woo' song that always helps to 'break the ice'.  So Kamakshi became 'Wamakshi'  -  get the picture?  Go on give this a try when you next have a bunch of friends at home.
• During group, we discussed grace and courtesy and reminded the children about using their indoor voices, walking around rugs, using polite words, etc.

Exercises of Practical Life: Grace and courtesy

• How to open and close doors - opening and closing doors gently, safely and securely.
• Greetings: How to greet each other, the teachers and visitors.

Language:

Orientation Game - This helps the children to be orientated with the environment, basically, learning the names of the materials in the class and their places within the environment.

பொங்கல் வாழ்த்துகள்

Poṅkal vāḻttukaḷ

Cultural Topic:

Multi-media Presentation: Pongal
Pongal is a harvest festival. On this occasion, people give thanks for abundant agricultural crops. The festival is most popular in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and in Sri Lanka.

The children coloured a 'kolam' as an art activity. Well in a more simplistic and childlike manner than seen in the clip😉

Songs: Lunar New Year songs.  Here is a recording of one of the (click to hear) songs we sang during group sessions.

Mandarin in the Classes...

Group:
1. Song: Happy New Year 
2. Rhyme: The Spring Festival Is Here
3. Conversation: Happy New Year!

Extended-Day ...

(L-R) Cooking the rice to make Pongal Rice - starting off as white rice and the result

Exercises of Practical Life:

Folding napkins: Introducing to folding napkins on the medial and diagonal lines. Practical aspect - promoting independence in the home environment to lay the table. 

NE𝑾 - we plan to introduce 'Preparing a banana leaf' (which is indigenous to South Asian culture) to serve a meal. 

Language:

Additional Activities with the Movable Alphabet : Reinforcement of phonetic sounds and analysis of phonetic words with the Montessori Letter Boxes

Mathematics:

Number Rods and Cards Exercises - internalizing the concept of numbers from 1 to 10. 

Topic: Artists - we discussed some famous artists in the world

Cultural Presentation and Activity:

Pongal - we talked about this harvest festival

Cookery Project - Pongal rice as a special snack

BIAN DANG BANG

(L-R) Cultural Activities: Lunar New Year performance practices and craft

Group:

1. Songs: Lunar New Year songs
2. Rhyme: Spring Festival Is Here
3. Discussed the Lunar New Year
4. Craft: A greeting card for the Lunar New Year

HINDI

Making 'laddus' for Pongal

Group discussion

Indian Culture and Heritage - Makar Sankranti 

Eminent Personalities - Swami Vivekananda 

Storytime 

१) Story of Vivekananda

२) तीन मछलियाँ 

शिक्षा - भाग्य भी उन्ही का साथ देती है जो बुद्धिमानी से कार्य करते है।

Songs: 

१ Chali Chali Re Patang meri chali re (2)

   Chali badaloa ke par ho ke dor pe sawar

   Saree duniya yeh dekh dekh jali re, chali chali re patang meri chali re.......

  Yu mast hava me leheraye jaise udan khatola ud jaye - (2)

  Le ke man me lagan jaise koyee dulhan - (2)

  Chali jayi sawar ki gali re, chali chali re patang meri chali re  ………

२ मम्मी की रोटी गोल गोल,

पापा का पैसा गोल गोल,

दादा का चस्मा गोल गोल,

दादी की बिंदिया गोल गोल....

Cookery Project: Making Til (Gud) Laddus

We will be back shortly with the Infant Community update meanwhile....