September 2007

It is wonderful to see how the returning children have grown over the summer, and to welcome so many new children to IMS!  September seems to have flown by and we are all pleased to see the children settling in so well.  They seem eager and excited to be in school and happy to get back to work.  We hope you have had a wonderful Mid Autumn Festival.

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CASA DEI BAMBINI NEWS

Welcome back to our returning families and a warm welcome to all our new families. We are delighted to be back again and to see so many familiar faces.

The start of the academic year is a time of new beginnings.  The children have now settled well into their class routine and are becoming familiar with their surroundings, tears have dried up, friendships are developing and life is getting easier for them. We know for some parents it has been a hard start and at times you might have felt a little lost and upset, and you wonder if you little child will ever settle. During the first few weeks, new children have a hard time adjusting and settling into the class environment and the presence of a parent makes the separation more difficult. As the child becomes happier in the class environment, we encourage parents to observe and also welcome parents   into the classroom during special times. Different children will react in different ways, and feelings of anxiety are normal and natural. Be sure to talk to your child about school and remember if you are worried, your child will pick up on it. We welcome parents to help in the classroom during special times. We love parents to share their ethnic and cultural heritage with projects, such as cooking, or introducing their jobs or hobbies to the class. We will let you know of these events and look forward to seeing you.

In the classroom, the children are working on an individual basis in mathematics, language (English and Putonghua) sensorial, practical life and Science.

They are getting use to working individually and in group situations. Socialization is very important part. In the classrooms the children are interacting continuously, choosing work and also the older children are helping the younger ones. Each day there is a group time, a time for singing and playing. Montessori introduces your child into a fascinating, stimulating world of intriguing equipment.

As your child enters the classroom, one of his class friends may be working on the nuts and bolts: another girl fills a jar with water. Some of the children are spread out around the floor working with a long chain of beads linked together in groups of 8 etc. Another boy works on the brown stair and another child discovers cubes called the Pink Tower. Map puzzles of the continents are on the floor where the older children enjoy making their own maps to take home. The new children are observing and they are becoming aware of the teachers and the prepared environment (classroom) you are the bridge between what you child will learn at Montessori and what your child can learn at home. As a Montessori parent, it will not take you long to learn that every moment can become an exciting learning experience.

In addition to this we have focused on the Mid-Autumn Festival and Autumn. It was so lovely to see so many parents to come in for the photo session to celebrate the Moon Festival. The children looked great and thanks for making it special for them.

Do you know? The Moon Festival falls on the 15^th day of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. During that night the moon is very bright and round. In the Chinese culture the moon is considered highly poetic and mysterious and the Chinese love it. The moon Festival is a time for family reunions. The most significant things in the Moon festival are moon cakes and the parade of the lantern. Our children also made moon cakes, which was enjoyed by most! We hope you all had a taste of their MOONCAKES.

It was so lovely to see so many interested parents at our Montessori Evening. It was a good opportunity for us to be able to present to you what your children are learning and why. A number of good questions were asked, and we hope that you have a better understanding of how the Language is presented in the Montessori Classroom.

As always, we encourage you to support your child’s development at home by allowing him/her to do things for himself/herself even if it takes longer or may make a mess. Be sure to set the ground rules, observe while your child is performing the task, and ensure that he or she helps to tidy any mess. It is easier to do it your self, but you child really enjoys the process. By working on these, h/she is learning valuable fine and gross motor skills. Be sure to let your helper know this information as well.

Snack time is fun for the children and part of their learning experience. We provide snack at school. We also invite the children to bring in special snacks and food and the child is responsible for setting up the snack table and arranging the special food they have brought in. Each teacher will arrange this with their own class. Children who stay for lunch should bring in food and drink that are nutritious. Remember to make the lunch look attractive and bit size pieces please.

Please label all of your child’s belongings including caps and socks. It is amazing how many of these go astray.

Finally, on a more administrative note, we are providing each child with a plastic folder in which we will place all correspondence between the school and the parent and the children’s finished work. Please look into the folder for messages from us, and use it to enclose notes you would like us to read.

Again if you feel the need to contact any of us please do not hesitate.

Casa dei Bambini Teachers

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ARTIST/COMPOSER OF THE MONTH:  This month the children have been exposed to the art of Zhang Da Qian and the music of Johannes Sebastian Bach.

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MONTESSORI PEDAGOGY:

SEEING THE CLASSROOM FROM

THE NEW CHILD’S POINT OF VIEW

As new children enter the class, we teachers observe them from the perspective of what skills and knowledge they are ready to develop and acquire. We watch their ability to concentrate, and their interest in developing independence, and their ability to categorize information, which helps us to decide what focus we will have when working with each child.

The children are also observing. They are becoming aware of the teachers and the prepared environment (classroom). First, they strongly need to find out what the teachers in the environment are like, as after all they are trusting them to take care of them for several hours in the day. They observe the adults’ temperament, expectation level, consistency, friendliness, and empathy. Once they feel secure with the adults in the environment, they begin to take note of other things that are interesting and important to them. While they are most likely not doing this consciously, it is very possible for us to understand what they are discovering by watching them closely during the first few weeks of school. There are very important discoveries that they make on their first months or through their first year in the class. It is worthwhile for you to take some time to examine these so you we will be better able to understand how they assimilate the school experience.

Planning Time and Making Decisions

Most children have not had the experience of being in an environment where there is a sense of timelessness. This is created by not structuring every moment of the children’s day at school. This is the reason we strive for three hour work period, and why it is our goal to not schedule singing time and story time (for example). But to allow these activities to take place when children need them and come to them if they are interested. As a result the children can make decisions, about what they want to do and begin to learn to plan their day in the classroom.

Most of the children have had the experience that adults tell them what to do from one activity to the next. They have very little opportunity to operate independently within a large block of time. It is no wonder that the new children have a hard time choosing work after their initial choice. This is one of the reasons why the teachers need to provide them with small group language lessons to help bridge the gap between independent and directed work.

We can see the joy decision making brings to the new children when one of them approaches the teacher and says, “I want to paint.” When the teacher responds, “If it is available, you may paint,” the child skips off to find out if it is free. Very soon the new children stop announcing what they want to do, as they figure out that they can simply go get the materials they want without checking in with any of the adults. This brings them great satisfaction and adds to their budding sense of independence.

Real Independence

Unknowingly, many teachers take away opportunities for children to become independent, because they think they are being helpful. The way this is manifested in the new children is that they will bring us things they find on the floor, such as beads and clips. They have not learned that they can take care of these things themselves. There places provided in the classroom where they can put the things they find, hence, they will learn that they are capable of taking care of these things. For example, there can be a basket for items found like barrettes and instructions to return a piece of an exercise they find to the place where they belong on the shelf. The very young children are the ones very concerned with order in the classroom. Within a few days, they know the approximate location of all the materials in the room, whether they have used them or not. It is astounding to watch a new child find a piece of math on the floor and know to which exercise it belongs.

The new children also relish the idea that they are allowed to take care of issues in the classroom that are viewed as problems (and called messes) in other schools or even at home. They love to pick up beads when they spill them, they enjoy cleaning up their wet and dry spills, and they naturally pick up pencils and other items on the floor to put away when they see them. This joy is evidence when a new child is adamant about not wanting help with a large spill. Most of the time, several children will come to the aid of the child who has spilled something, and often the child will send them away, as he wants to take care of it himself. We adults have the tendency to take this for granted, but in fact this is a behavior that is exhibited because the child is allowed to be responsible for himself. In most other conventional schools, he might be scolded or at best, have the adult send him away, while it is cleaned up. This opportunity to be responsible for his work is one of the many gifts the prepared environment (Montessori classroom) gives the new children.

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CASA DEI BAMBINI CHINESE NEWS:   

(For parents without Chinese at home, please click here for a brief guide)

您們好! 首先歡迎本學年的新生加入我們蒙特梭利大家庭

First, a warm welcome to all new students joining the IMS family!

我們九月的教學主題是:“我的家庭, 秋天和中秋節”。中秋節來臨之前, 我們會安排了與節日相關的活動, 幫助孩子了解中秋節的習俗。

Themes help the children learn the Chinese language in a systematic way.  In September the children were introduced to “My Family” and “Autumn and the Mid-Autumn Festival”. As we are approaching the Mid Autumn Festival, we have organized many activities such as making lanterns and baking mooncakes to help the children learn the customs of the event.

中文方面, 除了有關的童謠和兒歌外, 還有詞彙和據式學習。 內容如下:

For Chinese Language, we have learned the following vocabulary, sentence structure, songs and verse:

詞彙 Vocabulary:

General Greeting and Ground Rules

早上好                         zao shang hao  Good morning

午安                           wu an                Good afternoon

再見                           zai jian              Good bye

謝謝                           xie xie               Thank you

你叫甚麼名字                ni jiao shen mo ming zi      What is your name?

我叫………..                  wo jiao               My name is

對不起                        dui bu qi            Sorry/excuse me

請讓一讓                     qing rang yi rang  Excuse me (especially give space)

請給我…                      qing gei wo         Please give me

請幫我…..                    qing bang wo      Please help me

請安靜                        qing an jing        Please be quiet

請坐好                        qing zuo hao       Please sit properly      

洗手                           xi shou              Wash hands

Family

爸爸                           ba ba                 Daddy

媽媽                           ma ma               Mummy

爺爺                           ye ye                 Grandpa (daddy’s daddy)

奶奶                           nai nai               Grandma (daddy’s mummy)

外公                           wai gong            Grandpa (mummy’s daddy)

外婆                           wai po               Grandma (mummy’s mummy)

哥哥                           ge ge                Older brother

姐姐                           jie jie                Older sister

弟弟                           di di                  Younger brother

妹妹                           mei mei             Younger sister

Autumn

秋天                           qiu tian              Autumn

涼涼的                        liang liang de      Cool

歌曲Songs:                              

家 庭 成 員

The Family

(Tune:  Ten Little Indian Boys and Girls)

1

爸爸的爸爸是我的爺爺

Ba ba de ba ba shi wo de ye ye

(Daddy’s daddy is my grandpa)

爸爸的媽媽是我的奶奶

Ba ba de ma ma shi wo de nai nai

(Daddy’s mummy is my grandma)

媽媽的爸爸是我的外公

Ma ma de ba ba shi wo de wai gong

(Mummy’s daddy is my grandpa)

媽媽的媽媽是外婆

Ma ma de ma ma shi wai po

(Mummy’s mummy is my grandma)

男孩子比我大是哥哥

Nan hai zi bi wo da shi ge ge

(A boy older than me is my older brother)

女孩子比我大是姐姐

Nϋ hai zi bi wo da shi jie jie

(A girl older than me is my older sister)

比我小的男孩子是弟弟

Bi wo xiao de nan hai zi shi di di

(A boy younger than me is my younger brother)

比我小的女孩子是妹妹

Bi wo xiao de nϋ hai zi shi mei mei

(A girl younger than me is my younger sister)

季 節

Seasons

(Tune:  ABC)

春季, 夏季, 秋季, 冬季,一年裏有四個季節

Chun ji, xia ji, qiu ji, dong ji, yi nian li you si ge ji jie

(Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, there are four seasons in a year)

春天是暖暖的,夏天很熱

Chun tian shi wen nuan de, xia tian hen re

(Spring is warm, Summer is very hot)

秋天是涼涼的, 冬天很冷

Qiu tian shi liang liang de, dong tian hen leng

(Autumn is cool and Winter is very cold )

一年裏有四個季節, 每個季節都不一樣

Yi nian li you si ge ji jie, mei ge ji jie dou bu yi yang

(There are four seasons in a year and each season is different)

童謠Verse:

中 秋 節

Mid Autumn Festival

(Rhyme)

中秋節, 吃月餅

Zhong qiu jie, chi yue bing

(Mid-Autumn Festival, we eat moon cakes)

賞月亮, 玩燈籠

Shang yue liang, wan deng long

(We watch the moon and play lanterns)

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MONTESSORI PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME NEWS

Firstly we would all like to welcome back all the Elementary families and trust you all had a relaxing summer vacation.  

Some of the interesting things that the Oceania class have been working on in September include the following; The Creation Story, The Time Line of Life, the noun, and a review of the adjective and the verb, the wooden hierarchical material (for place value), simple addition and subtraction facts, and word problems for the children in their second year.  The children have done animal cards and questions, the parts of the plant, a study of polygons, and time.  The children in the Europe class have done work on the parts of speech, all the great lessons mentioned above, multiplication, division, multiples, the geometric concepts, and they have started work on the five classes of vertebrates and plants.  

Standardised Testing:  One of the major items that we are beginning to prepare for is the upcoming practice test for the Stanford 9 which will occur October 18th.  The students will be introduced to test taking language and the format of the test after the break.  The purpose of this practice test is to enable all students to build test taking skills.    

Birthdays:  Each month the elementary program has a joint birthday party as noted on the calendar.  Parents may send in a special snack or a pizza, and are welcome to join the festivities right after lunch.  If you are ordering pizza, please let us know and we will start the party a little early.   

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As always, please feel free to contact us to arrange a time after school to speak specifically about your child’s lessons or work when you have a question. 

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ELEMENTARY CHINESE NEWS:   

The Chinese Curriculum in the Elementary Classrooms

Since the beginning of the term, we have established 2 streams for the Chinese curriculum on a trial basis:

·         Stream 1 taught by Emily Chang (Zhang Lao Shi):  The children in Stream 1 are primarily native and “near-native” Chinese speakers, many of whom have been through the Casa Program at IMS. This stream uses a series of textbooks, “今日中國語/ Chinese Today”, which has been designed for local schools in Hong Kong.  Children in Stream 1 require either assistance at home by a parent or caregiver in Chinese, or Chinese tutoring outside school in order to maintain the level of Chinese in this stream. Our recommendation is to begin with 2 hours of tutoring per week.

·         Stream 2 taught by Molly Wu (Wu Lao Shi):  Stream 2 consists mainly of non-native Chinese speakers who have no or limited support at home for the learning of Chinese, and uses the series of textbooks “海外小學中文課本” designed by the Beijing Language and Culture University for overseas Chinese primary school students.

In both streams the children are learning all aspects of the Chinese language: speaking, listening, reading and writing (in traditional characters), but the emphasis is on communicative skills for Stream 2. This approach allows native speakers in Stream 1 to broaden their vocabulary and compositional skills to complement their speaking ability, and children in Stream 2 extensive practice in speaking and listening, giving them confidence to use the Chinese language. In both streams, homework and reading assignments are given and we ask parents to support your child’s efforts at home to complete and return these assignments.

We have found this approach to suit the individual needs of our children well, and have decided to put this arrangement in place formally.

Whilst teaching each individual stream, Wu Lao Shi and Zhang Lao Shi also continue to be responsible as class teachers with Mr B and Ms. Teresa in the Europe and Oceania classrooms respectively.  

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