Montessari Education for infant is taught at Baby SN's nursery

I was invited to Baby SN's nursery to attend a short course on Montessori Education. Though the course is conducted in Japanese Language, I have personal translator i.e one of the mother ; Kimura-san. She is a mother to Amane-chan, Baby SN's clasmate and she has wide experience into Montessori Approach.

=- Baby SN and Amane-Chan -=

I was told that only 10% of nursery and school in Fukuoka adopted Montessori Education in their curriculum. We were lucky to be able to send Baby SN to Kinomi Hoikuen as this nursery is one of the best nursery which accommodate all the basic concepts of Montessori approach and has lots of Montessori materials to offer to the kids. This short course was organized in order to introduce to the parents on the curricular taught at Baby SN's nursery i.e Kinomi Hoikuen.

=- teachers of Kinomi Hoikuen(nursery) is demonstrating the Montessori Approach to mommies -=

Basic Concepts of Montessori Approach :-

1. Freedom for self-directed learning. ~~ kanak2 di beri peluang pilih aktiviti kegemaran masing2.
2. Planes of development.~~ perkembangan dan aktiviti kanak2 di jalankan mengikut peringkat umur. Contohnya macam baby SN (ages 0-6 yrs); di kenali sebagai sensitive period jadi penekanan di beri kepada pembentukan peribadi yang baik dan pembelajaran melalui deria sentuh dan rasa.
3. Prepared environment. ~~ persekitaran yang sesuai dan selamat di sediakn dengan baik. Contohnya: kalau nak ajar anak tentang kebersihan, jangan marah2 bila dia tumpahkan air sebaliknya sediakan kain dan tunjukkan cara untuk bersihkan air yang tumpah itu.
4. Observation and indirect teaching. ~~ setiap kanak2 adalah unik jadi tahap penumpuan mereka berbeza. Cikgu2 kat Kinomi Hoikuen akan kenal pasti akiviti yang di gemari dan buatkan aktiviti itu menjadi lebih bemanfaat untuk kanak2 itu, bukan nya memaksa kanak2 itu mengikut arahan melakukan aktiviti yang tidak mereka gemari.
5. Normalization.~~ semasa perkembangan usia 0–6 tahun, kanak2 akan belajar merubah diri dari kurang tumpuan, kurang fokus, dan kehidupan dalam dunia imaginasi kepada lebih penumpuan, berdisplin, berdikari, dan bertindak mengikut arahan. Contohnya cikgu2 kat Baby SN's nursery dah berjaya ajar dia untuk letakkan kasut di rak kasut yang tertera nama sendiri ..comel sangat tengok dia terkedek2 angkat kasut sendiri dan letak kat rak.
6. Absorbent mind. ~~kanak2 usia 0–6thn senang menyerap apa yang di lihat pada persekitaran mereka. Jadi, kena selalu hati2 dengan perbuatan kita sebab diorang akan senang tiru dan ingat. Kalau boleh setiap kali kita marah kan mereka, kena bagitahu alasan kenapa mereka di marahi supaya mereka tidak mengingati peristiwa itu sebagai memori buruk dan mereka faham kenapa sesuatu perbuatan itu salah dan tak patut di buat.
7. Work, not play. ~~ perbuatan 'bermain' yang selalunya di gemari kanak2 di adaptasi dengan 'aktiviti' meransang minda. Contohnya: bermain toys block untuk mengenal bentuk dan warna.

=- materials used for Montessori Method -=


=- used in Mathematics course, (1 bead represent the value of 1, 1chain of beads =10, one board of beads = 100, one box of beads = 10 boards = 1000) *
~ make it easier to learn how to count and to count big number without any hesitation, made mathematics a fun subject to learn -=

The teachers at Kinomi Hoikuen give toddlers responsive, individualized attention to help them build their skills in these five important areas:

• Sensory and Perception
• Self-Help
• Language
• Physical and Motor Skills
• Social and Emotional Growth

=- the red circle and arrows highlighted Montessori materials used for babies 0-1 year old at Kinomi Hoikuen-=

Here's the differentiation between Montessori Approach and Traditional Method listed at the www.montessori.com

Montessori Approach	Traditional Method
Emphasis on cognitive and social development	Emphasis on social development
Teacher has unobtrusive role in classroom	Teacher is center of classroom as “controller”
Environment and method encourage self-discipline	Teacher enforces discipline
Mainly individual instruction	Group and individual instruction
Mixed age grouping	Same age grouping
Grouping encourages children to teach and help each other	Most teaching done by teacher
Child chooses own work	Activities structured for child
Child works as long as he wishes on chosen project	Child generally allotted specific time for work
Child discovers own concepts from self-teaching materials	Child is guided to concepts by teacher
Child sets own learning pace	Instruction pace usually set by group
Child spots own errors from feedback of material	If work is corrected, errors usually pointed out by teacher
Child reinforces learning by repetition and feelings of success	Learning is reinforced externally by repetition and rewards
Organized program for learning care of self and environment (polishing shoes, cleaning the sink, etc.)	Less emphasis on self-care instruction
Child can work where he chooses, (yet not disturb work of others) group work is also encouraged	Child usually assigned own chair; encouraged to participate, sit still and listen during group sessions

Tips yang I dapat dari short course on Montesori Approach held at Kinomi Hoikuen are :-
1) Buku yang nipis~~ kalau nak baby fokus bila kita bacakan buku, buat buku khas untuk mereka yang cuma ada 1-2 pages bergambar sahaja. Jadi baby akan rasa seronok sebab sekali belek dah habis baca, dengan cara ini mereka akan suka membaca sebab tidak rasa terbeban.

=- chiisai hon(small book) -=


=- only 2 pages, in order to ensure maximum attention from the babies-=

2) Guna kapur untuk menulis
~~ sebab adalah susah sebenarnya untuk baby pegang pensil/pen dengan sempurna. jadi lebih baik kalau sediakan kapur dan papan tulis di peringkat awal ini.

=- chalk and board provided for the babies -=

3) Kurangkan penggunaan perkataan "NO"
~~ I memang suka jerit NO kat baby SN sebelum ni everytime dia grab something. Sebenarnya tak berapa elok dalam proses pembelajaran dia kalau I asyik halang keinginan dia untuk belajar. Oleh itu, setiap kali cakap "NO" kena terangkan kenapa tak boleh buat gitu, kalau malas terangkan..mommy tak boleh cakap "NO" dan biarkan je dia explore things around him hehe.

=- I'm explaining something to baby SN and he's listening to it carefully --=

4) Sentuh dan rasa
~~ kena bagi banyak pendedahan dalam aspek ini untuk kanak2 umur 0-6thn sebab masa ni ialah waktu terbaik untuk dia belajar tentang persekitaran.

=- baby SN get to touch those materials -=

I am lucky sebab dapat hantar Baby SN ke Nursery yang adapt Montessori Education ni for free. I was told by some of my friend yang Tadika Montesori kat Malaysia mengenakan yuran yang tinggi, betul ke?. Kalau camtu, nanti balik Malaysia I nak bukak Tadika Montesori gak lah, ada ke siapa2 yang nak hantar anak u all ke Tadika Montessori Yatie Chomeyl? Ngeeeeeee.

Pssssssttt : dah lama tak nampak makcik global kat nursery, tenang rasa hati I hik3x. *refer: Yatie Chomeyl dah jadi Yatie Tak GLOBAL (T_T)*