Dear Parents, 

It was nice and valuable to see all of you during the Parent Teacher Conferences. Your insights about the children are always meaningful, and we truly appreciate the home school collaboration. What matters most is always the best interest of the children.

Circle time is always a delightful moment, especially with the presentation of grace and courtesy. The children learned how to respond when a teacher calls their name: stop, look at the teacher, and walk towards them. They also discussed table manners, which they now apply during lunch time.

Reception children are actively working on honing their skills, from learning sounds with the I Spy game to memorising the alphabet. Please remember that we encourage children to say the sounds, not the names of the letters. Some children are building words, while others are practicing blending sounds. The children work at their own pace, and each step is celebrated as part of their growth and confidence.

Meanwhile, Nursery children have been introduced to language through classified cards and vocabulary enrichment activities. These activities are good for expanding their vocabulary, strengthening memory, and building a foundation for expressive and receptive language.

Unit – My Five Senses

We kicked off Week 7 with the sensory bins! The children had lots of fun using their sense of touch to feel, explore, and describe what they thought was inside the bowls. In Montessori Sensorial activities, children practice refining their sense of touch through materials such as fabrics, touch boards, and touch tablets. Touch is an essential sense, especially for people with visual impairments, and the children also discovered how the Braille Pen Set helps enhance writing skills.

Exploring taste brought out many expressive reactions as the children sampled different foods to identify flavours. They learned new vocabulary to describe tastes: bitter, sour, salty, and sweet. The children created an “I Can Taste It” flip book, recording and drawing each food item they tried.

We wrapped up the week with a fun cookie-baking activity, which the children thoroughly enjoyed, especially when it was time to taste their delicious creations!

Year 1 additional learning covered – Week 7 and 8

Phonics   

To identify sounds represented by more than one letter, for example /ch/, /sh/, /th/, /qu/, /ng/, /nk/

To use phonic knowledge to read decodable words. Reading and writing CVC words,words with adjacent vowel / consonants using sounds covered, words with double consonants such as bell, mess, mitt, back. 

Language / Literacy – Reading. Guided Reading groups – Practising fluency of reading and gaining the confidence to recognise sounds and blend them to read words and sentences.  Reading comprehension, to be able to answer direct questions about the book.

Language / Literacy– Weekend news

The children planned their writing by recording key words on their planning sheet:. ‘My weekend snapshots’. They concentrated on spelling familiar words accurately (and, went, to, the, with, my, me)  as well as using a capital letter for ‘I’, for proper nouns and to start some sentences in more extended writing.

Language / Literacy– Grammar analysis

We discussed and learned what a sentence is made of: an article, a noun,an adjective,a verb, a preposition, a conjunction. 

In pairs, the children built sentences by putting the words in order. Use the symbols and place them above the words. 

Maths – 

Addition

There are many ways we can add numbers up. During these last two weeks, the children have learned how to add by combining two sets of quantities. We used unifix cubes, counters and the part-whole models to combine two quantities and find the total. 

Adding by counting on is another strategy which the children learned how to use number lines to count on from a given number to find the total. 

Place Value 

Starting with the Montessori Teen boards which the children are familiar with, the children learned how to use the Numicons and the unifix cubes when learning to compose and decompose numbers from 10 to 20. For example, 14 is made of 1 ten and 4 units / ones. 

Important Dates

11-20 Oct: School Holidays

21 Oct: School reopens

21 Oct: Diwali Dress Day

22 Oct: Montessori Language Workshop

31 Oct: Halloween Dress Day 

Kind regards,

Montessori Team

Dear Parents,

Over the past two weeks, our Grace and Courtesy lessons have focused on social interactions.
When passing someone in a narrow space, we remind the children to say “Excuse me.”
When asking for something, we encourage polite requests using “Can I… please?” rather than “I want…,”.
We also practiced responding to greetings from teachers and staff with a cheerful “Hello” or “Good morning.”
Additionally, we discussed the importance of kindness when playing or working together. If a friend asks to join a game or activity, the polite response should be welcoming rather than rejecting.

We would also like to thank you sincerely for your generosity in bringing snacks and flowers to school. The children take their snack duties seriously, peeling carrots and cucumbers, spreading jam or peanut butter, and carefully cutting flower stems. During snack time, when everyone thanks the snack duty helper, the child feels a great sense of pride.

As mentioned in the parent information meeting, this is part of Montessori Practical Life. Snack preparation and sharing are valuable exercises practiced in most Montessori schools, guided by principles of healthy eating and community building. The children enjoy this experience greatly as they share food together with their friends.

In Week 5, we concluded our unit on All About Me by focusing on feelings. We identified a wide range of emotions and discussed how we express them. We also explored strategies to turn our feelings around or ways to help ourselves work through them.

We have started a new unit on Our Five Senses, beginning with ‘sight’. The children explored a 3D model of an eye and learned about how our eyes function. They also played a “guess the missing object” game and created their own optical illusion called Bird in a Cage. To end the lesson, we discussed the importance of protecting our eyes from the sun.

Year 1 additional learning covered – Week 5 and 6

Phonics
To identify sounds represented by more than one letter, for example /ch/, /sh/
To use phonic knowledge to read decodable words. Reading CVC words and adjacent vowel / consonants using sounds covered.

Language / Literacy – Reading. Guided Reading groups – Practising fluency of reading and gaining the confidence to recognise sounds and blend them to read words.  Reading comprehension, to be able to answer direct questions about the book.

Language / Literacy- Weekend news
The children planned their writing by recording key words on their planning sheet:. ‘My weekend snapshots’. They concentrated on using capital letters and punctuation when writing their sentences.

Using their writing from Monday – weekend news, the children rewrote the sentences by adding further information and connective words: First, Next, Then, Finally.

Maths
Length
The children had the opportunity to compare objects and learn new vocabulary when describing the length of objects:  longer than, shorter than, longest, shortest.
Odd and even numbers
The children have continued to identify and understand even and odd numbers as ‘every other number’ when counting from 0 to 20.

Number names
Learning the names of the numbers was a fun time had by all. We played matching games to familiarise ourselves with the visual name of numbers and practised writing the names on our white boards: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Parent Teacher Conferences
Please be informed that Parent Teacher Conferences will be held in person /face to face, in the classroom, on the 29th and 30th of September.

On both of these days, all children; Nursery, Reception and Year 1 should be picked up at 12:00 (Lunch will not be provided).

Please use the attached document to sign up for the time that is convenient for you. Parents with 2 children in the class kindly sign up for back to back slots where possible. A gentle reminder to log in using your child’s school email address. Thank you.

Please arrive on time to adhere to our schedule. We will strictly follow allocated time slots, and there will be no extensions for late arrivals.

Peace Performance
Our Peace Performance will be held on Thursday, 27th November, at 11:30 a.m.
Please let us know by Wednesday, 24 of September if your child will not be attending this event. Further details about the performance will be shared closer to the date.

Kind regards,
Montessori Team

 

Dear Parents,

As we step into the third week, the children have become more receptive to classroom routines and are engaging more deeply in their learning. 

Practical Life activities, an essential area in Montessori classrooms, provide the foundation for children’s independence and confidence. As preliminary exercises, the children have been practising spooning and pouring. They are learning to hold a spoon correctly, an important step toward self reliance when eating snacks and lunch. Dry and wet pouring activities help them develop the skill of holding and stabilising a jug, preparing them for tasks such as pouring milk on Friday. Each activity in Practical Life is intentionally designed with a specific purpose as part of the Montessori prepared environment. Building on these foundations, the Reception children have also been further exposed to sounds and letters. They have been working diligently to practise writing their names using correct letter formation.

In their studies of Indonesia, the full day students explored the country’s rich cultural diversity. They observed a variety of traditional dances and created their own maps to identify the main islands.

Earlier this week, we experienced two days of online learning. It was a big change for everyone, but the children adapted well. Many activities were carried out with great enthusiasm. We are grateful to the parents for their support in ensuring that learning continued smoothly at home.

We continued with engaging activities connected to our unit of inquiry, All About Me. Through observing and learning about ourselves, the children discovered that everyone is unique, with both similarities and differences that make each person special. One enjoyable challenge was creating a symmetrical self-portrait.

This week, we also explored how our bodies work with the help of our organs. Each organ has an important role, and together they help us stay healthy. The children learned how the heart, lungs, and digestive system function and work in harmony. A highlight was the “jelly brain” activity, where they discovered that the brain acts as the body’s control centre, sending messages to the rest of the body. The children also enjoyed a balloon experiment that helped them understand how the lungs work.

A gentle reminder that tomorrow is a public holiday. We will see you on Monday. 

Year 1 additional learning covered – Week 3 and 4

Phonics   

To identify sounds represented by more than one letter, for example /ch/, /sh/

To use phonic knowledge to read decodable words. Reading CVC words and adjacent vowel / consonants using sounds covered. 

Language / Literacy – Reading. Guided Reading groups – Practising fluency of reading and gaining the confidence to recognise sounds and blend them to read words.  Reading comprehension, to be able to answer direct questions about the book.

Language / Literacy – Parts of a book

What do you know about a book? We explored the different parts of a book: Front cover, back cover, title, title page, author, illustrator, pictures. 

Language / Literacy– Weekend news

We reinforced the steps to follow when writing a sentence:  Capital letter, finger space, punctuation.

The children have used their phonic knowledge to write simple sentences. They all shared something special that they did during their weekends. 

Maths 

The children have learned new names and revised the names of 2D shapes. We explored the names of polygons as an extension: pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon.

Odd and even numbers 

The children are beginning to understand even and odd numbers as ‘every other number’ when counting from 0 to 20.

We looked at  the relative size of quantities to compare and order numbers from 0 to 20.The children were invited to put objects in the correct place showing their understanding of ‘greater than, less than’.

 

Kind regards,

Montessori Team

Dear Parents,
We are delighted to welcome you to our first official Montessori post!
It is wonderful to see that our returning students have been stepping into their roles as positive role models, while our new students are gradually settling in. Occasional morning tears are becoming rare, and we sincerely thank you for your support in helping your children adjust.

As you may know, when the children enter the classroom, they are free to choose any work from the shelves. In this post, we will not be highlighting individual learning experiences but will instead share some general insights into what we do in the classroom.

New students are receiving presentations primarily in Practical Life and Sensorial activities, while returning students are building on their foundation and refining skills in other areas. The children have been enjoying singing, listening to stories, and participating in Grace and Courtesy lessons. Grace and Courtesy is a vital and ongoing part of our Montessori environment, with many presentations given regularly.

A few of these include:
Stopping when they hear the chime or bell
Tucking in their chair when leaving the table
Learning how to carry a chair
Remembering that running is for the playground, while in the classroom we walk with “quiet feet”
Rolling a mat and walking around it
Asking for help using an indoor voice
Learning how to line up

In celebration of Indonesian Independence Day, our full day students were introduced to the traditional games ‘Cublak-Cublak Suweng’ and the all time favourite ‘Makan Krupuk.’ They also joined Primary and Secondary students in fun games on the soccer field.

We have also embarked on a new unit of inquiry: All About Me. Through this, the children are beginning to understand that everyone is different and that those differences are what make each of us special. The cooking activity involved the full day students making their own ‘pancake face’ which they all got to enjoy eating of course!

Finally, the children participated in an important fire drill. They walked calmly to the designated assembly point, joining the rest of the school in practicing this essential safety procedure.

Year 1 learning covered – Week 1 and 2

What is special about you
We had a special time getting to know each other and to familiarise ourselves with the Year 1 learning environment.
Each child got to share something special about themselves. We read the book ‘I’m special, I’m Me’.

Phonics – Learning Objectives: -To know the name of each letter in the English alphabet and the most common sound (phoneme) associated with it.
-To identify sounds represented by more than one letter /sh/, /ch/
-To use phonic knowledge to read decodable words. Reading CVC words and adjacent vowel / consonant words using sounds covered.

Language / Literacy – Reading.
Guided Reading groups – Practising fluency of reading and gaining the confidence to recognise sounds and blend them to read words.

Language / Literacy – Rhyming.
We explored the end sound in words through various games: Matching cards to a word, to pair rhyming word cards and Rhyming bingo cards. We also had fun listening to Nursery rhymes that have words which rhyme.

Language / Literacy- Holiday news
The children have used their phonic knowledge to write words and / or simple sentences. They all shared a special event they did during their holiday break.

Maths
2D shapes
The children have learned and revised the names of 2D shapes. We explored the particular properties or characteristics of these shapes: number of sides, curved or straight.  We made patterns and created fun pictures.

Numbers
As we reviewed our knowledge of numbers, we also learned about the concept of ‘estimating’ a quantity. The children took turns to share their estimation as we counted the objects to check who had the closest estimation.

Kind regards,
Montessori Team