  |
 |
What do we know from brain research about how we learn?
The brain is a unique and vastly complex and adaptive system that can generate an astronomical number of neural nets
from which our daily experience is constructed. The brain performs many functions simultaneously and learning is
enhanced by a rich environment with a variety of stimuli. Dr Montessori advocated the creation of especially prepared
learning environments to best meet the developmental interests and needs of children.
Many findings seem obvious and intuitive, like the fact that the best age to learn a new language is during our
early childhood; what neuroscientists call the principle of ‘windows of opportunity’ and which Dr Montessori,
long before, had described as ‘sensitive periods’.
We can accept the notion that either you use ‘it’, or you lose ‘it’; new neural pathways are created every time we
use our brains. Dr Montessori advocated that we must never do for a child what they can realistically do for themselves.
The brain understands best when facts and skills are embedded in real and meaningful experience. Dr Montessori stressed the
importance of going out into the community and building a working community within the school so as to provide genuine,
real life, multi-sensory and purposeful experiences.
Learning engages the entire physiology. Physical development, personal comfort, and emotional states affect
the ability to learn. Dr Montessori devised three-year learning cycles acknowledging that children mature at
different rates; that chronological age may not reflect the student's readiness to learn and incorporated ideas
about the importance of movement, nutrition and self-direction – all of which underpin well-being and hence help
to create good conditions for learning.
Maths Exercises
What math activities can I do with my child?
Numbers are used to describe quantities, to count, and to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
Understanding numbers and knowing how to combine them to solve problems helps us in all areas of math.
Count everything! Count toys, kitchen utensils, and items of clothing as they come out of the dryer. Help your
child count by pointing to and moving the objects as you say each number out loud. Count forwards and backwards from
different starting places. Use household items to practise adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.
Sing counting songs and read counting books. Every culture has counting songs, such as "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"
and "Ten Little Monkeys", which make learning to count – both forwards and backwards – fun for children.
Counting books also capture children’s imagination, by using pictures of interesting things to count and to add.
Discover the many ways in which numbers are used inside and outside your home. Take your child on a "number hunt" in your
home or neighbourhood. Point out how numbers are used on the television set, the microwave, and the telephone.
Spot numbers in books and newspapers. Look for numbers on signs in your neighbourhood. Encourage your child to tell
you whenever he or she discovers a new way in which numbers are used.
Ask your child to help you solve everyday number problems. "We need six tomatoes to make our sauce for dinner,
and we have only two. How many more do we need to buy?" "You have two pillows in your room and your sister has
two pillows in her room. How many pillowcases do I need to wash?" "Two guests are coming to eat dinner with us.
How many plates will we need?"
Practise "skip counting". Together, count by 2’s and 5’s. Ask your child how far he or she can count by 10’s.
Roll two dice, one to determine a starting number and the other to determine the counting interval. Ask your
child to try counting backwards from 10, 20, or even 100.
Make up games using dice and playing cards. Try rolling dice and adding or multiplying the numbers that come up.
Add up the totals until you reach a target number, like 100. Play the game backwards to practise subtraction.
Play "Broken Calculator". Pretend that the number 8 key on the calculator is broken. Without it, how
can you make the number 18 appear on the screen? (Sample answers: 20 – 2, 15 + 3). Ask other questions
using different "broken" keys.
|
| |
|
2008 TERM DATES
BEGINS
- Term 1 Tuesday 5th February
- Term 2 Tuesday 29th April
- Term 3 Tuesday 22nd July
- Term 4 Tuesday 14th October
*Note Preschool Terms start on the Monday before*
CONCLUDES
- Friday 11th April
- Friday 4th July
- Friday 26th September
- Friday 12th December
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR 2008
- 10th March Adelaide Cup Day
- 21st March Good Friday
- 24th March Easter Monday
- 25th April Anzac Day Holiday
- 9th June Queen’s Birthday
- 6th October Labour Day
|
