Montessori Australia

Exploring the Pros and Cons of Montessori Education | Rasmussen University What do Jeff Bezos and preschoolers have in common? Maybe not much at a surface level, but in 2018, the e-commerce king pledged $1 billion to fund low-income Montessori preschools. You may not have known it, but along with many of the tech giants who founded Google® and famous athletes, musicians, and activists, Bezos himself was Montessori educated. Hearing about this eye-catching donation and some of the prominent figures educated in a Montessori program might have you itching to learn more about what Montessori is and the potential pros and cons to taking this educational approach. Read on to learn more about this unique style of educational instruction. What is the Montessori Method? The Montessori Method was developed by Dr. Dr. Various activity stations for children to choose from throughout the day. Like with any instructional method, some teachers and parents love the approach, while others aren’t as enamored. The pros of Montessori education What does this look like?

Every Child - Playing with phonics - Teaching letters and sounds (APAFT) - Informit Abstract: Children in Australian early childhood settings are experiencing different types of phonics instruction. Research investigating views of 283 early childhood educators in Sydney about alphabetic literacy found nearly all educators believed phonics was important in preschool-aged children's literacy development. Over one-third of educators reported preference for explicit formal skills instruction and used commercial programs (e.g. Letterland, Jolly Phonics). Other educators reported a preference for a more holistic, childcentred approach to learning alphabetic literacy (Campbell, 2015; Campbell, Torr and Cologon, 2012). New phonics test will do nothing to improve Australian children's literacy Minister Birmingham released a report today recommending that all Year 1 students in Australia complete a phonics test. The panel responsible for the report has recommended that Australia adopt the Year 1 phonics screening check that has been used in England since 2011. What is phonics? Phonics is the process of matching sounds to letters. It is an important skill when learning to read and write in English. Analytic phonics starts with taking a word that children know the meaning of, and then analysing it to see how the sounds in the word match the letters we see within the word. Synthetic phonics starts with letters which the children learn to match with sounds. Which phonics method is better? There is no evidence that one phonics approach is better than the other. All inquiries have concluded that whatever phonic instruction method is chosen, it should be one part of a suite of skills children should have when learning to read. What is the phonics test? Why are we introducing it?

Extra readings Seven things to consider before you buy into phonics programs Phonics, or teaching reading, writing and spelling through sounds, is often touted as the golden path to reading and writing. National curricula in England and Australia have been rejigged to increase their focus on phonics, and entrepreneurs and publishers have rushed to fill the space with phonics programs and resources. But before you buy their wares, consider the following. 1. This may be an inconvenient truth for those promoting phonics programs, but English is not a phonetic language and never has been. English began about 1500 years ago as a trio of Germanic dialects brought over to the islands we now know as the British Isles. The Latin alphabet was a good phonetic match for spoken Latin, but it was not a good match for spoken Old English. There were sounds in Old English that simply didn’t exist in spoken Latin, so there were no Latin letters for them. Those letters were repurposed and some new letters were introduced. As a result, English is alphabetic, but not phonetic. 2. 3. 4.

Montessori Education Method - The Montessori Method of Education and its Key Principles The Montessori Method is an education for independence, preparing not just for school, but for life. The Montessori Method is a child-focused educational approach that is based on scientific observations of child development. It takes the view that children are naturally eager to learn, and capable of absorbing a tremendous amount of knowledge through experiences in their environment. Maria Montessori (1870 – 1952) was the first female Doctor to graduate from the University of Rome. She first became world renowned for her work in children’s education after developing a set of educational principles that followed the natural development of the child. From her earliest experiences of working with children, Montessori came to develop theories about the development of the child, and how they learned. Especially relevant to Montessori’s observations, was how avidly children absorbed information from their environment. The Montessori school was a special environment for children.

What do you think? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, The - Feeling the pressure: Early childhood educators' reported views about learning and teaching phonics in Australian prior-to-school settings (Humanities & Social Sciences Collection) - Informit Abstract: Early childhood educators' beliefs about literacy teaching can impact on the types of phonics experiences educators provide for children in prior-to-school settings. 'The Australian Early Years Learning Framework' supports a play-based, intentional approach to teaching phonics, however little is known about what Australian early childhood educators believe is important in teaching phonics in the prior-to-school years. Using a qualitative content analysis, this research study investigates 115 early childhood educators' views about how phonics should be taught and the use of commercially produced phonics programs (e.g. Jolly Phonics and Letterland) in prior-to-school settings. This study further investigates educators' perceived pressures to include structured phonics lessons, as a way of addressing parental notions of 'school readiness'.

Reference list 15 Preschool Counting Songs, Fingerplays & Rhymes 15 fun counting rhymes and songs for preschoolers. Fingerplays and nursery rhymes are a staple of the preschool and kindergarten classroom, and have been for generations. This list of counting rhymes and songs includes many of my personal favourites from my classroom days, that I also loved singing at home with my own kids as a mum. I have included a printable song list that you are welcome to hang in your classroom or home. 15 Counting Rhymes, Fingerplays & Action Songs Here is the Beehive Here is the beehive (make a fist) Where are the bees? Five Currant Buns Five currant buns in a baker’s shop (hold up five fingers) Big and round with a cherry on the top (draw a circle in the air Along came a girl/boy (or child’s name) with a penny one day, Bought a currant bun and took it away (tuck one finger down into fist). Four currant buns in a baker’s shop… (Continue until no currant buns are left in the baker’s shop). Continue until no little ducks came back, then; Four jellyfish… One jellyfish…

Who Are Famous Montessori Educated People? | Montessori Questions Answers | Daily Montessori There are many ‘famous’ people that attended a Montessori school in some stage of their life. While one can argue, that there are many successful people who were not exposed to Montessori education, interesting is that many of those who attended Montessori school praise it as one of the important success factors. Larry Page and Sergey Brin – founders of GoogleJeff Bezos – founder of Amazon.comJacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis – former first lady (John F. Kennedy)Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs – singerPrince William and Prince HarryT. Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple) is talking education, mentioning that Montessori schools are doing a better job than most in teaching independent thinking – watch from 11:20, or the whole interview – it’s worth it! Sergey Brin and Larry Page (founders of Google) both attended Montessori preschool and both highlight that it was Montessori education that contributed to their independent thinking and success. Do you know any other famous Montessori Educated people?

Why the focus on phonics? Art For Kids Hub - Art Lessons - How To Draw For Kids