Babel School in Taiwan

Last Sunday Zosia and Jaś got to be actors again. They were in a play for young children at Mikado Children's Theater. 肥寶闖天關 is about a boy who was born very big and fat and how others are trying to convince him to eat less and to play sports to become healthier and to loose weight. The play was for small kids, the audience was asked some questions during the spectacle and was interacting with the actors. Both, Zosia and Jaś, have done a very good job and had a lot of fun. Take a look at some photos to get an idea what the whole thing looked like: Can you recognise Zosia? Jaś as Mr. Coffee Jaś as Mr. Sandwich and Zosia as Miss Cake Jaś as shuttlecock and Zosia as a girl learning to play badminton The cast

ZABAWY Z ZAPAŁKAMI, ale bez ognia, SORTOWANIE czego się da, a także SZYFROWANIE Kolejna odsłona "Dziecka na Warsztat", tym razem pobawimy się w ... myślenie logiczne. Dwójka starszych dzieci od młodzieńczych lat rozwiązuje zagadki logiczne, krzyżówki i zadania, nad którymi trzeba sobie nieźle połamać głowę, najmłodsza dopiero zaczyna (już uwielbia różne ukladanki). Jednymi z ulubionych zadań dzieci są ... zagadki z zapałkami (ze względu na brak zapałek użyliśmy wykałaczek :-) ). Oto kilka, nad którymi głowił się ostatnio Jasiek (11 lat). Zapraszam do zabawy: (rozwiązania na końcu posta - nie podglądać!) 1. Ułóż zapałki i monetę, jak na zdjęciu, a następnie przełóż dwie zapałki tak, by moneta znalazła się poza "kieliszkiem". 2. Przełóż jedną zapałkę tak, by ściana szczytowa domu znalazła się po prawej stronie. 3. Przełóż trzy zapałki tak, by ryba płynęła w prawą stronę. 4. Z liczby 143 utwóż 4. Możesz przełożyć tylko jedną zapałkę. 5. Z...

Just half a year has passed since I've started teaching Ania math concepts and numbers. In the beginning she could rote count to 10 in Chinese and that's it. She couldn't really count objects nor did she understand one-to-one correspondence (it means that one element from a set is paired with exactly one other element; easier - that two really means two of something). She couldn't recognise any numbers and of course she couldn't write any either. And now? Ania can rote count in Chinese to a hundred. She can count in Polish and English to 20. She recognises all the numerals 0-9 and writes a few. She has no problem with one-to-one correspondence. Can count objects very well and loves doing that. Does daily math exercises which she chooses herself. What do you think? In the album below you can see how we achieved all that:

Ciekawym zrządzeniem losu kilka tygodni temu skontaktowała się ze mną pani Danuta Świątek z nowojorskiego portalu polonijnego Dobra Polska Szkoła z prośbą o udzielenie wywiadu na temat wielojęzyczności w naszej rodzinie. Poniżej zamieszczam link do wywiadu: “Rozmawiać po polsku, nie znaczy lekceważyć innych!”

I know, I know ... some of the Montessori purists will say that this material shouldn't be used like that, that there is no real Montessori work like that, but ... although I am a certified Montessori teacher, I think that some of the materials can be used in many more interesting ways and not only in a way that Maria Montessori has "invented". Materials : short bead stair ten-bead bar number cards 1-10 Objective : to reinforce the number and quantity concept Presentation : Place the material on  the mat on a table. Put the one-bead bar on the top of the mat and look for the number 1 card, place it next to it. Do the same with the numbers 2-10. Here is Ania doing this work with different number cards (I found them too big, taking up too much space).

Every now and then I remember about some Montessori materials that have been put away in the darkest possible corner of the cupboard. Years have passed since I've last used them, so pulling out all those beautiful (and expensive) materials is a true joy for me, especially that now there is again a keen 3-year-old waiting to work with them. This week I decided to introduce the so called SHORT BEAD STAIR (by some called Colored Bead Stair) to Ania. Materials : Montessori Short Bead Stair 1 ten-bead bar Objective : further practice counting 1-10 prepare the child for further math work with Sequin Boards Presentation : The child lays out the Short Bead Stair on a mat and starting with the one-bead bar builds a triangle with the rest of the bead bars. While building he should count the beads out loud. Additional exercise : Coloring the bead bars on a piece of paper. Ania enjoyed working with this material a lot and I am sure she is going ...