Teaching your own kids is very hard!

So far we have been trying to do an hour everyday...but it is not working, we are just getting upset and frustrated.  Rei is easier because she is home with me all day but Cai and Sakura are in Japanese school all day.  They come home at 3.30 then want to play out till 5.00, bath, dinner and finally English and Japanese homework.  It is already 7.00 usually and my time to wind down with 7mth old Izumi plus their daddy is usually nearly home.
 Not working....so we are going to try Monday,Wednesday and Friday they will not play out after school and work with me from 3.30 to 5.00........Tuesday and Thursday is all theirs and mine to actually.
So we will stick with challenge Friday and keep learning vocabulary through the week,  Monday we will work on  how a sentence is made (we have already started nouns) and Wednesday we will work on handwriting.
If it does not work we will change again, it is hard trying to work with 3 children of different ages and levels, trying to find interesting and fun ways to help them learn. I don't want them to hate learning, that is not what my Montessori training is about.  I want to give them activities that make learning English interesting and fun.   They spend their whole day in Japanese school sat behind a desk in a be quiet and listen atmosphere, don't ask questions or disagree just follow.  I want to give them a passion and interest for reading and learning.
I will keep you updated on this new routine..wish me luck :)

Making a soft block for Izzy

Not a lot of money around at the moment but luckily all of Izzy's toys are easily found around the house.  I wanted something soft for her to hold and throw around with her brother (he wants to play catch with her but his baseball is a wee bit hard!).  So some cotton material, needle, thread, stuffing and dada....one soft block.

Halloween - Rei

Challenge Friday

Last week we tried something new, I gave the children a list of words and they had to practice reading and writing the words all week and we would see how many they remembered on Friday.  Just for entering the game they got an ice cream, I made it very clear to the children that the results were not important, just to try their best and have fun playing a game together. They all played and got about 80% of their words right, so I was very happy.  We will continue "Challenge Friday" every week for as long as it works.

I began reinforcing Cai's knowledge of Nouns and introduced Nouns to Sakura.  We started with basic Nouns then moved onto Proper and Common Nouns and also Singular and Plural Nouns. Cai remembered them all, Sakura was so good, she understood at once  that a Noun was a place or a person and soon  grasped that a thing is also a Noun.  We will work all this week on Nouns.

They both work so hard in Japanese school I am trying not to push them to hard and to make everything I am teaching them fun and interesting. 

Movable alphabet - writing a sentence

Here Rei is reinforcing all the work that she has done with this reading book.  She is using the movable alphabet to write the sentence from the book.  She is reading the word, choosing the right letters and then positioning the letters to form the word, she continues until the sentence is complete.

Rei's joke

Me and Rei were walking to the supermarket this week and she said
"Mum what is half of 8"
I said "You know the answer Rei.....yes"
"3" she said
"Ohh nearly it is 4"
"No its 3" she said laughing
"If you cut 8 in half its 3" 

Okay I got it ...look at the figure 8 and if you acually cut the 8 in half the right side becomes a three.

I asked who had told her the joke and she said no one...Rei made her own joke..cool

Different ways to read a book

I printed this book for Sakura then cut of the sentences, I mixed them all up then she had to match the sentence to the picture.  She then just took the sentences and read them.

Basket of fun

Me and the girls made a basket of fun for Izzy......we thought about color, size, sound and texture...
Her favourite is a small whisk from the kitchen.

Ice cube

Rei put an ice cube on Izzy's tray, Izzy had so much fun touching and trying to pick it up.  She got a hold a few times then dropped it.

Reading and Writing your own book

 

This activity is to encourage Rei with reading and writing and connecting them together. 
Rei has just started reading this book and so to encourage her I printed the picture side of the book and asked her to write the sentence that matches the picture.  She has the book infront of her so she can find the matching picture and copy the correct sentence.
When Rei finished we stapled the pages together and made her own book.  Rei will then be able to read her own book and hopefully this will encourage her writing skills because if she cannot read a word it will be because of her own writing.   

The small movable alphabet

I have kept the movable alphabet in a small easily moved box, there are enough compartments for each letter of the alphabet.  There are are least 5 cards of each letter in each compartment.  Rei is using them to sound and spell 2 letter words.  She then writes them into her activity book. 
This is an alternative way to interest Rei in writing,  she will often sound and spell her own words when using the moving alphabet.

Sakura is praticing her writing, she has not written for a while and is a bit rusty.  She was getting frustrated when writing with paper and pencil as the words were not as clear as she wanted and she was constantly erasing the words, so using the message board and easy wipe pen from the kitchen is perfect.  She writes and practices her words on the board before using the pencil to write the words in her activity book.

The classroom - Top Shelf

This is the top shelf of their classroom,
The pockrts on the wall hold their activity books

Top Shelf - left to right
The magnet activity - seperate magnetic from non magnetic items then use the magnet to see if your right
Japanese money for Rei to learn the value of each coin
Basic colors and theirs written names - match the color to the name

Lower Shelf - back row left to right
Puzzle
Body parts
Puzzle
Write the numbers

Lower Shelf - front row left to right
Match the phonic words to their matching picture cards
Using a compass
Match the numbers to their written word

d,b and p

This activity is in 2 parts, the first has a basket of objects each beginning with d,b or p.  Rei puts the letters  out then matches the objects to the letters.

The second part has 18 phonic 3 letter words beginning with d,b or p and 18 cards with d,b or p written on them.  Rei lays out all the cards and adds the correct letter to make the word.

I keep the activity together on a tray, originally I was only using the objects and d,b and p cards, but Rei worked quickly with this so I introduced the word and letter activity.  I started with 6 words then at Rei's pace moved up to the full 18 cards. 
I will make cards with endings and middles.

Sensorial - Feel the numbers

This activity is to explore the senses, the sense of touch. 

The ping pong balls have white stickers on them, from 0 to 9, Rei feels and counts the stickers blindfolded.








 Working in order from one basket she feels and counts the stickers then places the ball into the other basket.

Rei started this activity with a blindfold on but removed it by the end.