WEEK ONE - 17 JULY 2017

Monday, July 17, 2017

Good afternoon!

We had a super start to our Summer Slam 2017! Yay!!! Thanks for enrolling your child

in the programme. 

We will make every effort to see that we all have a grand time with loads of activity to support; creativity, enhancing multiple skills, growing in independence and taking on responsibility, forging lasting friendships and of course, having sheer fun, mucking about!

Summer Slam began with a poll!  The children were invited to list out their choice of activities and ta-da - here are their choices!

(Drum roll, please - Number 1 on the list:  dancing!  this was followed by painting, movie time- with a special request for popcorn, gardening, playtime and the list went on. Sahir said he is looking forward to brushing his teeth in school, a practice we would like for our Summer Slammers to adopt, after lunch (using water).

Then, we offered our plan and; talk about, harmony - it was a perfect fit! The children were more than excited to hear, that coincidentally, we had a lot in common on the agenda!

Next came a tour of the facility - we use this term as the classrooms have transformed from the all familiar Montessori environments to open spaces that can accommodate our plans for Summer Slam. They are now referred to as Rooms 1 & 2, Nap & Rest area, Lunch 'gallery' Gym and Studio!  

Balancing and walking on a long wiggly line was a 'giggle' experience that was referred to as the 'Trail'!  Tic Tac Toe was also played with chuckles and more!

Moving on to gymnastics with Uncle Suhairi or 'Uncle Su' as children called him, saw the children begin the Australian 'Kinder-Gym' programme that will be done thrice a week to develop fundamental gymnastic skills. This included a warm up, stretches and 'pull ups' and the long jump.  After a short water break, 'Uncle Su' demonstrated the cartwheel which the children tried to follow.  Richa showed her potential in becoming a true 'cartwheeling' champion.  We concluded our gymnastics session with a bit of 'Hip Hop' dancing which had our heart rate up quite healthily!

We will be showcasing the continent of Africa this week.  We began with a story from the continent, which was read to the children as they rested after lunch.  There will be more related activity in the coming days. 

After lunch it was time to attend to our oral hygiene (please do remember to send a toothbrush in a re-usable plastic bag), Aunty May read to the children some interesting facts about Africa and its people. E.g. the Masai dancers from central Kenya, traditional wooden masks from Dogon tribe in Male, rock paintings, the unconquerable and awesome Sahara, ever undulating River Nile and, of course, the classical African Safari were topics that we shared.

We went on to our art project -  King of the Jungle- a painting of a lion made up of handprints. Get that picture frame ready!

Then it was time for some sport-ed with Dennis and Sathish who introduced Basket Ball to the children. First the history of the game - using our Montessori mathematics - Decimal System to give reference to the age of the game.  The team formation of the game was next, followed up by warm-up exercises, 'high kick' and 'knee-high', 'air-squats'.  The introduction of the game will span the week, please look for updates on what was achieved every day.  Included in sport-ed today, we also conducted an obstacle course with Hoola Hoops and cones. 

We hydrated with a nice cool slice of watermelon and an equally cool cup of watermelon juice.

Here's is Summer Slam 'illustrated' for the day!

'Uncle Su' at work

Craft, 'Al Fresco Lunch', Nap and finding out of Africa

Watermelon 'Popsicle' making, learning about basketball, pre-game skills and running the obstacle course.

Hydrating with nature's goodness!

Tips for tomorrow: 

1. Please ensure that your child wears sports shoes, or at least, brings a pair in the bag and we do quite a bit of running around and it is not helpful to that when they are wearing something else.

2. Not everyone brought a toothbrush today, please provide one tomorrow and thereafter and we are trying to inculcate oral hygiene after the mid-day meal.

Now it is time for us to hang out to dry and grab some rest.  We hope you have a very nice evening.

Team Summer Slam 2017 - Montessori @ Broadrick