Dear Parents,

"If mom says "no," she means it. If dad says "no," it means maybe". - Joseph, age 13

I know we have not been able to release Newsletters on time and I take full responsibility for it. This year it has been difficult to keep our schedule with the Newsletter. We are however doing well with our achedemic schedules. Our transition has been smooth - both the Pre-Mont and our outgoing - children have adjusted well to their new environment and classroom respectively. The month of Oct was fun as our children really enjoyed their Sports day & Dasara celebrations. Prayag would like to wish all our winners "CONGRATULATIONS". We had a great time and so did our children.

"As I mentioned in the P.T.A. meeting, I am sharing a video link to Sachit's reading. He has become a Pro, especially in the last three months...reads about 5 - 6 books a day! Thanks for doing a great job in tapping this talent in him. http://www.youtube.com/sundeesac "

If you need more information or want to give your feed back please e-mail me at prayag_montessori@yahoo.co.in.

Thanks & Regards
Amitha Prashanth

If the child is doing well, getting good grades, we are proud and happy. If the child is not performing well, we get very concerned. Often we think that the harder a child works at his studies, the better will be his grades. Many a time we realize the hard way that this is not true. Some children breeze through exams with hardly any preparation, while others seem to burn the midnight oil and yet fair poorly.

Teachers put pressure on the parents when the child is not performing well. Parents blame the school for not teaching properly. The child is at the receiving end from both sides, and starts showing behavioral problems. Often comparisons are made with siblings, cousins or classmates who are performing much better. Matters seem to go downhill on all fronts. Even appealing to doctors and religious gurus does not seem to help. What is the solution?

Research in behavioral sciences has uncovered that all children do not learn at the same pace or by the same method. Some are quick on the uptake but bad at reproducing on paper. Some seem to learn fast, and forget equally quickly. Others seem to have mental blocks that prevent them from grasping, regardless of the number of times they are taught. Unfortunately our education system tries to equalize all of them. This results in some children getting left behind, much to the anguish of parents and the irritation of teachers.

With the advent of a field known as "special education", children with special needs can be catered to, and brought into the mainstream. There are children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) such as difficulty in language, in writing, in math, etc. With individual attention and guidance from experts, these children can overcome their difficulties are perform as well as anyone else. All that is required is correct and timely diagnosis, remedial intervention by experts, and the right support from parents.

Prayag will be conducting workshops and orientation about Learning disability in the Month of January 2010.Parents who are interested to know more about it can contact the office to register their names. This workshop will be conducted on Saturdays between 10a.m to 1.00 p.m.

Number Activity:
Give commands to your child to clap 3 times, blink 2 times, jump 5 times, hop 4 times & so on …

Language Activity:
Give your child old newspaper or magazine & ask your child to circle all the letters, for example. like m's as in mop & etc.

Science Activity:
Help your child to collect pictures of different animals & classify them under 2 groups such as Domestic & Wild Animals. Later ask the child to paste them in a book under the headings.