Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Laren School

Two weeks ago I got to visit The Laren School in Makati with one of the owners of my school, Beni Ancheta-Veloso. The purpose of the visit was to see if it would be appropriate to refer some of our students with special needs to the school after leaving Explorations.

We were promptly and warmly welcomed by Amanda Lim, Head of School for Laren and allowed to observe the elementary program as well as the CASA (preschool) class.

I could not take pictures since classes were ongoing, but here are pictures from their Facebook page :):

The CASA classroom

The entrance from the street. On the white shelf are materials and beside the shelf is a standing rack for the dressing frames.

dramatic play area and toys

There are a lot of small tables to facilitate individual or small group activity among the children.

Independence is very much emphasized, both in learning and in self help and activities of daily living.

Montessori bells below.

Montessori bead materials

Banker game materials on the rugs. On the other side of the fence is the high school classroom.

Restrooms are easy to get to for the children.

Elementary classroom

The arrangement of some of the furniture are a bit different when I visited, but the areas are probably the same.

teacher's table

Computer and individual work table

Again, as in the preschool classroom, there are different tables in the different areas that facilitate individual and small group work.

Since they don't have their own yard, their students go to the San Lorenzo Village park during the week.

While we were talking to Amanda Lim, she also told us about a program they have for the HS students where they get to stay on a coffee farm in Baguio for two weeks. While there they apply concepts they are learning in school and work on the farm at the same time :).

Sure sounds like fun!

For more information, feel free to contact them using the information below.

Thanks again Ms. Lim and thanks to the teachers at Laren for letting us visit :).

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Our Lady of Pilar Montessori Center

Last week I got to visit another school (finally!) after a long time :). Our Lady of Pilar Montessori Center (OLPMC) is in Pilar Village, Las Pinas. It is owned by the family of a childhood friend, Orange Garcia, who was gracious enough to take me around and also let me sit down and talk with two of their SPED teachers.

OLPMC accepts students from CASA (preschool) level up to high school. They also have students with special needs who spend at least an hour a day in the regular ed classrooms for modeling and socialization, and also for "skills" subjects. For academic subjects where they may need more assistance, they are taught by the special ed teachers in a separate room to allow for more individualized instruction.

Here are some pictures from my visit :)