About Grade 2
This is a time of great curiosity and a thirst for knowledge for most young children, and you will be finding your 7-8 year old’s time full of excitement as they explore, analyse and question everything. They will be keen to share this new found knowledge and will be getting increasingly confident about academic and structured work.
Let us help you. Together we can develop the full intelligence, personality and potential of children and let our students unleash their creative power and innovative potential.
Your 7-8 year old
The first steps into Primary school
This rapidly developing age is when children need loving guidance.
At around the ages of 7-8 physical development becomes more refined and fine motor skills become even more precise. They will have significantly better coordination and balance and can now do a combination of movements such as dancing, twisting, turning and spinning or running around a bootcamp circuit or even doing household chores. This is the best time to inculcate a love of physical activity as a family with time outdoors. This will be beneficial to their growth and development. It is for this reason that our program is carefully calibrated making sure to allow for shorter theory sessions and plenty of revision breaks so children have time to play in-doors and also be active outdoors.
7-8 year old
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills continue to improve such as writing and drawing. You can encourage children to work on a hobby such as art where these skills and creativity come into play and they will gain increasing confidence as they develop their skills over time.
Now, too, your child may be able to brush their teeth independently and wash their hands and comb their hair. It is a good time to begin a flossing regimen as this will help set-up good hygiene habits for life. It is very important not to compare children as around this age different children develop at different rates. This is why we have in-built flexibility in our program so that you can choose which sessions to do at your own pace.
7-8 Year Old
Emotional Development
Emotional development at this stage is dramatically different to the pre-school years, where children may have had tantrums or melt-downs on occasion. They may now handle their emotions much better in public situations (on occasion and depending on the child). Situations like disappointments and also separation anxiety and talking through feelings are handled better as children develop self-calming strategies. Now they will be more able to handle last-minute changes and unexpected situations. It is very important to give them the time and routine to think through these feelings and give frequent encouragement to not let them over criticize themselves. Our program has a whole Thinking Field dedicated to Emotions and Intra-cerebral thoughts that children do every day.
7-8 Year Old
Social Development
As Social development progresses, children may feel increased peer pressure as they care more and more about the opinions of others; However on the positive side this time also increases empathy and develops a sense of fairness and of right and wrong. This is very important to help them work through the scuffles and hurt feelings and arguments and also to treat their friends with respect while playing games. This capacity to understand other’s actions means this is an excellent time to teach them about being a good citizen, giving to charity and caring for the environment. Our Thinking field of Co-Existence stresses the importance of Social Development across peer groups and society and helps get children thinking about their place in the wider world. This is a key part of the original Montessori Approach
Cognitive Development
Cognitive Development means that by the time children are 7-8 year olds they can spend 30-45 min on topics that interest them. They likely have mastered addition and subtraction and moved onto more complex problems and fractions. These years will show rapid improvements in reading. Their vocabulary will typically be around one thousands words. As they build the capacity to read ‘chapter books’, they are also able to talk about what happens in those books and explain their opinions about each chapter, the characters and the plots. This will also show in their ability to write more structured stories. Encourage this time by continuing to read to them and with them. Let their thirst for knowledge run free and boost their cognitive development and creativity at this time. Our program gently covers hundreds of topics, and gives more complicated projects and tasks as their cognitive skills develop through Grade 2.
things to do:
- Read together daily
- Encourage outdoor play
- Add maths into daily life like on trips to super-markets, during cooking, shopping, etc.
- Encourage creative play like dress-up games, puppets, building kits
- Encourage hobbies and praise efforts
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Avoid comparing your child to similar aged children
- Get access to many age appropriate books