Kumon notebook, Kumon notebook: principle of technique, experience

A photo: Publisher MythMethod Kumon based on the implementation of progressively more complex tasks. At the beginning of each notebook, the child does the simplest tasks, at the end - the most difficult ones. This approach allows us to achieve significant success. Tasks help children to become more attentive, more diligent, more self-confident, they form a love for self-study. Depending on the name of the notebook, parents will be able to understand exactly what skills they will develop from their children: “Learning to draw”, “Learning to cut”, “Learning to glue”, etc. All these skills contribute to the development of fine motor skills of hands, and, accordingly, intensify speech development, stabilize the psychological state. So it is or not, the teachers of the preschool department of the Moscow Lyceum No. 1451 decided to check. They, with the support of the publishing house Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, conducted an experiment in which they worked on notebooks with children.

At the beginning of the journey

We spent several days with the kids at the lyceumpsychological tests. Many were found to have speech development disorders, fine motor skills and visual-motor coordination. In total, three groups of children of different ages took part in the experiment. The youngest children were 4 years old. They were offered to work with the “Learning to Cut” workbook, consisting of 40 tasks. The exercises in it develop the child’s fine motor skills and spatial thinking: first, the child must cut paper along straight and wavy lines, then in a circle, and at the end of the workbook, cut out complex figures. For one and a half months, the young participants in the experiment completed one task every day, as required by the methodology. – After successfully completing the task, as advised on the pages of the workbooks, we praised the child for having coped with it. When we began the experiment, the children did not know how to hold scissors or work with them. Many of them completed the tasks impulsively and somewhat chaotically: the paper was torn, the scissors fell out, the children were worried that they couldn’t do anything, says Anna Tretyakova, a teacher-psychologist at the preschool department of Lyceum No. 1451.

First results

A photo: Publishing house MIFNa 7–8th lesson kids learned to hold the scissors, adjust the force of pressure and cut simple shapes. They liked to do it because they managed to cut it out. - I can say as a psychologist: as soon as a positive result appears, self-esteem and self-confidence increase. The child as if says to himself: “I did it. I can. I want even better, give me a job more difficult! ”- complements the educational psychologist. - One girl liked it all so much that she asked her parents to buy such a notebook home. She came every day to the garden and happily said: “We are now also cutting out the house!” Many children at the beginning of the experiment had very great difficulties: poorly developed motor skills, lack of attention and motivation. For example, one boy could not keep a pair of scissors, the paper was torn, he was upset and did not want to study. But after a few exercises, the situation changed: the child could not only hold the scissors and cut, he became interested in classes, and he became more diligent. It is also important that children change their attitude to work. Every day they get used to engage in a little bit of work, take responsibility for the task and acquire the necessary skills. So by the end of the six-month experiment, all the children had learned how to hold the scissors properly and cut them.