Where learning is an enjoyment

We can't wait another day for the tracking/trekking at Bukit Timah Hill, lets get our mighty muscles working...
As we walk into the "hundred-acre-woods", 16 winnie the poohs singing and echoing...
'Everywhere we go...ohh!

People want to know...ohh!

Who we are ... ahh!

Where we come from.
'
So we tell them...mh!We are the ...(fill in the blanks yourself)

Promising outstanding Doctors,Lawyers,Scientists,Teachers

The 1st quarter is almost over. Despite, we often forgot that time is up and lesson is over. The children were often so engrossed with their illustration, documentation and research that we often ended class a quarter to 2pm. I can see the satisfaction and accomplishment that the children derived from their completed task all documented on their own. Discussions and questions keep going despite acknowledging 'last question'. To me, it signifies responsibility and ownership towards personal learning and curiosity in a enthusiastic and respectable manner. Cheers!

Writing or documentation has seemed to become an obsession in most of my class children. Everyday, after each hands-on or interactive activities, I get reminders/request/questions from the children as such; 'When can we start to write about the pupil and the iris?', 'Can I write the spelling words in the communication book myself?', 'Why we don't get to write today?' No wonder sentence structures and penmanship improved so tremendously-:) neater than mine!

At this point just before we round up the entire theme on 'Watch Me Grow', do you agree with me that all these children (your child) are promising future practitioner Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists and Teachers? They explore, question, analyse, discuss, justify their thoughts and share what they learn so generously.

Did you like the challenges?

By now, your child should have challenged you to the different ways of staying focus through activities like singing a song with a phase lag, skipping the last word of each line and replacing it with a clap. They have been crazy over music & movement session not knowing that I'm training their focusing skills. I have fun too!

The concept of how much/many more or less was impressively grasped by most of the children.
92% of the children also saw the correlation that how much more is equal to how much less if the subject of comparison remain the same. Wah! Are you impressed? Don't panic if your child has not understood it. However, it helps if Math can be introduced during daily activities especially grocery shopping or even over dinner. At this age, children understand math concept readily if it is relevant to them. Please avoid flooding your child with lots of drilling through worksheet or assessment book! That make matter worst most of the time.

Graph plotting and interpretation of the data was also an easy task that the children have accomplished over the past weeks.

Spelling has become very exciting to many children, a few of them can't wait to have spelling as they can compose their story using the spelling words.

Moving on the exciting journey of learning

As our learning journey gets more exciting, children were asking more questions on things that they are interested in. The topic of dinosaurs was triggered when we discussed about which animal has the largest skeletal system. It even leads to questions on how dinosaurs became extinct. Many enthusiasts brought their encyclopedia from home on the next school day to share with me and their friends. The class turned into a debating ground when children debate about which is the real cause for the dinosaurs to be extinct, the asteroid or a drought??!.
As their teacher, I was just so very proud of my students to participate whole-heartedly in their learning, their thoughts and opinion as well as their wanting to find out more and to share attitude. Cheers parents!

All the children enjoyed experiencing the touch of the harden Nian-gao and drool upon smelling it when it was soften through stir frying with egg. 1st they have to keep very quiet inorder to hear the sizzling sound when the food was added into the hot pan with oil. They watched the process of the transparent egg white turning into white colour as well as observed the Nian-gao soften. They were allowed to asked for more when they correctly described the taste of the Nian-gao.
Over the real-time assesment throughout the cookery session, all children fulfilled the objectives of excercising the right senses for each task decribed above.

On top of that, we explore the use of a microscope and compare the magnifying power to that of a magnifying glass. They were all very anxious and nagging at me to let them see how our cells look like through the microscope. But we only managed to explore that of the butterfly antenna this week. I will be providing more samples as requested by the children. We will also look into the cell membrane of a cut orange (the pulp & the fibre).

The topic of organs began with children practising the Singapore pledge with the right arm placing at the heart position. Most children are now aware that the heart is actually positioned towards the left of our body instead of in the center. We even discussed about the illegal trading of kidneys. We will continue to explore our senses and the relevant organs. At the end of this theme, children will understand clearly the functions of our organs and that skin is our largest organ.

Enjoy exploring and learning with your child.
BTW, all of them look forward to the field trip to the Bukit Timah Hill.
Objectives: - use the word 'track, tracking'
- feel their muscles at work (especially from the 2nd -3rd day after the trip)
- team building, caring for each other, leadership
It will take place ~3-5pm some time next week. Will be informed.
Participants: K2 children and teachers only

A great start

For the month of January to February 09, the K2 students were getting use of assuming bigger responsibility and sensitivity as well as higher concentration level in whatever they do.
Be it at play outdoor or learning indoor, it is really satisfying to hear expressions coming spontaneously from children such as:-
"I have a good idea! Can we have the passing baton match after the exercise-gym instead of parachute game..."
"Getting into trouble will be my prize for not concentrating and paying attention."
"Can we start working on the graph and measurement today please, I like to record it in my journal"
"My mother said :wa saire!, when we try out the skill that you've taught me during cookery class"
"I did so well in my work because I pay attention!"

No words can describe the bliss of the teacher where children exhibit enthusiasm and confidence in their learning.The above responses are enough to motivate me to do better each and every second with the children -- it does not mean no scolding for good though!
There are also challenging feedback such as:-
'I don't know how to count, I'm scared of this teacher, she is the most fierce teacher in the school'
'I didn't read my reader over the weekends, teacher will ask why, she likes me to move on every week'
However, it is my fortune this year to have all parents with positive attitude. With them working closely with me, these 2 students have now become part of the happiest and confident learners in class. Cheers! Congratulations to their greatest achievement in becoming resilient.

Great minds, great theme - Jan-Feb 2009

Children learnt how to respect each other and take care of themselves through knowledge about their body.

They felt and touched their team members' backbones and studied the human skeletal system.

Throughout the hands on activities, discussion,exploration and sharing, they peaked at their learning.

They were most amazed by the growth of their height while they're sleeping. The learning experience can't be more comprehensible if not supported by mom & dad whom measured their height just before they went to bed and night and right after they woke up in the morning.

They learnt that the cartilage disc in-between the vertebrae absorbed body fluid and swell resulting in an increase in height while sleeping in a laying down position. However, over the day of standing, their height may drop. Hence, sleeping and resting enough help them grow. They also discussed about other factors that determine their permanent height, such as genes.
A student who have recorded same height before and after sleep, concluded that his cartilage-disc did not swell because he passed urin before he went to sleep. This marked a marvellous flow of thoughts despite its invalidity.

They were cautioned that hurting other on the back could lead to serious injury and be paralysed. Hence, they have to be responsible and careful with their actions.

Little poem that is specially written for all my little genius of Phyllis' Riccia School:-

Sound of 'ow'
Backbones I awe
Free to take a bow
If broken then how
Respect everyone now
Don't cry like a clown
Responsibility is our
Be wise like an owl


What do I need to learn
Ready get set go, very far I will go
Not to the black hole, but what is useful to know
Ready get set go, to the quest for the goal
Not about plus, minus nor zero, but how much I can hold
Ready get set go, very very far, I know, I know!

Poems composed by Phyllis Koh Seng Hwang. mailto:copyright@Phyllis

Testimony- contributed by students' mother: "I was impressed by the details of the skeletal system illustrated by him without any reference".
Without the understanding, 'hands-on' activities, it is not likely for a child to have so much interest and knowledge on this 'big' topic.

What is really the best for our children's growth & learning

Parents attitude ; A MUTUAL SHAPING RELATIONSHIP

Parents shape their children’s development :-

1. Directly: By the tasks they pose, the ways they respond to particular behaviors, the values they promote, and the patterns of behavior they model


2. Indirectly: By selecting many of the other contexts to which children are exposed, such as the places they visit, the means by which they entertain themselves, and the children with whom they play (hence the characteristics of the people in the environment is important)

Children shape their parents’ behavior :-

Through their interests, temperament, appearance, verbal ability and other characteristics that influence parent-child interaction

In Phyllis' Riccia Schoolhouse - Zhi Hui Xue Ting, we characterise the quality environment as:

• Parents who have choosen us, confidently know and support what we advocate.


• Children in the program are enjoying themselves and interacting with nature as they play and learn both indoor and outdoor.


• There are small groups of children (fewer than 15) and low ratios of teacher to children (at least one adult for every 6-15 children)


• Activities organized for children are appropriate to their developmental levels and abilities yet meaningful in scaffolding their learning.


• Equal attention and time are devoted to the whole child (i.e., language, cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development)


• Staff meet regularly to plan and evaluate the program


• School and parents/families cooperate and work collaboratively to improve the learning experience of all children