Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Fun Class: D for Duck and Dog

Chloe has been pestering me to have fun class with her, she's been asking me to have fun class almost everyday when I fetch her from babysitter's house. I'm happy as this means she's enjoying the class, but it is also quite annoying on those days where I've no energy for her as I need to answer her more than 10 times that "no fun class today"........
In these 2 lessons, Chloe learned "D" and its sound, the craft work for lesson on "Duck" is a mask while lesson for "Dog" is just the colouring.
Chloe and I enjoy the lesson on "Duck", as the mask is really cute. Take a look of the finished product on her head here:
duckThe mask is pretty simple to do, all you need are a drawing of the head of the duck, a strip of paper with rubber band as string, the feather can be 'plucked' from your duster..... haha! I let her paint the head, paste it on the string and paste the feather.
The lesson plan:
1) Greeting Song, click here
2) Introduce phonics of D, sing phonics song of D
3) Prompting
4) Tell the kid today we're learning D for Duck
5) Art craft on the duck
6) Summary
7) Closing song

click here for closing song for lesson on Duck and here for lesson on Dog

Joke of the day:
Chloe told me "Mai duck, mai duck!" after the lesson, I thought she's saying "my duck" and I replied her "yes, your duck". She was frustrated after a few replied from me and then she shouted "go opposite Mai duck!", then only I realised she's talking about "buy (Mai in chinese means "buy") duck", haha! If you're read my post on lesson C for cake, I brought her to the mall opposite my house to buy a cake for her after the lesson, and she remembered that! ha!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Ipad Application - dancing animals



Another good app to share - Dancing Animal for Ipad

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Little O'Zone at Orchid Country Club

On my recent kids gathering, we checked out this Little O'Zone in Orchid Country Club, which is located in Yishun. I like this place, as car parking is free, not very packed, there are other activities (e.g. golfing, bowling) that the adults can do. The price is quite reasonable too, cheaper than most indoor playground in town area, and most importantly, the kids like the playground very much :)
There're little information about this playground on the web, it doesn't have an official website too. If I remember correctly, the pricing is $6 per first hour for OCC member, $7 for NTUC member, and $8 for public, subsequent hour at $4 each.
The kids warm themselves up at the outdoor playground outside the centre.

The kids enjoy themselves in the centre:




Some snapshots of the playground:



Information:
Location: Orchid Country Club,#02-36, Social Clubhouse (beside the Orchid Bowl)
Contact: 6852 2052
Email: janicemichaela@hotmail.com

I'll probably bring my kids there again, the environment is good and there're some other activities the kids can do. The swimming pool in the club looks nice too, probably a birthday celebration there cum a night of stay in the apartment will be good :)

Update on Feb 2012:
Little O'Zone will be under Orchid Country Club's management from 1 April 2012 onwards, do contact Janice on the email above for your enquiries.

Entrance Fees:
Orchid Country Club/Reciprocal Club members/Hotel Guests/Little Skool-House/My First School/Cove
1st Hour:$6 per child
Subsequent 1 hour:$4 per child
Subsequent half an hour:$3 per child
Adult:$1 per pax (free for 1st accompanying adult for children below 4 years old)

NTUC Link/NEBO card/Passion Card/U Card/U Plus/Fairprice Link
1st Hour:$7 per child
Subsequent 1 hour:$5 per child
Subsequent half an hour:$3.50 per child
Adult:$1 per pax (free for 1st accompanying adult for children below 4 years old)

Public Rate
1st Hour:$8 per child
Subsequent 1 hour:$6 per child
Subsequent half an hour:$4 per child
Adult:$1 per pax (free for 1st accompanying adult for children below 4 years old)

Update: it has been closed down, there are renovation going on but not too sure what will it be.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hay Dairies Farm Visit - meet the goat!

I've seen others' comments on Hay Dairies Farm, on a recent friends gathering, we decided to bring our kids to visit the farm.
As a kid growing up in city, Chloe does not usually have the chance to see the goat, so this is something interesting to her.

For those who plan to go, a few points to note:
1) The smell was really strong, you might want to bring a mask
2) The place was in a very rural area of Lim Chu Kang Lane, it took about 20 from Woodlands to reach there.
3) If you're going individually, it takes you only 15 min to finish exploring the farm, is pretty small in size.
4) The milking session is from 930 to 11am, so probably morning is a better time to visit.

If you don't mind the smell, the distance, and the small scale of the farm, it might be another venue for your little ones to explore.
goatGoats preparing for milking
Chloe first time seeing goats in the real life

goat milkingMilking session

Goats leaving one by one after the milking

goats drinking waterGoats drinking water

Don't forget to wash your hands after the visit

Information corner:
Address:
No. 3 Lim Chu Kang,
Agrotech Park Lane 4
Singapore 718859

Contact:
(65) 6792 0931

Website:
http://www.haydairies.com.sg






Friday, August 19, 2011

Prepare Your Kid for Primary School

I saw some parents posted their worries about their children entering primary 1 next year, most of them are uncertain whether their children are well prepared for the formal education, and some start to panic after seeing the primary text books and syllabus.
Many of us do know that the current system is different from our old times, but how different is the system now, is it very difficult? You might want to take a look of the P1 text books, and don't be surprised that the children are expected to read short passages and do simple mathematics in P1. Be it elite school or neighbourhood school, the basic requirements are more or less the same, do not expect the teacher to teach your little ones in letter A - Z, or numbers 123, the children are expected to know all these in their pre-school. You might want to find out from MOE website on the current curriculum.
So who will be the ones that are losing out? I would think they are those whose parents do not participate in their pre-school learning. There is a saying do not let your child lose on the starting point, some might think this is the "Kiasuism", or some might even think learning in the pre-school stage would mean no childhood, which I disagree and would like to clear some myths here.

1) Teaching your child early does not mean no childhood
Early teaching is not formal teaching, teaching your child can be fun and interesting. Children like to play, thus playing is an important part in early teaching. It needs not be sitting on chair and writing on table, it needs not be indoor facing the four walls or white board, it can be a visit to the zoo, farm, fish pond etc. Learning can be everywhere around us, can be from TV, Internet, playground, shopping mall or library.
When you bring your kid to the zoo, the kid learns the name of the animals, when you play 'snake and ladder' game with your kid, the kid learns mathematics by adding the number on the dice.
Must learning be restricted to just books? Must it be bored and not interesting? Definitely no!

2) Does early teaching mean endless tuition and enrichment classes?
Many parents send their kids to enrichment classes, without knowing what exactly is the class. Some send their kids to enrichment class or tuition because the neighbour is doing the same thing, or because the neigbour's kid seem smarter after attending the class. I do not like to see parents sending their kids to tuition or enrichment class blindly, I especially do not like those parents who don't know about what the kids are learning when I asked them.
Yes, some tuition or enrichment classes might be necessary, but parents have to choose the classes wisely, and groom the children according to their interests. I have seen children attending extra classes and tuition almost everyday, they are too tired after all those classes and ended up could not focus when attending the school lesson.
Some parents send their children to Tuition A, after hearing good feedback on Tuition B they make the kids switch over to Tuition B. Kids need time to adjust and adapt to a new environment, especially the pre-schooler, frequent changing of teachers and environment might not be a good idea.

3) Teach early means fast?
Again, fast and early is different. Teach your child early, means you can start when the child turn 2 or even as early as 1, depending on your child's acceptance level and your time. However, this does not mean you're a "Kiasu" that must teach your child in a fast space. Yes there are guidelines on what age should learn what, e.g. A 2 year old should be able to recognise A to Z, A 3 year old should be able to read short sentences, but this does not apply to all children. All children learn at their own pace, if your 3 year old is not able to recognise A to Z, teach him the basic instead of forcing him to read short sentences. A parent should know the child standard well, and customise the teaching program most suitable for the child.

4) The child will pick up from the school anyway
I'm amazed that parents still have this kind of thinking nowadays. My parents are those really off-hand type when I was a student. I have four siblings whom are of totally different personality. My elder brother is those who will study by his own, my parents never have to worry about his study and he's always the top in his class. He excels in everything he does, he received scholarship in his JC and graduated from NTU, after which he obtained his Master Degree and MBA from NUS at the same time. My sister did not have the same good results as my brother, but still she was an obedient kid and obtained above average results. I was a smart kid but I never like to study when I was in my primary school, I failed my Primary 6 exam with an E in my Malay subject ( I studied in Malaysia before my tertiary education). I worked extremely hard in my secondary school and sacrificed all my activities and time just to catch up with my peers, I obtained full A result in both my PMR and SPM (O level). I've gone through a very tough period in my secondary school. My younger brother was the same as me, he did not study well in primary school, we thought he would change after attending secondary school, just like me, but too bad he didn't. He did not get good result in his secondary school and was attending ITE afterwards.
The point I would like to draw here is, every child behave differently, you cannot expect the child to open their mind one day after waking up from bed. My parents once thought my younger brother would improve on his results after entering secondary school, just like me, but unfortunately he didn't. If a child's foundation is not strong, it'll be very difficult for the child to proceed to the next level. I remember the days I flipped through dictionary just to understand a one page passage, the desire of wanting to learn was strong, but the obstacle was even stronger. I also remember the days where my peers were writing short passages, but I was still struggle with "what, where, which......", I also endured the teasing from my classmates, but good thing is all these has made me a strong person and strengthened my determination of getting better results than others. Again, this kind of miracle does not happen to all children, as I've gone through the path, I know how difficult the 'change' can be, and I'm sure as a parent, you do not want your child to be in the same dilemma as me.

5) My child is not as smart as others
There are parents who told me their children are not progressing well, do not know what their classmates already knew, do not behave or progress per their expectation. Some of them would end the conversation as "aiyah, my kid is not the smart type, let it be lah!". I would pity the child after hearing this, as the parent has already made a conclusion of the kid. If you label your kid as 'not smart', how do you expect the kid to excel in his study? My aunt has a twin daughters, she likes to comment that the elder sister is more stupid than the younger sister. There was once I asked the elder sister whether she could solve a particular question when she was in primary 4, she replied she couldn't as she is 'stupid'. I felt sad upon hearing this, the mother must have declared to everyone that the elder daughter is stupid, till the kid accepted the remark and even agreed it herself. But the kid did not feel sad about it, she thought it is natural that she could not solve the question, as she is stupid, I wonder did she even give it a try?
As parents, we should know the strengths of our children, and bring out the best in them. All children have their strengths and weaknesses, how can you just see the weaknesses without seeing their strengths?

We have to accept the fact that the current education system has changed, the expectation from the school has changed, and even our kids are not the same as the kids in our time. Early preparation for your kids to primary school life is unavoidable, but this does not mean your kids will have no childhood. Plan early, prepare early, and let the kids progress smoothly, they'll then have an enjoyable and stress-free school life!


Click here for another article on "Parents can't solve a primary 1 maths question"


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Arts need not be expensive! $2 buy from Daiso

Daiso is a place that I like to shop and can spend quite a long time in it. There're many materials you can find there and make use of to promote creativity in your children's learning. Here I would like to share a few things I bought the other day.
I like this puncher, the little cut outs can be pasted on a card to give it a 3D effects, is really nice.

This set is a worth buy, each set has a total of 5 designs and inclusive of the gadget to press the paper.

The quality of the crayon is very good, I tested it on paper the stroke is very smooth and easy. Chloe doesn't like her current crayon, she prefer painting, I wonder is it because her current crayon is not easy to use. Since this set of crayon only costs $2, I would like to let her try, and there're 24 colours in the set!

With just $8, I get to buy so many stuff! Mummy is happy with the purchase, I'm sure Chloe will also be happy with it :)


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Parenting Guide : The Naughty Corner Technique

I read a book written by the super nanny Jo Frost, titled "How to get the best from your children", which I find it useful and would like to share here.
Many a time our little ones will throw tantrum, they seem to be in bad mood all the time, you've tried yelling at him, scolding him fiercely, or even beating his little hands, but all these seem not working and you start to give up. Maybe before you put up your surrender flag, you could try this method of "naughty corner". To make this technique a success, you and your family members (e.g. your partner, your parents) must be consistent in carrying out the technique, here are the steps by steps mentioned in the book, please note all steps must be followed and cannot be skipped:

1) Warning
Walk to your child, squat down to be the same height as him, look at his eyes firmly, warn him, e.g. "we should not push other people, or throw things on them, this is wrong. Do not repeat this". Warning is important as this gives the child a chance to self-correct his mistake, this step must be carried out.

2) Last warning
After 5 min, the child repeat the mistake. Walk to him, use a low and firm voice, confident body language, give him a last warning, "you should not push your sister, this is very bad, if you do this again, I'll put you to naughty corner"

3) Naughty Corner
Put the child to naughty corner whenever you want him to be sorry of his mistake. The time will depend on the child's age, a 2 year old can stay around 2 min while a 5 year old can stay for 4 min.

4) Explain
This is another important step that cannot be missed out. Explain to the kid why he is put on naughty corner, e.g. "You are wrong to push your sister, this is very bad as she could fall down and hurt herself. I want you to think about your mistake here, stay here for 4 minutes, after 4 minutes I'll come back here, I want you to apologise to your sister"

5) Apologise
If the child keeps leaving the naughty corner, bring him back and tell him firmly he must stay there for the designated time, until he fulfill the time given. Get him to apologise.

6) Praise
If he has apologized, praise him and tell him you've forgiven him. This is important so he knows what he shouldn't do and what he's done correctly.

7) End the punishment
Once he's apologized and you have praised him, let him play with others again, let him know he can start afresh, do not drag about it and keep scolding, you're just asking for trouble :)



Iphone App - I write word



My friend introduce this app to me, is an app that let the kids trace the alphabet.
Chloe can't write yet, so I thought this app is good in teaching her writing.

Good Iphone App - Phonics game



If you really need to let your kids play Iphone, this application is a good one. It is called "Phonics", there're 2 sections in this app, the first one is the phonics sound of A - Z, the second section is the spelling part where the app will prompt the kid the sound of each alphabet that make up a word. If the kid gets the spelling right, the word and picture will dance, is quite interesting and Chloe likes it.

You might also be interested in another Iphone App of "IWriteWord"

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Fun Class - C for Cake

In this lesson, Chloe learn C for cake. I let her colour the craftwork of a cake, and paste the gift papers on it. She likes the colouring part, it has trained up her grasping skill. Her craft as below:
After the craft work, I sang her the Happy Birthday song, she was shy to participate, but after the lesson, she sang the song to her daddy, holding the 'cake' at the same time :)



After the lesson, we went to the shopping mall opposite my house to buy her a cake, and she ate the cake happily. This type of related activities are very good in enhancing their memory, Chloe still remember about buying the cake in her next lesson, which i'll blog about this joke shortly :)

The lesson plan:
1) Greeting Song, click here
2) Introduce phonics of C, sing phonics song of C
3) Prompting
4) Tell the kid today we're learning C for Cake
5) Art craft on the cake, sing birthday song after done
6) Summary
7) Closing song

click here for closing song

P.s. we are both not familiar with the closing song of "Pat a cake", thus it was not an enjoyable one. My advice is you can download the song into your Iphone so the kid can replay it as and when he or she likes, and this will also enhance him or her what they had learned in the Fun Class.

Educational Toy - ABC magnets


I bought a set of these A to Z and 0 to 9 wooden magnets early this year. The initial purpose was to hold the photos on my fridge. Chloe likes the set very much, she likes to re-arrange the photos with these magnets on my fridge, sometimes keep them in her bag. It can be annoying that every time after I arranged the photos nicely on my fridge, she would take them down and the photos could be dropping on the floor. At first I would scold her and disallow her from playing with the magnets, but surprisingly one day when I told her to leave the kitchen, she told me let her put back the alphabets first, and she really named the alphabets. So this set of magnets further enhances her recognition to the alphabets and numbers.
After I joined Jann course, she told us we should keep a few sets of ABC puzzles and magnets at home, the kids would love to play with the puzzles and magnets even though they are the same but in different patterns. I find it very true as Chloe likes to play with all kinds of alphabets toys, I was once someone who does not buy toys for kids but I would have to change my mindset now.
Kids learn through playing, let the kids grow up with fun, and don't forget,
Toys do play a part in growing smarter kids!

Parents Can't Solve a Primary 1 Math Question

Saw a mother posted the following question on the motherhood forum:

Q: I am more than 35 but less than 50.
When I add my digits, I get 12.
I am not 48.
What number am I?


She asked for solution to this question.
Some mothers pointed out the answer is 39, many complained the question been too difficult for a primary 1 student.
I personally do not think this question is that difficult. Let me explain the answer before arguing my points.
Numbers from 35 to 50 that if you add up the digits become 12, will only be 39 and 48, as the question said it is not 48, it is then 39. This is about reasoning, which is not a tough mathematics question.
This kind of questions are not designed to fail the students, but to encourage them to think, and not solve the questions blindly.
No doubt, in our time, we are doing solely mathematics like adding, subtract, multiply, division only, that's why in our time, most children do not think out of the box. This is why the current system is trying to change this, we want a generation that can think, and not just doing theory, but not practical!
It is understandable why the mother cannot solve this question, as she might be trained in the old system, think and solve problems the old way, but the problem I want to highlight here is, we should encourage our kids to think further, think more, instead of complaining the questions been tough, not suitable. Sometimes, I would think the parents should learn and progress with the children. Example in the question above, if the mother encourages the kid to think what are the numbers from 35 to 50 that can add up its own digits to become 12, the kid will not find this question difficult, can 36 be the answer? 3+6=9, so it can't, can 37 be the answer? 3+7=10, so it is not the answer.......etc; but if the mother complains to the kid this question is too tough, then she might kill the interest in the kid in learning the mathematics.
Think and solve the questions from an easy perspective! And progress with your children in their learning path the fun way!

Click here on "preparing your kid for primary 1"

Fun Class - C for Crocodile

In this Fun Class, Chloe made the puppets of a crocodile and 2 monkeys:The drawings were cut out and provided by Jann's phonics course. I let Chloe crush the crepe paper and paste it on the crocodile puppet. I helped her colour the 2 monkeys.
The final products are below:
These puppets were then used in the rhyme, which was very fun and interesting. I wore the crocodile on one hand, and sticked the 2 monkeys to my 2 fingers of another hand, the rhyme goes like this:

Two little monkeys swinging on a tree, they swing and swing, what did they see?
Here came a crocodile as hungry as can be......
"Nah, nah nah nah nah..... You cannot catch me....."
(Crocodile snapped away one monkey)
One little monkey swinging on the tree, he swing and swing, what did he see?
Here came a crocodile as hungry as can be......
"Nah, nah nah nah nah..... You cannot catch me....."
(Crocodile snapped away the last one monkey)
No more monkey swinging on the tree....

Chloe likes this puppet playing very much, I put the puppets in a file after the lesson, she'll take it out and play it herself. She'll sing the rhyme, incomplete here and there, but never mind, as long as she enjoys it :)

Structure of the lesson:
1) Greeting Song, click here for greeting song
2) Introduce phonics of C, sing phonics song of C
3) Prompting (Crocodile is too difficult to her, I skipped this part)
4) Tell the kid today we're learning C for Crocodile, colour crocodile on the phonics sheet.
5) Art craft on the crocodile and monkey puppets
6) Summary
7) Closing song

Click here for closing song

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Learn spelling from playing toy!

I would like to recommend this toy to all, this is a very good educational toy that let the kids learn spelling. It is for age 3+ but Chloe is less than 2.5 years old and she likes it. This educational toy is called "Verbal Reasoning". It consists of multiple letters from A to Z so that the kids can have fun mix it around to make up the word shown in the picture.



From the video above you can see she's getting the alphabets after hearing the phonics sounds or hints given by me.
I got this toy from Jann but you can also get it from Kiddy Palace at $11.90 discounted price.

How did my girl learn to associate things with A - Z


She learned this from various sources, without my supervision. I was surprised when she told me, as I didn't teach her this. She likes the song of ABC, so she'll request me to search for this song from youtube for her, and I'll normally searched songs with title "ABC" and pass her the Iphone to let her choose the song she wants. From the list she found other ABC related songs and clips, one of the good ones are this which teaches A-Z phonics and things associated with it:
Youtube Phonics Song
So she learned this A is for "Apple, A, A, Apple...." and etc. She also learned from those block books and picture books given by my sister in law. So do not under estimate the ability of the children, they can self-learn pretty fast.
In the clips above, she didn't say out the full list of A - Z, and she started to talk nonsense when comes to H, is very difficult to video tape her as she doesn't have the patient. But I managed to record it as a voice clip when she was about to sleep one of the nights:
Click Here to hear the voice clip :)


Friday, August 5, 2011

Chloe's Version of ABC!


This video was taken by my babysitter's daugther in June. Chloe can sing the song very good now but I still prefer to look at this video, the reason is simply because it is too funny! Ha, I'm sure you'll have a good laugh when u watch it :)

From baby to toddler



I saw this video on my husband youtube account, I can't believe Chloe has changed so much in such a short time. She was still baby-talking early this year and don't even know a single alphabet, but just 4 months later she can recognise A-Z and many simple words. I must say she's growing up very fast, not only physically but also mentally, no wonder everyone saying that 2 year + is a good age to start learning :)

Fun Class - B for Bubbles and Bear

We had a lesson on "B for bubbles" last week, but I did not take picture of it. As usual, I sang songs to her, let her hear the phonics sound of letter B and the rhyme on B.

She then coloured the picture of a pot with boiling water and bubbles. I was supposed to let her play bubbles after the lesson, but as she's quite familiar with bubbles and i was a bit lazy, I skipped this part for the lesson. She coloured the pictures quite well, she likes to use water colour and I find that she'll control the colouring better than if she were to use crayon.

When daddy came back home, she eagerly showed him her colouring but too bad the daddy complained the pictures didn't look like bubbles....... Anyway, is good that Chloe showed off her work, this will make her wants to improve it.

A few days later, I gave her the lesson on "B for bear", after songs and rhyme, we did the handicraft, and this was the fun part. I took out the material given by Jann, let Chloe paste the crepe paper on it. She took some time on the pasting, but overall was ok. We were supposed to wear the completed craft, which was a bear face mask, for the closing song, but she refused to wear it.

If the kid is not wearing then the mummy has got to wear it, so I got to be the one wearing. Chloe laughed at me when I was wearing the mask and doing the action in the closing song called "The Bear Went Over the Mountain". She mentioned something "funny face"......

As she already knew bubbles and bear, these 2 lesson seem easy for her. But is good that I showed her the words and she can now recognise the words.
Chloe reluctantly put on the mask



I tried to prompt her to spell the word but she was not ready yet.

Youtube link of the 2 closing songs if you're interested:
The Wheels on the Bus:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnupL42gmF4

The Bear Went over the Mountain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmUp2jyHd9Y

If you like my fun classes, please like the Facebook page "Learn The Fun Way" for more updates
 
47) Z for Zebra

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Prompting - A Good Technique for Teaching Spelling


(video from Jann Phonics of FB)

One of the benefits of joining the course of Jann is to learn about this "prompting" thing. It is a process of prompting the child to spell out a word by listening to the phonics sound of the letters. It is quite simple but would take a few practices to master it. E.g. when prompting your child 'CAR', you'll purposely pronounce the sound "C-A-R", while hearing the phonics of each letter, your child should tell you C, A, R, you then tell them to say out the letters, and pronounce the word. It sound easy, but most of us forget the importance of it and always take a short cut by skipping some of the steps.
If a child knows the theory of this 'prompting', he or she should have no problem in the spelling test at all, like Jann mentioned in her course, she never had a problem with her children learning the words given for spelling test. I do have a colleague who has a 4 years + kid who always struggle with spelling and it has taken up most of her time at home.
In the video above, you'll see how Jann prompted her son with this tough word "extraordinarily", her son was only 4.5 years old then. It might looked a bit stressful on the kid, but I believe this is probably due to the video recording, her children are always learning on their own pace and through a fun way. In the above video, it was the first attempt his son spelled this word "extraordinarily", he didn't manage to get it in this attempt, Jann let it go this time. Jann always tell us not to force the kids to do something they don't want, or have lost interest, but to revisit the activities again after sometime. So Jann probably had tried prompting this word again few days later, and I'm sure her son had get it in the subsequent attempts.

My own attempt of prompting:

(I prompted Chloe to spell the word "leaf" in her Fun Class of "L for Leaf", do note that in this word, LEAF, E and A are vowels, when 2 vowels appear together, the first one make the long sound and the second one is silent, thus A should have no sound here, but as Chloe is not taught about this rule yet, I had sound the A when I prompted her)

Fun Class - A for Apple

This was my second lesson on letter A for Chloe, it was on “A for Apple".

Chloe understood the lesson better after been through the first lesson in the prior week. She kind of knew the sequence of the lesson plan, and was looking forward to the arts craft and songs.

I started with greeting song again (click here for greeting song), this time round she dance with me instead of looking puzzled. I showed her the A4 paper of letter A with the things spelled after A that we pasted on the paper last week, she remembered the 'Ant' that she learned. I sang the phonics song on A to her, she followed when I sang "A, A, A....". I showed her a plastic bag, and told her to guess what was the thing we are going to learn, she quickly took out the item inside the bag, it was an apple. She said "apple!" once she saw it, I took back the apple and told her we are going to learn A for Apple. We sang the rhythm on Apple, which went like the tune of "10 little Indian" but instead of "Indian", it was changed to "apple"

I let her play the puzzle I bought from a small stationery stall , and let her choose the letter stickers that make up the word "apple", and paste it on the puzzle. As she couldn't spell the word yet, I told her the letters and she looked for it from the sticker sheet herself.


We then did the art craft on apple, which was pasting of crepe paper on the apple cut-out. She enjoyed this part.

I showed her letter A and the spelling of Apple again, before we sang the closing song on "An apple a day".


Chloe with her apple......

I have better control of the lesson this time round, able to keep her concentrated. I kept all the things on my table so she'll not be distracted. But still, I find it a bit rush, the time was too short (around 30 min).

Her daddy peeled the apple for her after he's back from work. Both adult and kid enjoyed the fruit! haha!

Development age: 2 years 4 months.

If you like my fun classes, please like the Facebook page "Learn The Fun Way" for more updates
 
47) Z for Zebra

Fun Class - A for Ant

This is the first phonics lesson for Chloe, I call it fun class.
We started with "A for Ant".
I spent some time to read through the lesson plan given by Jann, and practiced a bit on the nursery rhythm per the lesson plan. Jann had given me most of the material, but I added on a few things like the mystery box (made by empty tissue paper box), pictures of objects spelled after letter A.

(My materials on teaching A for Ant)

I started by singing the greeting song (click here) to her, for which I changed the song of "Good morning, good morning, to you to you and to you....." to "Good evening...." as our lesson was in the night. But Chloe find it funny as she sings "Good morning" in her Saturday class, she then told me "quiet", haha! Well, this did not discourage me, I showed her "A" and "a" printed on A4 paper, I then let her colour it. I let her take out the pictures in the mystery box, and said out each item when she took it out. She likes the part of taking the pictures out from mystery box, she kept digging till the last piece and I had to tell her 'no more'..... haha. I let her paste the pictures on the letter A paper.

Look at her happy face with her work:

I then sang a phonics song on letter A to her, which was something like "ants on my ankles A, A, A... x3, A is the sound of A..." as the title of the lesson is supposed to be "A for Ant". I cut out a picture of ant and pasted it on our ankles, she likes the song but she was distracted by the scissor :(

Chloe and her ant:


While colouring the "Ant", there was really an ant crawling passed her table, I took the chance to tell her, that's an ant.

I also let her colour the picture of the ankles, then paste the cut out ants on it, but she seem not interested, I probably got to buy more colouring material instead of let her use the crayon only.

I ended my lesson by singing the closing song of "The ants go marching", while I was dancing with the song, she was busy with her artworks and paper. I then told her to give me a hug, and say "thank you mummy". The lesson was shorter than I thought it would be, it was about 40 min only.

Well, the lesson did not turn out satisfactory, but I would not say it was a complete failure. Chloe was distracted here and there, not concentrating. This is my first lesson for her, I'll learn from the mistakes I had made, and hopefully there'll be improvements on the coming lessons, not only on her, but on me as well.

Her next lesson will still be on letter A, but it'll be "A for Apple"

Youtube link on the song "The Ants Go Marching"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZInmx5Z_j0&feature=related

Learning milestone: 2 years 4 months
 
47) Z for Zebra
 

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Mummy's Fun Class - Learn the Phonics!

I've signed up a course on phonics, it is taught by a mother who is an ex-childcare teacher and currently a full time housewife. The objective of this course is to teach mothers like me, the technique of teaching our kids alphabets, in a fun way, and ultimately enable the kids to read and write independently by the age of 4+. This sound amazing to me, but I believe it is workable, as I do have a niece who can read independently at the age of 4, and she can also write short notes.
The mother (her name is Jann) who teaches this course have 2 children, the elder one is currently 9, while the younger one is currently 4.5. Both kids can write short story at the age of 4+, and the elder one will be publishing her first book soon. Jann shares with us her teaching methods, the responses of her children to her teaching, and the fun she has when teaching them. In each lesson, she'll give us the teaching plan, the arts craft materials, and the related songs.
The structure of the lesson is always as follow:
1) Greeting song (click here for the song)
2) Introduce a letter
3) Let the kid listen the sound of the letter
4) Introduce the theme of the lesson, e.g. "Today we're going to learn A for Ant"
5) Do arts craft e.g. "colour the ant"
6) Closing song e.g. "The ants go marching"
7) Summary and ending


I start to attend the course in early July, on a weekly basis, and have started teaching Chloe the phonics, which I try to have it once a week, and I call it "Fun Class". Chloe likes the lesson very much, she will request to have the lesson. I would say the materials used in the lesson is very creative and fun, some of the arts craft or small games, even me was having fun with it :)

The good points about this lesson is not just the materials or the lesson plan given by Jann, but her experience sharing with us. She let me understand and confirm my view that learning should be fun, and stress-free.
If you're interested in the course, you can email her at:
jannalin_mrc@hotmail.com

One of the suggested artwork, the carton box "house" when teaching letter "H", isn't it fun and creative? :)

Learn By The Fun Way!

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