Tag: Kids

Learning Math – Mass using Lego blocks

Balancing object      YH balancing with Lego blocks

I have been thinking how to teach simple Math concept through play that will interest both my 8 year old XX and 6 year old YH.  I found so many resources in countless excellent blogs in the blogosphere.  One of them is on learning the concept of Mass using Lego blocks, a hanger and simple objects (found in Frugal Fun for Boys blog).  This is timely as XX happens to be learning Mass now.

First, get a hanger and 2 strings / ribbons.  Then, with 1 string / ribbon, tie a Lego block as a starting piece so that later on more Lego blocks can be fixed to it and the other string / ribbon tied to any object that is not too heavy.  Next, I got XX and YH to each draw a simple score board with 3 columns with the following:

1st column: OBJECT – What is the object being weighed?
2nd column: GUESS – How many Rectangular Lego blocks do you think will balance the object?
3rd column: ACTUAL – The final answer to the number of blocks that will balance the object.

Score board

XX and YH took quite some time to work on this score board, simply because they were busy decorating their score board, and we have not even started anything yet!

The kids enjoyed the activity and we tabulated the scores with guesses that have the correct answers.  2 points for the correct answer and 1 point for close to correct answer as a consolation.

* You would have noticed that the 2 pieces of score board in the picture look weird.  That’s because when we tabulated the score, YH was not happy that he lost to his sister by 1 point, and he did a naughty act by spitting some saliva on his sister’s score board.  I, too, did a naughty thing to scrap the saliva back onto his paper and there you see XX’s paper was cut short to remove the saliva portion, and YH’s paper was torn a hole as he tried to wipe off his own saliva.  It’s a norm to see them squabble over such minute things.  And equally a norm to see me deviate from the goody, yummy mummy supposed by-the-book way of punishment. 

Off center balance

Oh, and one interesting and unexpected learning from this activity is that when each child took turns to weigh their Lego blocks, they shifted the Lego string position.  This resulted in off center balance of the hanger as the centre of gravity had shifted.  When initially we saw that it took 10 Lego blocks to reach balance, it now could not balance and required 12 blocks instead due to the string shift.  I had a good opportunity to demonstrate that the position of the strings at the 2 ends of the hanger was important in determining the balancing act of the object and the Lego blocks.  And the kids were pleasantly surprised by this new finding! 

Try it with your kids and you will be off to great, simple fun learning!

A school holiday without going on a holiday

X has her first long 6 weeks December holiday this year.  Before the start of this holiday, I was alone with the baby in the whole afternoon everyday.  I could take a nap, the baby had peaceful sleep and I was free to do my things as and when the baby is sleeping.

Baby YT is sleeping

Then start the holiday, I wanted XX to enjoy her holiday and that means I have to sacrifice my sleep, make some adjustments and accept that my peaceful routine with the baby has to take a backseat.

Continue reading “A school holiday without going on a holiday”

My little princess’ score card – progress in Primary 1

 

It’s been half a year that my dear princess goes to Primary 1.  Her score card in my eyes has been almost perfect so far.  And how happy am I to give her a near perfect score.  Taking into consideration that her Primary school is a well-sought after SAP (Special Assistance Plan) school (which means they place high emphasis on Chinese and it is mandatory for all students to take higher Chinese), she manages well with her school work and enjoys school so far.

 

She relates happenings in school to me and I am too glad that her teachers seem to be very passionate teachers especially her Chinese teacher 黄老师.  They tell interesting stories and crack jokes in the fun of learning to capture the children’s interest.  And her school makes sure parents are involved and know what their children are learning by making us sign on their assignment and textbooks frequently.  Academic-wise, I have totally no worries on her school’s model of teaching and guidance.

 

It’s a relief and “gift” for me that she does her homework after dinner on her own without any nagging from me and Kel.  She shows independence in passing me her school letters and making sure I sign on her worksheets and books without fail.  As a working mother, I could not spend time with her in the morning before school.  Hence, I mark out pages on her assessment books for her to complete in the morning so that I can mark and go through with her at night.  She did the assignment I gave her with no adults reminding her.  It saves me from what I would have otherwise experience stress and worries on her academic learning.

 

In XX’s first MA (Modular Assessment) test for English, she got full marks.  For Mathematics and Chinese, she got 23 and 24 out of 25 marks respectively.  I couldn’t ask for more.  Now in the second semester, her 2nd MA test, she got full marks for English again but careless mistakes and lack of focus on the questions cost her marks and she got 17 out of 25 for Mathematics.  Well, so to say, she has lots of room for improvement in her focusing skills and practising patience to read questions carefully before jumping to write answers.

 

XX’s first parent-teacher meeting has the same response from both teachers (Form teacher and Chinese teacher).  She day-dreams in class.  This observation has long been commented by her Yamaha teacher.  I feel attitude is extremely important for learning and doing anything well.  I know it will take lots of effort by herself and time to correct this day-dreaming problem, but I will help her and by her character, I am pretty sure she will improve sooner or later.  As for her attitude, if you were to read my earlier blog on “Learning Piano – from dread to love“, you will know that she has come a long way in improving her attitude.  Sometimes, if she seems to be relying on me to feed clues to questions in assessment books, I feel I have a guilty part to play.  I may be too obliging to give clues too quickly and just last night, I realize that XX seems to be lazy in reading music scores.  She has a good memory and for new song pieces, I spoon-fed her on correcting her fingering and wrong notes by reading the score to her while she focuses on memorizing what I say and what she remembers on the positioning of fingers on the keyboard.  That was a wake-up call for me to not be too involved and let her have a free hand and time to figure things out on her own!  It all points to the fact that this mummy is too impatient.  My girl must have picked up this bad trait from me.

 

XX had just experienced a long one month June school holidays.  I signed her up for a 3 day academic camp which she says it’s boring.  Kel sent her to her cousin’s house to play for a day every week.  I took leave on and off to keep her company and brought her to my gynae check-up in June as well.  Places we’ve been to during the June weekends includes the National Museum of Singapore for the Children’s Seasons, Yakult factory, taking part in the Safra Sprintkids Competition, Marina Barrage for kite flying with their cousins, Wild Wild Wet and Madagascar 3 movie screening.  Since we are not going overseas for the holidays, I thought this holiday for her must be boring.  But she seems to prefer boredom than to go school even though she enjoys school and she did not have much to do except to read books to finish her many book reviews homework.

 

Now that the holidays are over, she is back to school.  She asked to be signed up for Wu Shu （武术）and she has to wake up early every Saturday for this class.  It was tough on her to wake up early since she sleeps late at night and her school is in the afternoon.  Even then, I praised her for being such a good girl to fight sleep and wakes up without much violent protest.

 

Xuanxuan, mummy is so proud of you.  Keep it up my dear princess!

 
 

5 Fun Places to go with your kids

“Where shall we go today?” This is a question that comes to my mind every weekend morning. I have come to realize that the places kids below 6 would enjoy are places that they can run around and put their curiosity in place.

Hence, I have put together some great outdoor and indoor places that my kids enjoy.

1) Lower Pierce Reservoir

This is a great place to bask in the ambiance of nature’s smell, feel and look. We drove slowly along the way leading to the reservoir while we kept a lookout for monkeys. We did not wait long and monkeys came out of the trees and stayed by the road. We stopped our car, and the monkeys came closer. Obviously they were waiting for us to throw some bananas or food to them. But many road signs advised against this for many reasons of upsetting nature and creating danger. We took some photographs. The kids were having fun distinguishing the sex of the monkeys. Continue reading “5 Fun Places to go with your kids”

Reading – a simple yet important routine for the child

The best way to learn a language is to speak and read.  The best way to attain knowledge is to read.  The best way to indulge in vivid imagination (imagination = creativity) is to read too. 
 
Books are real, kids can touch them and parents can spend bonding time with kids by reading to them.  I would not encourage kids to read e-books since e-books cannot be touched and flipped.  And staring into the screen for long hours will stress the little eyes.  I would rather my kids being read to by me than to be read to by the iphone.  I am sure I can do a far better job than technology read-out-loud.  I started reading to my kids since I was pregnant with them and till now, I still read to my soon-to-be 5-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl.  They are still loving it!
 

How I read to my children:

  1. Cover page – Read the title, author, illustrator.  They will learn to appreciate the people behind the wonderful making of the book.
  2. Pictures – For the first few times, linger on the picture page for a longer time for the kids to interpret the pictures.  Their detailed observation of the pictures often stun me, as adults would not be bothered about how many mice appeared in the book of Goldilocks or whether Cleo has a bow on her head in Clifford stories.
  3. Add in words on your own and describe what you can see in the illustration. 
  4. Ask questions about what comes next, take their answers seriously, there is no right or wrong answers!
  5. Never read in a monotone way!  Read in a MELODIC way, with pitching and be immensed in the story to enact the expressions in the story.  Get them excited or in suspense to make the stories interesting. 

Choosing a book:

  1. BABIES – Big board books with texture and pop-ups, my kids’ favourites are “That’s not my…” series by Fiona Watt and cloth books with a mirror in front.  Too bad, there are very few Chinese Big Board Books around
  2. TODDLERS – Ladybird Classic series – Level 1 books, like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”.  I love Ladybird books because they repeat words and lines on many pages to reinforce simple words and sentences for early readers.  Another hit with my kids is “The very hungry caterpillar” by Eric Carle.  And don’t forget to read simple Chinese books to kids from young.
  3. 2-4 YEARS OLD- Ladybird Classic series – Level 2 books, like “The Gingerbread Man” and Clifford The Big Red Dog series, Chinese books with moral stories, fairy tales and The Berenstain Bear series.  The Berenstain Bear series revolve much in moral and daily routines and happenings for young families and they are depicted in good humour.  However, the stories may be a bit lengthy even though they do have simple “I can read” series.  For lengthy stories, you may have to summarize as you read along for the initial few times just to catch the children’s attention and interest. 
  4. 5-7 YEARS OLD- Ladybird Classic series – Level 3&4 books like “The Wizard of Oz” and The Berenstain Bear series.
  5. PICTURE BOOKS WITH NO WORDS – I love these stories without words!  It really is up to the imagination of the reader to interpret the story and follow what comes next.  One good picture book without words is “The Chicken Thief” by Beatrice Rodriguez.  You can borrow this book from the community library.  It has an unexpected and interesting twist to the end of the story. 

Ways to encourage reading:

  1. Bedtime reading should be included in the Bedtime routine from birth.
  2. Read to your children frequently and read to them even when they are capable of reading on their own.  My 7-year-old girl still loves and enjoys being read to her.
  3. Allow them to choose which books to read.  My kids are good negotiators when it comes to the number of books to be read for the night.
  4. Go to the library often and borrow books.
  5. Go to the bookstores often and buy books occasionally.  That shows how you treasure books enough to buy and keep them, besides, it helps to have a mini library at home.
  6. Leave books around the house casually.  This is to encourage kids to pick them up when they walk by or have nothing to do.
  7. Let the kids see you read books and newspapers, be a good role model! (you may refer to my earlier post “Why it is important to be YOURSELF in front of the kids” and that will probably give you a good excuse to indulge in some “me” time)
  8. Read a wide variety of books to your kids.  My son YH loves the animal encyclopedia and especially books on gorillas, apes and dinosaurs.
  9. Have a book in the car (books with large prints so as not to stress the eyes) or in your bag while travelling.
  10. Be ready to read the same book a hundred times to your kids.  They simply love the familiarity of the story and knowing what comes next. 

Do you have good books to recommend?  I would love to know! Tell me in the comments section!