WEEK TWO - 29 JULY 2016

TGIF?  Well, sure, we do understand! So we will keep it light and easy.  After all, we did say a mouthful yesterday.  Here we go with the happenings for Friday, the 29^th July 2016! 

Based on our estimate of time, that the children would need to cook a nutritious and wholesome meal for themselves, we did not plan too much for this morning save for the cookery project and, putting the finishing touches to our jewellery collection and objets d’art that were made from ‘salt dough’!

So, as soon as we assembled the ‘Slammers’ out came the dhal that had been soaked overnight and with it, the other ingredients for the grand repas! The children had already been presented with flour and salt (through the salt-dough moulding project), so we went on to introduce garlic, onion (speaking about bulbs), coconut milk (its origin, and usefulness and how the coconut palm offers us nutrition to shelter (covering the botany angle).  Then, the contributions from dairy – ghee (clarified butter) and yoghurt.  As always we included media to explain, e.g. how yoghurt is made commercially and used our classroom approach, to provide as much salient information as available.  We have to say, albeit the age differences in our group, the younger children do listen to all that is presented, with rapt attention!

Now hang on, we were short of something to achieve ‘mise en place’ .  Chefs help!  Oh yeah, perhaps the disputed king of South Asian aromatics, the famed curry leaf!  Lo and behold, there grows a healthy plant in our garden (well, seemingly so, despite the constant fumes from good old Mountbatten Road!), offering plenty of leaves for our purpose.  The children were shown to pluck the leaves and they did just that.  Then we rolled a leaf in our palms to inhale the unique fragrance that exudes from crushed curry leaves.  Mmmm makes us hungry, just writing about that experience.  Very few will resist the irresistible aroma of curry leaves being tormented by hot cooking oil.  Go on, give it a shot if you have not experienced this!  We also spoke about the health benefits that the curry leaf offers.  You may find this link useful;  https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/herbs-and-spices/health-benefits-of-curry-leaves.html  That done, it was back to our activity area to begin preparing the meal. 

Here are the stages for making the flat bread (sort of a deviation from the traditional Naan)

Adding, water to flour, followed by ghee and yoghurt to the mixture.

Next, mixing dough with a spoon and shaping by hand.

Finally, rolling out the dough with a rolling pin and presenting to the adult for cooking

Making dhal:

Adding pre-soaked dhal to water and bring to boil.  

Adding salt, turmeric and curry leaves to the dhal.

In a separate pan, heat some oil, add garlic and onions; fry until fragrant

Add to fried items to the dhal mixture

Stir, add coconut milk and simmer for a while

Having thirds!

Lunchtime was almost eerie, well we say this for lack of a better word to describe to you, the silent eating that went on without the usual banter!  The children loved the food with no exception and whacked all of it, even going for ‘thirds’!  It was a gratifying experience for us!  We were not entirely sure if everyone would like the aromatics and flavours that we used in the dhal but they did! 

Commerce:  we are pleased to announce the opening (and closing) of the ‘Wham Bam Naan Shop’ at 11 Broadrick Road.  No kidding – the children made a board that told the name of the shop and then canvassed business with whoever wanted to place an order.  Coincidentally, we were scanning Uber eats at that time!   Sales pitch was made and the order taken down with $5/= demanded (sort of pricey!) for an unrestricted portion!  Out went what we were browsing and up came our hands exclaiming, “me”, “me” “me”!  Service was made to our desktops with a flourish!  The ‘naan’ was superb despite being made without a ‘Tandoori oven’ and the dhal just delicious.  We have some seriously talented cooks within our Summer Slam group!  Well done, children!  Yummy meal concluded, it was time to stretch out and allow the belly to ‘normalize’.

Today, as our Friday treat, we watched ‘Mine-O-Saur’ a media clip about sharing!  Some dozed some didn’t! 

After what we thought was sufficient for the heavy meal to digest, we began to prepare for an active end to a very enjoyable week with a ‘Hip Hop’ session presented by the dance master, ‘Suhairi’!   To ‘Worth it' by Fifth Harmony; we did some moves that were certainly, worth it – in terms of learning the dance steps and burning off the lunch!  An impromptu performance came about as some children danced for their friends.  It didn't take too long for the rotation to begin - performer became the spectators and vice versa! We all had a good time and the day ended on a high note.

We hope that the salt dough mouldings the children brought home today, thrilled you!  Here’s an invitation – please take a photograph of you and your child wearing his/her creation, showing the ‘bling’ sides as much as possible, matching that with what you have, and send us the picture.  We will post it on our FB page with pleasure!

Have a safe and fabulous weekend everyone, thanks for enrolling your child in Week Two of our Summer Slam!  We hope they had a grand time and experienced much!  For more photos, you can visit our gallery through this link.

Week Three begins on Monday, 1 August 2016.

Rumeshi & Yan Mei

With May & Dennis

WEEK TWO - 28 JULY 2016

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard.  Today we shall be travelling via ‘Charades’ using ‘Pictionary’ for navigation!  Now, did that make sense to you?  Well, it did to our Summer Slammers, and this is what happened: the children read words on slips prepared by the teachers, in English and Chinese, and then at the easel, they drew what they read.  Interpreting the drawing, the rest of the children had to guess the word.  Hoots of laughter all round as the children delighted in the faux pas.  Our motive was to achieve an energized start to the day which we did!  Yay!

Presented with much ado – the flamboyant ‘carrot’!  This was a combined presentation of botany and nutrition.  We identified some of the countries that produce it, the largest being China, Russia and the USA, located them on the world map, then spoke of its nutritional value.  As a child, were you led to believe that eating more carrots would make you run as fast as a horse?  Then we went on about the benefits that eating carrots provides to the human body including, the possibility of enjoying a glowing complexion.  Further mention of its presence in some food and beverage product, e.g. carrot juice and carrot cake was made.  To end the topic, we all washed the (baby) carrots to prepare them for snack.

Tinikling from the Philippines was repeated, to reinforce the steps.  There was a marked improvement in the children's ability, to step in and out to rhythm.  Bravo, children!  Using the music played for the Tinikling, we had a little percussion session to reinforce the 3/4 rhythm.  Tambourines and clappers made a delightful noise, with the children keeping to time, rather well!

Lunch was lunch, and we say no more!  But do read our suggestion for tomorrow, in relation to the planned cookery project. 

From Aunty May: “Today, I felt like reading to them in a different way”…from a book about plant life, I spoke about plants on our planet.  This was a lead up to what Rumeshi and Yan Mei were to present – yellow dhal. (A pulse, a lentil legume and a close cousin of the green pea).  We spoke about how plants grow, how birds and insects help to propagate fruits and vegetables.  Everyone understood that we would not have honey without bees.  (Although Mila said "We can grow some more!") One child read a short article about how adaptable plants are – trees and shrubs live on cliff faces, some survive under meters of snow, in raging rivers or beneath the sun in a desert.  Another child read about plants living in ponds, rivers, seas with plenty of nutrients and water – but without much light. We looked at Water Lilies that keep their leaves above water and, flowering plants, submerged in water with their blossoms, rising above the water level to pollinate, such as the famed lotus.

A good rest and off we went into afternoon activity.

We have planned a special treat for Friday to supplement lunch. That is to make, from scratch; flat bread and yellow dhal (lentil) curry.  So, please reduce the quantity of food that you plan to send for your child, and if your child is comfortable about having our planned menu for lunch, you may opt to send just a snack.  There will be plenty to go around.

In that regard, we presented the first step to making the dhal:

The product – yellow dhal, what it is, (shape, colour, feel and, urgh (raw) taste?)  Nah! Experiencing all this sensorially, where it’s from, and its use in some countries, from soups to curries (geography), its roots (botany – further explaining the difference between a tap and fibrous root – can you guess what a lentil plant has?), were all presented.
Varieties and cousins – mung, kidney beans.

At this point, we spoke of preparing the lentils for soaking and eventually cooking.

Step 1: Wash and clean the lentils and for this, those of us native to ‘old-school’ Sri Lanka, resort to a utensil named ‘Na-mbi-liya’.   Made of alloy, grooved on the inside to allow for washing grains (rice included) and freeing them of things you’d rather not have inside you – tiny pebbles, particles, even the odd insect*, this vessel is still used in some Sri Lankan homes today!  Rumeshi's for one, as she lent hers for the project.
*Well that was then, before hygienic and ready-to-cook packaging was available.  Please rest assured, the dhal we intend using has been inspected to ensure that it is safe for consumption.

  

We did our best to provide a village setting!

Step 2: Put lentils in the ‘Nambiliya’ (which Rumeshi is holding), add some water, gently ‘jog' the dhal until all foreign matter is ‘jilted’.

The lentils are soaking away today, and they shall be cooked tomorrow.  More to follow.

Snack time and out came the ‘Strawlly’s’ that were frozen overnight.  Not an icicle was left!  We also chomped on the baby carrots that we prepared in the morning, using chopsticks to pick them up.  So we had our EPL for the day.

To end the session – we played rugby.  We really did – well our pre-school form of it.  Three to a side touch rugby, run to the goal line for a touchdown, and we are pleased to report, the round-robin contest ended with a deserving score for all!  We also did our drills, passing the balls and running with the ball. 

Please remember to have your child wear the ‘Summer Slam 2016’ T-shirt that we provided. 

"The child who wants to walk by himself must be allowed to try -- what strengthens any developing power is practice and repetition..." Dr. Maria Montessori

With that, and not forgetting our gallery, it’s good evening, and out.

Rumeshi &Yan Mei,

With May and Dennis

WEEK TWO - 27 JULY 2016

Observe the level of concentration and manipulative skill which this child (Johan) demonstrates, as he makes his strawlly - (more about it below!).  

The Exercises of Practical Life (EPL) area, has an abundance of activity that creates concentration, muscular co-ordination and the self-motivation, to begin and end, what one chooses.  Through repetitions with these exercises, the child achieves a level of skill as depicted in the picture at left. The extended use of the 'pouring activity' is what prepared him.  Imagine the same focus and manipulative skill being used in a creation or, in one's day to day routine! 

 

Hello, everyone and a very good evening to you.  We hope that you had a pleasant day; be it at work, home or elsewhere and that you are having a purposeful and pleasant trip if you are travelling.  It’s was a beautiful afternoon, despite the heat, and we enjoyed a productive and fun-filled day.  This is how it went!

We suggest that you visit the blog that this link leads to before you read further if you are not too familiar with the ‘stereognostic’ and ‘tactile’ senses, that we possess. 

Using the Montessori methodology,  as relevant to the development of the above mentioned, we played a game to begin the day.  Great fun!  With a blindfold from the ‘Mystery Bag’ activity, we sat in groups first and looked carefully at each other to create an impression of each other’s features.  Then it was time for a one member of the group to don the blindfold and attempt to identify individuals in the group by using the tactile sense, to name each person.  Invariably, there was some self-congratulatory work in the process!  Some of them identified themselves and parts of their bodies with much glee.  Oh, it was adorable to watch this!

'Cha Cha' time once more, our 'dancercise guru', Suhairi, came in with his usual bounce!   As some children had been introduced to the step, we had that group watch a video clip of the dance while other learnt the steps with Suhairi.  Then we put it all together and had a super dance session combined with exercise. to Oye com va! 

What follows, is from the open source Wikipedia.

'Oye Como Va' is a song written by Latin jazz and mambo musician Tito Puente in 1963 and popularised by Santana's rendition of the song in 1970 on their album Abraxas, helping to catapult Santana into stardom with the song reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached #11 on the Billboard Easy Listening survey and #32 on their R&B chart.[1]

The fact that the phrase "Oye Como va" is the title of the song and is sung somewhat separately from the phrase "mi ritmo" makes it easy to interpret the meaning as "Hey, how's it going?" However, the first sentence is actually "Oye como va mi ritmo", meaning "Listen to how my rhythm goes.") 
Suhairi also presented a variation of the Cha Cha that the children delighted in following.  
  
Snack followed. Today, we made something to ‘beat the heat’ - ice lollies flavoured with fresh strawberries – a ‘strawlly’, would you call it?  Hmmm… The children first prepared the fruit by removing the leaves then cutting the strawberries into small pieces and that was it for the 'prep'! Into the moulds, with apple juice and brrrrr… off to the freezer!  The strawllys had not frozen by the time we ended the day so, they are chilling for tomorrow!

The chit chat that includes lunch (well put that way it does not sound too ‘boarding-school’ like does it?) went off well.  Nice conversations were overheard with a gymnastic side show – some decided to use the ‘Boss’ arm as a pull-up bar! 

'May's-time' came next, and today she read about the ‘feline family’ and the children were invited to made up a story from what they heard.  Impromptu script creation, wow! 

Mila: “There was once a cat called Lola.”
Arya: “She went for a walk and fell into a drain.”
Johan: “Lola landed in the sea.”
Ishan: “A boat came by.”
Johan: “The people on the boat fished Lola out, dried her and fed her with the fish they caught that morning.”

The Endings:
Riana: “They brought her to shore and found her mummy.”
Arya: “She swam to shore and walked around for one year before she found her way home.”
Ishan: “They took her into a van and while in the van she spotted another bigger cat.  That cat was also brought into the van and together they found their way home.”

Brilliant!  Wouldn’t you say?  We are so proud of our Montessorians!  
                           .
The Salt-Dough craft project continued at a healthy pace, towards the ‘finish-line’.  With the moulds hardened into decora-table objects, we began painting, and soon, we will begin the decorating.  Sorry, that’s about all that we can say for now! 

Simultaneously, another group of children worked on a craft, literally ‘making waves’! Inspiration provided by Yan Mei ‘ocean waves’ were painted using watercolours, paper and a plastic fork! Surfing anyone? 

Sport and today’s presentation about rugby began with the children being entertained with media clips showing some types of rugby played around the world by children.  From that, they observed games of ‘touch’ and ‘contact’ and something in-between - ‘flag’!  Lecture completed it was more theory about the game, using sketches, magnets and our whiteboard.  The children learnt the purpose of the game, that one must go into the opposing team’s territory and put the ball down on the goal line, to score.  We will present other ways of scoring, time permitting, as we go along.  Please do what you can to expand your child’s exposure to Cricket and to Rugby, at home.  Thank you. 

We explored our newly acquired rugby drills in the ‘garden’!  Once more, they practised passing in pairs and it was quite obvious that the older children were more adept today. Then came the ‘sprint and touchdowns’ and finally, we actually began to play a game.  Well in a very simplistic manner that suited our children.

See more pictures from our gallery.   

Rumeshi & Yan Mei together with, May and Dennis

WEEK TWO - 26 JULY 2016

Sort of a dull afternoon, wasn’t it?  The weather beckoned, to curl up with a good read, watch TV or laze.  Nah! Not us, not by a long shot – we went totally active (if you’ll pardon the grammar) and short of a tutu or two, danced away the day with all sorts of stimulating activity.

Today was ‘Tinikling’ day!  If you raise your eyebrows, we invite you to click on this Wiki-link for more!  Another activity that you’d want to try with your children at home.  Potentially sore ankles aside, loads of fun with the right music.  Basically, a waltz-like step, or a canter, if you are into horses, 1-2-3 if you into neither.  So, please do get the (Spanish influenced) music, dismantle a couple of handles from the nearest broom or rake and voila, you are ready to do the Tagalog Tinikling!  More to come about how we did it!

After exchanging pleasantries as the children arrived, we sang a ‘summery’ action song entitled ‘I love summer!   Here are the lyrics to it and our resident (wannabe) nightingale, Rumeshi (did you know, she plays drums?  Well she did, very well in fact, until she took a ‘pre-maternity’ leave of absence from doing that!) will be glad to help you with the tune. 

‘Swimming by the beach

Playing in the park

Riding bicycles, I love summer…’

Next, we learnt a summer classic, ‘Teeny, weeny, yellow, polka …. – get it?  Dennis accompanied the children, on his acoustic guitar and the singing session was a nice and energetic way to begin our day.

An introduction, to the archipelago of the Philippines, which some of the children already knew about, from their work with the puzzle maps of Asia, preceded our presentation to Tinikling and, the ensuing activity.  Once again, reverting to our ‘Montessori material’ we spoke of this amazing country, one that is so rich and diverse, in all there is to see and experience! Then, we literally got down to learning the steps.  Rhythm was not stressed on much today, as our purpose was for the children to experience the steps.  We shall introduce the rhythm, within the week, so the dance steps are reinforced and then, compare a 3/4 rhythm with a 4/4 rhythm to add to the experience.  Dennis, who was thrilled about dancing with ‘the stars’ (our little stars – all of them!), thoroughly enjoyed this session with the children. They were helped by Rumeshi and Yan Mei who also took turns to give it a shot!  Please send us a picture of you and your children trying the Tinikling at home and we will post it on Facebook with pleasure!

Before lunch, things went green and orange!  Making a salad to supplement our lunch!  We presented the children with the ingredients - carrots (they were grated), cucumber (sliced) cherry tomatoes (halved), butterhead lettuce and radicchio, did a little vocabulary lesson in English and Mandarin, and went for it! There were mixed reviews about the salad, from the lunch-bunch!  We can say no more - it was a closed door session.

POST LUNCH

Narration – related to the topic that we presented yesterday, about what makes up a television set, Aunty May, spoke about the very first animated film by Emile Cohl.  Suddenly, in the middle of cathodes and such, pops a question from a ‘would-be’ pilot, asking about airplanes.  Well, the beauty of Montessori education, is that we ‘follow the child’ and we did just that!  Switched gears, well - added wings, stick and rudder, and brought in the famed Wright brother into the narration!  May went on to speak about the first flight across the Atlantic by Orville and Wilbur Wright.  Back to animation now!

‘Live’ from the ‘Main Activity Room' where a brilliant group of artists are creating a unique collection of art – “we see a scurry, another in a hurry, bumping into one and saying sorry, like putting together a curry, in concert, with focus but with unfurrowed brow, free of worry, and we know that soon they will carry, an object of amazing beauty!”  There, we said it all! Also continuing, ‘tissue-painting’ by the group who were moulding the salt-dough, yesterday.

Rugby today, was presented with a recap of what we spoke about yesterday.  Using solids to identify the shape of the ball and the Decimal System Beads to Quantity - ‘2016’, ‘1823’ and with the ‘Change Game’ the older children understood the difference. The drills were repeated for reinforcement with an addition; passing in pairs (older children) laying emphasis, that in rugby, the ball can only be passed to a teammate who is behind the ball!  More from the today’s gallery.

We leave you with this:

“A child under two is well able to walk for a mile or so, and also able to climb. Our impression that a long walk is beyond (him/)her comes from making (him/)her walk at our pace. But the child is not trying to 'get there' -- all (he/)she wants is to walk. And because (his/)her legs are shorter than ours, it is we who must go at (his/)her pace...” Dr. Maria Montessori.

Rumeshi & Yan Mei together with, May and Dennis

WEEK TWO - 25 JULY 2016

Monday morning and it’s week two of our Summer Slam 2016! Welcome!

We hope that you liked the ‘dot-painted’ T-shirts your child brought home, on Friday, together with the official ‘Summer Slam 2016’ t-shirt.  We ask that the latter, be worn to school on Friday, 29 July 2016, please!  Thank you. 

So, it’s a new week and that means, more creativity and fun for all.  We have six new joiners this week and together with their friends from last week, things got rolling.  The new joiners were given an orientation to the layout of the main activity rooms.  Others spent a few minutes with Lao Shi Yan Mei, who presented them with a story about a dog; why its tongue hangs out, how that helps to cool down things, the end of which came, with everyone’s tongue hanging out to have a ‘real-life’ experience!

The highlight of this week in art and craft is moulding objects using the tried and tested (well as of last week!) ‘salt dough’ recipe. This is a very engaging form of craft that you and your children can do at home, with limitless possibilities, of decorating the product.  Shapes, sizes, colours and add-on’s – let your creativity flow!

Then, along came Suhairi with a very bouncy attitude.  Off went the children and soon came the screams of excitement and the strident tones of what we now know as 'toma reggaeton’!  Apparently, a prerequisite for a crazy session of  ‘Zumba’.  The featured song was something quite catchy and the children seemed to have enormous fun following Suhairi’s moves quite well.  Please do visit the gallery via the link provided below for some pictures of the action. 

The ‘Salt Dough’ making, moulding and its baking followed.  First came the introduction to the ingredients – flour and salt.  Their (geographical) origin and processing up to the point of the end product that we see in grocery stores, were presented via media.  Then it was making the dough, combining the ingredients, and stirring and mixing the lot, that soon turn into a pliable material.  Some of the children were able to finish their creations, which ranged from a volcano to pendants!   Setting the mouldings followed by baking them in an oven and that’s where we left it at today. Tomorrow, we shall continue with the children who are yet to complete their creations and then later in the week, we begin decorating.  Yay! 

While one group was engaged in moulding the 'salt-dough' with Rumeshi, the remaining children a very creative art project ‘tissue painting’ with Yan Mei.  Using watercolour paints, everyday ‘facial’ tissues as the materials, (no brushes involved) children created beautiful forms of ‘dipped’ art that you can view within our gallery. The finished product will come to you, on Friday.  The art has been hung out to dry, for now!

Lunch was a chatty affair, as usual, some taking longer than others to eat and chat!  Rest time followed and while we asked the children to have a little nap, we couldn’t help smiling when we heard those giggles, whisperings and the playing of ‘musical beds’.  It’s amazing how one, who was last seen in Cot No. 1, suddenly appeared in Cot No. 5 in the instant that the supervising adult took to turn around! 

Today’s story after lunch was about ‘television’ in response to the request that we had last week.   Aunty May began the narration by talking about the inventors, who collectively contributed to the creation of a television set.  Those five (FYI) are:

1. Paul Kipkow, who in 1884 created a rotating disk which was the foundation of mechanical television systems;

2. Charles Jenkins – who developed a device to electrically transmit images and pictures.

3. The Englishman John Logie Baird -  who invented the first practical model of the mechanical television and transmitted the first image of a human face in 1925.

4. Alan Campbell-Swinton -  who developed the cathode ray tube

5. Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the dissector tube (based on the cathode ray tube) which is still the foundation of all electronic television sets.

While the children may not be able to recall all that we presented, our idea was to put across to them, that the television sets we use today, came about as a result of several inventions coming together;  not all at once, but collectively those inventions enable us to see life and fantasy in vivid colour, from the comfort of our homes.

The afternoon activity areas saw the children engaged in threading shapes of animals, playing ‘pizza-twist’ and building the world, through a puzzle!

Sport, and this week, it’s all about Rugby!  We chose rugby as it is a robust game, played by children of all ages worldwide!  Playing rugby, requires multiple skills, quick thinking, agility, speed and sportsmanship, not to mention, team spirit!  Today was about presenting the founder of rugby, William Webb Ellis, the manner in which he took the ball in his hands and ran with it, during a (no-hands) soccer game.  Also mentioned; the period that this happened – 18’ hundreds (association of 10’s and 100’s from the Montessori decimal system), the shape of the Rugby ball, likened to the ‘ellipsoid’ from our geometry cabinet, its dissimilarity from the ‘ovaloid’ which we likened to an egg (now that, led to an entirely different ‘side-bar’ chat, about how we like our eggs and the consensus was that we all liked this amazingly versatile food item!) ending with the children being presented with a rugby ball.  After experiencing the ‘feel’ of a rugby ball it was off to the studio for some passing around and then we did the first of our planned drills.  Darting zig-zag runs ending with a sprint for a ‘touchdown’.  Now our sound man let us down and we failed to deliver the soundbite of a stadium going ‘bananas’ when a touchdown takes place so we compensated for that, with our own form of cheering.  The children enjoyed the drill and ended the day with 10 minutes of free play in the garden.

Summing up, a good start to this week! 

Thank you, for enrolling your child in Week Two of Summer Slam 2016, please remember that all children should wear their ‘official' Summer Slam T-shirts on Friday for the group picture!  We will hand over the T-shirts to the new joiners, tomorrow.

Click here for the gallery.

Rumeshi & Yan Mei together with, May and Dennis

WEEK ONE - 22 JULY 2016

SUMMER SLAM 2016 - WEEK ONE GROUP

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MORNING:

Friday and here we go - treat time!  Nah, not this early!  Well, do read on.

The morning began with the usual pleasantries, health checks and the lot, and then, a quick media introduction to ‘Hip Hop’ until the teachers were ready for the cookery project we had planned.

Pizza, made from scratch (well nearly we must add, we could not find a garden to pick the tomatoes)!  It all began with an introduction to the ingredients – flour, cheese, etc., their origin, the state of raw material and sources (using our geography materials as much as possible).  Then it was about the processing the raw material and the ensuing product, e.g. salt.  Lastly, going through the recipe for pizza dough!  The stage was set for the fun to begin – and away they went mixing, kneading, pulling, pushing (not themselves of course) but the pizza dough. Many sound bites, much excitement and a whole lot of energy that seem reflected in the end product - pizza!  The dough was graced with tomato sauce and shredded cheese.  Off they went for baking after that!  (The children did not participate in this process.)  Given that pizza-making from scratch requires close attention by the adults, some created art, using paper that they cut, then gluing a parachute shaped collage, as they awaited a turn to make their pizza.  'Yum tum, here it comes'... well not entirely, the pizzas were saved for tea as everyone had brought lunch.

Lunch with chit-chat, with much interaction and quite the usual.  Soon, it was time for the narration and rest.  

AFTERNOON:  Today, Aunty May read about artists.  Included were Vincent Van Gogh - his artwork: 'bold brush strokes, bold bright colours'.  The children saw pictures of the famed 'Sunflowers’, ‘Irises'', the 'Potato Eaters', Van Goh's self-portraits, a picture of an 'Old Pair of Boots', to mention some.  She explained that he only sold one painting during his prime and was not very well off.  Next, May presented Pablo Picasso. 'Cubism' was illustrated with examples and a picture of a painting from 'real life' was shown to the children.  Leonardo da Vince and the eternal 'Mona Lisa' and Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, were also shown at that time.  For next week, we received a request for a story about the person who invented Television!  We shall do our best, Johan!

Rested and refreshed, the children used their iPads to respond to challenging 'tanagrams' from the 'Shape Arts' app.  Also going on at this time, some enterprising construction with 'Lego' and weaving, using paper (please see photo).  All in all, a busy day with lots of activity, 

The pizza, baked in the morning, was ready to be enjoyed at snack time.  Plenty of carbs were needed as the day was to end with some heavy duty 'Hip Hop'!  Comment: (Alisa -  verbatim) "this pizza is yummier than the pizza which I ate yesterday!"  (Food for thought here, why not a pizzeria, by MFC?)

The 'Hip Hop' session happened.  Children learnt the moves and then 'hipped' and 'hopped' (whatever that means) to Jessie J's 'Price Tag'.

Ain't about the (uh) ch-ch-ching ch-ching

Ain't about the (yeah) bl-bling-bl-bling

Wanna make the world dance,

Forget about the price tag (OK)" 

How must we say it - 'cool', and that it was!

The 'dot-painted' t-shirts were sent with your child.  We trust you will appreciate the handiwork from your child's hands and the children will wear them proudly!

We hope that your child enjoyed the first week of our Summer Slam 2016 as much as we did!  We delighted in having him/her with us.  Please feel free to ask for continued attendance (Week 2: 25-29 July & Week 3: 1-5 August. 2016). 

Have a safe and happy weekend, bon voyage to our ITG/cricket coach, as he goes away to visit his family and the Montessori families who will be travelling.  Looking forward to next week!  Here's a hint - It’s going to be a 'rucking', 'tuck-in' week for sure! 

Gallery (please click on this)

Rumeshi & Yan Mei together with, May, Dennis and Sathish (from the airport!)

WEEK ONE - 21 JULY 2016

What Happened Today:

IN THE MORNING

Role playing – was both meaningful and a scream.  While the theme was to emphasise the importance of ‘Community Helpers’, a unit that we do at school, from time to time, to explain the roles that a garbage-collector, fire-fighter, police-office, doctor, etc. play to facilitate convenience and essential services within communities, the children were given a free hand to don a costume and become a ‘Community Helper’.  What ensued had us in stitches.

 

A ‘citizen’ (Ishan) called the ‘Tampines Fire Station’ reporting a fire! The number as imagined by him: 15668155, raised our collective eyebrows and we would not advise you to call it, for any assistance, fire or ‘under-fire’ and no matter how dire, your circumstances!  Guess where the fire-fighters were asked to come to, by the ‘citizen’ – of course, ‘Broadrick Road’ and to the school!  They were fast, sirens on (sound effect by Ishan again!) and (we imagine) lights glaring and ladders clunking, with the Fire Chief (Ananya) totally in cool control, but poor ‘Aunty May’ (Richa) missed a beat because of the calamity.  It was a hoot and an excellent presentation of what to do in a fire and how those who fight it, help the community.

Skit No: 2 was about a doctor (who dispenses without a prescription, now please don’t get any ideas here).  Acting a little girl (Yecenia), suffering from an imagined cold, went to see the famed GP (or could be a consultant in disguise?), Dr. Ishan.  Her complaint – a cold, naturally, because she had to, eat ice-cream and a lot of it!  Poor kid!  Dr. Ishan dispensed her medication, with a flourish, telling the patient that Prospan taken 20 times a day (serious afflictions require higher dozes as you may agree) and to bolster the healing, Vitamin C would be the remedy.  The bill was issued to the amount of $100.00 which, by today’s reckoning, seems fair wouldn’t you say?

That was it for role play!

Then came ‘Straw Painting’.  No, not painting straw as in straw, hay and the like, but using drinking straws to propel (water based and child-safe), globs of paint onto paper!  The pictures will give you an idea of this amazingly effective art form.  Please try this at home if you have white walls, will you?  The beauty of the exercise (which involves motor skills and breath control) is that the art produced is abstract and undetermined.  Once done, children can interpret a shape or formation, using their imagination. This was a blast too!

Lunch was followed by a narration about another ‘person from history’!  May spoke about none other than, a person whose creations still bring a smile and a chuckle to every child in the world, (well, we like to think so!) – Walt Disney!   She showed  his first drawing of Mickey Mouse in a flip-book and introduced a one-minute video of a flip book (inventor was John Barnes Linnet).  The narration went on and the children were quite surprised that Disney's first full-length movie - ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’  was made such a long time ago!!

Trivia: Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA was built in 1955 – and Alisa shared that she has been to its Hong Kong park!

Bingo indeed!  We missed you and what could have been a very appreciated audition, but we remain in hope!  Rumeshi and Yan Mei introduced the game and the older children had a turn at this very popular social indoor game.  Other board games were also available and some did play with them.

The ‘dot painting' of the T-shirts continued after lunch, and we are a-go, for delivery tomorrow.  Yay!  To perk up the project, as mentioned, we put on a ‘Fashion Show’!  Music (no lights) and lots of action, with authentic ‘catwalk’ music.  First, as with all modelling apprentices, it took a senior ‘model’ to show the ropes.  The short straw went to Aunty May! The video clips tell more of what ensued and please do observe the ‘dot-painted’ T-shirt she is wearing.  Then it was a call to the children to get on our ‘catwalk’.  Goodness, did they strut it up!  First off, Richa, then those who wanted to be ‘models’ for the moment, followed, Ananya, Riana, Alisa and the only male model, Ishan!  We did our best with the commentary’ albeit a lack of experience in the world of high fashion!  Judging the proceedings were, Eden, Jun Ying, Jia Yu, Sophie, Diyara.  We missed, Yecenia, Christoph & Johan, who left soon after lunch. We did not tell them though that our early release had a price.  They will have to be the models, at our next ‘Fashion show’! 

Sports and, at today’s session of cricket, we went further with batting strokes, showing the stump-saving ‘back-foot defensive’, the attractive, ‘pull’ and the mighty, ‘hook’ shots.  The children were organised into three groups again and the bowling and fielding drills continued.  Please allow your child to enjoy some cricket on the TV.  Several interesting matches are going on internationally and most of them are available, via video streaming.  Cricket is an excellent game, incorporating strategy, patience and risk-taking.  It requires fitness and the athletic ability, too.  Those interested in cricket for their children may contact the various clubs and associations in Singapore that provide coaching and leagues for junior cricket.

With that. It’s the end of another super day at Summer Slam 2016!  Gallery

A very good evening to you!

WEEK ONE - 20 JULY 2016

A dramatic photograph, but not from this morning's storm. Khongkit Wiriyachan /Shutterstock.com

What happened today?

Quite a storm last night, wasn’t it?  Phew!  Now that’s an interesting topic, as it includes sound, light and, of course, action!  Soon…at our Summer Slam 2016!

We awaited Suhairi with much anticipation, as it was to be a ‘cha cha’ morning!  Prior to introducing the dance steps, we had planned to screen some clips of this evergreen Latin dance that was to have been preceded by a narration, about sharing (Grace and Courtesy), but our internet connection went south, and that was it!  So we made do with some action songs: ‘Down by the Ocean’, and in Mandarin: ‘Sea Animals’, which the children enjoyed very much.

Then came the introduction to 1, 2, cha cha cha!  First, the steps, then re-learning them in small groups and finally doing it to the classic - 'I wanna dance with you - cha, cha, cha, cha'.  So take a few minutes this evening to ‘cha cha’ with your child.  Who knows, you may be training the next contestant to ‘Dancing with the Stars’!  Well, in our books, everyone was a star today;  although some with waning enthusiasm, here and there.  Quite natural.

We still welcome contributions to our dress up corner!  Old dresses, costumes, curtains, sashes, wigs, costume jewellery and anything that can be used for dressing up with imagination, will be appreciated.  We plan to give ‘role playing’ a turn tomorrow with multiple actors, who will hopefully put together an unscripted performance of imaginary roles.  Cops on the moon with an astronaut, now what say you, to that? A case of missing the cheese?

Rumeshi reported success, in preparing the 'Salt Dough'.  She had made a batch at home, last evening.  It had set!  Yay!  So once Yan Mei works out the possible decorative materials, the sculpting can begin next week!  Have you signed up your child for Week Two?  Please call us to arrange it.

Meanwhile, the decorative T-shirts get even closer to being worn.  Not all were too keen on continuing with it, so we will find a way to spark the enthusiasm tomorrow.  Would any of you care to model? No catwalk provided but music, yes!  Let us know!

Mid-morning, we went MIT – that is marching into technology!  Sathish, our ITG (IT Guy) had researched iPad apps that had association to what we introduce sensorially, in geometry, for example, ‘tanagrams’.  The children liked the apps chosen and, not only had fun but learnt much by using applications that had them practise making and performing; 'tanagrams', (geometry), addition and subtraction (math), categorising numbers (math).  Super fun with academic value.

Lunch was a social experience again and almost everyone, eating with a hearty appetite.  Please try to serve your child’s food is in bite-sized pieces.  Thank you.

Post-lunch

Our administrative head of school, Mrs. May Chan, determined to be part of Summer Slam 2016 barged in soon after lunch!  Well more like Cha-cha’d’ in.  She had a book – ‘People in History’ and chose to read all about the famed Scotsman, Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, among other things.  Children saw pictures that told the story of this indispensable communication device.  We think they had a hard time imagining the ‘rotary dial phones’ and old-school telephone exchanges!  Johan, though, seemed to know about the older type of phones and the extreme – satellite communication! Bravo!  We will pick a famed character from history and regale the children further with their contributions to humanity.

A short nap for some..shhh

We ran out time for the planned Bingo session!  Just as well, we suppose, as that allows you more time to prepare yourselves with the access code – the song B-I-N-G-O!

Bowling Practice

Cricket – as we promised, we took the introduction of the game a notch up.  Serious stuff!  The children were divided into three groups, each being presented with batting, bowling and fielding.  The batting group learnt to play the ‘forward defensive’ and to ‘drive’ the ball. The bowlers learnt to aim, rotate the arms and deliver the ball overarm, to the batter.  The fielding group practised catching the ball, thrown to them at differing heights. The children rotated after a turn at each drill.  Hopefully, we can see these newly learnt skills come into play, at a planned game, this Friday.

Fielding Practice

The link again to our gallery of today’s activities.  Do enjoy them (we know that some of you have appreciated this) and feel free to download and share, what you like! 

Trivia - Did you know that our ITG (Sathish) played cricket for his state in his home country, India?  Albeit with a little less pace now, as a father of two, he remains an effective pace bowler!  You've probably seen some of his actions directing traffic down Broadrick Road!!

Rumeshi and Yan Mei together with May, Sathish and Dennis

Batting Practice