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