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

WEEK ONE - 19 JULY 2016

WHAT HAPPENED TODAY!

Crabs of Oranges and Cherry Tomatoes!

The highlights of this morning (well we had three planned but more of that later..), were the ‘Dress-Up’ corner and the creation of the pictured 'crabs'!  

There were costumes of a ‘Firefighter’, ‘Police Officer’, ‘Soldier’ and an ‘Astronaut’!  We plan to add more as we go along.  A ‘Firefighter’ asked, what’s the axe for?  That paved the way to an explanation about fire and how it is fought.

Dressing-Up!

We welcome contributions to our 'Dress-Up' corner.  Admittedly we are lacking a bit with girl-like choices, but we’ll soon fix that!  The corner will extend to unrehearsed, role-playing in the coming week when we will be encouraging children to enact a skit, based on what they are wearing. Then, to integrate their roles with others, to create a performance.  Hopefully we can put out a video from a ‘performance’, soon. 

Sadly, our attempt to make ‘Salt Dough’ did not produce the material that we needed to get on with our sculpting.  So, back to the ‘laboratory’ to cook up, literally, batches of the dough, to ensure a mix that will yield pliable and ‘sculpt-able’ dough.  The rest, has to remain a mystery until you see what’s coming home!

Celery Stick Fish Art

Some children pressed on with the ‘dot painting’ of t-shirts and we are looking good for delivery by Friday!  Other activities done included making a 2-D image of a fish using a celery stick as a ‘stamp’ to depict the scales.  The Mandarin session presented a rhyme and a song about fruits.  

Lunch today, included carrot sticks that we provided!   Yum!  Yan Mei made a presentation about fruits and their nutritional value, during her Mandarin session that was completed shortly before lunch.  The ‘food craft’ for the day, was a ‘crab orange with cherry tomatoes’!  Sound haute cuisine does it not?

Post-lunch

Today, the lie-down was perked-up with board games and even Twister.  Have you tried the classic ‘Twister’?  It takes some doing alright!  What we introduced was a version of ‘Twister’ -  ‘Pizza Twister’.  Much fun and fits of laughter!  Children also read books and played other board games like ‘Snakes and Ladders’and, made jewellery.

Hear Ye!  Tomorrow is Bingo Day! Join us if you can for a spot of fun during your lunch break!  Admission will require you to sing the children’s favourite - B-I-N-G-O!

Cricket, glorious cricket!  More of the same, reinforcing what we presented yesterday and tomorrow will be taking things a notch higher.  Wait for the blog!

Here is the link to our gallery of today’s activities.  Do enjoy them and feel free to download and share, what you like! 

Rumeshi and Yan Mai together with May, Sathish and Dennis

WEEK ONE - 18 JULY 2016

Cricket - a leg glance!

Dance, Dance, Dance!

Australian Aboriginal Art Interpreted

HAPPENINGS TODAY

After a little settling in, we got off to a smashing start!  Our dance coach ‘Suhairi’ (who does the regular exercise to music programme at school), came up with the cutest ‘Hamster dance’ among other steps and the children had loads of fun following him.  We were delighted to see the children interpreting the music in their unique styles – the true form of dance!

Then it was an introduction to the activity areas.  Today we had T-shirt decorating, inspired by Australian 'dot painting'.  The children listened to and viewed a presentation on Australia, followed by the introduction (via media) to the art form.  This project will continue all of this week so the most amount of decorating can be done.  Your child will bring his/her shirt home on Friday.  We will include care instructions but the general rule would be minimal washing or dry cleaning as all the art work is done by hand – your child’s hand! 

Lunch followed and, in that regard, we will be talking about a balanced meal and nutrition from tomorrow.  Posters will be displayed to aid us in our presentations.  So please pack nutritious lunches that include plenty of vegetables, fruit, some protein and dairy (subject to allergies).

POST LUNCH

Was an unusual experience for most – grab a book and lie down on a cot or mat for quiet time!  Children who are in our Extended-Day sessions, usually have lunch, have a few minutes of quiet time, most often reading a book and then go on to work.  Today was about ‘Summer Slam’ so we relaxed and guess what, some of them actually napped!

   

"ZZZZZZZ!"

Lemonade – Sensorially made, from scratch.  First the wash, then the squeeze and then, voila, there was lemonade.  The children drank what they made but after the tasting experience some sweetening was added, admittedly.  So that was our lemonade-making, which was an Exercise of Practical Life and, a sensorial experience too! 

Then it was, for the first time ever, at MFC Broadrick, ‘Cricket, glorious cricket’!  Headed by Sathish, who used a technique from the Montessori pedagogy, (the three-period name lesson), it was first off again with geography and where the game was created and first played, a brief introduction to England, and then it was about the game, how it is played, its purpose and lastly a practice session which saw some potential pace bowlers (albeit taking a stationary view of things at this time!), hard-hitting batters and nimble fielders.  Wow! We will be playing cricket all week so, hopefully, a team will be available for future fixtures in the ‘Pre-school’ league!

All in all it was great fun, and we look forward to more tomorrow.

Please feel free to share this blog with your family and friends!

Here is the link to our gallery of today’s activities.  Do enjoy them and feel free to download what you like! 

Thank you for enrolling your child in our Summer Slam 2016!  

Rumeshi & Yan Mai together with, May, Sathish and Dennis