Wild Animals

The theme of the Wild Animals let us re-visit Zoology unit we learned earlier this year in March. We have created many types of animals at the art corner, walked like an elephant, slithered like a snake, hopped like a kangaroo. For Sensorial activity, we shown the children different types of habitat that these wild animals are living. The children have really liked exploring many jungle animals. The toddlers always surprise us with the different sounds that these wild animals make by listening to the story of Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear? by Eric Carle.

July News

Our theme in July is Wild Animals. Through our study of wild animals, the children will become familiar with the names and homes of the many zoo animals and we will be talking about endangered animals and at the same time we will create awareness to children on how to preserve their habitats. Younger children will be read a book by Eric Carle, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear? They will learn the different sounds these animals in the book are making.

Some of the experiences planned for this theme :
o Sensorial activity – touch different types of fabric materials such as wool from hair/fur and leather from skin.
o Science Culture table – children will be working with toy animals and place them in each habitat that these animals live, some prefer icy cold land, muddy places, some animals prefer grassy land or water.

June Holiday Workshops

We're very happy to announce our first batch of June Holidays Crafty Time sessions, led by scrap expert Joyce ended with a blast! The children learned new skills and produced loads of fun and creative art projects and their felt sewing projects, including cute stuffed donuts, cool book cover and bags for all stuff.

I loved sewing myself as a child and it is a wonderful thing to pass on to the kids. I have been very keen in making sewing available to children and hope to break down some of the barriers associated sewing with it being a girl thing. My intention is only to make sewing fun for children and for them to pick this as a new hobby...who knows one day they will become one of the world's top fashion designers?

The children learned to sew using needle and thread and two basic stiches. Backstitch is the strongest hand stitch and is used to imitate machine stitches and herringbone stitch and it is used to hold down a hem. This is a decorative stitch and could be used on the outside of a piece of clothing.

Parents' Day

What a great Parents Day! Today, the weather was so kind to us and our parents and children thoroughly enjoyed our first ever Parents Day. Huge thanks to all of you who came and cheerfully participated in all activities with your child. Thank you, parents, for sharing your precious children with us. Thank you for the privilege of allowing us to take part in their early years. Thanks go out to our teachers and helpers for making this event a success.

June News

Last month have seemed to pass us by very quickly! Teachers have been busy for the coming up Parents’ Day and our Parent Teacher Meeting. We would like to thank all parents for taking the time to come and discuss with us about your child. A gentle reminder, kindly sign and return the progress reports by this week.

We have had such wonderful changes in the Toddlers class. We have the classroom walls newly painted. Last month our focus was Colours and Shapes. We sang the classical song I Can Sing A Rainbow in order to help the children learn the colours of the rainbow. They learned about primary and secondary colours. The children also created many beautiful artworks from this unit. The children will continue to be able to use many different materials and techniques to create their art for the rest of the year. We will be increasing the amount of free art projects to allow their creativity to flourish.

We are pleased that Ms. Joyce a local artist is willing to spare her busy time to organise holiday art workshops for our children during this coming 2 weeks school holidays. These programmes stressed on child’s creativity and encourage the child to think out of the box. We will be using a vast variety of art tools, recyclable materials, lolly sticks, egg cartons, paper plates, dollies, old magazines, fabrics, buttons, etc.

This month we will be learning all about Nursery Rhymes. Nursery rhymes stimulate memory, improve language skills, develop appreciation for music, enrich vocabulary, develop phonemic awareness, encourage thinking skill and they are fun!

Some of the activities that we will do :
- Sing along with the nursery rhymes and learn rhyming words
- Learn prepositions on, in, above, under, behind, in front with Humpty Dumpty
- Experiment with sink and float using Jack and Jill’s pail
- Learn time with Hickory Dickory Dock
- Learn pairing and matching with Hey Diddle Diddle
- Learn tonque twister with Peter Piper

Teachers' Day

On 16th May was Teacher’s Day. We had a week long Teacher Appreciation Week from 10th – 14th May. Children were invited to send their appreciation to their teachers on these days.

Thank you children and parents for showering us with lots of gifts and flowers. You really lighted up our lives!

Happy Teacher's Day

Teachers are generous people. Throughout the school year, they spend countless hours preparing teaching materials, decorating classrooms and volunteering their personal time to attend parent-teacher meetings and special events - not to mention digging into their own pockets for special stationeries, stickers and goodies for children. Does this sound like you ? If yes, give yourself a big clap and that of all the things that you do...you deserve a day specially dedicated to you!!

Parents, sending your appreciation shows that you and your child appreciate the little things she does to make school enjoyable. Here’s a shout out to teachers everywhere including my terrific teachers ! You are the best and enjoy the week. HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!!

I know Mother's Day is around the corner but I'm just getting a little bit over too excited over here that really makes me want to post this banner up for you to see....

May News

The Early Years and Preschoolers children had great fun when they visited Paya Terubong Fire Station on 28th Apr. The firefighters showed them what they have always wanted to see, how they slide down the pole, the fire engines and all the equipment that they use. The children held the long hose and pretended to put out a fire. What a fantastic experience when all children and teachers had a chance to ride on a fire engine. The children sang a song as an appreciation to the firefighters. Going on a field trip also taught the children how to behave on outings, care for themselves and friends.

Learning about other jobs was fun too! Not to forget our recycling bins, we managed to collect three bags full of trash for recycle. The children were shown how much of trash we have collected and that we care for the earth.

We have children previously from Toddlers Group (2-3 year olds) promoted to Early Years Group (3-4 year olds) that are developing well into reading and writing. They work on letter recognition, initial sounds and sight words. They are developing their pencil grips steadily and they are doing their handwriting without ‘tears’ and with more confidence now.

In May, we will be teaching Colours and Shapes. We will be telling the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle. The toddlers will be learning about colours of the rainbow, sorting out shapes, sequencing patterns. The Early Years will be learning Primary and Secondary colours, reinforce comparative language for dark and light, working on Geometric Solids and lastly the Preschoolers will be working on Colour Box III to create colour wheel and observing architectures of famous buildings. With the help of Montessori materials, the children find abstract concepts and language skills easy to understand and remember.

On 19th May (Wed), we would like to invite children to wear anything colourful to school or they can come in polka-dots, stripes, checked, etc for show and tell.

This month, we will also be talking about a very important person in children’s lives that is mum. Besides that, 16th May is Teacher’s Day. We will be having a week long Teacher Appreciation Week from 10th – 14th May. Children are invited to send their appreciation to their teachers on these days.

Field Trip - Fire Station, Paya Terubong, Penang

The Early Years and Preschoolers were able to visit the fire station on 28Apr for our Community Helpers theme. They had a fun bus ride there and when we reached there, we were greeted by the Fire Station chief. He assigned one of the firefighters on duty to tour us around. The children listened very carefully to the talk about the station, fire work and most of all safety. The Firefighters reminded us all how to call in case of Emergencies only. They showed us how to do that. They talked about how to stay low in a fire.and they took us all around the fire engine.

The ketua balai bomba gave cakes and drinks and we thank them with a Firefighter's song. That was the highlight for the firefighers. The chief was so great with these children and all of our children behaved excellently, it was a wonderful trip. Thank you Fire Station for having us, thank you Firemen for the tour and thank you teachers for taking good care of the children.

The kids Go Green

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 of every year. It is our children who will someday be responsible for taking care of our planet. We have to start educating them from young!

Here was one activity we did in class to help them love the earth and get involved in making it a better place.