MOMMY CLUB - Yr 2007 P1's (Yr2000 Millennium & Dragon Babies)

few days ago, i received a call from the teacher aide saying my boy was crying (again ;p) coz after gym, he couldn't find his shoes and the pair left behind doesn't belong to him. the aide said he was scared i would scold him so she promised him she'll call me to explain.

shortly after, his form teacher called me to tell me the same thing and request that i dun scold him. it seems my boy made me out to be a monster mom... my DH was laughing at me when i related the incident.

so fast...next month school holidays oredi. guess i have to leave my boy full day at his student care. do u have any holiday plans for your kids?
 


Wen,
Next month will be the 1st school holidays. Will revise with him his subjects, esp the weaker ones like Chinese. Of course must inject some play time. His CA and SA coming up in late April.
 
Dorothy,
Oh yeah, that's quite sad. A hand-written 'try harder'. I guess teachers do expect children to get full marks for their spelling. They mark 30 spelling books. There're bound to be quite a few kids who get full marks repeatedly, so they tend to think that it's possible, and easy, to get full marks la. Actually, I myself get abit anxious that my kid doesn't get full marks for spelling bcos I feel that it's only these few predictable words that are tested and she doesn't get them all right. I worry about how she's going to do in the final exam that we don't even know the questions to.

I'll also be meeting the teacher in March.
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For the holiday, my husband will be on reservist. He was suggesting that I send my kid to my mother's since there won't be anyone at home to take care of her. But I'm scared of being home alone :p. I'll think of something else probably.

Wen,
I experienced something similar when my friends wanted to give my kid some gift since she was involved in one of their projects. They asked me,"Eh, your daughter says she must ask you whether she can take the present. If not, you'll scold her." They started to say things like,"You're very fierce one ah?" "She's very scared you'll scold her leh."

It made me feel like I'm a very fierce and domineering mother.
 
today my boy's classmate's mom sms me asking if we received a letter about LSP for english and maths. i didn't know what was that...thought it's something for outstanding students and my boy didn't get it.

was feeling anxious so went to check internet. turned out it's a good thing he didn't receive the letter coz it's a program for lower primary kids who needed additional learning support.

i guess when there's one for chinese he'll be selected since he is weak in this subject. i don't know if they learn chinese characters during lessons coz i've yet to see any chinese homework. my boy says they learn hanyu pinyin, sing songs and play games during chinese lessons.
 
I understand from my sister-in-law that for the first term, the teachers will identify who are the weaker students in order to give them supplementary lessons. That's why the first term is usually quite simple for those children who have a strong pre-school foundation. But from second term onwards, the teaching pace will pick up and that is when the children will start to learn more difficult stuff.

I am not sure whether my son will need to go for supplementary classes or not. He actually knows his work but he is very careless and sometimes too "gei kiang" (act smart). He often tries to think out of the box and provides an answer which is not wrong but not expected by the teacher. For instance, on Number Bonds Test, he was given the hint that "9 = 4 + 5" but he wrote down 9 is made up of 3 and 6 as the answer. When I asked him why did he put 3 and 6 instead of 4 and 5, he replied "you mean I just need to copy? that's too simple". On another occasion for his Ting Xie, he knew that one of the word tested was "ju" in the third tone. But when the teacher read it as "ju hua", he wrote it down as second tone. I am not sure whether he heard it wrongly or the teacher had given the wrong example but anyway, he was marked wrong....
 
Jess,
I think you don't have to worry that your son will need to go LSP becos LSP is for kids who do not have a good foundation in the particular subjects. LSP kids for eg, would probably give a totally wrong answer instead of a different combination for number bonds, and they wouldn't know that "ju" is made up of 'j' and 'u'. Usually, LSP kids are weak becos they don't have parental support.

I'm relieved that my kid is not the only one who gives different combi for the number bonds.
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Looking at it positively, our kids do know their maths. It's the workbook that is idiotic. Actually, I loathe those questions that ask children to write '1+6=7', '6+1=7' on top of the vertical version which is the number bond format. I think it's so stupid and redundant altho I know it's so that children will know that '1+6' and '6+1' mean the same thing.

I'm just curious. What's 'ju hua'? I thought it could be chrysanthemum, but it can't be since 'ju' is in the third tone. Pray tell.

My kid's school has Chinese LSP. My husband almost couldn't believe it. He said it's probably the only school that has Chinese LSP.
 
Rains,

I was wondering what is ju hua if it is not chrysanthemum, so I asked my boy to ask his teacher. And the teacher told him that she was referring to the "ju" as in "ju shou". So my son came back and asked me why she didn't said "ju shou" instead of "ju hua" because he would have then put in 3rd tone instead....

For your kid's school's Chinese LSP, can it be for pupils who do not qualify for Higher Chinese?

Wen,

So far my son has hardly any homework for all subjects except colouring for all sorts of subjects and recently he was just complaining that why he had to colour even though it is Maths exercise. He hates colouring because he is partially colour blind and he can't quite tell colours.
 
Jess,
I'm sorry, but I don't quite get what you meant. The original word in spelling is 'ju shou' but the teacher said 'ju hua'? It wouldn't be fair if that's really the case.

Oh no no, the Chinese Head said there would be a minority who'll go to Chinese LSP and another minority doing higher Chinese, while the majority would do the normal Chinese. If everybody who doesn't qualify for higher chinese has to go LSP, then it'll be very frightening. Usually LSP kids are the ones who fail their subjects, not the average kids.

My kid also doesn't like colouring altho she likes painting. Someone once said maybe it's bcos the kids today do too much colouring in kindy. What do you mean by 'partially colour blind'? I didn't know got 'partial' one. Is it very distressing for your son?

Yesterday I went to IMM daiso to buy the moulds recommended by VQ. My kid was saying that if she brings a lunchbox with spaghetti, she would be 'a star'. I decided to make her feel like a star tomorrow. I've prepared the bear-shaped bread, cheese and ham tonight so as to save time tomorrow. I'll get up early to cook the spaghetti tomorrow. Let's hope it works out well bcos her recess will be a few hours after the lunchbox is prepared. I didn't know the items are actually that tiny. I was looking for a bear-shape cookie cutter but didn't manage to find. So I decided to anyhow try with the bear-shape container. I thought the shape comes out quite well tho.
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I'm such a klutz when it comes to cooking, yet die die also want to make my kid proud of her mother.
 
Rains,

I also do not quite understand what the teacher meant - but I think the more important thing is that my son does understand hanyu pinyin, so I let the matter rest.

Partially colour blind means he may make occasional errors in color names, or may encounter difficulties in discriminating small differences in colors. It is more common in males and is genetic. Both my husband and myself are not colour blind but I am a carrier as my dad is colour blind. That's how I notice that my boy often mixed up brown and green - like my dad.

I have explained to my boy his condition and bought colour pencils with the colour name written on them. His teachers are also aware of his condition. He doesn't seem to be really affected by it except that he takes longer time to colour as he can't tell the colours sometimes...
 
<font color="0077aa">Rains,</font>
Great! u r going to prepare a lunchbox for ur DD!!! ur DD will definitely feel very proud...

the lunchbox is very very easy to prepare... n now my DD's classmates alway look forward to Wed.. to c what my DD is bringing to school on this day!!! but my DD already told me that Strawberry n Spaghetti IS A MUSTS!!! she wants them every week.. so i prepare 2 different flavours of Spaghetti.. 1 with cheese whereas the other with eggs, sprinkle on top of the noodles!!!

i use a sushi bear-shape mould to do the sandwiches instead!!

<font color="0077aa">Ladies,</font>
lucky i come up to this forum.. that's y i know what is LSP??? just nw, my DD's classmate mom told me that her son is in english tution.. i asked her: is it call LSP? she was shocked n asked: how come u know??? i m damn proud!!! hahhaa...
she told me her son enjoys alot!!! n prefer this LSP than his usual english class!!!

i just feel my DD miss out some fun!!
 
I have no clue what does the kid do in primary 1.

Is it project based or worksheet based ?

thanks for sharing your experience
 
hi hippo, my boy has both worksheets and project work in his school.

he will bring back worksheets as homework and recently he was required to complete a scrapbook as a mini project. there's also has a speech and drama showcase where he chose to be a tree ;p
 
Thanks Jess, for sharing info on partial colour-blindness. I never knew got such a condition. Ever since I became a mother, I feel that mothers are mostly very adaptable, and creative too. There're things I thought would be great obstacles and distressing, but when you encounter them, it's nothing that great really.

VQ,
I'd prepared the lunchbox for my kid. She said her friend was impressed, but the food were jumbled up in the lunchbox by then bcos she tilted the lunchbox vertically.
I used spaghetti sauce and added in minced beef, but I think it's not very good since they would be quite cold at her recess. Does your kid complain of it turning cold? What kind of egg do you add into the spaghetti? Shredded hard-boiled? And how abt the cheese? How's it like? Wouldn't the spaghetti be very dry without the sauce? Got sushi mould in bear shape ah? I thought those sushi moulds are made of plastic? Can cut bread ah? Can you describe how it looks like? So sorry, always got so many questions for you.

Recently, I'm working with two colleagues on a project. They have been really difficult. Very insistent on their approach, dismissed my efforts, refused to hear me out, accused me of not contributing, tried to oust me from the group, and threatening to report me to our tutor. I feel miserable working with them. It's a losing battle for me. If I'd agreed to withdraw from the group, they'll surely go around telling others that they kicked me out becos I wasn't doing work. And I'm trapped with them if I refused to give up what I'm doing, an option which I chose. I've never come across such vicious bitches before. And it's the first time I use the word 'bitch' on someone bcos they deliberately miscontrued my good intentions to be otherwise. I tell myself that it'll only be for a week and it's over. My only worry is they'll really approach the tutor bcos one of them has a track record of complaining agst her group members to the tutors. It'll be my word against their words.
 
Rains,

It must have been quite a stressful period for you. Do you have only one kid or more?

Recently, I was just telling my son that he has to learn to manage people and not simply say "so and so is very naughty and I don't like him". He has a classmate who kept borrowing (without returning) his stationery and often disturbs him. As my son is very hot tempered and easily provoked, he was upset to be in the same group as this boy. So I told him that the real world is made up of different kinds of people and he sometimes have to learn to live with them - whether he likes it or not. It is probably quite profound for him to understand the harsh realities but I hope he will learn one day...
 
Wow, Jess, you expose your son to the cruel world already ah. You're so right. Even in our kids' little world, they're already facing this kind of struggle.

Yeah, I only have one kid. I don't know how I can manage if I ever have two. You too?
 
rains, u can also try to cut bread using cookies mould...

i will try to take pic of my cookies mould to show u... usually, my lunchbox will consist of a main course(bread/sushi/biscuit/muffin),fruit(grape/cherry/honeydew/strawberry), snack(chip/mashmarrow)...

heehee...
 
one of my lunchbox
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another one
(using cookies mould to shape the bread- i use jam n also choco cheese)
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my tools for my lunch box
707049.jpg
 
<font color="0077aa">Dorothy,</font>
WOW!! i m impressed with ur bento!!! i want to ask a silly question. How do u cook the sushi rice? use special jap rice or normal thai rice?

<font color="0077aa">Rains,</font>
i put my DD lunchbox into a thermal lunchbox bag(u can get them in IMM Daiso, i put a few of them!) so the food wont get cold...

i put hard-boiled eggs on top... i put those sprinkle cheese which we use when we hv pizza or u can cut up those big pcs...

Usually, i will make the spaghetti abit more watery so by the time my DD eats.. it wont gets too dry!! til now my DD hv not complain abt cold n dry of the food!!

HAVE!! Bear-shaped sushi mould! bought fm IMM Daiso too!!! i put the bread on top of the mould n press it hard so the bear shaped will drop into the mould then follow by the cheese, etc... completed then u turn the mould over n press it hard.. ur bear-shaped sandwich will appear!!!

nvr mind abt the questions... i will answer them if i know!!
 
Thanks, dorothy and VQ,
You're so helpful! Your helpfulness is a great contrast with my groupmates' horridness. It's when you meet bitches like them that you realise that not everybody treats others with the most basic form of respect, and that there're people who treat people like objects.
I'd heard from a few others that one of the gals is always backbiting others, esp those who work with her. I didn't want to work with her with such a mentality, but looks like she really is like that. And I'm shocked that at tertiary level, they're not able to understand that people tend to disagree in a groupwork and that the more important thing is to resolve disagreements to reach consensus instead of getting the other party to leave just becos she doesn't agree with you.
I've done a lot of groupworks and most of the time, I learnt a lot of content knowledge becos I'm the one who do most of the things. This incident makes me learn an extra thing: that not everybody is kind.
 
Like I'd expected, the two colleagues I'm working with approached the tutor. I don't know what they've said to him. They told me he said we should then do our own parts and present as an individual.
I must admit I feel hurt that they've been so mean. Whatever I've done, they'd say,"We don't understand what you're saying" or "What you've done is not up to our expectation". I do not want to stoop to their level, but it really is hurting. For the As that I got, they say that I don't match their standard. Indeed, I don't match their standard - they feel that 'undermined' is a term that is too difficult for the class to understand.

Sorry, mummies, that I'm grousing here. I just can't keep quiet about such insulting and vicious treatments.
 
Rains

No worries. We all need an avenue to air our grievances. I suppose you just have to make the best out of the situation and the project will be over soon.

By the way, what course are you doing? I am just curious, but no problem if you do not wish to disclose...
 
Hi Jess,
I've pmed you the course I'm doing. Don't really want to announce to the whole world what I do. I was talking to another coursemate about the matter and she told me that one of the gals always have problems with groupwork. She wanted to warn me about her, but I know I would have still given the gal the benefit of doubts and worked with her.
 
<font color="0077aa">Rains,</font>
No worries... u can share with us here.... we share anythings or informations here as Mommies who hv a Dragon baby!!! hehehe...

i too met this kind of funny lady( u called them bitches BUT i named her slut!!!) sorry if i m too gross!!! this person kept on backstabbing me but i cant think of any where hv i provoke her? then i learn fm another colleague that she is jealous of me having breakfast made by my DH everyday!!! Ridiculous right?
 
I've lost my appetite and sleep over the groupwork. I know it's not worth it, but I just can't help it. I'll take it as a form of dieting till then.

VQ,
The bible has a phrase to describe such people: Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Bcos their heart is deceitful and vicious, whatever that comes out of their mouth will also be deceitful and vicious.

Yesterday, my kid's chinese teacher called me to tell me that my kid was cheating during spelling. It makes me reflect on how I've given her stress to do well. I tried to 'motivate' her with a prize. In the end, she resorted to illegal means. I've decided to give her two spelling words per day to relieve her of the whole chunk of hanyu pinyin words at one time. I hope it'll help her.

She is selected for the first round selection for gymnastics. I'm in a huge dilemma if I should let her go. It's on Mon and Sat, and it's for the whole year. My husband feels that she's already not spending enough time on her studies, so shouldn't let her go. But she is really keen on gym. I'm really torn in-between. She's got ballet on Tue and swimming on sat evening. Do you mummies think it's too much activities? What would you advise?
 
rains...i had the same experience as you regarding spelling. the other day my boy confessed to us for cheating in 2 english spelling (they don't have chinese spelling yet) although he was not caught by teacher.

suddenly we felt terrible coz it's due to the stress we placed on him that drove him to do that. actually it was more of my DH's doing coz usually i don't place emphasis on getting top marks coz we ourselves aren't ace students so can't expect too much mah.

there was one day we were angry with him for not being serious about his spelling. so in anger, my DH told him he wants to see full marks else he would get beating for every wrong word. thereafter my boy got full marks for 2 consecutive spelling...so we thought nothing of it. until his "confession" recently then we felt bad. i guess my boy couldn't stand the guilt as well.

my DH is always saying i send my boy to too many classes. he has chinese enrichment and cathecism on saturdays and badminton on sundays. anyway i took him out from his sunday creative writing and put in badminton coz i find more balanced lor. now the 3 he has are for his weak subject, religion and a sport.

we do whatever that makes our kids happy so if you girl enjoys the classes it's ok. maybe you want to ask her if she needs to give up one class in order to join gym?
 
rains, maybe u wan to ask your gal for her opinion instead? whether she wans to go got gym?

if her answers is yes, then go ahead but continue to monitor her( to look out for sign of stress). if her answers is no... then be it...

i guess all DH think alike... currently, i try to keep all the weekdays free( i have dropped her of her abacus class). only on sat, she will have chinese enrichment n also ballet. on sun, ballet again. Rains, her ballet exam will be on 04/04... after which she will be free on sun... me thinking of introducing swimming in april..
 
Thanks, Wen, for sharing. I was worried that my kid is the only P1 who tried to cheat. Wah, but your husband really scary. Every wrong word would warrant one beating. He would have beaten the daylight out of me for my very first spelling if he were my father. I got zero. My family never allows me to forget that.

I can't check with my daughter becos she'll listen to my decision even when she really wants it. She said she likes them all. :-(
One of the 'prizes' was that she'll get to go gym if she has only a maximum of three mistakes in her chinese spelling. I've asked my sisters and father abt it too, but they also don't know what to do. It's a battle between what my kid wants and time constraint.

Thanks for your responses, mummies.

Is there any mommy who is getting her kid to pick up some musical instrument like piano? This has always been my wish. Would like to start her on piano when I go back to work. Do I sound crazy? Like I want to let my kid learn this and that. I'm just worried that I may unwittingly deprive her of opportunities to discover what she likes or have talent for.
 
rains, actually u r not alone... me also wanted to introduce my gal to musical instrument like violin/piano...in fact, i will pick up with her...
 
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dorothy, what a coincidence! I also have plans to take up piano lessons at the same time as my kid!

Good news, mommies! I just checked with the gym teacher and she said that there was a mistake on the form about the timing. It's only one day a week for the gym. I think I'll think it over again.
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actually we never hit our boy. it's my DH who can be nutty at times and use scare tactics on him. but i guess this incident has woken him up that my boy will take his word literally so he needs to be mindful.

i've always wanted to let my boy learn some musical instrument...more like guitar or drums. but we have limited time and of coz money so we can only prioritise and select courses that we find are more meaningful for him.

currently my intention is to send him for guitar lessons after P1. my DH's side have quite a few with musical talents so hopefully my boy has a similar gene.
 
Hve not been logging into tis thread for sometimes.

My gal got English n Chinese spelling every week. For English Spelling, there is an additional 2 words which is not in the spelling list. The 2 words will be the phonics tat they had learned during the week.

BTW, do your kid having any CA for this term. My gal is having her CA next week.
 
<font color="0077aa">Rains/Dorothy/Wen,</font>
i need to confess.... i wanted my DD to learn Tae Kwon Do... so she wont get bully!!! Next time can be Charlie Angels!!! hahaha.....

i tried to keep my DD's weekend FREE cos that is the time when my DH can be with us, as DH travel quite often too!!! so gonna grab the time...

But her chinese enrichement class with Berries is on Sat.. Abacus class on Thur evening...

as for musical instrument, my DD hv no talent in this area, so i save $$$

English n Chinese Spelling r ok at the moment... lowest she got is 95 highest is full marks 100... we r fine with these results... i think i will blow my top IF she gets 80.... cos something is wrong.... she has chinese spelling on every Tue n english on Fri... so i will give her spelling at home every night for both subjects..... she shouldn't gets less than 90 right? i wouldn't want her to learn spelling last min... so i train her to learn everyday...
 
My boy has english and chinese spelling on Wed & Thur. So far he has got full marks for all. Had his Maths common test 2 weeks ago (the Sch will give surprise common tests without informing before hand, he won't have exam in Jun, only in Dec). He scored 18 over 20, 2 careless mistakes. personally find it a 'waste' as he knows how to do the 2 qns. However, controlled myself not to scold him but to tell him nicely to be careful next time.

My boy is quite careless n anxious to finish his work quickly, tend not to double check his work. I'm not sure if I'm asking too much, but he does not exercise self initiative to study. Need me to plan and ask him to read story books, revise school work, do assessment books, etc. He will play or do nothing if I do not tell him to do so.

How do you all plan your child's time daily? My boy is in the afternoon session, hence, very little time for revision. I only expect him to do reading or revision for 1 hr in the morning and 1 hr at nite after dinner. Weekends will be family time for us so no school work. Not sure if it is enough. Any suggestion?
 
JJB,

Same with my boy. Very careless and lacks self-motivation. He is in the morning session and I also try to squeeze in 2 hrs of work each day but he is often complaining of not enough time to play....
 
Hi Jess, my son also complains that he has no time to play... some of my friends told me boys tend to be more careless and playful at this age...hopefully lor.

BTW, you r a SAHM with 2 kids right? Me too, with a younger girl of 3 now in N1. What abt you?

I find it not an easy job to handle 2 kids plus housework. I always feel very tired after a long day... my only personal time is around 11pm when they r in bed but by then I'm also quite dead beat from all the activities and work.
 
Wow, so many postings since CNY.

--> JJB and Jess, my daughter also very careless and lacks of self-motivation. She spends about an hour for reading and revision each day. Didn't extend the study hour to 2 as she is stressful and easily falls sick.

--> JJB, I'm also a SAHM with 2 kids. My younger child is 3 too.

--> Rains, Wen, VQ and Dorothy, all of you are very hardworking. I didn't prepare any snack box for my daughter. My hubby and I prefer her to learn to buy food from canteen.

My daughter is attending piano class every Saturday. Besides piano class, she is also attending a swimming class on Friday evening. No plan for other enrichment classes as both activities need longer commitment time to complete.
 
Hi JJB and Rimilyn,

My younger boy will turn 4 this year but only in December. I have got some free time in the morning when both boys are in school and I also feel very tired at the end of the day. But I try to swim in the morning at least twice a week and I am now learning to play golf as well.

I think it is not very healthy for us in the long run if our lives just revolve around the children and hubby. That's why I am trying to find SAHMs staying near me (Balestier/Novena/Toa Payoh area) so that we can meet up occasionally in the morning when the children are in school. I have heard a lot about playgroups for little kids but not much of support groups for SAHMs. BTW, do you know of any SAHMs staying in the area?

I have not enrolled my sons for any enrichment class except for swimming lesson on Sat mornings but probably in term 2 or 3, I will source one for both boys in the weekend.
 
hey, I love this thread. for once, I don't get the feeling I'm sending my girl to too many enrichments :eek:)

the enrichment classes are daily because she didn't attend any formal kindergarten last year (N2), only go for enrichment classes. Arrange such that she's doing different things every day

But this year she started her k1 and she didn't want to discontinue any of her enrichment classes because she enjoyed all the classes

a typical week for my 5 year old girl includes:
- K1 at PAP (daily)
- Kumon (thrice a week)
- Arts (once a week)
- Mandarin Speech & Drama (once a week)
- Chinese dance (once a week)
- Story time at library (once a week)
- Swimming (once a week for 2 months only. Apr-May)
- Gymnastic (once a week)

I discussed with her about dropping her speech & drama and she negotiated to join her younger sister in gymnastic. We gave in, so now she's also taking gymnastic. But we will definitely drop speech & drama once the term finishes

Rain, I think your girl & mine very similar, very hard to drop classes once they started. She also said she enjoyed all her classes.
 
I'm only sending my 3 years old to Chinese enrichment once a week, Gymnastic once a week, Storytime at library once a week.

In the morning, I will sit with her to do some English/Maths/Chinese using Kumon material

We let her trial Chinese Dance yesterday, yet to get feedback from teacher whether she will accept her.

Initially we wanted to start her on tots ballet. But ballet is really long term with graded exam. We just wanted some form of exercise for her, so decided to go for Chinese Dance & gymnastic instead.

she's not attending any pre-nursery.

hmm....is it enough?
 
<font color="0077aa">Rimilyn,</font>
i make lunchbox for my DD once a week only. i m not that hardworking afterall... hahhaa.....
 
Today, my kid was telling me that she got punished (again) for not having an English storybook for silent reading. It's really my fault. I forgot to put one into her bag when I pack her bag yesterday. I told her she needs to check that she has a storybook every day as mummy tends to be very forgetful with all the things to do.

She also said her Maths teacher doesn't like her bcos she has forgotten to get her Maths workbook signed twice in a row. Aiya, I find it so troublesome. Workbook also must sign. I can't help but start to feel that the teachers in her school must be very free. They actually got time to check all the signatures for every unit completed. Every week, I need to sign her Chinese and English spelling book, her Maths workbook, and sometimes her phonics file, her topical test which they take out of the blue. I find it so stressful that the teachers don't get the kids to write down the things they need to do in the diary. I really don't know what it's for then. Sometimes write, sometimes don't write. So angry ...

Last Friday, my kid, together with other kids, got scolded for not bringing a plastic bottle to school to contain the leftover calligraphy ink. I feel so heart-pain that she's always getting scolded just bcos the teachers find it a bother to get the kids to jot these instructions down in the diary. This is the system the principal said is in place, yet the teachers never practise it. And they still want to scold people. One of these days, I just might explode and email the principal abt it.

I really started my kid on learning two hanyu pinyin phrases every day for her spelling. It looks good - not so stressful for her, and she's managing it well. I hope from here, she'll gain confidence in her ability to handle hanyu pinyin.

Mummies, you wouldn't believe it, but I am starting to get my kid to speak Mandarin every evening, say from 7 or 8pm onward. Very funny right? Allocate time to speak Mandarin. But my husband made fun of the way I speak standard Mandarin as it doesn't sound exactly natural - I make sure every sound is according to hanyu pinyin pronunciation eg. 'wo3 men qu4 chi1 fan4' instead of the usual 'wo3 men2 qu4 ci4 fan4'. This is so that my kid is able to know the standard version for hanyu pinyin.

I'm adopting such 'drastic' measure bcos her teacher told me that my kid's not able to carry a proper conversation in Mandarin and that she responds to the teacher's questions with body language such as nodding or shaking of head. Faint ...
 
Rains

My son's case is exactly opposite because I hardly ever hear from his teachers. And P1 parents will only get to meet the teachers at the end of term 2.

I think it is a rather drastic change from preschool environment to primary school and the children have to learn to do many things on their own because the teachers cannot micro-manage. My son's diary is also very clean, hardly any instructions in it. At times when he wrote something, he either didn't write it properly or wrote it on the wrong date!

For hanyu pinyin, you shouldn't need to worry because I think the school will spend about 12 weeks on it and it is a lot easier compared to Phonics because the rules are fixed. Maybe instead of just focusing on the spelling list, you can try to ask your kid to use hanyu pinyin to spell out other words on impromptu basis. We do it quite often in the car and he finds it more interesting than route learning.
 
Hippo2002

I think if you can afford the resources to send your kid to all the enrichment classess and she enjoys them, you shouldn't need to worry or be bothered by what other people say.
 
Hi Jess,

I do agree that it's not healthy to fully focus on husband and kids. That's why I insisted to have some free time each day.

Sorry! I don't have any SAHM friend stay in the 3 areas you mentioned earlier.

--> Rains, My daughter's case is the same as Jess's son. Her teachers hardly contact or write to us (parents). I trained my daughter to pack her schoolbag since day 1. I make it very clear to her that it's her responsible to pack the bag and make sure everything is ok. If she lost or need any thing (eg. new pencil), she can approach me. I don't check her school bag in front of her cos she may feel that I have doubt on her capability. So, usually I'll check at night when she's sleeping.

As for diary, I encourage her to copy down her teacher's message from the whiteboard. If her teacher doesn't write on the board, I encourage my daughter to write on her own and I don't punish her for any spelling mistake. In fact, I will praise her for putting her effort to write on her own. Maybe you can encourage your daughter to do so.

--> VQ, you're still better than me, at least you do it once a week.
 
Hi Jess,

O yes, I do get my kid to do impromptu hanyu pinyin, but usually I select the simpler ones so as not to stumble her. It's true that the rules are fixed but I guess it's like learning a foreign language to my kid. She keeps confusing the English phonics with hanyu pinyin esp 'i' and 'e'. She tends to pronounce them the English way, or confuses them together.

I try to pack her bag for her becos some of her books are with her (at home) and some are not. It's actually very confusing even for me as an adult. The teachers allow them to bring different books home every day. Some are kept in the locker, while others are kept under their table, still some others are with teachers, and another others behind the classroom. I'm not sure exactly how the system works myself, so I don't want to distress my kid over bag-packing and getting her all panicky bcos this and that book are not with her.

I'm particular with the diary bcos I feel that it's the only form of communication parents can have with the teachers, and the principal did say that we need to refer to the diary every day for their homework or instructions. I don't understand how much time a teacher can lose just by getting the kids to write some words down in their diary. If they have been working with small kids, they should know that kids are not that superb with memory. I think it's not justified to scream at them bcos you didn't get them to jot things down.

Maybe I can be a better P1 teacher la.
 
hippo, i guess if yr child enjoys ... it should be ok unless she show sign of stress... then u should do somethings.
rimilyn, abt the lunchbox... no choice as my gal wans to bring lunchbx to school everyday.. so mummy got to be a bit more hardworking...

rains, yr gal's school teachers lie veri fiece hor...

today, i went to the parent/teacher session n also my gal got her progress report back... haha.. surprisingly, she is coping well in her school... her teacher commented that she veri talkative... sigh....also her teacher said that my gal dun seem to able to read fluently..any suggestion on how to improve on this?

more of the time, her diary is empty...but there will be notice given by the school..
 
ya rains, it seems your school's teachers quite fierce hor? i have yet to hear from my boy's form teacher coz she's on maternity leave.

the school did not provide us with the contacts of the relief teacher. meet the parents is scheduled in late May but i doubt the teacher will have anything to say about our kids coz she would only have taught them for around a month after coming back from maternity.

To get around the 'lack of contact' with his teacher, i joined his school's parents' association and am also in constant contact with some mommies with P1 kids in his school...one of them is his classmate's mom.

diary hardly written and at times i am not sure what i'm supposed to do with the worksheets he brings back coz no slot for signature. my boy will tell me what is required so i can only hope he got the instruction right ;p

dor, i guess more practise will do the trick. ladies, does your kids' school have library programs that require them to read 40 books a year and write review? apparently the books must be from school library but seems like they have limited access to library other than weekly lesson and during recess...dunno how they'll cover all 40 books.

aiyoh, felt the tremors of the sumatra quake from my office twice so gotta evacuate then disperse again. too bad no announcement for us to go home ;p
 


Hi Jess, Rimilyn & hippo2002

May I know where do your children learn swimming and gymnastic?

Intend to start my boy 7 and girl 3 on swimming lesson but no idea where to enrol, any good recommendation?

My girl is very agile and active, my hubby thinks she is suitable for gymnastic, any good sch to suggest?
 
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