(2007/03) March 2007 MTBs


bbmouse, cos this is an imported product in beijing. I heard it is out of stock in Singapore. any mummy wants me to hand carry back?
 
SQ: found it! courtesy of pink.. she guided me there :p
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GUG -- how I feel

hmmm.. i quite like it.. and i really understand now why they can proudly proclaim and patent their zoo-phonics success. it is certainly very refreshing and shows evidence of planning in the creating of the zoo-phonic system..that to me.. was the highlight, and by far the most impressive part, for the day..

First half of lesson
- small wonder audrey's son has superior pronunciation compared to kids their age. and again small wonder GUG can so yaya-ly say their zoo phonics is that good.. coz they really repeat it again and again for the first half of the lesson! and i must say they did it well. Though some animals they chose to represent the animals a bit unconmoon for our babies.. like Yak for Y, ..and irish worm (??) for I.. ehh. can't remember.. but still good attempt to increase vocabulary for our bbs lah.

thouugh the primary approach here is using flash cards.. but they brought it one level higher.. to include ryhmes, emphasis (on starting letters and sounds), animal association and matching/identification of animals on the wall by bbs.. was there some actions ah? ya. i think have right? i recalled the action for the elephant.. ya.. have actions.. so aside from just flashing the cards and that is.. they killed 4 birds with one stone! in one activity!! wah,.. impressed. ..:p

- first 15 mins used to explore the toys they have.. ehh. nothing much there.. maybe is just to wait for all to come.. and settle down. but maybe because we all very familiar with one another. i felt the environment was very conducive.. and indeed they have their house rules set and implemented very clearly. heehee.. poor daddies/mummies not in the room can only peep from a narrow glass slit .. haha

- movement and gross motor was a bit lacking.. maybe their emphasis was not that.. so only have tunnel play.. and teaching the mummies the creative use of tunnels vertically (playing peek-a-boo, never thought of that.. hahaha. not bad lah. quite creative).. and of course crawling thru it.. then allow bbs to crawl or play peek-a-boo. quite similar to gymboree PLAY classes.. nothing much there...

- reading of boardbook. i was distracted by teng.. and i really never pay attnetion to that. can't remember the story.. and draw any possible assoications.. hmm. but was good try.. need to teach our bbs to sit thru story telling.. will be useful when they go higher up.. kindergarten or nusery.. sure have this kind of storytelling. in primary school.. they stilldo that? i not sure.. but not bad training..

- numeracy, teaching bbs to count.. with an activity. i forgot liao.. coz i was busy prising teng's pudgy fingers open to count.. !! again a lot of repetition.. haha.. but good lah..got some banging of mat, wave byebye, what else? forgot.. but i think all these included to develop the coordination of our bbs..

- then intro the animal of the day.. i was like wondering how come introduce gorilla? .. SO that was the letter of the day , 'G'. .so Gregro the Gorilla..the peeling of the banana (grrrr..) [but how come peeling of banana will get grrrr sound ah?:p], Green flavouring.. (and when cornflour mixed with green solution)--> Goo.. wah. not bad. again empahsis and repetittion.

- then exprimential play using the green solution and cornflour.. i like it a lot . it introduced physic.. (but still tied to 'G' theme for the day).. powdery cornflour, diffusion of green colouring in water (showing to the bbs, teng was STARING at the water turn colour.. i think all bbs were staring at it?:p} , green solution, then goo (cornflour mixture.. -- did they choose cornflour for a purpose? to produce the gluey goo? coz corn flour can do that.. other flour not as gluey goo?).. then let the bbs play. as thought it was VERY messy. they still inisit on letting the bbs do that.. i think it is good attempt. coz many educators/orgs often shy from implementating things which are too messy.. i think teng was fascinated with the cornflour mixture.. Rae and YT both 'no manners liao'.. haha. keep splashing me the mixture.. teng like boss. (star commented). dipped one pudgy hand test test onli.. then SUCK! so. he was the only bb who tasted the cornflour! haha. taste.. another lesson which he learned.. whahahaa. but he very cute with the cornflour stains around his mouth. i think YT wanted to bathe in it liao!!! right mejo??.. whahaha..

second half of lesson
mood spoilt by the bimbo..

but nonetheless.. quite fun..
star pointed out got live music accompaint. not pre-recorded..not bad.. but the action and stuff very similar to kindermusik lah..

ceiling got dangling stars. teng kept wanting to pluck them down.. and keep lifting his head to see them..huge mirror to reflect.. let bbs see their reflections..--good stimulation..

quality of faciilatators
i think they were relatively enthu without sounding fake.. def very well rehearsed.. and also firm.. had to tell the mummies to show good examples .. and focus on the teachers.. :p.. aiya. we all so naughty. SQ will scold us, never pay attention to teachers.. hhaaa.. so in a way, they were not afraid to be firm to deliver the lesson. i find that commendable. they could also control the class well. and appeared composed.. quite good..
we had teacher fairuz (she has ABRSM theory and is the head of music) to play the keyboard for us.. the other teacher has also a cert in preschool education.. so there was quality in the faciliators..

all in all. i like the class. i find that it is very coherent.. and def. very strong evidence in planning and the thought behind the design of the curriculum.. the deans.. (with their masters in education) reallhy know the pysche of pre-schoolers to involve so much repeition.. i had reservations abt the 1.5 hour. i thought it was too long iniatially but was actually quite fast paced. teng despite badly deprived of sleep did enjoy himself and didn't have time to fuss..too much.. :p and i think almost all the bbs had their eyes glued to gregro the gorilla when he made his appearance..
think GUG is not bad..

my two cents worth
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ok.. going to search for star...
 
pink ya.. if I'm the teacher and if I want to let them match the cards on the wall. i will put a ball under each card on the wall, then as bb to go pluck instead of just bringing a card over. Also, i might also put a basket there and let them throw their card inside the basket, then take out the ball. something like that, then at least the card matchin gpart is not fun, but the taking things in and out part can be fun. right? haha!! i already run fire liao (zhou2 huo3 ru4 mo2)
 
SQ
he's in Pre-Nursery Class.
they jus have fun, play ard, sing songs, learn Mandarin, do colouring etc etc.. i jus wan him to go and socalise with other kids.... the school is quite good..
 
star's gug review

mejo's very similar.. also commented on the cleanliness :p

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My feedback.. apart from what astro has wrote, i would have some other comments below.

The major thing that borthered me was this:
1) I feel that the 1st classroom we used was not that clean..sorry har but i am quite particular abt classroom cleandiness cos we have lots of babies here lah. apron were quite dirty (i think if i were to cont, i will bring my own apron)the mat were not clean that well too.. maybe i was wearing white shorts so dun dare to really sit on the mat. After the bubbles session, they just quickly wipe the mat, i wonder if they give the room/mat a through clean over every day.

Other that the above bad pt, my other feedback is
1) i like the overall lesson, very well planned and i like the fact that there were 2 instructor in each class/session. We are dealing with 11 babies + mummies, def u need 2 teachers.

2) Teachers were malay.. i wondered if there are chinese teachers (sorry hor, not being bias here) but i think maybe weekend more chinese teacher cos of the chinese segment.

3) The 2 teacher spoke good english, clear, loud, concise, simple, easy for the babies to understand and they prononce all the words correctly and clearly too, which i really like. They were spontaneous too (even crawling thru the narrow tunnel). I like the way they emphasis the "ge ge" G for Goat, Grass etc.

4) First segment, the tunnel activity a bit luan lah i guess can't be help cos of the babies all wanting to go their own way and mummies chansing them.
Story telling a bit chim for our babies cos the story was not that short.. i can see that some babies were getting impatient, cannot really sit thru the story. Can shorten the story leh. But hor, today, i finally realise that Rae can focus very well.. she can sit still and listen thru the 1st segment without fussing at all! esp the story telling , the troll who wanted to eat the 3 goats crossing the bridge.

5) I def like the hands on goo activity.. so fun for the babies.. but i think some of us were worried abt getting our clothes dirty, definitely our babies were not worried cos they had fun..Rae had cornflour all over her face!

6) music segment, very good, teacher's voice was very nice, i like the live keyboard accompaniment, it makes the session much livelier. Dancing bit similar to Kinder. instrument also similar to kinder.. think maybe kinder uses more instrument?? not sure yet.

Overall, i think its quite good, def can consider. I am thinking of letting Rae join after her kinder session ends.
 
GUG: Can someone tell me what is zoo-phonics? Is it just phonics or something different? Why zoo? One animal per alphabet? Then X how?
 
SQ, yes i do.
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haha!!!!!!
and u know what happened to tian and my room last night? she pulled out all my bills (phone bills, card bills), all mailers, etc from my drawers and spreaded everything on the floor. i asked her since she so clever, pull out everything must as well help mama sort out a bit. of course she didn't la. she just pull here there, throw.. until everything in a mess. I was still yakking in forum. i can be that messy with her.
 
SQ: i share the sentiments.. we can but we don't :p.. so we paying other pple huge amount of $$ to do something which we can do at home :p lazy in a way.. but then again.. the socialising part is what i am after.. and it s a bonus that that trial that i attended.. was very fun!
 
Pink: Even with the kitchen set, she will still mess around with your stuff. Why do you think that will stop her messing around with other sutff?
 
bbmouse:
they have a song from A-Z, each associated to an animal. then when they flashed each card, another teacher showed the movement (using body language) of the animal. quite interesting, i find.
 
Thanks Pax.

Any mummy know where to get Supernanny DVD or VCDs? I watched it on the plane, and found it quite "educating" for parents.
 
now i read the other mummies feedback, i find mine quite LC.
aiyo, low self esteem liao

bbmouse,
i'm not so cheam as to think of those things

pax,
good? ok, i'll keep that in mind
what's the teacher to student ratio?
or that's not important anymore?
 
SQ: what is 'LC'? think u dun think that way.
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urs not bad leh.. i didnt even know got snacks eating part leh.. see? sharing is good!
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QQ
i jus recall ur post on bring Tian out on long car journeys... how's Tian in her car seat? Jo loves to sit in the car and watch things outside her window. she always flip her books or play... these days, i'm quite confident to bring both of them out on my own...
 
bbmouse,
i think about there
but i find the teacher dun take care of the kids per se cos the parents are there.
it's like only one main teacher.
i would like the class to be slightly smaller though. just slightly cos i still want YE to mingle
 
SQ,
u not LC la.. everyone is entitled to their own view of the lessons.. whether it's LC, HC or NC! hahahaah.. anyway, u are tons better than me liao.. i don't even bother to bring EJ to any classes leh.

QQ,
i also leave EJ to anyhow take out things.. then he will go kiap his finger on cabinet doors or fall off sofa and then i will laugh at him! When I told my colleagues, they say I am sadistic and a mad mummy! hmm... but i thot i leave him to his own devices is good leh.. then even my mom always say one day, EJ will surely get electric shock because he goes to play on wall sockets etc..
 
QQ, Astro: Thanks for the explanation. I guess they figure kids like animals and that'll be a fun way to learn ABCs.

QQ: A lot of the activities in Shichida class, we can also do at home. But got to prepare a lot of stuff, plus if I hadn't attended the class and wa shown those activities, I may know have invented them myself. So got to give credit for them to come up with such activities.
 
QQ
u want to add in some fun and motivational element into it rite? ya not a bad idea. bb learns as they play and have fun
 
autum! u are here!

cannot compare. you are now preggie with #2. i have no excuse (even though i eat like i'm pregnant also no excuse)
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how are you today?
hubby came back should be better right?
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Autum
it's ok.. i also let my kids to their devices.. EXCEPT wall electric sockets! they will learn how to open and close without giaping their fingers.
 
Anna is playing with the basket dunk now.. She likes...
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Teats: Auntie tells me anna likes to drink water with #2, and milk with #4. So cheam.
 
bbmouse
im hoping to divert her attention from my room to her kitchen set and guai guai stay in her play yard while i do my things...

SQ
im NC, i wait for pple's feedback then analyse and decide :p
 
Pink: On the toy, I say that cos the child will fancy the new toy in the beginning, but after a while, she'll still go back to look for variety.. So you won't be able to keep her away from your stuff.
 
SQ,
i really wish i can eat leh.. cos last time when i preg with EJ, i remember i feel very happy everyday cos i can anticipate what to eat next (in like 2hours time). after i eat one meal, i will think of what to eat for next meal.. very fun.

It's very funny even tho when i preg with EJ and i always tell hubby everything i eat seems bland and tasteless, but i still eat happily. Now, my taste bud is really weird cos everything i eat seems very salty! I dunno why?! Then i keep getting this sour-taste in mouth which is highly irritating. I was telling hubby this morning, jialat.. cos last time i eat everything when preg with EJ so now EJ eats anything.. then this preg, i always don't feel like eating.. so i scared this baby will be fussy eater next time!!

Hubby is back but ok lor.. like that lor.. I don't feel particularly happy leh.
 
autum
every preg is different, dun compare
and so is every child

haha... easier said than done i know.
that's why i can so yaya... say oni, very ez for me
 
bbmouse,
drink water with #3 too big hole liao? dunno, guess oni. YE doesn't use it so i dunno

pink,
if you buy the kitchen set just to entertain her, i agree with bbmouse. v soon she might be sian. then you lelong to me. i chope first
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Pax,
err.. we do try to tell EJ not to play at wall sockets.. but i find that the more we tell him not to do/touch/play something, the more he will want to do. i think it's the natural curiosity of kids.. so i just leave him be.. then after a while, he won't touch liao. hee..

SQ,
err, nope. my house is not child-proof.. and when EJ falls it's quite jialat.. and i still laugh! OK, i m a bit sadistic. kekekek.. aiya.. as long as no bleeding, no bone cracking etc.. cry cry is ok la.. i will sayang him and carry him la.. I always believe kids must fall down leh.. fall and hurt then will grow!
 
autum,
when YE falls, she will risk cracking her skull when she lands on the floor
if she hits the coffee table before that, that's even worse
i dun even dare to think about it

but the normal tripping i ok lah
 
astro,
you should give some serious feedback at the end of this.
i'm not very tolerant of bad trainers, language or whatever
actually i'm not tolerant of anything
 


astro,
aiyo, you aim at ah boy's butt??

QQ, starfruit, autumn,
pix too small?? okay i try to resize again... so you all want his perky butt pix huh?? hahaha..

pink,
my boy tall meh?? okay, he standing abt at the height of my hip .... me short mah...
 

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