Learning Circle

Welcome to our Learning Circle. What is a learning Circle? Within this circle many exciting things will happen. Sing songs, listening games, retelling stories using visual aids, silly movements or merely introducing our new friends and many more will happen in our learning circle. These will challenge a child to think and imagine. Learning and having fun is the magic of a Learning Circle. Children thrive on mental stimulation, especially if it is fun. Children learn through active involvement. Do enjoy one of our many learning circles that we have in our setting. Call a Learning Circle....the children are waiting !!

First Day of School

Monday was the first day of school. We welcomed all old students as well as 7 new students to our family.  A big thank you for choosing Fingertips.We look forward to getting know you in the next couple of months.

All the toddlers were eager to moved up to Pre-School 1 and so does all the pre-schoolers. Returning students were excitedly met up with old friends and new friends too. It feels good to see all familiar faces and new faces too but I missed my Pre-School 3's students. A lot of questions going through my mind. Are they coping well? Did they miss me? Did they buy junk food from the school canteen ( hope not)? Anyway deep inside my heart, I know they will carry themselves well in wherever they go....for I believe that I have lay a strong foundation on them both personally and emotionally. Anyway we're off to a good year......

I'd also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Ooi Haruka and Bryan Khoo on their recent exmination. Both of them have had their pre-school education with us and are attending a chinese medium primary school.They have performed well and have been promoted to the first class in their school. Haruka was second in her class and Bryan was fifth in his class. Well done and all of us are proud of you..keep up the good work.

                                        

Our 4th Get Together & Christmas Party

It's Christmas again. This year our 4th Get-Together and Christmas party were held in City Bayview Hotel located in the heart of Georgetown. This is our final get-together event for year 2009 and also for the Pre-school's 3 as they are leaving for Year 1 next year. Of course I'll be looking forward to see their presence in any event that we have lined up next year. Will keep all of you updated.

The venue was good, an intimate room with bright lights. The backdrops were filled with balloons and most importantly the whole room was filled with anxious children waiting to perform and holding presents to be given out to their friends. Performance by the children and prize giving were some of the highlights of this event. Even though there have been a few hiccups here and there but overall the children have done great. We should be and are proud of them.

There was also trophies presentation for the children. This year I had given the honour for my father-in-law, Mr. Cheah to present the prizes. For without him, Fingertips would be impossible. And yes....every toddlers and pre-schoolers will get at least a trophy each to take home. ( This will boost their self esteem which I personally think is important. A child who has a good level of self esteem is better equipped for his formal education than a child who can already read or write)

There was also a scrumptious spread of buffet ranging from oriental to western dishes. The children couldn't be happier when Santa Clause appeared to give out candy canes. At the end of the party, all the children went home with trophy, present and a happy memories that will lasts forever.

Kudos to all the parents who attended this party. Also to our great photographer, Adrian Cheah, for capturing this event without any charges ( even though I've asked him in the wee morning of the day) nand let's not forget out photographer-in-training, Pey Juin. Many many thanks..... also to my aunty who made beautiful cupcakes for the children.

Chinese Winter Solstice Festival ( Tang Yuen)

On Tuesday, we prepared glutinous rice ball or "tang yuen" for the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival. In the olden days, this festival marks the passing of the harshest part of winter. The chinese believed that the round dessert is a symbol of family unity and harmony. Oh.... and also a reminder that we are a year older even before the new year.

 The children had a lot of fun.I must mentioned that the pre-schoolers did quite a good job shaping it. Every year, we will get all the children to sit around the table and together we will make this "tang yuen". Mean while the pre-toddlers were also busy the dough; flatten, shaping and even asked to use the playdough cutter and rollers !!!!!

Once cooked we had it for our tea and we also made extra "tang yuen" for the children to take home.

                                     

                                      

                                     

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I couldn't help myself but to introduce again Eric Carle's book for our November's theme. The Very Hungry

Caterpillar is an excellent book and has won many prizes. 

This book contains not only easy-to-read words but also large and colourful illustrations. With the interesting story line I hope the children would be able to love this book as much as I do.

The first activity that we did was to decorate our theme board. We printed out sentence strips while the children painted the templates of the foods and fruits. Once done, the sentence strips and the templates of the fruits and foods were pasted on our theme board. The children were able to read the story from the board without having to read it from the book. Thus promoting language and literacy development as well as personal, social and emotional development. It was amazing to see how fast the children were able to learn  the story even the pre-toddlers. Bear in mind though that we didn't made the children sit down everyday to learn the story !!!!

I have enclosed a videoclip of a 3-year old girl who retell the story. Of course, she still stumble on the days' name but it was a job well done.

During our story sessions, we read out the story to all the children. However this time, we decided to spice up this session ( everything presented to the children have to be interesting) by presenting all the foods and fruits for the children to see, touch, smell and taste. This interesting session will promote the development of their senses and also encourage interactions and discussions on the presented materials. This promote mathematical development through counting and colours. The children enjoyed this sessions but most of all the tasting of the food and fruits.

We also sang "Days of the week" song and introduce "caterpillar" finger play during our singing sessions. Besides that we also talked about foods that are healthy and unhealthy.

We also saved some of the fruits to do fruit printing. Among other craft activities that we have done were the symmetrical painting of a butterfly and the making of caterpillar from egg box. Even though the caterpillar's diet is a fictional fantasy but the story does introduce the magic of the metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to butterfly. We also did craft on the life cycle of a caterpillar.

For our cooking sessions, we made caterpillar banana for snack. The children cut the bananas and then joined it again using chocolate spread. They then used raisins as the eye and biscuit sticks as the catrepillar's feet. They had fun making it as well as eating it.

                              

  

  

The activities that we have done covers all the six areas of learning. By end of the month, all the children were aware that butterfly babies are caterpillars and that they don't look like their mum. Since I have  already touched on this topic, I'd like to share my experience during my training as a montessori directress. My self and two other friends were required to present a dramatic play as part of our course. I chosed a book " Monkey Puzzle" by Julia Donaldson  as I thought it was a funny and interesting book and by the end of the book, we know that not all babies look like their mum. Much to a protest by my colleague, I went on with my idea and after the presentation, the audience as well as my trainer were entertained and praised our drama. It was a memory to treasure !!