Visit of a male into the preschool.

Yesterday RC, a mate of mine came to visit the preschool. It was an interesting experience as the children don't get much exposure to males in school apart from walk in parents and people coming in to fix broken things.

RC spent some time with the 6 year old children, and they seemed to enjoy having the attention of a male in the classroom. It also helps that RC is good looking as well. ;-) Some of the children called him uncle, and some kor-kor (elder brother in Cantonese). LOL. The lady teachers were pleased to have a visitor, at least that was my impression.

Some people may say as parents, they may not like the idea of strange men coming into the classroom, but if everything is under the supervision of the class teacher, so who are they to say anything different?

In Sydney, I do know that many male childcare workers are not assigned to bathroom supervision duties, nor allowed to be with one child for the sake of protecting their interests as well as the school's. Hence, I can understand the societal and cultural sensitivity that is implied here.

Anyways being of the forward thinking kind, RC suggested that I incorporate some activities including parents or grandparents to come in for sessions, i.e. story telling, cooking, which the older classes has done before.

Its an idea worth pursuing in the future as involving relatives in a child's learning is always a worthwhile idea that creates a bonding and learning experience for both the children, as well as the teachers.

Instilling a habit of sustainability

Originally written on August 6th 2012:

Who would have known that the initial launch of
trying to instill in our families the habit of separating vege and meat scraps into different waste containers would be difficult?

People may think its sounds like a
wonderful idea in building sustainability for the
environment and soil. It seems in theory they may support it, but in practice, I have yet to see anyone among my own mates doing it. The koreans have had years of doing it, as their govt
has mandated that kitchen/waste materials have to be separated before the waste disposal will collect it..

In the end it starts from the top, isn't it?

No doubt it would have to start small, like how its No Plastic Bag Day every Saturday in Malaysia, but like in Korea, everyday is now No Plastic Bag Day at all their shops and markets.

Shopping Day

Today was a lovely start to a Friday morning.

This morning at the school HQ branch, after some prompting from the Principal, I read the Bible story of 'Jesus calming the lake' with The children during Friday assembly. The children were already familiar with the song 'With Christ in the Vessel', so she wanted me to relate the bible story with that song.

The 5 and 6 year classes had a 'Shopping Day' in class after their morning tea. They each brought RM3 in different denominations. It was an enjoyable and learning experience to watch and observe the children learn how to buy and use money.

One of the 6 years children, Zoe even asked if she could get a discount on the item she wanted when she realised she didn't have enough money. LOL.

The children showed a preference to hair clips, pencils with pictures, and those were the first to be sold out. This was followed by perishable foods, and finally packet foods.

The older children had a better understanding of the transaction process, whereas most of the younger 5 years class did not seem to really understand what was happening.

The children seemed happy with their purchases and realised that they could not buy any more items once they saw their purses were empty. All in, it was an enjoyable hands on learning activity.