vw

baCk tO the CentRe

2005-01-22T01:36:00.000+08:00

mindy
Originally uploaded by valerie1609.

I was quite excited when I stepped into the centre last Monday. It had been about two months since I went for attachment. I miss the children dearly and I wondered if they remembered me. After setting my foot in, I realised the centre added more wooden tables and chairs at the Art and Craft Area, making it a little over-crowded. There were new children and also new teachers employed.
This semester, I requested for the four to five age group. The classroom is located at the second floor. I've not been there before and was amazed that there were a few learning centres. I know that learning centres are essential because children learn best through play. They can work at their own rate and time. There were also tags to limit the number of children at each corner. However, I was confused because the tags had no pictures nor words on it. The children went to different corners with the same tag. I would suggest both written and visual aids.
I noticed that the library was situated within the Block Play Area. From the Designing Learning Environment module last semester, we learnt that the quiet corner should be seperated from the noisy corner.
For routine care, I noticed the children were able to go the toilet themselves. During bathtimes, they could undress, but they needed help in buttoning their shirts. The children were able to eat independently.
Just this Monday, I realised that the current group of children were born in the year 2001. I checked back with my lecturer and found out that the centre counted the age group differently from that of school. The four, five year olds I thought I was taking turned out to be three, four year olds. That means the kids I took last year were only one to two year old. Oh my goodness, I didn't know they were that young.

--Valerie--20--

My First Language Arts Lesson

2005-01-21T10:36:00.000+08:00

On the 17^th January 2005, I had my first Language Art lesson with my children (playgroup- 3-4 years old). I decided to do storytelling as I know that children like listening to stories a lot. To enhance their visual, I had prepared a puppet show to tell the story. The title of the story was “Give that back, Jack! A cautionary tale”. It is written by Phil Roxbee Cox and illustrated by Jan McCafferty.

I was very relaxed when I was doing my preparation on the two days before my practicum as I will not be assessed for this lesson. However, I was asked by mentor on the 17^th; whether I want her to trial observe me. I was surprised and told her I did not print my lesson plan out. She said she could observe my without it. I said alright but I was feeling very worried as I was afraid that I did not prepare enough. After that I made up my mind that I do not want her to observe me this time round.

As my lesson began, I started by getting the children to sit in a circle with me and I asked them if they had a toy they really like and someone snatched it away without asking them what will they do. One child told me that he will kick the person and he laughed. I then asked him “are u sure?” in a joking manner. He giggled. Next, I asked the class, “Should you kick your friend?” They replied no. Subsequently, one girl said: “Ask him to give it back to you.” I praised her and got her to demonstrate to the class how she will do it. I rephrased the way she said it and got the whole class to “dramatize” the situation in pairs. The children were quite enthusiastic as they kept telling me that they had not had their chance yet. After all the children had had their chance, I told them that I was going to tell them a story about the boy who took things and never gave them back.

The children paid attention and were seated on the floor in three rows. However some children kept walking to the front and stood there blocking the other children’s view and I had to get them to sit at their original seat.

After telling the story, I showed them the puppets and asked which character the puppet is and at which scenario it appeared. For the follow-up activity, I got the children to take turns to look at the book and tell the class what happened by looking at the picture and recalling the story that I had told them. Most of the children could do it, except that their voices were too soft and I had to remind them to speak louder.

I was happy and satisfied with my lesson. On the contrary, I regretted not having my mentor trial observe me as I had done well.

Written by Ng Wan Keng (9) 2B01

NiCe ViEw, eH???

2005-01-14T12:46:00.000+08:00

NiCe ViEw, eH???
Originally uploaded by nwkjoyce.

A picture on fall... hOpE mY LiFe WiLL bE LiKe iT... ... : )

AcTiViTy tHrEe: My iDoL... rEaL.. I SwEaR

2005-01-12T13:24:00.000+08:00

StEpHaNiE sUn YaNzI

haven buy her CD, yet... no $$
:'(

Animated 4^eva fren pic done by year 1 (i thk)

2005-01-12T13:20:00.000+08:00

Found this in our M file... tot tt it's very nice & well done... http://photos1.flickr.com/3259204_7761757aa6_o.gif
Credits to Gan Ching-Ru, Lin Jingyi, See Yun Reei.
tt's if im nt wrong tt they are the creators...

1sT pOsTiNg

2005-01-08T07:00:00.000+08:00

AhHh... HaD So MaNy PrEsEnTaTiOnS ToDaY, aLmOst dIe SiA...