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The use of words ‘stress’ and ‘grades’

It all unfolded today morning when we were getting ready for school at 6.45am. Yuvan showed an unusual reaction for wearing his shirt first as compared to his vest. He made a quick fist punch to the couch seat he was sitting.
His normal reaction would be a wide grin and ‘ Ahhhh man !!’

I quickly told him he can’t do that and asked why? He said, ‘Yesterday my PE teacher told me that today I will have an assessment for the Tamarind(?) dance and she will give me grades… So I am stressed that I may not get A plus as I am not so good and correct in step 4. I am sure you will not be happy if I get a C and so I am hoping to get an A’

I was actually flabbergasted cos we have never spoken about grades though am very well aware that he is too obsessed getting all correct in everything he does…

There were times when he missed a mark for a silly mistake and kept talking about it ‘ ahhh man…’ Every single time I have told him ‘that’s ok.. Take it positively… See you learnt something from this and love you’ and today I told him ‘ enjoy yourself whether it’s dance or maths or anything and give your best.. Learn everything with joy’ ‘You don’t have to worry!! As you enjoy yourself and give your best, you will do well’ ‘I love you’…

Yuvan, Touch wood and I am so proud to say ‘you are such a gift from God and I will always be thankful to God and cherish and love you’

PS:- I love this mobile blogging.. If not this post will be sitting in my mind I don’t know for how long…

Descriptive ~ Creative writing – Workshop -1

I wanted to introduce creative writing and descriptive writing for a long time and I was really stuck on where to start it , though I had a pool of resources. It was all that I wanted  him to have an interest for creative and descriptive writing ,as well learn the basics well.

So finally I decided to start with something , in this case ,it was a picture of a horse ( as he always is fascinated by animals ) and I did ask him to write a few sentences about it. To my surprise he was able to write more than 10 sentences giving a lot of information by himself , with a little bit of leads with my questions like ” does he love horses ? has he been on a horse back ?  ”.

Then he was more interested, excited to do one more .This is what I wanted …a curiosity and the interest about the work he always does :)

Then I wanted to try doing a story with a story starter and a picture , with lots of room for imagination … And to my surprise, he came up with a funny story which was creative enough for a 5 year old, attempting his first story..

It was a great productive and creative one plus hour of work.. we both enjoyed it and this creative writing workshop is set to continue at home step by step !!!!

First Kudos to Yuvan!!!!

My First amateur publish..

A contest for sharing Labour stories was on at the “The Asian Parent ” and was told about by my Hubby and I sent my entry, my first one to any such media.

As they had stated in the rules that the story will be edited , I didn’t expect my whole write up, unedited to get published.. But it did!!! But they changed the picture I submitted.

I submitted this

And….You can read my story at “The Asian Parent “ here . My story :)

I am not sure whether I would end up in even one of the shortlisted entries, But am way too happy to see my words on another webpage other than my Blog!!!

Let me know your comments!!!!

What’s new ?

Itz Scramble Mania and Battle Force – Hotwheels… :)

We already had a different set of Scramble .. like a chess board with alphabets ..which we seldom used ..

Yuvan got a NEW Scramble board as his birthday day from one of his Favorite Uncle’s here…
This Board has a Plastic sturdy base on which we need to fix the letters.. which comes in handy that we
could play the game anywhere.. on the couch..table.. mattress.. anywhere… and Off late he is very interested into it..
and I am his playmate and I love doing it as I love word games too and I can do my other stuffs simultaneously too..(wink)
where I can’t do my other things when he wants me to be his playmate for a game of cricket or so…

And Yuvan was talking all about this ” battle force ‘ color changing stuff  which he intends to buy if we agree…for sometime… and when I took him to ToysRus during the start of the term Break , He told us as usual.. he want to wait to buy the Battle force and not buy anything else.. Which has been Him for a long time…

we decided to get him one since its term break and he seldom asks for Toys…And  the ToysRus guys didn’t know what it was!!!We googled and showed him and we found out and bought the same..

It is nothing but a basically colour changing car ,when it goes into the HOT/ COLD water with various setups :)

He loved it and Enjoys it too :) except that he makes my floor messy… and later helps in clearing up the mess!

What to do ?

I chanced upon this post from MyPlayschool.net ‘s facebook page ( which has been linked to home school how to for this post )and am really impressed..This is basically a post relating to what to do with kids during the school break,which eventually starts from today here in Singapore..

These are  the “100 things to do  ” not only during school breaks, but as and when we could do with our kids…

Many things takes very little time but I am sure is going to have lasting impressions on/with our kids…

The full list of ’100 things to do “ is  here and Please read through.. I bet you will love it and tempted to implement too…

A few I liked soo much and Am sure going to implement are

Pick a flower – Count the number of petals and leaves on the flower. If you have a
magnifying glass, you can look at all the parts of the flower very closely. Look at
whether the petals and leaves are jagged around the edges or smooth.
Note:- I recently found the value dollar shops selling good magnifying glasses


Cut open fruits – Get some different fruits that are in season and cut them open
from different angles. The apple is the most fun because if you cut it crosswise,
you will see a star in the middle. Always look for the seeds and talk about how
those seeds help make another tree or bush that will grow that fruit. experimentnt
with cutting fruits in different shapes and sizes and see which way you like to eat.
Take them to the post office, bank or local city office. Call ahead and see if
one of the clerks would be willing to take you behind the counter and show you
around for a few minutes to get an idea of what goes on behind the scenes.
Note: if not we could explain them step by step…


Find Japan and China on a map or globe. Talk about how far they are away from
where you live. Talk about what time it is in those countries right now. If your
child wants to know more, you can get a reference book from the library or search
for information online.
Note : We could do with any country we wish, or If our child has been talking about a specific country,better to do that or If you are intending to travel to another country, we could do that.

Go for a walk around the block and talk about what you see. If the weather is
too cold, go to a mall and do the same there. If you’re outside you can talk about
the trees, leaves, grass, houses, sky, clouds, cars, etc. Just make observations
about what you see and encourage your child to do the same. If they have
questions you can’t answer, make some notes to look up the answers when you get
home.

What’s missing – Get a tray and put several toys, food items, or any set of items
that fit on the tray. Have your child study what is on the tray. Then have them
close their eyes and take one item away. When they open their eyes, have them
guess which item you took away. Keep taking things away one at a time guessing
which item is missing. Your child will probably want to quiz you on this one too.

Go outside for a while and study the clouds. You can lay on a blanket with your
child or just look up at the sky for a while. If you want to count some of the
clouds, that would help reinforce their counting skills. You might want to look at
some books about clouds before you go out, but you can just look at the clouds for
fun.

Play grocery store- Save some empty packages like cereal boxes, cracker boxes,
noodle boxes, egg cartons etc. You can even use some full cans of food too. Set up
your pretend grocery store somewhere in your house and take turns being the
cashier and the shopper. Get some play money or make your own. You can “price”
your items and add up the total and pay with your money. Or you can just pick out
a few items and pretend that you have enough money to cover your purchases.
Note:- A very practical lesson plan to teach Money, next step after recognizing the coins and dollars  and their make up in different forms.

My favorite things – If you have some old magazines lying around you can use
them for this activity. Get a large sheet of paper or poster board and have your
child make a collage of their favorite things. These can be toys, food items or
anything else that they think of. If you have magazines, then you can cut pictures
out of them and glue them to your paper. If you don’t have magazines, then your
child can draw their favorite things.

Bubbles – I think all children like blowing bubbles. All you need is one jar,
although you can get much more elaborate than that. Blow lots of bubbles and
have fun chasing them around the yard.

Measure It – Get a cloth or plastic measuring tape and show your child what the
numbers mean and how to use the tape. Then let your child choose different
things that he/she would like to measure around the house. You can even have a
piece of paper handy and write down how long each item measured and then
compare the numbers.
Note: A Good practical add -on to learn about measuring!


Are you going to try some  too ?


SUPER WHY

I am sure most of  the Mother’s know these two words  ” SUPER WHY “

As the tag line says ” With the  power to read ” – It’s really gives the SUPER POWER to read and  to who already are fluent readers ,  the confidence to read more and in knowing more vocabulary and the usage of words !

It is an awesome animated show , which aims at developing the Kids literacy skills… including spelling, reading, word usage , phonics..If your child is a budding or a fluent reader this is an awesome one to watch.. and it is really interactive…. and gets the kids involved…

Here is what exactly I wanted to explain ,but eventually found on the wiki page of SUPER WHY

Storyline

The title character introduces himself as “Whyatt”, and welcomes the viewers to “Storybook Village”, a place where all fairy-tale characters reside. Then Whyatt hears a ringtone from his “Super Duper Computer”, which resembles a small red PDA. He answers the call and discovers that one of the other characters has a “Super Big Problem”. After investigating the nature of the problem, Whyatt summons the “Super Readers”, sending out the call: “Calling all Super Readers! To the Book Club!” The four characters, Whyatt, Pig, Red Riding Hood, and Princess Pea, then appear in front of the aforementioned Book Club, which is a building made of books. Whyatt then tells the viewer to “say YOUR name”, including them among the Super Readers.

Once the characters are assembled, Whyatt’s Book Club Mainframe, the main computer, is activated. He plugs in his Super Duper Computer and uploads data about the problem. Meanwhile, the character with the problem stands behind a small podium made of dominos and explains the situation.

Once the problem is discussed, Whyatt states, “When we have a question, we look…in a book!” Pig wonders, “Which book should we look in?” and in response, Princess Pea casts a magic spell to summon the appropriate book:

Peas and Carrots, Carrots and Peas.
Book come out, please, please, please!

The book then descends from the shelves, and Whyatt, inviting the audience to read along, summarizes the problem faced by the book’s characters, drawing a parallel to the problem the Super Readers are trying to solve.

The goal of the Super Readers is to follow the storyline to solve the problem. As they progress through the events of the story, they encounter obstacles, which can be solved by applying their literacy skills to change the story (for instance, changing the prince in “The Frog Prince” back into a frog because the princess liked him better that way). As they overcome these obstacles, they are rewarded with red glittery “Super Letters”. These Super Letters are then uploaded into the Super Duper Computer, eventually forming the word(s) that make up the solution to the Super Big Problem. The audience members are encouraged to look for Super Letters throughout the story, and to identify them when they appear.”

Yuvan just loves to watch this and interact with Whyatt… and there is a page on the web linked , Which gives more access to solving the literacy problems, which is definitely a useful tool for the kids to get better with  their literacy skills as well enjoy doing the kids way :)

The related many SUPER WHY videos can be found on You tube , as well for Singaporean audience it airs on the Ch 108 – Okto  !

Yuvan loves reading the sentences and knows a lot of vocabulary and this will help them follow the storyline throughout the episode until they find the solution!!!

CarromBoard Fun Maths

Carrom Board is a very common household game in India and most popular equally among Children as well adults… I remember when we were young, me nad My brother saved up to buy a good quality carrom board  and it lasted for many many years…:)

We bought one out of interest for E even before Yuvan was born… and in the recent times Yuvan loves to play it… though he is still on the learning ropes…

He loves to play with his cousins and friends when he goes back to India for vacation…

Last week , he bugged me to bring it on for a play session.. and I had to engage him… and tried to put his addition skills to test and off course practical learning…

The carrom board as in a a squarish board made of wood .

The carrom is played with 9 white coins each valued 2 and 9 black coins each valued for 1 and a red coin valued at 5.

What we did ??

  • We did counting in 2 ‘s using white, add on using as many combinations as with whites , blacks and the Red…
  • Counting the whites as in how many and how much - similarly for black and red
  • And the board in itself has many shapes drawn for the many rules with which it is played and he had fun identifying all those shapes
  • stacking the coins one over the other ,
  • adding up the points for me and him as we pot each coin ..:)

I was happy he had hands on learning as well play time and he was happy too :) ))

Our first Complete Lap Book

For few reasons known and unknown I have not been blogging… I every time think of it.. I dunno what and how to explain it…

As I blogged in my last post, I  have been incorporating many lap-booking and note-booking ideas for unit study’s , simple one topic projects at home…

But this is the first time me and Yuvan completed a perfect lapbook… I managed to make even layered templates , pocket to hold pictures, Yuvan decorated with his stickers too..

It was all about teeth :)

He did tell me ” I love studying this way ” which made me sooooooo really happy!!!!

:)

Tried Lap Booking or Note booking with your kids ?

I have realized and implemented other forms of learning through Simplified Lap booking / Note booking for Yuvan…

Though I don’t follow the rules of Lap-booking and Note-booking,  I do a simplified form , which includes a pictorial description with coloring and labeling options and then if available read a fact book on the same topic and write about the particular topic of what they have learned in few lines.

It can be either done using a chart paper folded as a booklet and the pictorial description cut and pasted around with one side dedicated to write-up of the understood content.

Or can be done with simple A4 sheets , one side dedicated for write-up and other for pictorial description , labeling… and then can be filed using a sheet protector for future reference.

This can go on with replacing the pictorial description with small paper plate crafts in conjunction with the write ups and saved for future reference the same way .

Or a separate notebook dedicated or this, with one side being dedicated for the pictorial depiction and the other side for write ups.

I have noticed, Y can really grasp the concepts faster this way … It inculcates art and craft which helps with motor skills , reading – about the topic , writing – writing what he has learnt in the few lines.

And simply loves doing it..

This can be done on any topic , in any form with Lap booking and Note-booking as a guideline , which will finally get the child enjoy doing this as well get some knowledge through :)

And also will simply be a great keepsake as they grow Up!

Yuvan has done a few more over the months , But Still haven’t gone on record on this blog… will do it when I get the time….

Why don’t you give a try ,If you Like it?

The Love for Reading….

I am a member of the Walter reading club on facebook and received this today… Absolutely remarkable this write up is ..I want to share it here.. All the mom’s can do a self check and improve and change if required, because I believe in “Better Late than Never “!!!

Here it goes…

Children who enjoy books make better readers and better overall students. Take our quiz to learn whether you’re doing all you can to raise a book lover.

1. How many books are in your child’s room?
a. Less than the number of shoes in my closet.
b. None; books are shelved in the family library.
c. Approaching the number in our public library’s children’s section.

1. The best answer is c. Your should immerse your child in books and have a variety at hand for whenever he’s in the mood to read. Keeping books in your child’s room, along with toys and games, will reinforce reading as a fun activity. If you don’t want to spend money on new books, shop at used-book stores or stock up weekly at the library.
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2. What do you usually do when your child has free time?
a. Read together for a while, then have him read or flip through books alone.
b. Encourage him to go play alone so you can have some time to yourself.
c. Suggest that he watch a video.

2. The best answer is a. Encourage your child to read whenever he has some downtime or is bored. You may face some tough competition from the television set, but try at least to set aside some time every evening for books. Reading with your child is a great way to share a fun experience and to introduce your child to more challenging material. Try to spend part of the time reading to your child, and if he’s able, also encourage him to read alone.
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3. When do you read books?
a. After my child is asleep; it’s the only quiet time I have all day.
b. I don’t have time to read.
c. In front of my child, whenever I can.

3. The best answer is c. Your child wants to be just like you. If you read in front of him and keep novels and books around the house, your child will want to read too.
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4. When was the last time you took your child to the library?
a. It’s been so long I can’t remember.
b. Last week.
c. Sometime during the last three months or so.

4. The best answer is b. Take regular trips to the library, as often as your child wants to (within reason, of course). It’s a good way for him to try out new books and authors, and it’s free! If you take regular trips, you can also check bulletin boards for upcoming library events such as story times and book clubs. Make your child feel like a regular, and get him a library card in his own name.
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5. If your child only wanted to read or look at comic books, what would you do?
a. Say no and encourage a quality book instead.
b. Say, “Great!” and buy more of them.
c. Agree to a few comic books per week as long as my child reads other books, too.

5. The best answer is c. Your job is to make reading fun and to teach your child to love books. If comic books are doing the trick, by all means encourage them, but continue to offer more challenging reads, too. Eventually you’ll hit on something that’s as appealing to your child as the comics.
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6. What do you do when your child picks out books that are too difficult?
a. Say that the book is too advanced and put it back on the shelf.
b. Read the book quickly to my child, skimming over hard words and advanced concepts, and then move on to easier books.
c. Read the book with my child, explaining the hard words and discussing the story as we go.

6. The best answer is c. Encourage your child to try any book that’s interesting, even if it seems too difficult. You can always read these more difficult books to your child. Take the opportunity to introduce new words, and discuss the story as you go to make sure your child comprehends it.
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7. If your child wants to hear the same story over and over again and you’re losing your mind, what do you do?
a. Pretend to lose the book.
b. Read it as often as my child wants to hear it but suggest other books as well.
c. Tell my child I’ll read the book only once a week.

7. The best answer is b. Children who are learning to read like repetition, rhymes, and word patterns, and they love to hear books repeatedly. Indulge them. This repetition helps your child memorize the story, which is an important part of learning to read. Encourage your child to finish some of the sentences in the book or to “read” entire passages from memory.
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8. If your child doesn’t feel like reading, what do you do?
a. Require at least 30 minutes of reading a night, no matter what.
b. Take my child to the library and bookstore to look for books that appeal to his interests.
c. Let it go and figure the problem will take care of itself.
d. I don’t ever have this problem — my child loves to read.

8. The best answer is b. Your child may be avoiding books because he hasn’t found any that engage him. Show him that reading can provide information about whatever he’s interested in — dinosaurs, cars, fairy godmothers, movie stars, magic tricks — and he’ll be turning pages in no time! A child who doesn’t love books and reading may have problems in school down the road, so don’t ignore his lack of interest. You should also consider having his eyesight checked. Vision problems can make reading frustrating.
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9. Which of the following best describes your child’s favorite book?
a. It’s falling apart because we read it every night.
b. I don’t know. My child does most of his reading at school, not at home.
c. It’s at the library. I don’t want my child to read the same book over and over at home.

9. The best answer is a. If you’ve been reading to your child since he was a baby, you should have a couple of books that are well worn by now (Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar, for example, is a favorite of 1-year-olds and kindergartners alike). Because memorization is an important part of learning to read, you should continue to read old favorites until your child says he’s had enough.
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10. How often do you read with your child?
a. Once a week or less.
b. Wherever and whenever he wants to.
c. One hour every night, whether he wants to or not.

10. The best answer is b. Reading should be part of everyday life, and you should try to make room for it in your child’s daily routine with a book or two just before bedtime, say, or right after dinner. But don’t force your child to read if he’s not in the mood. Reading should be fun, not a chore or assignment.

This was written by Jay Koh,Walter Reading Club.

I am reproducing this and this is not my original write up as I want to share this with you, who may not be the member of this reading club :)