Children's Museum @ Jalan Sultan

31 July 2010 (Sat):

This morning, we went over to ICA to get the kids' passport done. Lionel's expiring Dec this year whereas Rachel's passport photo and her current look is totally different so i might as well get both passports done.

After dropping the forms in the deposit box, we went over to the Children's Museum located over at Jalan Sultan. As it was a hot day, i decided to take a bus in spite of only 1 bus stop. I was afraid that the place wldnt be easily located & i wasnt sure if i was walking towards the right direction.

After about 10 mins of debation with myself ( walk this way? cross the road? turn to my right/left?), we finally found the museum. We saw the mosque first & after i was done taking a pic of the kids with the mosque behind, Lionel shouted out in glee that he saw a robot. I was wondering what robot & turn towards the direction he pointed. Then i realised its the museum. Right on track!
top left - Jalan Sultan Mosque
top right - stopping for a drink
bottom left - a pic with the mosque behind
bottom right - strolling down the walkway

top left - a pic with the robot outside the museum

top right - reanactment of the olden days provision stores

bottom left - Children's Little Mseum Singapore (wordings above the robot)

bottom right - olden days television, grammophone, laser discs, music books, etc.. ( i even saw Beatles)

top left - remember those wooden chairs? some of your grandparents might still remember

top right - a shelf of toys

bottom left - lionel with black & white memories

bottom right - a shelf of robots

top row - olden days school desks & chairs, toy soldiers, provision store

2nd row - school textbooks, drink store, barber

3rd rwo - barber, drink store, kids' rocking chair

last row - bottle of drinks, school reports cards & graduation certificates, rocking horse.

Rachel with the baby chair. Its made of rattan. I myself have nvr seen this before but looking at its structure, i believe u can put 2 toddlers sitting inside & rock them as well as pushing them ard. And that's what Rachel did. She sat inside while i pushed her ard.

** Lionel, well, he was too old for it but somehow he managed to squeeze himself into it. Well, wrong move! He got stuck. No matter how i pulled & tugged, he wldnt come loose. What mess he got himself in. I was so frustrated. I didnt know what to do. I tried to see if any part was loose but everything was still strong. I held him under his arms & froze myself while i pulled out with all my might. I knew that this move wld cause him to scream & yelled but its the only way. He finally got out with some minor abasions on his thigh.

top left - Rachel inside a high chair

top right - bookshop

middle - an old primary school

bottom left - Lionel inside the high chair

bottom right - baba pram

We spent abt 1.5 hours inside the museum & made for lunch at the nearby Raffles Hospital. Rachel fell asleep while eating. At least she finished about 3 quarters of her noodles. We took a taxi back.

Chinese Martial Arts Class

Lionel begin his martial arts class this evening at Chong Pang CC. When i went over after work, they had already done the warm up exercises & were taking a break.

Rachel (pink top) & Alexis playing. They were not enrol but wanna be part of the excitment as well. Sarah & mil were there too.

A senior student teaching the younger ones the basics.

"....see, you turn your hands this way..."

"...hands on your hips, legs together..."

"....ready..."

"....hands overlapped this way..."

** Above conversational words were added by myself. Actual instructions were not heard at all. I was standing at a distance away but managed to zoom in to the maxi using my hp. **

The coach himself

another grp/level/batch of students

Hb & myself were not aware that my sils enrolled Lionel to learn this activity. I only heard that they intend to but no confirmation at all. And because Lionel has a classmate whose mum wanna enrol her son into this curriculum, my sil followed suit. (anyway, i'm not the one paying for it) Wahaha!

Children's CEPAS Card

I bought each kid a CEPAS card, to be used while travelling on public tansportation such as the MRT & buses. Each card cost S$5 & you can top it up when the value is low.

When a child reached the height of 0.9m, he or she wld need a card. Lionel is well over the mark of 0.9m & Rachel is about there. So i thought might as well buy for each of them.

Actually, i got caught once & it was embarassing. I used my own card to tap thru the gantry with Lionel in front of me & Rachel in my arms. The security personnel has sharp eyes & stopped me, telling me i cannot used 1 card for 3 persons. Opps!

She referred me to the station control people & he kindly told me i have to buy a ticket for Lionel as he was already over 0.9m. ( we went to the height chart to measure his height). He allowed me to get pass & i heaved a sign of relief. Whew!

Kids CEPAS Card.

I also bought card holders for the kids so that they can sling the holder over their necks & tap when neccessary & not gettin the card lost. Lionel got the Mickey Mouse while Rachel's Hello Kitty.

The kids were very excited & they soon got a chance to use it.

Phonics, Blending & Reading

Okay, i brought Lionel over to I Can Read for an no obligation assessment on his reading skills & phonics & word blending and the results.....

"..To start from scratch, right from the very basic & beginning...."said the assessor. I totally agree. Lionel does not recognise all the sounds each alphabet mades & he cannot, or rather, does not know how to blend 2 sounds together to read the word.

So i went to speak to the centre manager & check out on the classes available. It seems only Sats from 230 - 4pm & Suns from 11-1230pm are available for weekend classes. However, the Sat classes are fully booked so if i want that slot, i hv to be on a waiting list.

Course fees at $496 per 3month / 12 sessions. Registration fee at $45 & refundable deposit of S$110. Ingoring the rest, the course fees will be approx $166 per month.

Mil says it will be good to engage Lionel in this kind of reading & phonics blending class but i find the fees quite steep. Still considering...

*******************
After waiting for 2 weeks & several emails later, i finally got an email reply from another enrichment school @ Mind Stretcher, located at Nee Soon East CC. According to the centre manager, Mrs Chan, 5 years of age is a good age to start, preparing the kids well in advance before they start pri 1.

Course fees at this school is only at $85/month ( i can breathe easier) & registration fees at $25. However, what they have on hand currently, classes that are available is Sat @ 1130am ( fully booked at the moment), otherwise, its @ 1pm/130pm. For Sun, they do not have enough students to form a class yet though they are quite a few request to have Sun classes. I told Mrs Chan i wld like to have a Sun morning class preferbaly.

I am working on alternate Sats so if the class is on a Sat, i hv to arrange for someone to bring Lionel across and that could pose some difficulties. Compared to I Can Read, its only across a small side road, 1 block away so it will be easier.

So now, its a matter of time arrangement. But it can be a headache as well cos i cant have the best of both centres & eat it. Haiz... $$$ VS time!

Seimpi Lesson 3

The most adorable & sweetest girl on earth...to me that is :)

Waiting outside the classroom as we were there early.

Well, today's lesson was basically a recap of what we have learned last week: the notes like C D E F G in treble clef, finger placing on the keyboard, C using thumbkin, D using pointer, etc. And then there are also worksheets to be done, recalling the note values such as crochet, minim, dotted minim & semi breve & the # of counts accordingly.

Rachel was hyper today and was testing my patience. She didnt want to pay attention to what teacher Marcia was talking & kept on looking at her classmates. A number of times, i had to whisper into her ears that if she continued to behave this way, i wld walk out of the classroom. This method kept her on her toes for a few minutes but she wld resume the same behaviour within 10 mins.

I hv to emphasized to her the 2 blackbars & the 3 blackbars on the keyboard over & over again. She points them out as & where she likes. Is there an easier method to help her to remember?

And since teacher Marcia uses "before & after" each music note, i wld hv to start practising with Rachel along the same line. Eg: What is the letter before D? So the kids have to point to the letter C. What is the letter after D? The answer is E.

I dun think Rachel learns before & after in school, maybe not in this pre sch level. To them, all alphabets are straight-forward: A B C D E F & so on....

Yes, i also hv to remind Rachel (over & over again) that in music notes, the first note is always C, followed by D... A & B is only after G - C D E F G A B ( and then it starts with C again).

Note to self: Rachel is only 3 years old....remember. Cant expect her to digest something new to her in a short span of 3 lessons, yesterday being the 3rd. She is only a toddler & toddlers are known to explore more than paying attention.

And more importantly, this is only the basic music foundation. There's no gurantee if she wld like to learn piano down the road. As one mummy put it, at their age, there are many trials & errors.
If she's nt the type to sit down, then perhaps we can expose her into something more active, like ballet or gymnastics.

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In the evening, we went out for dinner with granny The kids called their granny ( my mum) last evening & "invited" her for dinner. We picked my mum up at about 7pm & the kids told her they wanna treat her to Macs. LOL!!!

We went for dinner along Changi Village, ordering simple foodstuff such as "king of ribs in coffee flavor", "slice fish soup", "fresh oyster mushrooms", '15 sticks of pork satay", "tofu with cereal" & "salad prawns"

Below are some pictures ( not actual ones) of what we have ate, js to give you a feel:

Fried tofu with cereal

Slice fish soup

Satay - pork pieces skewered on sticks, goes with onions, cucumber & ketupat.

Prawn in salad cream.

Coffee flavoured pork ribs.

Along the way home, the kids had a blast playing with their granny & were enjoying so much, they didnt want to stop. After dropping my mum off, the 2 kids were playing on their own & hb did a sharp turn at one bend that Rachel fell off the seat , onto the floor. Then it was a "scolding lesson" from Rachel to Dad. Luckily, the sharp turn was gentle. I didnt even realise Rachel had fallen off the seat till she gave her dad a scolding. Opps!

Photos: i was nt in the mood for any photo taking session which i kind of regretted now. Rachel was wearing a pretty piece of patchwork dress in the evening which i found in her grand mother's drawer. Nobody knew where this dress, along with 2 other equally sweet dresses came from. Everyone thought that i was the one who brought them.

Hehe...finder's keepers! Let me see if i can get a chance to post them here.

"Naughty Pussy Cat"

" naughty pussy cat
you are very fat
you have butter on your whiskers
naughty pussy cat "

Since Rachel learned this song at Seimpi, she has been singing it everyday, not once, not twice but over & over again.

However, she likes to say chocolate instead of butter on the 3rd line, so it goes:

" naughty pussy cat
you are very fat
you have chocolate on your whiskers
naughty pussy cat "

And of cos, Lionel learned it too & has been singing along with his sister, emphasizing on the word chocolate as well. What goofs!

Scissors, Paper, Stone

Was playing scissors, paper, stone game with Rachel. She would always display "scissors". But the funny part of this game was that she wld say along the words but she wasnt saying scissors, paper, stone.

Instead, its scissors, paper, cone!!!! When i heard that or thought i heard, i asked her to repeat the words again.... scissors, paper, stone. No! i heard it correctly, scissors, paper, cone!

No stone but cone...go figure! It sent me into fits of laughter!!

Seimpi Lesson 2

18 July 2010 (Sun):

Today is lesson 2 of Rachel's music class. We went thru what we have learned last week & also some new stuff.

Treble Clef (pitch - top bar): C D E F G - we learnt how the notes looked like on a music sheet.

C - 1 step below the 1st line.

D - just directly below the 1st line

E - right in the middle of the 1st line

F - in between the 1st & 2nd line

G - right in the middle of the 2nd line

And on the piano itself, we learnt the finger placing too. Using the 2 & 3 black bars as guideline:

C D E falls directly below the 2 black bars ( as shown in the pic above). We have nt learned abt F & G yet.

Teacher Marcia placed a big piano banner on the floor & the kids used ice cream sticks with the A B C D E F G lables on them to place them accordingly. She also played the song: Hot Cross Buns & taught us the notes. When she says C, the kids have to place their hands on the piano keys which shows C. When she says D , again the kids need to place their hands on the bar accordingly.

So it goes: " Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns - C D E, C D E....."

Well, Rachel over here didnt really paid attention & she places her hands as & where she likes it. I hv to correct her & point out that C falls under the 1st black bar, then D in the middle & E under the 2nd black bar. I'm nt sure if what i hv taught to her is correct but at least i wld like her to understand & know the exact finger placing & notes. Technically, i am teaching her using my own words. ** Someone pls correct me if i am wrong **

** Any ones knows where i can get this piano banner so that i can guide her at home as well. Hmm...or is there any need to buy this banner at all? **

They did some activities too, this time involving stickers.

Unit 2: the kids listen to different types of pitch - high & low. In each track, they listened to 2 different pitch/sound. Then they got to paste the sticker accordingly, a bird if it is a high pitch, then a lion if the pitch is low.

Eg: the 1st sound is low pitch = lion & 2nd sound is high pitch = bird, for track 3 itself.

Unit 3: Note-Values - the kids used their crayons & traced the dotted lines. Then they got to see which bear got the longest & shortest fishing line respectively. Using stickers to for bear A & B, they pasted in the correct boxes. Then they also got to see what type of notes each bear caught,

eg: bear A has the longest fishing line. It caught a semi breve.

And again, i am also learning at the same time. The kids were also told of looking thru unit 4 & 5 as we will be doing those next week. :)

Rachel is 3 Years Old

17 July 2010 (Sat):

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RACHEL!!!

Strawberry Shortcake. Vanilla sponge cake with strawberry fruits bits in between.

2 + 1 = 3. I am 3 years old.

Rachel, Victoria & Alexis.

Rachel & Alexis. ( Alexis is 5 months younger than Rachel)

After singing the birthday song.

Lionel, Rachel, Jiayi, Alexis & Victoria.

Rachel & mummy. Cake Cutting.

The kids are eager to eat the cake.

Cake distribution.

Victoria & Rachel sitting & eating together.

Some of the other cousins.

Delicious!!!

After all the excitment has died down & everyone has left, we begin clearing up. I was looking thru the photos taken earlier on & Lionel wanted to capture some shots as well. So here goes:

Pic taken by Lionel. Portrait of Daddy.

Pic taken by Lionel. Portrait of Yeye.

Pic taken by Lionel. Portrait of Rachel.

Pic taken by Rachel. Assisted by Mummy. Portrait of Lionel.

Pic taken by Lionel. Portrait of ah ma.

Pic taken by Lionel. Portrait of xiao gu.

" happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Rachel, happy birthday to you"