THEME: HOUSES AND HOMES

In this theme, the children learned the basic parts of a house, the different types of houses, shapes, colours and parts of the home. They also learned who were the people involved in the construction of houses such as the architect, building engineers, contractors, plumbers, etc. Some of the learning activities carried out were :

APARTMENT PROJECT

One of the activities was to make use of the apartment in front of the school as our learning project. We asked the children to observe the apartment : identify the shapes, count the number of the different shapes, concepts of high and low, tall and short and lastly to draw the building.

The children pointing at the different shapes found - rectangle, square, triangle and semi-circle. They also counted the number of the shapes - which was confusing to most of the children as there were a LOT to count.

After observing the apartment, the children drew the building. Ms Rajiah is pointing out something to one of the children. Here the child is drawing the apartment - see the building drawn long/high and see the other drawings by the children.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WALK

Another activity was to observe the different buildings found around the school neighbourhood. The children learnt the different types of houses, the shapes found, number of houses and colours. They also tried to read the house numbers and words along the road. Here are some of the things they saw:

Terrace houses ~ Ms Grace pointing out the houses and counting the number of houses in one row. They also tried to identify different shapes and colours found.

The mosque ~ Masjid Darul Ehsan, which is near to the school. The green pyramid is the dome of the mosque.

A block of shop houses.

Semi-detached houses.

Blocks of shop houses. There's a chinese temple across the roundabout.

The school building.

Apartment ~ which is infront of the school.

The children made a time line of the houses and things they saw on their neighbourhood walk.

SOME CRAFTS

Pasting of the different shapes to make a house on the paper plate - the children learned parts of the houses.
Fardhu ain class - Besides learning the significance of the KAABAH, the children looked at the shape and colours. This group project was done by pasting coloured papers.

CONSTRUCTION

A lot of boxes of different sizes were collected for the 'Construction Project'. The class discussed people who are involved in the construction of houses ~ from the architect to the construction workers. The children came to school in different attires and props representing their occupations. Each group of 4 children were asked to construct a building from the boxes. We had to do this project outside the classroom as we required a large space.

These boys working hard on their construction ~ maybe make some modifications or an extension? What about this box?

The 'architects' and 'contractor' discussing their 'project'. "See here - make sure this part of the building is properly glued together ~ we don't want our building to topple!", pointed out this young building engineer.

These 'building engineers' hard at work !

This group going through the pile of boxes for the building 'construction'.

They stacked the boxes to build a tower, glued them together with newspapers and painted their tower red.

Another building project - a purple one.

Building Construction Slideshow: Junior’s trip to Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia was created by TripAdvisor. See another Miri slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.

A LITERACY MORNING

Saturday, 19 February 2011 ~ for the families of Reception class and Junior 1. A BIG THANK YOU to all parents who came and for the generous contribution of food for refreshments. Perhaps there was not enough time to complete some of the projects, but we hope that you and your child had fun all the same.

We started the morning with songs ~ the sporting parents singing together with their children and doing the actions. Here's Ms Ayu and Ms Hidayah with the children.

The theme of the program was from the story ' The Hen and her Six Little Chicks'. We focused on 'hen', letter 'h' and number '6'.

Ms Hidayah reading out the story.

Learning phonics.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

The activities were divided into 4 stations with activities from letter/word recognition, numbers, sorting, patterning and crafts.

Station 1 : Following the pattern on the table.

Station 2 : Letter 'h'. He has finished the first part of the assigment with help from big sister ie pasting the hen on the paper. Next part ~ to look for letter 'h' from newsprints and paste them on the 'hen'.

Mom and son working on the 'hen'. Next station ~ sorting the different colours according to the coloured 'hens'.

She's doing it right - sorting the different colours.

Next station ~ making a mini book on words beginning with letter 'h'. Here's dad helping out and son writing out letter 'h'.

Here's mom and son making the mini-book on 'h'.

Busy drawing a picture of a word beginning with letter 'h' for the mini book.

Next station : Recognising, sequencing and quantifying numbers.

Craft station ~ making a 'hen' out of paper cups and papers. Here children learnt parts of the hen as they worked together with their parents.

Working on the 'hen'. Dad's giving a big hand here!

Look! We did it ! A picture of happiness ~ the 'hen' is completed!

So, how's the 'hen' project getting on ? Better get moving !

Computer station ~ learning the alphabet and numbers as well as how to use the key board. Parents enjoyed the games too ........... Hi mum, when is my turn ?

Number game.

These are some of the parents and their children.

Refreshments ~ thanks to all the parents who have contributed the food. THE FOOD WAS VERY SCRUMPTIOUS and we all enjoyed it!

Invitation To A Literacy Morning

COMING UP :

We look forward to see you for an exciting learning adventure with your child. Please hand in your reply form to the class teachers by this Thursday, 17 February 2011. Thank you.

Chinese New Year Lion Dance Troupe

YES! Two lion dance troupes came to the school on Wednesday, 9 February 2011 and thrilled all the children .......... well, only those who were not afraid. The children who found the lion dance frightening were kept indoors out of sight. It was an exciting and a memorable day. We were fascinated and enthralled by the agility, coordination and acrobatic skills of the lion dance performers. Chinese New Year will not be the same without the lion dance.

In the Chinese belief, the lion itself is regarded as a guardian creature to scare away evil spirits. The lion dance is performed to drive off the bad, evil spirits and to summon good luck, fortune and prosperity. For these reasons, it is common to see the lion dance performed on special occassions such as opening of new business, festivals apart from Chinese New Year.

The lion dance from the first group. The lion teased the children, nuzzling them causing the children to squeal in delight.
The lion nuzzling the girls!

Before leaving the school.

The farewell gestures before the lion left the school.
The arrival of the second lion dance troupe.

Performing the traditional ceremony at the door of the school to drive off all things bad and to usher in good fortune, prosperity and all things GOOD ~ we hope!

The Chinese drum.
This lion was very playful too ~ nuzzling the children. The children were so thrilled, most of them wanted to touch the lion.

Teasing the children. The rest of the photos showing the lion interacting with the children.

The pole with the flowers hanging from it. The lion 'eying' the flowers.

Performing acrobatic skills to reach the flowers.

GOT IT !
The BRAVE ones of Junior 1 & Reception (a quarter of the class - the rest in hiding)

Junior 2 Junior 3

The lion dance troupe that came to our school. Thank you for entertaining the children.

We hope that you will come back to visit us again next year.