Should play time be structured?

J and I have been attending playgroup at church since Feb.

In my chats with some of the mums who attend, the subject of whether playtime should be structured or not pops up frequently.

Some are in favour of structured playtime because they think the kids learn discipline and orderly behaviour from following a fixed timetable.

Others are okay with random or free play.

Our playgroup currently operates on a free play and mind-your-own basis. Each parent watches her own child. There isn't a person conducting Music 'n' Movement at 10 am or Story Time at 11 am.

We've had some M&M twice this term, and today the kids did some pasting to make an Easter chick to take home, but that's about all. The play room is laid out with different theme corners (Baby corner, Home corner, Car corner...), and the rest is up to the child and his parent.

I've heard that a nearby church has structured play time and different days devoted to different age groups. Sounds interesting. Maybe I should check that out.

This week, I'm taking J to visit ABC Learning Centre down the road. It's part of the research I'm doing to explore childcare options in case (or when) I go back to work fulltime.

First Words of the 14 month-old

First, J said "Uh oh!" whenever she dropped something.

Then came "Thank you".

2 days ago, she said "Welcome" - after I said "Thank you".

Her latest is a variation of "Uh oh", a.k.a. "Uh oh NO!"

It's just amazing to observe how her neural pathways are forming and to witness how her brain is just soaking in everything she hears.

Gotta watch my tongue now.

Consider James 3:5-10:

5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

A Good Day At School

Beth came out from class very pleased with herself.

"I got TWO stickers today, Mummy," she announced proudly, pointing to her polo shirt when I picked her up.

"One is for reading well, and the other....oops, I can't remember."

The Preppies have Reading during the first period every day, and parent helpers assist the teacher in this area by listening to each one read through a reader (book), or reading to them, as the case may be.

All the Preppies are assigned readers from a level that the teacher considers age-appropriate, but sometimes, there are exceptions, such as when a child is an advanced reader, or is struggling.

Beth and her S'porean classmate Triston have now been allocated a separate box of readers (called "Triston & Bethany's Box", no kidding!) suitable for their ability, after comments by various parent helpers that they need more challenging reading material. They are at Level 16-18, while their classmates are at Level 1.

I am very pleased that Beth's reading needs are being catered for.

Interestingly, my reading partner (the parent I pair with every Wed to read with Beth's class) asked if Triston is from the same country as Beth, as she noticed that they both read well.

I am very conscious that while Beth is regarded as an advanced reader here, she would probably just be an average one back home.

As for her Chinese, I'm finally getting a glimmer of hope that she's actually absorbing useful stuff in her Sat class while doodling all over her books. Once a week, I sit with her and go through her homework and we do a bit of reading together.

Considering how little attention I give to her Chinese, it's amazing her teacher bumped her up to Grade 1 level and she's actually not Lost In Translation.

She can pronounce most words correctly.

She used to be totally disinterested and just "anyhow whack", but now she's reading the hanyu pinyin and getting it right 90% of the time.

We're still working on the 4 accents. I reckon once she internalizes that, she'll take off by herself.

I keep telling her she has to be functionally bilingual and resist the easy way of speaking/writing only English just because she is in Aus.

I've even showed her news articles about students in other countries, esp Finland, who are literate in 3 or more languages, and explained to her how useful that would be if she wants to travel/live/work abroad.

All this may just sail over the top of her head right now, but hopefully over time enough of it will sink in and influence her to want to take the bilingual path for herself.

Who Is A Good Leader?

Excerpt from the school bulletin
28 Feb 2008

From the Principal:

I have pleasure in announcing the results of the SRC elections held last week. Our newly elected reps are...

Congratulations to our new members...

I'd also like to thank the students who were nominated but not successful. I understand it might be a disappointment, but it is a good thing to want to be a leader.

Good leaders should in fact be the best example of being a servant. Jesus is the ultimate example of being a servant leader. He did after all die for us as the Saviour.

People who want a leadership position for the prestige or the perks or the recognition will always be poor leaders and do a poor job, because they are there for the wrong reasons.

Even though you may not be a SRC Rep, you can be a leader by the way you serve and the way you conduct yourself everyday. I do look forward and expect students to display this form of service and leadership everyday.

J Learns The Magic Words

We love how J says Thank You when we play give-and-take.

She hands us a toy and says Thank You.

Or I give her a bit of food and she says Thank You.

Her Thank You comes out as "Tan Ku".

Some days, it is so garbled it can be understood only by the family.

But it's unmistakeable when taken in the context of what has just happened before she says it.