"G" Based Activity - Gingerbread Girl & Three Billy Goats Gruff (Follow-up)

I do not always like reading Sophie fairy tales because they are often too long and the ending sometimes seems a little brutal. However, I found these quite easy to read and the ending relatively benign as well. More importantly, Sophie enjoys them.

Sophie has always been fascinated by gingerbread man although she did not like the taste. I think she finds it amazing that things she read about in books appear in real life to0. Thus, I did not hesitate when I found this cute gingerbread man. Naturally, she was thrilled.

"G" Based Activity - Three Billy Goats Gruff

We started making a lapbook on "Three Billy Goats Gruff" on 14 July but it took a couple of days for us to finish it. Sophie was keen to make and play with the "Troll" but she was not too interested in colouring.

Sophie really enjoyed telling the story again and again, especially the Troll's line "I'm going to eat you!". She even had difference versions.

"G" Based Activity - Gingerbread Girl

18 July 2010

This morning, I drew a huge gingerbread man outline with Sophie's body. I was surprised that she did not protest or move around much. We even painted it brown while waiting for breakfast to be ready.

19 July 2010








Usually, I would let the children do collage when we did this with lower primary children. For Sophie, this would be a simple gingerbread figure... with hair?

"G" Based Activity - My Garden / My Greenhouse 5 (Growing Seeds)

Alright, this is the last time I would blog about the beans. They have grown as much as they possibly could but they lost some roots during the transfer so I reckon they probably would not make it. Sorry Sophie!

"G" Based Activity - My Garden / My Greenhouse 4 (Growing Seeds)

The beans are outgrowing their little "greenhouse" so I bought some "gel" (did not want to deal with soil) for them to grow further (fingers crossed). Sophie was very excited when we did the transfer but I kept telling her they might not grow. Hopefully she could understand that I do not have "green fingers".

In any case, some roots were destroyed during the transfer so I am not sureif that would affect the growth.

School Theme - Sea Creatures 10 (Underwater World - Sentosa)

To round up the theme on sea creatures, Sophie's school organised an excursion to the Underwater World in Sentosa. This is our first school excursion and to be frank, I was rather nervous. For the first time, I have little idea of the itinerary and SOP. However, the school was nice enough to invite parents along and let the Nursery parents take the school bus with their children.



Although we were in the afternoon session, we joined the morning children in the combined excursion. We gathered at 8.20 am. Sophie was not too good with crowds and thus, she looked a little overwhelmed when we assembled. Also, she was probably unfamiliar with the rest of the children and most of her classmates were late.



During the routine exercise, Sophie tried to join in (with so did Papa). I have not seen her do the morning exercise as a Cherrybrook pupil and I must say she has gone a long way. She used to be passive and just watched curiously as the others worked out. That was a mere couple of months ago. Now she was able to participate like the rest. How amazing!

This was Sophie's first school bus trip. The distance was not too long but the bus ride made her sleepy. She held the safety belt and bag so tightly because I told her to be very careful on the bus and take care of her belongings always.



I think I am getting way too big to walk with Sophie at her pace. I wobbled and got tired very easily. Howeverr, she still wanted me to carry her whenever she felt insecure, especially if the crowd was aggressive and rowdy.



Sophie was excited to see the fish at the entrance. She kept asking for Nemo (clownfish). Amazingly, she started saying all the Chinese names of sea creatures she has learnt.




Her school teachers bought some fish food for the stingrays and offerred me a piece to try feeding them. It was quite scary since they are huge and very eager to eat from my hand. Sophie was a little startled as well. She clung on to me when I was feeding the stingrays. It was hard to balance with her and Alfee.



Soon we reached the highlight of Underwater World. Sophie was elated to see so many authentic and familiar sea creatures. She also saw divers cleaning the tank so she was thrilled. I learnt something too that day. I thought a dugong was manatee but Sophie's teacher told me it has a dophin like tail (opps!). Oh well, at least now I know it is called "海牛". And Sophie asked me what the chinese name of puffer fish is, so I promised to find out for her. Oh my goodness, it took an hour to find out its name - "河豚鱼" when we came back.

Our last stop before the end of our excursion - Dolphin Lagoon. Unfortunately it started to rain so we had to brave the rain from the Underwater World to the Dolphin Lagoon. Ridiculous... It was a short 20 m (at most) distance and they did not build any shelter to connect the two places. Anyway, the show was short and kind of a letdown. Sophie was stilll excited to see the pink dolphins though so I was happy... even though my face said otherwise.

Learning Chinese

Sophie has always been reluctant to learn or utter anything in Chinese. It is a worrying attitude considering how important Chinese is later on in her education. After our failed attempt to give her a home tutor, I thought I could also teach her Chinese based on how the trial lesson was done. Frankly I was not too impressed by the tutor from China. She wanted to charge me $45 per hour but her materials were neither original nor interesting. And of course she had to give me poor work attitude (MIA after the trial lesson).

Thus, I started teaching her basic vocabulary each day (late June), coupled with lots of Chinese storytime and reading. I was hoping that that would help her adapt a little better and faster in class (mid July), especially during her Chinese lessons. We started with her name and moved on to facial features, body parts and action words related to hands and feet. When she began schooling, I followed the theme "sea creatures" and tried to introduce some simple terms.

On 9 July (Friday), a miracle happened on our way home from school. She gave me an intense look before saying, "海豚", "海星" and "鲨鱼". When probed, she told me she learnt the terms in class. I was elated and so proud, I almost cried. Then before she slept, she said,"小丑鱼" and "魔鬼鱼＂in a slang. It took me a while to decipher what she actually said, but we were both super happy when we did. Tonight, she surprised me again with "水母", "海马", "鲸鱼" and "龙虾". I am so glad she started school.

"G" Based Activity - My Garden / My Greenhouse 3 (Growing Seeds)

We checked on our seedlings today and found the green beans and black eye beans growing well, but not the red beans and black beans. In fact, they have got all mouldy and rotten. I guess the seeds have died so they could not germinate at all. I made a point to name the growth - roots. Compared to the green beans in the bottle, the ones in her "garden" are growing much slower.

School Theme - Sea Creatures 9 (Summary Page - Chinese Names For Sea Creatures)

We did a summary on the Chinese names of sea creatures Sophie has learnt for the past two weeks in school. I must say, I am learning with her. I suppose she is unconsciously witnessing how her mummy is learning together with her. For example, I have no idea what "sea anemone" is called in Chinese so I had to check the internet for its name. Of course, I did not hide my ignorance from her. I told her exactly how I would find out its name and then let her know once I confirmed it is right. Painfully slow but hey, she learnt most of the terms and her interest in learning is sustained. PROCESS... not product!

"G" Based Activity - My Garden/ My Greenhouse 2 (Growing Seeds)

I was always nervous about planting so I talked to Sophie about the little growth, I lost my words and said "seedling". Oh well, it should have been just "roots". The roots are growing out after just a day so I was very excited (yes, more so than Sophie apparently). I only did the decorations today because I did not think the seeds would germinate at all.

"G" Based Activity - My Garden/ My Greenhouse 1 (Growing Seeds)

I read Sophie The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. It was a little long but she was quite engaged nevertheless. After that, I tried creating a little garden and greenhouse for her. It was too easy to make and I was reluctant to decorate it before the green beans germinate. I have no talent for growing anything but we would try again. I also wanted to try growing the beans in glass containers, just to compare the outcome.

School Theme - Sea Creatures 8 (Chinese Readers & A House For The Hermit Crab)

Even since Sophie was shown the hermit crabs in school, I became obsessed with the idea of reading her A House For Hermit Crab by Eric Carle. However, we did not have the book and it is near impossible to borrow form the library. Thus, I made a trip to Kinokuniya on the day she fell in school, to buy her a copy. It was all good because she loves the story. Although it was a little too long for her, she still managed to sit through it.

I also bought her two Chinese readers for the theme on sea creatures. One was about sea turtles and the other about sea creatures in gerneral. I can appreciate how such books teaches basic vocabulary now. I must admit, I am learning all the Chinese terms together with her.

"G" Based Activity - Gears

We had this set of gears forever but somehow Sophie could not engage with it. Today, we tried again. Although she was more interested than before, she was still only lukewarm.

School Theme - Sea Creatures 7 (Sea Creatures Mobile)

This is not my usual style. Normally I would draw everything from scratch but I really did not have much time to prepare for Sophie. Thus, I cheated by printing materials from the internet.



We tried to colour pictures of seahorse, starfish, clownfish, coral reef and clam etc. Then I stuck them to some strings and attached them to a paper plate with pipe cleaners.



I was not very familiar with making mobiles so it took me a while to fix it up properly. Of course Sophie loved to play with it and almost destroyed it before I could finish it.

I found it a little plain so I added some seaweeds and the leftover "jellyfish" from the gooey ghost prints we had made earlier.

Concert - Puff The Magic Dragon 2

"G" Based Activity - Gummy Counting

We did a couple of counting with food but I could not document anything. Today, Papa was around to help. Sophie was still not able to count well but we are improving and hopefully she would get better as we move along with more creature counters.

Concert - Puff The Magic Dragon 1

School Theme - Sea Creatures 6 (Chinese Names For Sea Creatures)

To think that I used to think it would be impossible for Sophie to learn Chinese, I was so wrong. I probably should have more faith in her. On Friday, she looked at me all serious and intense before uttering 海豚, 海星 and 鲨鱼 (with a slang) in the cab. I was ecstatic even though it took me a while to understand what she said! I had to infer a little because I knew they were doing sea creatures that day. And just before she slept, she said to me (again with an intense look) 小丑鱼＂and "魔鬼鱼.She had to say a couple of times because it was hard for me to understand her slang. But once we agreed on what she was trying to say, we were hugging and celebrating like football fans!



That was all the cue I need to quickly reinforce her learning in school. I whipped out our dusty flip chart and picture dictionary and practiced our Chinese this morning. The school has an amazing influence on her learning. Despite her accident and injury, I am glad she likes school so far.

Family Time (Upper Peirce Reservoir & Sembawang Shopping Centre)

The weekend after Sophie’s legendary fall in school. We were brutally reminded about her accident whenever we looked at her face. Of course we felt a lot of heartache but we had to pretend we were fine in front of her. It did not help when an ignorant girl pointed at her face and said, “Eee… so dirty!”, laughed and ran off behind her equally ignorant father. I was usually quite tolerant to ignorance (especially with children) but I felt very compelled to tell her off because I believed she was mean and definitely in the wrong. And I totally blamed her father for taking it lightly.



Sophie have not been making much progress on her skate scooter but Papa was ever so encouraging to her.

Papa : … steer your bike… to your left…
Sophie : Who’s on a bike?
Papa : You are on a bike…
Sophie : This’s not a bike, it’s a skate scooter!

After our morning walk at Upper Peirce Reservoir, we headed for lunch at Sembawang Shopping Centre. Usually, I would not let Sophie play at the playground but today, I was all out to make her feel good. I felt that perhaps I have not been letting her play enough so she was too eager to play in school and that resulted in accidents. Yes, I do take responsibility for her injuries. I failed to teach her proper safety procedures at the playground.



I was hoping that Papa would let her climb all the way. It would have been a great triumph for her, especially after her fall. However, I guess we were all still too affected by her accident to let her go.



In any case, I did not get to see her "bravery" at the playground today. Her teachers were telling me how relentless she was at the slide, even after her fall. However, she was very cautious and "gutless" whenever I was around. She was not like that in school. Nope! She was like a hurricane and she would not stop. Maybe she knew I do not like rough play so she was pleasing me.

School Theme - Sea Creatures 5 (Sensory Tub - Sea Creatures)

I took the opportunity to let Sophie play with a "sea creatures" sensory tub every evening when I bathe her. She was very happy of course. I put marbles, plastic rocks and assorted sea creatures in a plastic box before filling it up with water. Unfortuately, I could not take any video clips because she was naked and I do not like to expose her that way.

"G" Based Activity - Globe

We do not have a globe at home, so I let Sophie play with this toy globe that came with her Toobs Tube (Baby Sea Life).

School Theme - Sea Creatures 4 (Science Experiment - Salt Water Vs. Tap Water)

I tried explaining to Sophie after the experiment that the salt increased the buoyancy of carrot. It made the water “thicker” to support the weight of the carrot. I doubt she understood everything I said but I guess it was an good experience for her nevertheless. My domestic helper was definitely surprised to see the carrot float!

First Accident In School

It was a bad start for Sophie today. Papa, Ah Gong and I sent her to school but we were half an hour early. After spending two afternoons in the office, I felt that she should be alright and I could leave and go back later. Ah Gong was also confident to leave and run some errands in Hougang. I thought I could get her Eric Carle's book "A House For Hermit Crab" at Kinokuniya. Unfortunately, she suddenly burst into tears as we started to make a move. It never happened before but I did what I was expected - make a exit casually after saying goodbye with a smile.

Barely an hour later, I received a call from her school and immediately my heart sank. She fell. She slid down a slide too fast for her to control so she landed on the side of her face. At least that was her version. Apparently, no one witnessed her fall although they attended to her immediately. It was a nasty fall. I am not sure if she injured her eye but her left cheek, just below her eye seemed a little puffy. I fully expect bruises tomorrow. She cried as I bathed her because the scratches hurt. Sophie was very brave though. She cried for a while but quickly composed herself and resumed her play after the teachers washed her wounds. I do not feel like sending her to school anymore.

"G" Based Activity - Counting Goldfish

I draw a set of fish bowl and scanned it before printing 10 copies. Then I found a relatively-easy-to-cut-out picture of goldfish and printed 55 copies. It took a few days to finish cutting out everything but I thought it was worth my effort as it helped Sophie learn counting.

She is quite resistant to counting and my impatience does not help at all. She does not feel good about counting and she always answers me fearfully. I guess this new method would make it less threatening for her.

School Theme - Sea Creatures 3

For art appreciation this term, Sophie’s school is introducing Paul Klee (German-Swiss, 1879 – 1940). It is quite easy for young children to create a masterpiece based on his works because of his simplistic and primitive style. And since the theme is on “sea creatures”, I thought it would be good to merge the two and let her re-create “Mister Seahorse”.

She didthe first part before school. I drew a huge seahorse on a piece of A3 paper. Then I marked it with checkers for her to fill in with markers.

Although Sophie was able to stay focused and fill up a couple of spaces, she was soon bored and I had to complete it by holding her hand.

However, she was quite happy to apply glitter glue on the seahorse. After that we had to hang it up for drying.

The rest was done when she got home from school. I tore some tissue paper and cut some squares for the background.

Sophie was trying to complete the work while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Despite the distraction, she was able to do it with minimal glitch.

The end product looks quite cool, to be honest.

School Theme - Sea Creatures 2

We did a Sea Creature Sculpture this morning. Sophie liked it although I thought it was a little too simple. I printed some pictures of seahorses, fish and seaweeds for her to apply glitter glue before cutting them out.

As I was cutting, she offered to help so I gave her a picture of a fish. She used her scissors to cut and since she still cannot control her cutting, she snip into the fish. Then she quickly took her scotch tape holder and patch it up. Soon, she went into a vicious cycle of "cutting" and "patching".



The end product looked quite funny, but Sophie was very contented with her "rescue" work.

When she was done with her "repair", I attached pictures onto pipe cleaners. Next, I filled up a paper cup with playdoh and let her arrange the pipe cleaners (with pictures) into a sculpture.

After that, she posed for me with the half completed project in her hand. It is great that now she helps me in documenting her work.

When she came back from school, I let her finish the craft by adding more sea creatures and painting the cup black. Now it looks better.

First Day At Cherrybrook

It was Sophie's first day of school (Nursery 1). She looked really cool in her "full gear" and she seemed all ready for class. Papa took half-day leave because we also had our appointment with the gynaecologist. I was a little reluctant to leave her in school but we managed to rope in Ah Gong so I felt more at ease. Sophie was a little anxious in the beginning when she reached school. She clung on to Papa until she saw Ms Stephanie. I was glad she came along and started chatting with her. She then became quite comfortable and went into the school with her teacher.



Something we did must be right on her because she could let me go without a fuss. She even confirmed with me that I would be back for her later. I was so relieved. When we came back, she was having lessons in the classroom. Papa took a peek and told me she was doing great. in fact, that was what all the teachers told me. They commented that she was very happy and at ease in class, if no one would know she was new. We were so proud then. She did not cry or in any way misbehave. However, I am keeping my fingers crossed because by the end of this week, reality would have sunk in and then we would know if she is truly okay in school.

"G" Based Activity - Ghosts & Gingerbread Man

We did the night sky for our “ghosts” today. It was a huge picture so it took Sophie a long time and plenty of encouragement to complete it. She also used a variety of dark colours although I was only expecting her to use black or blue. The end product looked quite cute.

I thought it would be good to prepare some interesting snack for Sophie once in a while. This seemed fun. I bought some chocolate and banana spread for the base and some M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles for decorations. I wanted to get her use a cookie cutter to create a gingerbread man figure before decorating it.

It was easy to work with her if she was interested in the activity. She did not even need me to encourage her in anyway. I was probably trying to slow her down throughout the activity.

I wished I could make a few more for her to decorate but I had to think about how we could get rid of the end product so we made only one. I had to eat it even though I was trying my best to control my escalating weight.

I think Sophie only likes the M&Ms chocolate, maybe the rainbow sprinkles as well. She did not really want to eat the bread at all. For her, it was fun to decorate the “gingerbread man” even though it was just a simple activity.

The end product was yummy, a little too sugary for me but still quite nice to eat. Sophie took a bite but she was not too keen to finish it.