Family FECS: February 2013

Thursday, 28 February 2013

J Summary (3Y11M23D) - In Time of Sickness Is When True Love is Experienced

J vomitted a few times last night due to food poisoning. I gave him a shower, while Daddy changed the bed sheets - twice. In the midst of suffering - J from stomach upset, and us from the lack of sleep and lots of work, we realized that there is much love in the air.

J felt loved by us. And I am amazed at the love of Daddy, to do all these dirty work. He did it much better than me. Can't imagine if this happen while Daddy is away on business trip, I wouldn't know how to survive!!! I also felt loved, that Daddy did all these without demanding that Mommy does it :-)

Yesterday being with J brought back images of my childhood, how when I was sick, my mum would stay up all night to take care of me, and how loved I felt. Made me miss my mum so much, and sad that I am not there for her now that I am grown up.

J also learned from this natural consequences that he should wash his hands more thoroughly and make sure not to put anything into his mouth that is dirty. Despite our efforts to teach him, such an experience is the best teacher.

In the above example, I am brought to mind and an understanding, why our good Lord sometimes bring sickness, though I would not wish it on anyone. There is always a good purpose for everything, even sickness.

Our family never felt so loved and united like last night, thanks to J's vomitting. This morning, we kept J at home, but Daddy took day off to take care of him, while I work (those lucky Danes have more annual leaves than people like me, who is not working in a Danish company!). And J was a happy boy despite being a little unwell, as his love tank is completely full :-)

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Montessori Activity: Home-made Spindle Boxes - Counting & Numeral Regconition

AGE: From 4 years old (after mastery of The Number Rods and Cards)

MATERIALS:

1. A box containing 11 compartments clearly labeled from 0 – 10 for each compartment

2. 1 container with 55 popsicle sticks as “spindles”

3. Number cards from 1 - 10 as labels for the compartments (or you can also just write the numbers on the compartments)

4. 1 container with 9 elastic bands or pipe cleaners (optional)

OBJECTIVE(S):

1. To reinforce the child's understanding of number names, numerals and quantities.

2. To teach the concept of zero as an empty set and its corresponding symbol.

3. To demonstrate that separate items may make up a single quantity.

4. To reinforce the natural sequence of the numerals.

5. To provide a sensorial feel of the quantities with increasing number of spindles in the child's hand.

PRESENTATION:

1. Name the Spindles, point out the slots and the numerals one at a time, and have the child say the number’s names.

2. Explain that these numbers will show us how many spindles to put into the box.

3. Point to the no. 1 (have the child read it if he is older), say: “One” and put 1 spindle in this box.”

4. Repeat for the other numbers and ask the child to count the spindles before placing them into the box. (If the child so wishes, he may tie them with the elastic bands or the pipe cleaners before placing them into the compartments, but it is not compulsory.)

5. Continue until all spindles are in the box.

6. Look at slot 0 and notice that it is empty.

7. Tell the child that "0" is the empty set or "0" receiving nothing. Say: “This is zero. Zero means nothing. That is why there is nothing in this spot.”

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojb93sGFvMU

TIPS:

1. Have the child take out the two spindles from slot 2, count them and tie them with a rubber band and put them back in the slot 2. Repeat for the other spindles and count each bundle through from 0 - 9.

2. Play shopping by pretending that the number cards are money representing $1 - $10, and that you are going to buy spindle. Pretend that each spindle costs $1. Give the child $5, and ask him how many spindles you could buy. He should answer 5. Ask him to give you 5 spindles from the fifth compartment, count them and give it to you.

CLEAN UP:

1. Then take out the Spindle 1 from the slot and place it gently back into the basket.

2. Take out the other spindles group by group, and after taking off the rubber bands, place them one by one (counting as the child does this) back into the basket.

3. Ask the child why there was no spindle in slot 0.

4. Have the child put back the material on the shelf.

CONTROL OF ERROR:

The exact number of spindles is provided. If counting has been incorrect, there would not be sufficient number of spindles left.

NOTES:

1. This activity is best done on a child’s size table.

2. Give child the chance to answer, so you need to pause and waiting for him to reply.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

I saved all the office canteen take-away dinner containers and use them for compartments for the "spindles", and I bought the popsicle sticks from the hobby shop as "spindles". It saved a lot of money buying the real thing. Even better still, the traditional Spindle Box stops at 9, but if you make your own, you can make it up to 10.

J (3Y11M21D) tried this today in Chinese, and he could do it very well. He later suggested turning this into a shopping game (see Tips section), and this game was stretched to 45 minutes. This game is not so challenging for him in Chinese, as he knows all his numbers now. I will try it in English someday instead.

REFERNCES:

http://www.infomontessori.com/mathematics/numbers-through-ten-number-rods.htm
http://faculty.fullerton.edu/syen/mts/math/2-2.htm
http://www.moteaco.com/albums/casa/casamath.html#anchor2979127
Basic Montessori Learning Activities for Under-Fives

http://amzn.to/1phXJRe

11 November 2019 (3Y5M24D): C tried this for the first time today. I said the number and she placed the spindles one-by-one into the box. I counted with her along the way.

Thereafter, she decided to work on the number jigsaw puzzle that we bought while in Australia:

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Reflection: Am I Chasing After Pretty Rainbows?

Show encrypted text

Saturday, 23 February 2013

Singaporean Hainanese Chicken Rice

Serves 5-7

Serves 4-6

Preparation & Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1. 2.5 litres water
2. 1 whole chicken (1.2-1.5kg)
3. 500g rice
4. 1/2 cucumber sliced
5. 3 slices of ginger
6. 1 stalk spring onion whole
7. 1 stalk spring onion chopped
8. 1 stalk of coriander leaves chopped (optional)
9. 2 TBS Chinese sesame oil
10. 2 TBS light soya sauce
11. 1 TBS dark soya sauce
12. Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

To cook chicken:
1. Fill pot with 2.5 litres water, ginger and 1 stalk spring onion and bring to boil on high heat.
2. Gently lower whole chicken with its back facing up into the pot fully submerged.
3. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes (no. 2 on my stove).
4. Remove chicken and chill in cold water.
5. Drain well and set chicken aside.

To cook rice:
1. Mix rice and 610ml chicken stock (from cooking chicken) and cook in the rice cooker, stiring once after 5 minutes.

To serve:
1. Chop whole chicken into parts and arrange on platter over a bed of sliced cucumber.
2. Pour sesame oil, light soya sauce and dark soya sauce over the chicken and garnish with spring onions and coriander leaves.
3. Serve rice in individual bowls.

Additional Information:
This is an iconic Singaporean dish found in all food courts in Singapore. It is introduced by the Chinese Hainanese immigrants from China's Hainan Island to Singapore during the British colonial days in the 19th century. You would not be able to find this dish in China. It is traditionally served with a medley of sauces - chilli sauce, ginger sauce and dark soya sauce.

References:
Prima Taste

Chinese Class Program - Theme: Shapes

日期: 周六3月16日2013年

时间: 9.30 - 11.30am

地点: J's 家

主题: 文具和形状 - 书，纸，笔，尺，橡皮，圆形，正方形，三角形，长方形，椭圆形

9:30 - 9:35: 欢迎，课前祷告。

9:35 - 9:50: 问候, 复习旧知识

9:50 – 10:05: 学习新字文具和形状 - 书，纸，笔，尺，橡皮，圆形，正方形，三角形，长方形，椭圆形

10:05 - 10:20: 玩一个关于形状的游戏 - Montessori: Geometric Solids

10:20 - 10:30: 读一本关于形状的书《第一次发现:形状》。

10:30 - 10:45: 休息，面包水果时间。

10:45 – 11:00: 关于形状的剪纸活动 – Montessori: Metal Inserts 或用水彩印出形状的美术。

11:00 - 11:10: 请小朋友表演朗诵一首关于形状的儿歌。

11:10 - 11:20: 玩一个关于形状的游戏 –找出房间里不同形状的东西，再把它们归类起来或 Domino 形状的游戏。

11:20 - 11:30: 绝速祷告，收拾东西，谢谢下次再见。

11:30: 去参加Lyngby 图书管剪纸活动

Montessori Activity: Memory Game of Numbers

AGE: From 4 years old (after mastery of Montessori Cards & Counters)

OBJECTIVE(S):

1. To train the child’s memory

2. To reinforce the concept of zero.

3. To help the child transfer the knowledge of the numbers 0 to 10 from the “specific” material to everyday objects.

4. To match the number of objects for each numeral.

MATERIALS:

1. 1 basket containing 11 slips of folded paper, each written a number (0 to 10)

2. 1 basket containing 10 objects with quantity 1-10 thus a total of 55 objects (e.g. 1 pen, 2 clips, 3 erasers, 4 crayons, 5 pencils, 6 marbles, 7 lego bricks, 8 stones, 9 buttons, 10 beads, etc.).

3. 11 trays (or container lids or colored paper acting as trays)

PRESENTATION:

1. Give each child a tray (up to 11 children altogether).

2. One-by-one, let each child take a secret message from the basket, read the message carefully, e.g. “1”, put the message face down and go and find the appropriate object sand place on his tray.

3. Once all the children have collected the objects, let the other child guess what the message is.

4. Let the child who collected the objects count out loud the number of objects and verify with his message.

5. For the child who had the message of 0, say: “You didn’t bring back anything, you must have the zero. Explain how because his message is 0, he brought back nothing, because zero means nothing.

TIPS:

1. For younger children, when presenting the objects, place them into individual containers and arrange them in order.

2. Give older children 2 messages at one time for them to know the notion of addition and subtraction.

CONTROL OF ERROR:

The correct number of objects is provided.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

I saved all the office canteen take-away dinner containers and use them for organizing the objects, and the container lids as trays for the children (Now you know that I have been such a bad mom always relying on take-aways!). I hope to try this out during the Chinese class for preschoolers.

REFERENCES:
http://www.infomontessori.com/mathematics/numbers-through-ten-number-rods.htm
http://faculty.fullerton.edu/syen/mts/math/2-2.htm
http://www.moteaco.com/albums/casa/casamath.html#anchor2979127
Basic Montessori Learning Activities for Under-Fives

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

C wanted very much to play with this, and we finally tried it on Sunday 1 December 2019 (3Y6M15D). Initially she was rather distracted with the toys in the boxes - she built tower with the LEGO and hung the rabbits on top of the tower instead. But we got through the whole thing and i managed to add in the academic aspects to it by teaching the numbers. The whole process took quite long for this activity - about 30 minutes, thus it was good that I chose to do it on a weekend than on a weekday. She can recognize the numbers from 0 - 4 so far. I like this activity as it also introduce the concept of zero - represented by the empty box. Initially she asked why is the box empty, and she even preferred to put the zero sheet outside the box, instead of inside, after I explained to her.

http://amzn.to/1pi6Lxo

This is how the things are stored, in transparent sandwich plastic bag

1 December 2019 (3Y6M15D)

1 December 2019 (3Y6M15D): This was when she was distracted. The tower she built again and again after Daddy FECS taught her to secure the rabbits with a top brick. Sometimes, what you planned may not be realized, but it is good play nevertheless :-)

J Summary (3Y11M18D) - Beginning to Draw Faces

I just noticed that J has began to draw faces now. He drew the face, hair, mouth, nose and eyes during Chinese class today. He copied Amy's drawing though. (The body was drawn by Yang Li).

P.S. I had a hard time getting J to practise piano today. He did, but not with much seriousness and self-motivation. While I am writing this post, he surprised me positively by going to practise piano by himself and played the songs "Spanien" and Regner Siler Ned" well, and correctly his own errors well.

J usually practised his piano for 10 minutes a day, at least that is the aim, recommended by his piano teacher.