Ting Ting made this last night with the mega blocks. According to her, it is a rainbow cake! 
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Home teaching updates
Its been a while since I update about Ting Ting home teaching. I have been very busy recently about the happenings at home and many other things. Therefore its been a long time I had my structured classroom sessions with my gal. So now, as things seems to be settled, I can concentrate in my home teaching again.
Workbooks new collections.
Today I happened to chance upon some preschool workbooks which are what I have in mind to go through with my gal. Initially I was thinking to do up the worksheets by myself but that would be very time consuming. These workbooks I come across are practice workbooks about alphabets, phonetics, numbers and simple math and calculation. I felt they are very simple to understand and down to earth too. So I bought 8 books at $20. Not exactly dirt cheap but save me the time and effort to do it myself.
Currently my gal is attending a playgroup of 2 hrs daily on weekdays. What I like about the playgroup is its structured learning approach. For instance, they will focus one week on teaching colours and another week on shapes and so on. Although my gal already know all these (colours, shapes, numbers, weather, alphabets A to Z), but the focus approach of teaching helps to reinforce her understanding which I felt is very good in building a solid foundation for her as she progress.
However, I felt that it is time to expose her to more themes while she is having her foundation to be reinforce in the playgroup. I hope when she goes to nursery 2 and kindergarten, it will be easier for her to pick up and hence reducing the need for supplementary lessons so she can have more time to play and have fun.
I observed that my gal has no problem in learning language particularly english. However, she is quite slow in numbers and not conversant in mandarin yet.
These are the areas I need to buck up with her. Ironically, maths and Chinese subjects are my forte especially Chinese and I always thrive in my grades for subjects relating to numbers previously. Anyway, I decided to take things one at a time.
My strategy is as follows:
1) English
Focus on building her foundation in english first. Particularly phonetics, word recognition and writing.
2) Numbers and Math
- Exposing her to 1-50 numbers and gradually to 100.
- numbers recogition and understanding,
- practice writing of numbers
- simple addition and subtraction.
3) Chinese language
- Work on her chinese words pronounication,
- source for easy to understand mandarin workbooks for practice writing simple chinese characters (so far I have not come across such workbooks yet. The ones I saw are quite complex for her age).
- words recognition and understanding
- source for interesting mandarin teaching videos
- borrow more chinese books for her daily reading
Although some workbooks are labelled for K1 but after flipping through the contents, it seems suitable for her age too. Anyway I just try out and evaluate the results as we progress.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Ting Ting development @ 37 months
At 37 months, she can now memorize all the planets' name in the solar system and the sequence of the planets from the sun. Her hobby now is to read books about planets and kept asking to watch the planets in the solar system videos. It is now a goodbye to her Peppa Pig and Dora the explorer.
She got an intense interest in astronomy especially planets. She can even tells me which planets have rings around it correctly and some features of the different planets. For instance, she will tell me there are lots of craters on Mercury and very hot because it is the nearest to the sun. She will also tells me that there are storms on Neptune.
Previously her favourite planet was Saturn and her reason was "Because there are rings around it!". Now she tells me that her favourite planet is Pluto. When I asked her why but she couldn't answer me (I guess it could be due to the "Heart Shape" landscape on Pluto?). Even though officially Pluto had been "demoted" to be a dwarf planet because it couldn't meet the so called "planet requirements", but I always counted Pluto as the ninth planet. Also the recent New Horizon space probe mission had revealed Pluto to be a fascinating world which is totally out of expectations. I felt that it is important for her to know about Pluto as part of the solar system so I just shared with her how Pluto looks like and why it was not classified as a planet now anymore. She was intrigued with Pluto and it now become her favourite planet!
Last night when we were cycling in the park, she was able to recognise the bright, non-blinking star-like object in the night sky as Jupiter. I used the Skyview app to check if that was really Jupiter and true enough it was! Maybe it was a coincident but Jupiter was the planet which started off her interest in astronomy.
Her interest in astronomy really surprised me especially how much she learnt within a short period of time. All these are very basic and simple knowledge but for a toddler who barely passed 3 years old, it is very commendable to me.
I hope her interest in astronomy will continue. I am open to her studying astronomy in the future if she has a passion in it even though this subject may not be offered in Singapore currently.
To keep up with her interest, I will try to borrow more books on astronomy for children and perhaps bring her to the science centre observatory in one of the Friday night to see the stars too.
She got an intense interest in astronomy especially planets. She can even tells me which planets have rings around it correctly and some features of the different planets. For instance, she will tell me there are lots of craters on Mercury and very hot because it is the nearest to the sun. She will also tells me that there are storms on Neptune.
Previously her favourite planet was Saturn and her reason was "Because there are rings around it!". Now she tells me that her favourite planet is Pluto. When I asked her why but she couldn't answer me (I guess it could be due to the "Heart Shape" landscape on Pluto?). Even though officially Pluto had been "demoted" to be a dwarf planet because it couldn't meet the so called "planet requirements", but I always counted Pluto as the ninth planet. Also the recent New Horizon space probe mission had revealed Pluto to be a fascinating world which is totally out of expectations. I felt that it is important for her to know about Pluto as part of the solar system so I just shared with her how Pluto looks like and why it was not classified as a planet now anymore. She was intrigued with Pluto and it now become her favourite planet!
Last night when we were cycling in the park, she was able to recognise the bright, non-blinking star-like object in the night sky as Jupiter. I used the Skyview app to check if that was really Jupiter and true enough it was! Maybe it was a coincident but Jupiter was the planet which started off her interest in astronomy.
Her interest in astronomy really surprised me especially how much she learnt within a short period of time. All these are very basic and simple knowledge but for a toddler who barely passed 3 years old, it is very commendable to me.
I hope her interest in astronomy will continue. I am open to her studying astronomy in the future if she has a passion in it even though this subject may not be offered in Singapore currently.
To keep up with her interest, I will try to borrow more books on astronomy for children and perhaps bring her to the science centre observatory in one of the Friday night to see the stars too.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
最好的已经在眼前
All along we been wanting to upgrade to a bigger house by taking advantage of our 2nd chance to apply for new flat from HDB. We balloted umpteen times only to get disappointed repeatedly. Refer to my posting about our recent failed HDB balloting.
I been researching the typical layout of a 5 room flat and all 5 room flat also have 3 bedrooms same as 4 room flat. The only difference is the bigger living room area which a part of it can be partition to be a study room and a bigger kitchen.
What I like about our current house is the convenience. Located just near to a Lrt station with covered sheltered walkway and only a mere 5 mins ride to the mrt station and a 5 mins walk to the nearest shopping mall with ntuc. Our daily commute and grocery shopping is a breeze. Neighbours are nice people similar profile as us who are young families. There is also a good ranking primary school nearby within 5mins walk which potentially is our target to enroll our gal in future. So actually why are we even thinking of moving?
The only thing which I don't like about our house is the layout as there are quite a lot of wasted space in the kitchen and master bedroom due to odd corners. Therefore I always got a feeling that we are lack of space.
However, one day when I was walking past a new estate, I observed that the 5 room flat also has 6-7 window panels including the study room which is similar to our house living room area. Currently our living room has 6 window panels which is quite spacious. Therefore with that in mind, I keep thinking how can I take advantage of that to add more space to our house?
Then suddenly an idea came to me that I could do up some partition too in our living room to convert a part of it as study room area. In this case we could free up one more room for our gal. After some intial design draft using sketchup, this idea is doable without much compromising to our original living room space too (because currently there are a lot of wasted space due to a big built in cabinet at the living room which is underutilized).
However, to make it possible, We got to hack away the big built in cabinet which is a waste. So I got to think through this how best to reduce wastage when engaging this home improvement project.
As for the kitchen, there are limited ways to improve its capacity due to its layout. Therefore I got no choice but to stick to it. Perhaps I can do some minor renovation on the kitchen sink area or install more shelving. For our oddshape master bedroom I also intend to do up some redesign so as to free up some space for storage too.
Therefore if this home improvement project can go through, it will free up more space and we need not buy a bigger flat just for that extra 18sq ft area. Not only we save on the cost of paying a hefty resale levy, we need not go through the anxiety of hoping to sell our house at a good price but would be difficult as all buyers would want to buy at bargain and now it is a buyers' market. This home improvement project if goes through might increase our house value in future too.
That is why I said 最好的已经在眼前. The best is already with us. Sometimes, we tend to under appreciate the good things around us but actually they are there all the time waiting for us to discover its value.
But of course I will not rule out the possibility to apply for balloting if the launches are in a good location which must be even better than our current house.
So now after sorting out my thoughts, I got to rake my brains how to realise this home improvement project (HIP) at a reasonable cost and reducing wastage to the minimal.
The Partial Solar Eclipse - 9 March 2016
This morning, we managed to catch the partial solar eclipse action at the comforts in our house by just looking out of the window.
I managed to buy a solar eclipse transit viewer at the Science Centre last Saturday for the event today. Initially I thought of going down to Science Centre this morning to look at the solar eclipse as they would have the equipments for safer viewing. But that would be too much a hassle as Jurong is too far from my house. So we viewed the solar eclipse through this transit viewer by taking turns among ourselves.
The solar eclipse view was amazing! It was as though the moon was eating into the sun. At the mid of around 8.30am if not remembered wrongly, the sun was almost covered by the moon and the sun look like a thin crescent moon. Too bad I don't have the appropriate settings to take the picture of the solar eclipse. I only managed to take a picture by covering my phone camera lens with the transit viewer, however it doesn't show the effects of the actual solar eclipse. It only showed a golden ball out of the darkness.
 |
| My failed photo taking of the solar eclipse |
The sun light was especially glaring during the solar eclipse and I was so worried that my gal might accidentally look at the sun without the transit viewer. But the good thing we view it at home is the settings are more controlled so I could just quickly move her away after she was done with watching with the transit viewer.
The transit viewer is very useful as it allowed us to view the solar eclipse safely without hurting our eyes. I will be keeping it for the the next solar eclipse which will be in 2019. Till then.
Cross Island Line ~ Development Vs Nature
Recently there was some debate over the Cross Island line, click on the link to read more about the news.
Source of picture from http://forums.sgtrains.com/showthread.php?tid=2411
From the map in the news, The Cross Island Line will connect the east end Changi to major stops Hougang, Ang Mo Kio, Sin Ming, Bukit Timah, Clementi, West Coast, and finally Jurong Industrial estate.
Noticed that this Cross Island Line totally skipped the central CBD area. In the existing East West Line, it connects the east to the west end by going through the central CBD area like City Hall and Raffles Place to facilitate people commuting for work or leisure. The CBD stops also act as the interchange to the North South line too.
However through the years, the government had developed other industrial parks or regional centres in the outskirts like Tampiness Regional Centre, Changi Business Park, Jurong Industrial Park, Woodlands Regional Centre and etc. I think the focus in the upcoming line is to ease commuters who are staying in the north central area, east, northeast and west to be able to commute more easily to these industrial parks and regional centres without jamming the central area.
This serves as a backup as well in the event if the EW line breaks down and also to cater to the increasing population target I think. Therefore this Cross Island Line is a strategic important project which if implement, will really helps in the way we travel.
However one controversy of this project is the possibility of going under through the nature reserve for 2km which could have a "moderate" impact to the environment based on a latest environmental impact assessment (EIA). Another possibility is to skirt the reserve instead of going under through it but that might require land acquisition, and add 6 minutes to travel time.
While I applaud the decision of the government to develop the MRT lines to improve the travelling time of commuters, but I felt that should not be at the expense of our natural environment. The central catchment area is an important green belt for Singapore. One of the major factors why Singapore is not as polluted as other countries despite our intense urban development is thanks to our forefathers' foresight to develop Singapore as a Garden City, where people lived together with the nature by having greenery all around our housing estates, business centres and even highways.
In Singapore, we could still see the blue sky (except during the haze period), but that is not the case in other countries. Keeping a blue sky in Singapore is utmost important to our future development and existent. I foresee that in the future, having a blue sky is a rarity that people will want to flock to the land which could provide blue sky and fresher air for survival. Air and environmental pollution is getting severe which is causing global warming, and there is no turning back unless we human beings changed the way we live now.
Therefore preserving the nature is the most important agenda for our future in my humble opinion. It only takes a short few years to construct the line but at the expense of moderate damage to the nature reserve which might take hundred over years to restore or perhaps never.
The cost to go underground the nature reserve is $2 billion lesser than skirting around the reserve according to the news. It is also less hassle to acquire land as it will affect owners who stay on the affected area.
Therefore, from the way I see it, this is more of a cost issue. That extra 6 minutes travelling time is not the main deciding factor, I think. I believe no one will even notice about that extra 6 minutes when it starts operating. But saving that 6 minutes might endangered those wildlife on the land which could caused much suffering to the nature. The opportunity cost to the nature is too high to be ignore.
So now it is a fight between saving $$ or saving the environment. Do we want to take the easier way but at the expense of our future environment or take the more challenging route but preserving our nature for a better future for everyone including our children.
I hope our children will continue to see the blue sky.
Quoting from the book "如果地球被我们吃掉了"
Source of picture from http://forums.sgtrains.com/showthread.php?tid=2411
From the map in the news, The Cross Island Line will connect the east end Changi to major stops Hougang, Ang Mo Kio, Sin Ming, Bukit Timah, Clementi, West Coast, and finally Jurong Industrial estate.
Noticed that this Cross Island Line totally skipped the central CBD area. In the existing East West Line, it connects the east to the west end by going through the central CBD area like City Hall and Raffles Place to facilitate people commuting for work or leisure. The CBD stops also act as the interchange to the North South line too.
However through the years, the government had developed other industrial parks or regional centres in the outskirts like Tampiness Regional Centre, Changi Business Park, Jurong Industrial Park, Woodlands Regional Centre and etc. I think the focus in the upcoming line is to ease commuters who are staying in the north central area, east, northeast and west to be able to commute more easily to these industrial parks and regional centres without jamming the central area.
This serves as a backup as well in the event if the EW line breaks down and also to cater to the increasing population target I think. Therefore this Cross Island Line is a strategic important project which if implement, will really helps in the way we travel.
However one controversy of this project is the possibility of going under through the nature reserve for 2km which could have a "moderate" impact to the environment based on a latest environmental impact assessment (EIA). Another possibility is to skirt the reserve instead of going under through it but that might require land acquisition, and add 6 minutes to travel time.
While I applaud the decision of the government to develop the MRT lines to improve the travelling time of commuters, but I felt that should not be at the expense of our natural environment. The central catchment area is an important green belt for Singapore. One of the major factors why Singapore is not as polluted as other countries despite our intense urban development is thanks to our forefathers' foresight to develop Singapore as a Garden City, where people lived together with the nature by having greenery all around our housing estates, business centres and even highways.
In Singapore, we could still see the blue sky (except during the haze period), but that is not the case in other countries. Keeping a blue sky in Singapore is utmost important to our future development and existent. I foresee that in the future, having a blue sky is a rarity that people will want to flock to the land which could provide blue sky and fresher air for survival. Air and environmental pollution is getting severe which is causing global warming, and there is no turning back unless we human beings changed the way we live now.
Therefore preserving the nature is the most important agenda for our future in my humble opinion. It only takes a short few years to construct the line but at the expense of moderate damage to the nature reserve which might take hundred over years to restore or perhaps never.
The cost to go underground the nature reserve is $2 billion lesser than skirting around the reserve according to the news. It is also less hassle to acquire land as it will affect owners who stay on the affected area.
Therefore, from the way I see it, this is more of a cost issue. That extra 6 minutes travelling time is not the main deciding factor, I think. I believe no one will even notice about that extra 6 minutes when it starts operating. But saving that 6 minutes might endangered those wildlife on the land which could caused much suffering to the nature. The opportunity cost to the nature is too high to be ignore.
So now it is a fight between saving $$ or saving the environment. Do we want to take the easier way but at the expense of our future environment or take the more challenging route but preserving our nature for a better future for everyone including our children.
I hope our children will continue to see the blue sky.
Quoting from the book "如果地球被我们吃掉了"
最后只剩下钱，可是钱又不能吃。
只剩下金子，可是金子又不能用来呼吸。
In the end, only left money, but money cannot be eaten.
In the end, only left gold, but gold cannot be use for breathing.
Monday, March 7, 2016
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