Thursday, May 11, 2017

Tips for nurturing good readers

Below are some tried and tested tips on how to nurture a good reader. This post is likely to be updated as time goes by.

- Let your child see you reading
Children learn from what they observe. If he/she sees that you love reading, your child is likely to follow suit, too.

-Create a reading space.
Your reading space can even be a corner of the couch or a chair in your child’s room. Picking out a comfortable spot that has good lighting and room to keep some children books can help your child learn to connect coziness and comfort with reading.

-Allow your child to pick his or her own book.
He/She would be interested to listen to the story especially if it is something he/she had chosen. If the chosen story is too wordy and you do not have the time to read and summaries to the child, just explain that the book is too difficult for his/her level. If the child insist on having the wordy book, what you can do is a story telling from looking at illustrations.

-Get books that has a topic that your child is familiar with. 
If your child shows lack of interest in books and yet familiar with "Sofia the First" and "Jake and the Never Land Pirates"? What about Disney Junior? If your kids are familiar with these characters, good chances is that they would read these books or ask you to read with them. It will be good to introduce reader series to pre-schoolers.


- Encourage reading all by oneself. 
As a rule of the thumb, choose book that contains not more than 5 new words per page. This is ensure that the child would not feel overwhelm by the presence of numerous new words that he/she do not understand. The new words make reading less pleasant.

- Read wordless books occasionally. 
I used to think wordless books are not good for children to read simply because they are wordless. However,  I was told by a librarian that wordless books are good for children because it encourage children to look through the pictures and narrates based on their understanding. Reminds you of  Oral Test or Picture Composition? Yeah... that is how wordless books are supposed to work. I would listen to Little One's narration and correct her when she phrases her sentences wrongly.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Amoy Street Mural on a rainy day

During the March Holiday, we visited the mural at Amoy Street. They are located on the back walls of Thian Hock Keng temple. This awesome heritage mural is done by Yip Yew Chong, an accountant,who loves painting. I have been following him ever since he painted the Everton Road murals. This set (below) I believe is the best to date murals that he had done. His paintings are always well painted and this is not exceptional in this one.

Too bad, it was a rainy day. The photos who not just photobombed by cars but by rain as well. We could have returned on the Car Free Sunday to take better photo but unfortunately, we could not make it on that day. 

Nevertheless, I will revisit it again! 

The artist pays tribute to his father-in-law using this painting

Linking with

Friday, March 24, 2017

5 not to be missed installations of i Light Marina Bay

If you have not headed down to i Light Marina Bay, this weekend is your last chance to do so!
ASIA'S LEADING SUSTAINABLE LIGHT ART FESTIVAL
3-26th March 2017
 
Marina Bay Waterfront: Free Admission*
Main event 7:30PM to 11:00PM (extended to 12:00mn on Fri & Sat nights)
*Charges apply for some attractions.

i Light Marina Bay,  the fifth edition of Asia’s leading sustainable light art festival , returns this March to set the Bay aglow with 20 sustainable light art installations at the Marina Bay waterfront. 


If you like photography, this year installations are very instagram-worthy. Some of which are interactive. These are the 5 not to be missed installations.

 THE BODY OF THE SEADanny Rose | France

Location: Merlion Park
Don't you love the Merlion? I love the play of lights giving it a change of dress. The light installation gives the Merlion a coral dress, a surreal skin of fish, shells and other marine creatures allowing it to return to the sea. Very pretty if you ask me.

MOONFLOWER
Lee Yun Qin | Singapore

Location: The Promontory 
A simple but lovely display of wire-meshed flowers invites passers-by to take a walk through the garden in the dark. Talking about sustainability, each flower is powered by its own solar powered LED. Best of all, it can be adopted in support of the Garden City Fund, a charity that runs sustainable projects in Singapore! I am not sure whether they are fully adopted. You may want to check with the Information Counter.

OCEAN PAVILIONLuke Jerram | United Kingdom

Location: The Promontory
Inspired by the microscopic organisms found in the rivers and seas around Singapore, the Ocean Pavilion allows visitors to walk in too! Made from 25,000 upcycled Evian plastic bottles with the help of students from 11 schools around Singapore, the artwork promotes reuse and upcycling efforts. The blue lights made it look real cool!

THE URCHINJin Choi and Thomas Adam Shine | USA

Location: Lower Boardwalk

Inspired by the sea urchin, this delicate installation allows passers-by to get into it for photo-taking. It has textured and permeable surface interacting with light while the intricate lace-like pattern is constructed through mathematical repetition. At night, the lighted up Urchins make their occupants glow, but during the day, the Urchins interact with natural light projecting shadow patterns over the boardwalk and offer shade under the sun.

 THE COLORFUL GARDEN OF LIGHTTILT | France

Location: Clifford Square
The peonies (not in picture) and the delicate multicoloured butterflies slowly changes colours and brings an unusual and surprising relationship between nature and the city. I like especially the butterflies which moves in the wind.


I am sure these installations will brighten your night. In additional, there is performances, a bazaar, fun fair and an Art Zoo.  It is not easy to walk at a shot to see these installations. Hence, it is better to look at the festive map  to plan your trip.

NoteIn support of Earth Hour, installations will be switched off from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on 25 March 2017. Other attractions such as Art-Zoo Inflatable Park @ The Float, GastroBeats @ Bayfront Event Space, & Recharge with Pacific Light @ The Promontory will remain open during Earth Hour, so do continue to check them out!
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