Life of a P1 student and all you need to know as a P1 parent

In a twinkle of an eye, half a year had gone by.

This year is an important year for Little One as she enters the Primary School. This marks the beginning of formal education. So far, she had been doing fine although personally I think she has been not doing good enough for her Chinese.

For the first half of the year, I had adopted a rather relaxing attitude with her. I did not ask much from her except to expect her to do her school work as well as to learn her spellings diligently. I focus more on the aspect that she learns to be self independent like reading her time table, packing her bag and getting dressed without prompting all by herself.

Most days, she would be home at about 2pm. Once a week, her school will be released half an hour later due to CCA activities in the morning. For P1 and P2s, they do not have CCA activities, so they would be having enrichment classes instead.

Below is her usual time table

6.30am Wake up + get ready for school
6.45am Breakfast
7.15am Leave for school
2pm Reach home, shower and lunch
3pm Revision/Play/Outing
6pm Rest
7.30pm Dinner
8.30pm Shower
9pm Bedtime Ritual
9.30 pm Sleep

Understand that it is the time of the year for Primary One Registration. I shall share briefly how we chose the current school Little One is studying in. We have chosen a neighbourhood school, A, located within our neighbourhood. It is not an elite school. Neither was it our alma maters. There is another neighbourhood school, B, in our area too. Both schools are more or less the same to me except that the other school has newer facilities than the current one Little One is attending. Personally, I prefer School B. In the end, the major reason I chose the school A is that it is nearer to our home. I know Little One would prefer to sleep rather than spend fifteen more minutes to travel to school B.

What to expect?

This section of the post is meant more for the parents who are going to send their child/ children  to school next year on.

Orientation
Prior the start of school, there is actually orientation. In the orientation, the children will be brought to their class and they will have a get-to-know-you kind of session to familiarise with the teachers and environment. Meanwhile, the parents will be in the hall while the principal will conduct a speech about the school values and a brief guidance as to what to expect when the children start P1. Such activities were unheard of in the past. We were only introduced to our school during the first day of school. How fortunate are our children these days!

Holistic Education
The current education focus on holistic assessment.

What is holistic education? I have a vague idea. During my time, our results were all academic driven. The new system seeks to create a more all-rounder rather than academically driven student. This, I am entirely unfamiliar with. It seeks to create a thinker, inventor or probably a leader.  I like the idea of developing a more well rounded person but questions such as these following run through my head. How does a school measure how well a child performs holistically? How do I help the child on this?  Do I have to register the child for enrichment classes that he/she is interested in? (This sounds kiasu, isn't it?) Am I adding pressure to his/her schedule by requesting him/her to perform well especially in the area he/ she is interest in? I am sure the answer to this question is yes. I am afraid if the child is under pressure, it may kills his/her interest. So, I am still in the exploration mode.

Meanwhile, all schools have begun implementation of Holistic Assessment. They will do away with examinations whereby the students would be tested everything from Term 1 to the current date. Instead, they introduced bite sized tests which may or may not be weighted. These bite size tests usually focus on several topics instead of a big lump of topics. They may even conduct mock tests.

Assessments at the beginning of the year
Children are being assessed in the beginning of the year to determine whether they need to attend a separate class from the rest of the peers.

Scraping of aggregate score in PSLE
In April 2016, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that the aggregate score for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) will be scrapped, and replaced with wider scoring bands from 2021. This will be similar to grading at O and A levels. Hence, the current P1 students are the first batch of students, including Little One,  without aggregate score.

When everyone is getting similar grades, what will be the criteria for secondary school to select their intake? Probably the next emphasis will be how all rounded is the child. Whether or not, it will lead to a more competitive environment. it is too early to tell. I am sure it will has its consequences.

Meanwhile, I chose to focus on build up her foundation. I think at the end of the day, the basic foundations are still important.

Report Book
I am not sure about other schools, what interest me is that the report book does not reflect on the grades Little One scored. Instead, it focus more on character development.

PAL

The Programme for Active Learning (PAL) is a recommendation by the 2009 Primary Education Review Implementation (PERI) Committee to provide greater emphasis on non-academic programmes for all Primary 1 and 2 students. Students are exposed to varied and fun learning experiences in four domains: Sports and Games, Outdoor Education, Performing Arts and Visual Arts. Students also learn socio-emotional competencies such as respecting others and responsible decision making. PAL nurtures confidence, curiosity and cooperation skills in students. The programme is rolled out via a phased-in approach and will be offered in all primary schools by 2017.

- schoolbag.com

I was told that teachers could make use of PAL to access the students so as to make suitable recommendation for Co-Curricular Activities (CCA). CCA is compulsory from P3 onwards. I remembered when I was in primary school, CCA (it was known as Extra Curricular Activities,ECA) was not compulsory. I used to join netball and I had to quit the team because my mom wanted me to focus on PSLE, much to my dismay.

FTGP

Form Teacher to engage in quality interactions with his/her pupils and help pupils strengthen social and emotional competencies during Form Teacher Guidance Period (FTGP).  

During FTGP, there will be play activities between the Form Teacher and pupils  to enhance teacher-pupil bonding. The Form Teacher will also conduct lessons to teach social and emotional competencies as follows:
(a) Self-Awareness – To better understand self
(b) Self-Management – To learn ways to manage self
(c) Social Awareness – To better understand family and friends
(d) Relationship Management – To learn ways to work with family and friends
(e) Responsible Decision Making – To make appropriate and responsible decisions

Usually, I do not know what is being conducted during this period unless the teacher had assign some tasks for the children to do at home. My girl sometimes said she had forgotten. Sigh...

PTM

During this Parent Teachers Meeting, parents would use it to find out more about the overall performance of the children. The session is 10 minutes session per teacher. I do find that the time is short. In order to fully utilise the session, it may be better to plan ahead what questions you would like to ask.

Tips for parents of P1 goers.

1) Get everything prepare before school re-open, such as stationery, water bottle, lunch box, uniform,black hair ties for girls, white shoes, white socks and dark bag. The reason I indicate dark bag is that you do not need to wash the bag as frequent as you need for lighter coloured ones.

2) Label your child's/children's name on all stationery, include bags and shoes. In my girl's school, they take out their socks and shoes occasionally for activities such as reading corner.

3) Ask your child/children about their school life. Do not ask "How was school?" Usually, they will reply you with short sentences such as 'fine.", "not bad".  For example, what have you been doing in your XXX lessons? I usually chose to ask about the Enrichment lessons and PAL.

4) Check your child's/ children's bag that he/she had completed their homework. Sometimes, they may just forget that they have one.

5) Use your child's communication book. This is one of the ways to communicate with the teachers. Read the school's newsletter and website so that you know what is going on in school.

6) Monitor their behaviour. If you find that they have been behaving withdrawn, it is a tell tale sign that something is wrong in school.

7) Do sit through with your child/ children while they are doing their homework. In that way, you could guide and have a rough idea what the teacher had been doing. From there, you would also know you child's weakness and give some practices or think of something to help them overcome that weakness.

8) Show them how to read a time table and how to pack their bad nicely. You need to repeat this for a period of them before they remember how to do it correctly.

9) Show them how to keep their papers in files /folders properly and not crushed like kiam chye (salted  vegetables, refering to crumbled papers) in the bag.

10) Don't bother to stress yourself to teach them how to count their money. They will eventually learnt from daily dealings with the vendors. Of course, you can start to teach them now but it is a concept to be grasped over time.

11) Be patient. This is the most important part. Children their age tends to misplace stuff. You 

 would need to keep reminding. To add on, there will be mundane stuff which you would need to teach repeated and hence patience is required.

Squabble

Little One had a squabble with her best friend in class. It was actually over a bookmark and a bookmark holder which I had given to her for her usage. The purpose of the bookmark is to mark the page of the handbook whenever I have a message for the teacher/s or vice versa.

What happened was when Little One took the bookmark out to mark a page, her friend saw the bookmark holder which I had attached to the handbook and decided to show off. Actually, it is just some simple laminated card with logo which I didn't realise would fascinate her classmates.

Anyway, her best friend saw the holder in the handbook and decided to show it to the rest of class. Little One being taught to be humble did not want that to happen and snatched it back. Both of them refused to give the book up and hence the book was torn. At the end of the day, both kids were angry with each other.

So, moral of the story, if you were to allow your child to bring anything to school, keep it as plain as possible. I guess children their age like to show, whether it is their own stuff or something that belongs to others.

What did I do then? I  decide to keep the bookmark holder as it is, I do not want to change, who would know whether the children would start to show off to the rest of the class if I do that and there may be squabble number 2.

At the same time, I took the chance to teach respect and forgiveness.

Preparation for P1

Amidst the confusion of filling up the administrative forms for Primary One (P1) admission, I got the book list on the spot and bought almost everything that is listed, even the optional items. The only thing I did not buy is a thumb drive. Strange enough there was not a long queue for both bookshop and the store that sells uniform.

The trip to the new school both excites and unnerves me. Little One is growing up! She is going to P1 next year! At the same time, looking at the items that were compulsory, they include earphones, markers, whiteboard and a duster, items that I never used when I was in P1. I could see that the mode of education is different from what I used to have. More advanced technology are used. The textbooks used were so very different. I wonder whether how I was taught then were outdated. I doubt my ability to assist her should she need any help for school work.

Feelings aside, I need to keep calm. Now I only have to get her a school bag, another pair of white shoes, a new water bottle, labels for her school uniform, and some basic stationery. Maybe, a lunchbox too.

Do you remember getting ready the items your children need for their formal education?

Do you have similar feelings like I do?

Linking with :-

Little One's Funniest Moments

Below are some moments I had with my daughter in her growing years.


1. I was watching my ROM video with my daughter, she recognised her Papa but asked where is Mama... =_=
(Apparently, I looked so different, she failed to recognise me... so sad...)


2. Little One declared one day after a wedding that she wants to marry both my hubby and I ( Ehhh..... polygamy and incest is not allowed...)


3. When I broke the news that Hubby was going away for reservist, Little One was upset for a few minutes and kept shaking her head. After that, she came over and tickled my feet as though as nothing had happened.


4. Her response for drinking soft drink for the first time: a little shocked, shake herself, cleans the tongue... she says it is ticklish... for the first time I hear such description for taste of soft drink...


5. Funny conversation with gal part 1...

Me: remember "The Hungry Caterpillar"?
Little One: yes
me: what does it become?
Little One: fat!
Me : ... ( Not entirely wrong , just that I did not expect such an answer)


6. Funny conversation with gal part 2...

Little One: Guess what's in my hand.
me: Can you give me a clue?
Little One: What is a clue?
me : Remember you asked me to guess your friend's name? You gave me a clue. It starts with "Cl"...
Little One : Ok. This is not a clue.
me: ... (Now , I am still clueless)


7. Funny conversation with gal part 3...

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Little One: Cooker!
Me: (burst out laughing and teasing her) Sorry, do you mean "rice cooker"?
Little One: Yeah!
(Apparently, she forgot what is a rice cooker)



8. Funny conversation with gal part 4...

We were doing some reading.
Me: What does a person who deliver post is known as?
Little One: Poster!
(I think she figured out that a teacher teaches, a baker bakes, a cooker cooks and so a poster posts but failed to realise that poster post something online but does not deliver a post.)


9. A random question on death

Me: What would you do if I die?
Little One bows with her palms together: "Bai Bai" (refering to paying respects to the dead.)

10. Little One told me one day that the Mermaid was created because the Merlion married a human.  *Faintz* (Where did she learn that from?)

Little Development (Jan to Mar 15)

This year, Little One is attending morning session at her Kindergarten. I made that arrangement last year, I thought she would probably need to get used to waking up earlier in the morning since majority of Singapore's Primary School operates in a single (morning) session. I thought we would probably have more time in the afternoon for some home schooling or outdoor trips. But alas, she is getting grumpy especially when I ask her to sit and study. I realised she is not getting enough sleep and most of the time, she spends the whole afternoon napping away. Hence, for the whole quarter, I had not done any homeschooling except during the school holidays which we recapped and reinforced on what she had learnt in school.

Nevertheless, here are some of her academic milestones. Mostly are skills development for entering Primary One next year.

Spelling
The school alternates English and Chinese spelling. Most of the words are relatively simple but some I do find bombastic for her age.

Show and Tell
She did only once last term. Teacher informed parents via communication books to prepare her for the big day. We prompted her with questions and asked her to remember her answers. According to her teacher, she did rather well.

Articulation and reporting
Little One is talking more about her school, sharing what she has been doing in school. She talks about her friends too. I am surprised at this age they already have cliques of friends which they would hang out during playtime. She even told me about her friends disputes which sort of upset her because she wanted to be friends with all of them. She definitely start earlier than me as I only had my own cliques during Primary One.

More responsibility
The school is engaging her with more responsibility like keeping her readers in the cubby hole. She is also to bring her stationery to school and is held responsible for all her belongings.

On my part, I made her checked her bag each night prior the school day to ensure she bring everything (which is just a pencil case with stationery and a communication book) she needs to school. I also made her read her spelling list and note when is the spelling date so that she could learn her spelling on time. Most of the time, I have to remind her over and over again because she tends to forget about them. I am also entrusting her to purchase items and teaching her to count her coins.
This term I shall see how she fare. This week, I have not seen much improvement. Probably due to the one week holiday break about a fortnight ago, she had.forgotten her routine.

Next year, she will be in Primary One. I am pretty nervous at the rate she is going. I wonder whether she would fare well when the time comes.

Health issues
Little One had hearing problem earlier this year. Yes, she had hearing problem. We brought her to see doctor twice and now finally solved. I hope to share this on my blog when I find time to draft it out.

Other activities

Speech and drama 
Little One attended a 5 day speech and drama class over a period of 5 weeks. It was a workshop conducted by the library. I had signed her up to test whether she likes such classes. It turned out that she does not really like drama classes although she does enjoy watching.

Frying egg
Little One learnt to fry an egg despite not having a schedule for her to work around the kitchen this quarter.

Street Smart skills -Memorising numbers
I made Little One memorise phone numbers so that she would know what numbers to call when there is a need to. This is, I think, an important survival skill.  I started with hubby's number. However, I remind her that she is not to call daddy when it is not required. In near future, I would teach her where to seek help from when she needs it.

Outings

Despite the "lack of time" to do anything together with Little One, we managed to visit quite a number of places last quarter. Most are done during the weekends and school holidays. Others are done when we managed to squeeze some time out. Many of these are her "first" trips.


Walking trails
We went for Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail. It was her first guided neighbourhood heritage walk this year. Last year, we signed up for Balestier walk. It has much interesting stories and sites to visit. I particularly like the air raid shelter and stories of it. The air raid shelter is not opened to public. I think the only way to visit it is to sign up for its heritage trail.

Tan Tock Seng's grave. One of the must see in Tiong Bahru

We made our rounds in Emerald Hill. It is a neighbourhood located near Orchard Road. It was former homes of wealthy Peranakans. Hence, if you are in Orchard Road, you can take a walk down this lane to have a look at the pretty Peranakan houses.

I think it is pretty cool to have such lovely house number plate!

This quarter, we also took a walk in Wessex Estate. This area is very peaceful and quiet. You will find lots of black and white colonial bungalows here. Besides these, you would find the Colbar Eating House (Cafe Colbar) which has a history as early is 1953.

Black and white bungalow

Little development (Oct to Dec)

1. Preparation for P1 - exposure to money management.

This is not my idea. It was the school's idea to prepare Kindergarten 2 (K2) children for Primary 1 (P1) next year. Hence, there was an Entrepreneur Fair. K2 would sell stuffs to the rest of the pre-schoolers. We armed Little One with S$4 in coins and she bought these with S$2.90. I am glad she did not attempt to spend all her money but she forgot my advice to buy only 1 tidbit. She bought 5! I guess tidbits are hard to resist?!?

Pardon for poor photo quality. In total, she bought 4 tidbits, a sticker craft, a pen (which she thought was a glue), a bottle of bubbles, a balloon, a piece of sticker, a paper clip and a photo of herself.

We reinforced the above idea by letting her pay for her favorite food. Look at Point 10.

2. Went exploration in various new places
This quarter we went to many places together , mostly during the holidays. We visited Istana, Kidstop, Gillman Barrack, Pasir Panjang Nursery, Telok Blangah hill, Ponggol Park, Kampong Lorong Buangkok, and Queenstown Driving Centre Open House. Isn't it amazing though Singapore is a small country, there is still lots of places we have yet to explore?

3. 1st concert performance ever!
Yes, this is her first performance in school. Although her previous childcare has concert performance but we were given the option to opt in or out of the performance. We feel it is the right time now for Little One to perform.  We were excited about it. She is too!

4. 1st time at HeART Studio
This is the first time she attend a course at an Art Studio. This is a giveaway we won. The teacher is very dedicated and took time to explain to me what she had done.

5. Contacted conjunctivitis

Little One contacted conjunctivitis last October and had to missed out her cousin's birthday party. We took the chance to explain the importance of hygiene and cleanliness.


6. bathing by herself.

We started asking Little One to bath by herself. So far so good.


7. Leaf painting
This was the first time she did printing with leaves. This is done by incorporating various printing tools.


8. Shredding,peeling veggies, cutting tofu and cooking for the first time.
During this holiday, Little One experience the above activities. Now that holiday is over, I think she would have lesser opportunities to work in the kitchen. I shall see how I can incorporate this activity in her life. Meanwhile, she is adjusting to her daily school schedule.



9. Motor skills
Her motor skills had improved a lot. She is able to climb higher, she is able to go down the escalator without much help. She rode a sampan and tried to row it.


10. Buying her own food
She is buying her own food and bringing it back without much fuss. She is still learning about money transaction.

11. Swimming
Her father started to teach her swimming this quarter. It has been going on and off  during the whole quarter. I guess that is the disadvantage of not bringing her to swimming classes. Still, I am very proud of the 2 of them. Little One is able to swim with the float on. She looked real cute kicking and propelling herself forward while she swims with her float on. I am proud with Hubby because he managed to train her to swim this way. I hope Little One would be able to proceed with swimming without the float.

12. Teaching Han Yu Pin Yin
This quarter I have start teaching Han Yu Pin Yin. Initially I was worried that she may confuse with phonics but luckily, that did not happen! :)

You have grown another year older

Dearest Little One,

Another year had gone by. You have grown another year older. You are growing taller and taller. Your little hands are getting less and less babyish. Your face is still quite chubby although less chubby than when you were younger. I really like the way you are now. 

You are getting more and more active. You love climbing the gates of the door, the way I used to do as a child with Ah Yi. You are progressing with your little swim, better than Mommy, I would say because Mommy does not know how to swim with the float on.

You are slowly gaining your independence. You are finally sleeping alone without Mommy by your side. You are also purchasing your first food by yourself which made us very proud. You are willing to help out in the kitchen to my great gratification. You have a passion for cooking and I hope I would not dampen your spirit for it because you make a mess out of the kitchen.

Last of all, Happy Birthday! Live well, stay safe, happy and healthy always!

 

This is the last post of the year. Sweet Day and family , hereby, wishes all readers a Happy and a Joyous New Year 2015!

Little development (Jul to Sep)

This quarter is not a good quarter for us. Little One and I had been sick every month. Probably it is due to the weather. It was rather hot these few months and it has been hazy occasionally. We didn't have plenty to highlight this quarter.

1. Exposure to Arts
She did more crafts in the library, exposed to new medium such as Chinese ink finger painting and glass painting, even acrylic painting. Also, she attended her first ballet at the library too!

Acrylic painting by the 2 of us

Chinese painting by both of us. Which are  done by me and which are by her? Clue: I think pretty easy enough. I only did 2 and a half paintings

Chinese finger painting

Glass Painting ( I only help with the outline
with rather shaking hands) 

2. Gearing up on her multiplication skills
She has started on her 2 , 5 and 10 times table. This I think would be useful for telling time and counting money!

3. Growth rate
Her growth rate indeed slowed down! I had switched back to formula and still it had not boost her height. Nevertheless, I shall give full cream milk and occasionally, formula milk if I could afford the money.

4. Went exploration in various new places
We went to Fort Canning, Victoria Memorial Hall, Art House, Balestier, Pulau Ubin and Kusu Island.

Kusu Island

Pulau Ubin

5. Finally no bed wetting!
After her high fever in July, she wet the bed almost half the time, it was almost as if she totally lost control of her bladder. Fortunately, the frequency of bed wetting came to a stop towards end August! I am glad and proud to say she had not been wetting the bed since then!

6. Good things aside. She is getting argumentative!

It is normal children at her age to behave that way. Hence, we have set a couple of house rules to cope with it. However, some times, she argues for the sack of arguing especially when she is tired.

That is a very tiring process for me. So sometimes, I just ignore her. 

If you have similar issues as I do, how do you cope with your argumentative kids?

__________________________________

Little development (Apr to Jun 14)

1.  Imagination grows wild!
Little One imagination has grown wilder than before, nowadays, she keeps "pestering me" to participate in her "Flower Fairy Show", which is sometimes quite tiring. At other times, she keeps insisting there is a baby in my tummy. I am pretty sure there is none though.

2. Learning to accept wider range of food choice.
She is accepting and requesting for food which she used to dislike. Eg Apples.

3. Learning to spell
Currently, I am only making her spell 2 letter words. The longest word that she knows to spell is "SINGAPORE". That was quite an impromptu decision to do so.

4. Cooking
Unfortunately, we have yet much development besides the usual washing and mixing of ingredients. We only did some pancakes together. However, it is noted her cutting skills is starting to improve with quite cutting up of roti prata and pancakes.

5. Drawn to nature
Due to the pretty bloom in late March and early April, I managed to get her to be slightly more interested in nature. Hopefully, in the process she gets to be more observant about things going on around her.



6. Exposure to Chinese Ink, Batik Painting and creating a Clay Bust
These are some crafts which she learnt in the library.

7. Gearing up on her addition and subtraction skills.
She is adding and subtracting within 10 without much problem.

8. Exploring the soil, sand and sea
I love the idea of exposing Little One to nature. These are some of the things I had exposed her during the June holiday. We went Balik Kampong where she learnt to grow plants with me. Also, by bringing her to Palawan beach, she learnt to enjoy the waves and playing with sand and shells.

9. Had her 'first' official dental visit

10. Growth rate
Her growth rate seemed to have slowed down. I am not sure whether it is due to the fact that I had changed her to drinking fresh milk rather than formula milk. I shall be reverting back to formula next quarter and see how it goes. Despite the fact, her growth rate had slowed down, she is now tall enough to post letter at the pillar box located just outside The Philatelic Museum

11. Went exploration in various new places
We went to Singapore Discovery Centre, Kent Ridge Park, Pasir Ris Park and Westgate Wonderland.

12. Progressing to less bed wetting
It is now reduce to about 2-3 times per month.

__________________________________

Flash Back Friday- Part of Growing Up

Little One,

You are growing fast! Mommy is reviewing the photos which was taken by my handphone 2 years ago. I had taken thousands photos of you and hadn't had the time to sort through so as to save the best photos. It is so difficult to do so because you look adorable in each and everyone of them.

Little Development these few months (Dec 2013 to Mar 2014)

1. Learnt to wash her face by herself without being prompt.
She started this routine out of the blue. This is a good habit which I hope I can help her maintain.

Washing up

2. Brushing her teeth voluntarily.
For the first time she brushes her teeth voluntarily.

3. Learnt to write her English (Dialect) name in December
Although she can't tell then which are the capital letters and which are the small letters, she writes her name in a mixture of both.

4. Learning to accept wider range of food choice.
She has learnt to eat Chwee Kueh, Chee Cheong Fan, curry, handmade noodles. Although some are not her favourite, at least she is willing to experiment.

5. Getting more imaginative.
Besides being princesses and fairies, she is now a teacher and a ring seller.

Teacher

6. Learnt to write her Chinese name (43 strokes) over the past 3 months.
It is a major accomplishment in my opinion since her Chinese name is pretty difficult to write.

This is not her name. She added star and flag to show she knows how to write.

7. Beat an egg and washing rice prior cooking
Since she enjoys pretend cooking, I assume she would like to help out in preparing food in the kitchen.

8. Learning to make pom pom, blow water colours and to sew.
These are some crafts which I have introduce her over the months. She is not an expert now and is still an apprentice.

Triming a pom pom

9. Starting to interact with her elder cousins and mingled around.
In the past, she is more into parallel play. Nowadays, she interacts more and starts to play and talk with her cousins. When she is in a good mood, she even sings and dance for her cousins.

10. Growing 1 cm  every month.
She is growing taller every month and as a result out grow her clothes faster than ever. Now when I buy clothes, I choose to buy one to two size bigger.

11. Learnt to blow nose
She finally learnt the "art" of blowing nose. It is such a blessing that she can do it instead of sniffing the mucus back into her body and coughing as a result. It puts an end to her night coughs.

12. Learning to put on her own plaster
She loves putting plasters to her cut herself. I would often check whether she did it correctly. Sometimes, she put the sticky part on her wound instead. Ouch!

13. Not afraid of dog
She used to be afraid of dogs. Now she is not.

14. Went exploration in various new places
We went to River Safari, Punggol Waterway Park and Bottle Tree Park.

15. Went fully diaper-less 
For the past 1.5 month, she had said bye bye to her diapers but wetted her bed a quarter of the time. I will continue not letting her wear diapers and monitor how it goes.

__________________________________

From Childcare to Kindergarten

Little one had started kindergarten for almost a month. So far she has no complains except that her classmate once threw away her drawing. And does she miss her old teachers and classmates? Yes, she does.

Below are a summary of the differences between childcare and kindergarten.

1. Shorter hours of school
The kindergarten, which I enrolled her in, is a 3 hours session for K1 and Nurseries. K2 children would attend 1 hour longer. Hence, a 3-4 hour session may sometimes be a mad rush for the caregivers.
Most Childcare Centres operated from 7 am to 7 pm daily and half a day , from 7 am to 2 pm, on Saturdays.

2. No nap. No bathing. No brushing of teeth
Unlike childcare centre, children are not staying full day in the kindergarten, there is no need to bring mattress cover and toothbrush, toothpaste and mugs to and fro school every week

3. Lighter bag
Compared to the days where she attended childcare, she now carries a lighter bag. She used to bring 2 sets of clothes, including 1 set of uniform, a towel for drying up after bath, a plastic bag for dirty clothes and a big water bottle. (It is not a must, but since she was staying full day then, might as well do so)
Now, she brings 1 set of home clothes and a smaller water bottle. In both cases, stationeries are provided in school.

4. Homework
There is homework every weekend as compared to her previous childcare.
I believe childcare centre also have worksheets for the their kindergarten children but they are likely to be done in school. Occasionally, homework is brought home to reinforce what they had learnt in school. However,  it is noted that not all schools, including kindergarten, give homework for preschoolers.

5. School Holiday
Kindergartens follow the stipulated school holidays as Primary and Secondary schools + 3 days of unscheduled holidays. Childcare centres is opened throughout the whole year except on Sundays and Public Holidays. They operate half days on Saturdays, New Year Eve, Chinese New Year Eve and Christmas Eve. They are also allowed to be closed for 5.5 days of unscheduled holidays.

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Communication between school and parents

Both schools have a communicate book for parents to communicate with the teachers. The kindergarten would sent a report each week informing what was being done in school academically whereas the previous childcare centre updated parents on the website and email.

Changes we face ever since the change 

Speech Expression

She is more expressive now. She would report to me what she had been doing in school but recently she is bored of reporting and even asked me why I am asking the same questions everyday. She would compare her current school against her previous one. She questioned about why they have no naps, brushing of teeth and bathing and she asked about why she need to say prayers before mealtime. ( I sent her to a church kindergarten) Of course, her growing up plays a part.

Within walking distance

The new school is within walking distance. We could save on transportation. The last childcare we attended was a few bus stops away. Sad to say, the childcare centres within our vicinity are full. Hence, we have to change her to kindergarten instead.

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The purpose of this post is not to compare which is better. Childcare centre and kindergarten each have their pros and cons. It is up to the parent to decide what is suits their requirement and what is best for their child.

So, how does she feel about the new school? She loves her current school as well. There is no preference. I am glad about the switch although it would have meant that we would have lesser household income.


Source: For more information about the differences between a childcare centre and a kindergarten , read here

 

Wordless Wednesday:- Helping out with laundry

Her first haircut without parents by her side

Both me and my hubby decided to go for a $10 haircut at QB house. After watching us doing it, my little girl said she wanted to have her hair cut too. Though her hair was not very long, we decided to go ahead since it was a month ago that I had cut her hair. We were being told that we were not to accompany her while she had her hair cut. It was the company's rule. We were a little worried. We did see primary school children having their hair cut here but it seemed that she was the youngest customer there. The hairdresser said that we did not pay for the ticket at that point of time just in case little one decided to back out. We could allow her to cut little one's hair and see how's her response. So, we decided to give it a try.

Waiting excitedly for her turn. We have to tell her repeatedly to return to her Q.

Cutting in progress

Cutting in progress... seemed fine all the while.

Cutting completed... dusting

Aww... love her expression!

Again... her expression...

Wiping the hair off her face...

We were glad that little one sat still throughout the whole process and we were very pleased with the service. Little one is very happy too! And hey! Little one is a step closer to independence!