The day he was made a Table Leader.. was also the day he lost his 1st pencil case..

I was so excited to read his K2 teacher;s note asking us to prepare a pencil case with 2 pencils, an eraser and a ruler. To teach them responsibility, teacher wrote. I quickly took out the stash of stationery and pencil cases I've kept for so long. They were all gifted.

I was really excited to let him choose

What he chose. We had to label them too.

I told him to make sure to bring back everything, everyday.

At the back of my mind, I was prepared to replenish stationery along the way.

Never would I have thought.. he would lost the whole pencil case along the stationery. My son is really "powerful".

He came clean on how he lose it. Actually, he didn't really know for sure. He just didn't keep the pencil case in his bag before leaving the school.

As a result, I asked him to think of what we should do. He couldn't think. So I hastily told him he has to be punished. And I wouldn't give him a new one until he earn $1 from me to get a replacement.

So I told him he'll use plastic bag and old stationery the next day. And he has to think of how he want to earn $1 from me. He nodded.

I was really proud that he didn't complain and accepted them as is.

Just a moment after that, he presented this beautiful heart and said it was for me. So sweet...

He couldn't think of a way to earn $1 from me. So I decided that he should help me in the kitchen.

He had to weigh 50pcs X 7g of pineapple paste for my pineapple tarts.

Weighing so carefully.
Find that this task is really good to teach Math and patience too!

Proudly presenting the hard work - 50pcs
for $1 (his 1st job ever!)

With that, he got his 2nd pencil case.

The real story:
To cut long story short, actually, he was too excited getting the table leader tag that he forgot to keep his pencil case. And he was chatting excitedly to a friend. Ah Nah and him made a phone call me to right away to announce the good news (ya, which is he is the table leader now), and thus, he lost the pencil case.

Proud daddy nonetheless
(for a week if there's no misconduct)

The Central Fire Station: 23rd Jan'16

This term topic: Community Helper

We were asked to bring them to the fire station or library for their show and tell. 

I then know fire station open house is held on every Saturday from 9 to 11am. Free admission to all. There's a list of fire stations in the website listed below this post.

His buddy's mom and I chose Central Fire Station as it is located next to the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery. Admission to both premise was free of charge!

Mr Tan who actively, passionately encouraging visitors to sign up to volunteer with the Civil
Defence. "Training is provided" he says.

Trying out the equipment for continuous resuscitation. IZ says "painful".
That's how strong. You need to press 5cm into the chest, even if it means breaking a few ribs.
Maintain the right size. Too skinny, this equipment will not work for you.

The brave girl volunteered to be wheeled into the ambulance.

Family member to touch the end of the stretcher. For comfort I supposed.

Introducing some common gears..

how to carry the hose..

how to activate..

How to put on their uniform..

in split seconds!

Thermal gauge

Kiddos' idol!

While we were there for a mere 1.5 hours, there were already 2 ambulances and 4 fire engines off to rescue.
That's how busy the fire station is..

Demonstrating how firemen gets to fire engines real quick when they are upstairs.

Stacking

The RT111 - unfortunately automatic equipment were not available for demo

Showtime at 10am

Live demo

Once done at the fire station, we moved next door to the heritage gallery.

We could see how fire fighting / rescue work evolve from 1800s to today. Not that the kids cared, but it was a learning experience for all of us.

It is really interesting that they have interactive activities there for the children to learn more in a fun way.

Then I asked Teacher Xinyi if she could guide IZ to draw something for his Chinese show and tell.

I was really impressed that she actually prepared something in advance.

But she said IZ already had an idea in his mind on what he wanted to draw.

Colouring in progress..

The morning of the Chinese show and tell

Related information:

1) http://www.scdf.gov.sg/content/scdf_internet/en/scdf_247/others/visit_our_fire_stations.html

2) http://www.scdf.gov.sg/content/scdf_internet/en/general/about-us/cd-heritage-gallery/introduction.html

Dealing with disappointment?

When he was in K1, I was told he was appointed a "leader" to ensure all his friends have the necessary stationery.

Now in K2, IZ told me XX has a lanyard that says "leader". According to IZ, XX made a mistake (or was it misbehaved - blame my poor listening ability) so the lanyard was taken off him, and given to IZ.

But eventually, XX got the lanyard back.

IZ said "give XX another chance".

I tried to ask who said give XX another chance. Was it himself or teacher? He couldn't give me a clear answer. Just said "give XX another chance".

I felt pained actually, if the lanyard was given back to XX by the teacher. It's definitely unfair to IZ in that circumstances.

I'd be really proud if he was the one told teacher to give XX another chance.

I asked IZ how he felt, he said "proud of myself".

I won't know the answer to the question, until the PTM end of the term. While I do feel pained for him, I'm glad he told me (actually much more this term) and I'm glad he dealt with it without tears.

Good start to the year!

Learning Progress

I was away for 11 days.. one of the longest since I could hold proper conversations with IZ.

He told me he missed me, and asked for video call on the 2nd week. Something he has never done before. And he also talked to me properly on the 3 times video conference we had during the trip.

I was really impressed, when I reached home, of how he has progressed over the last 11 days. There were a pang of disappointment that I was not around during the progress, but I strongly believe it is for our good.

I came back re-charge, and have better patience, for now (2nd day home).

English Spelling

So while I was away, school gave a notice that they will be holding spelling English and Chinese on alternate week basis. I felt sad I was not around to practise with him for the very first spelling he would have in his life.

The words were: people, that, from, with

I was surprised really. I was expecting something easier for the first one. But he did it.

Chinese Spelling

Also known as Ting Xie. I can't tell you how surprised I was to see the list of words.

I was certainly expecting words like "wo", "ni", "ba ba" or "ma ma" or that sort.

I couldn't even read 2 out of 3 that were listed for the first spelling. Hahaha!

But I decided I can't contaminate and influence IZ on Chinese. I decided to charge my Creative tablet once again and try to use it.

IZ knows the hang of it. He can even write properly, I nearly cried.

He's so much better in Chinese compared to his mummy.

Music

Edvox teacher told daddy the previous books were too easy for IZ. So she personally chose this Grade 2 book. 

I took a look at the book. It's boring and not easy. But I also know kids do wonders. You can throw anything at them and they can take it.

2 days ago, he told me he wanted to learn piano. He said violin is too difficult. I told him I'll teach him some at home. He asked me to put dots on the keyboard coz that's what KDL do.