Reading from puzzles

 

This activity has been on our shelf for months now. Every now and then, either Doll or I would whip this out and have her work on it.

 

I am fortunate that Doll never gets tired of this even though it's always the same 4 words. The reason why I've not rotate the puzzles is because I want her to recognise these words before I move on.

 

To help her, I would get her to 'spell' the words using our movable alphabet from our Melissa and Doug kit after she completes the puzzles.

 

I think she is getting it (finally)! I'd take away the puzzles, leaving only the movable alphabet on the floor. I ask her to read those words aloud and she's been reading them accurately! Yahoo! To really make sure she gets it, I plan to write these words on paper and have her read to me. *cross fingers!*

Dictionary habit

After speaking to a few 'experienced' parents of primary school going kids, we mostly concluded that the best virture of a student is being an independent learner.

 

So I try my best to hone that in Sonshine as much as possible. Typically, I will not provide the answers when he is in doubt. I'd either ask him to try his best or teach him to search for the answers himself.

 

It started with the English dictionary. I shared before I taught him how to look up the meaning of the words. Since then, he would occasionally take the initiative to look up the words.

 

That's when it dawn on me that I should instill the same habit for Mandarin too. I went hunting for the ideal Chinese dictionary for him and found this.

 

 

Collins Chinese Dictionary

One can look up the words in many ways. For a start, I taught him to look up a word using the Hanyu Pinyin.

 

I love this dictionary because 1) there is an chinese-english interpretation for each word. So, if he is looking up an unfamiliar chinese word, he is able to learn the meaning of that chinese word in English as well.

 

2) If he doesn't know what is the mandarin term for an English word, he can look up the word first in English and it would show the translation in mandarin. Awesome!

 

The perfect opportunity came when he was doing work and he didn't know what was the mandarin equivalent for 'Penguins'. I didn't want to feed him with the answer and wanted him to learn how to look for the answers himself. So, I referred him to the dictionary!

 

He searched the word 'Penguin' in the dictionary and found its hanyu pinyin equivalent AND the chinese characters. 

Needless to say, he found out the answer to his question.

 

Ah, I can see my life will get better from now on. :D

A bit of craft

Sonshine wasn't and still isn't a crafty/arty person. I was a tad disappointed because I love to do arty stuff. Doll, like most toddler, loves crafty activity. However, ironically, now I find no time nor inspiration to do with her. -o-

 

Still, I try. Here was my wee bit effort to stay afloat with crafts.

 

 

 

I made some bear shape paper sprinklers using my paper puncher. Took out my washi tape and created a heart shape on her drawing board.

 

 

She smeared glue all over the page and sprinkled the punch out paper all over it.

 

 

The final look!

 

I gently tore away the washi tape to see a very faint heart shape formation. So, the anal me, just had to draw heart shape lines around it.

 

The purpose wasn't to get a masterpiece, it was more to entertain her with some sensory play. It was fun while it lasted!

Simple yet entertaining

 

Last week, I managed to dig out some treasures from our local library. These mandarin books were easy to read and entertaining for my 6 year old.

 

Sonshine will get bored if the mandarin book is too lengthy so I look for books that are not so wordy and yet have a captivating storyline.

 

 

This is an easy to read book and an interesting storyline. However, I think it may be too simple for a 6 year old. Still, it was good enough for Sonshine to stay glued until the end of the story. 

 

 

A peek inside- you can see the pages are filled with huge illustrations and short sentences.

 

 

One look, I can tell it is a Julia Donaldson book! Like the rest of her books, she didn't fail in entertaining us in this book!

 

 

It is a humourous book about a rabbit who doesn't know what animal it is, what it should eat and live. Look out for a twist in the story and a hilarious ending!

 

 

This book tickled Sonshine's funny bones. He loved this book! I think it was originally written in Japanese. (I love Japanese children's books!)

 

 

 

It is rather a simple book with short phrases. It's about a boy who couldn't fall asleep and how he tried counting pigs, moms and stuff to make himself sleep.

 

If you, like me, are looking for simple but interesting mandarin books to prick your kids' love for mandarin then, these books are great reads!

Count my ribbons!

 

 

 

I wanted Doll to practise counting from 11-20. She can rote count from 1-29 but I wanted her to do 1-1 counting. So I improvised the Montessori red counters activity by having her lay out pretty ribbons accordingly starting from 11.

 

Got to stop here and be real. Doll didn't take this activity like a fish in the water. No matter how I tell her, she didn't seem to get it right. I was hot frustrated and I had to walk away 3 times to cool down leaving her sobbing in the room :(. Yes yes, I know, I was being unreasonable, don't start that on me. I am not perfect, we all slip every now and then don't we? :(

 

I was frustrated because I knew this was not something beyond her but why couldn't she do it? On reflection, I realised what I did wrong. I didn't present the activity to her. I merely gave her verbal instructions and expected her to get it. She didn't understand what she was suppose to do.

So, I tried it again the next day. I am very fortunate because that episode didn't deter her and she didn't resist working on this activity again. This time, I  demonstrated to her in a very calm & cheerful fashion as well as worked together with her. And, lo & behold, she took off and did it herself.

 

Ah, lesson learnt (again)!

 

 

 

Anyway, while keeping this activity I decided that we might as well sort out the ribbons- another pre math skill. Hee Hee. I was making her keep and learn at the same time. :D

 

 

Sensory Play: Hear the bells ring

 

Here's a Montessori inspired sensory activity. These capsules were collected from our numerous Kinder surprise purchase. Instead of throwing them away, I used them for our sound play.

 

The last time we played this, I put in different items that make different sounds in each pair. This time, I wanted to make it more challenging by putting in the same item (bells) but of varying number. The kids had to distinguish each sound and find it's match. The kids had fun! Shaking away with a huge grin and an 'Is this it?' expression plastered on their faces. :)

 

You can use any bottles but make sure they are covered and opaque so that the kids cannot see what's inside from the outside. Have a blast playing this one!

Working the fingers

 

This week's work is all about pincer grasp, counting and some thinking is required!

 

 

 

This was meant for Chinese New Year activity which we did and are still doing. Sequencing the alphabets in order. Doll has to figure out which alphabets are missing and where to place them.

*If you scrutinise the board you will notice some errors- I'm well aware*

 

 

Another sequencing activity and a pre math skill. Laying out pom pom balls on Velcro strip in alternate colors.

 

 

Scooping beads from jar to jar

 

 

But as usual she was more interested in pouring and pouring.

 

 

Threading. In the past I'd let her string through the holes randomly. This week I ask of her to string systematically i.e  from one hole to the next hole. 

 

 

I delayed this activity until now because she didn't have enough strength to work on the clothes peg. Now that she has, I have her remove the pegs and snap them back again.

 

 

Mama's never going to let a week a go by without Math! I love math activities especially Montessori ones! Here Doll is counting the Montessori beads.

 

 

After she counts them, she lay them in correspondence to the number plates.

 

Linking up to: