31 Jan 2014 - My Grandma's birthday

In the evening, we went for two more visiting.  We ended the day at Aloha Loyang pool terrace where we celebrated my grandma's birthday.  Here's my grandma with all her great grand children.

The kids were having much fun and kept wanting me to take photos of their "levitation".  Too bad my Iphone did not do a good job for taking motion pictures.  If I had my LX7 with me, the pictures will definitely turn out much much nicer and better quality!

31 Jan 2014 - 马年行大运,恭喜恭喜！

For so many years, my parents had been travelling to Malaysia for Chinese New Year.  This year they decided to stay in Singapore so our whole family gathered at their place first thing in the morning.

Here are my parents with all their grand children.

By the way, it's my lunar birthday (农历正月初一) today as well!  :-)

30 Jan 2014 - Practising her Chinese Dance moves

So far Jerlene had attended two lessons of Traditional Chinese Dance weekend class. She was very eager to show me what she had learnt.

While I was taking the following video, she wanted me to follow her moves. It was pretty challenging and did you notice I got "lectured" by her several times? :-P

Can't wait to watch her perform a full dance on stage...........

30 Jan 2014 - School's Chinese New Year Celebration

It's Chinese New Year eve today.  Jerlene and Javier put on their traditional Chinese clothes and getting ready to attend CNY celebration in school.  女的美，男的俊，你说是吗？  :-)

在此，祝大家 “新年快乐，身体健康，万事如意，马年发发发”！

25 Jan 2014 - Jerlene turns SEVEN!

Today is Jerlene's 7th birthday.  It also means I've already blogged for 7 years (since her birth).  Wow......cannot believe I got such a discipline....... Guess it's my angels who gave me the will and wonderful moments to keep blogging.

This cake was chosen by her via the online catalog from Prima Deli.  Initially she requested us to give her a surprise.  However, once she saw this cake, she cannot resist it.  She's attracted by the beautiful Princess Tiara and Wand on the cake.

After singing the birthday, Javier gave his 姐姐 a big hug from behind.

Happy Birthday Jerlene!

And here is my pretty princess with her new tiara and wand!  Thumbs up!

15 Jan 2014 - 100 common english words

Jerlene brought back a paper with list of 100 English common words and said her teacher used it to assess the student's vocabulary level in the class.  She and some of her classmates can read all the words but there are some who had difficulties.  She said there is one student who can only read one of the 100 words and the word is "I".  I think there is really a difference between a kid who attended childcare and one who doesn't.  So far, all her spellings and 听写 are words that she had learnt in her childcare class previously.  And when they started learning 汉语拼音 during her mother tongue class, Jerlene already knew most of it.

When I showed Javier the 100 words, he can actually read out at least 10 of those words.  Seems like the childcare has been doing a good job.  :-)

12 Jan 2014 - Chinese Dance class

Jerlene attended her first Chinese Dance lesson in Rosyth School. With so many weekend CCA classes available, Jerlene selects Chinese Dance without much consideration. She can dance pretty well but more importantly is that she enjoys dancing very much.  So her weekend schedule now is, Sat morning Ballet class, Sun morning Chinese Dance class.

9 Jan 2014 - Pretty disgusting....not for the faint-hearted

I had setup an insect trap in my car about a month ago.  As I took it out today for a check, I was shocked with what I saw.  This is definitely not for the faint-hearted.  Scroll down if you think you are brave enough.........



















THIS IS A LAST WARNING!




















Since you have scrolled down to this point, it means you are brave enough to see what I've caught.  Just click on the below link.

CLICK TO SEE

There were at least 50 insects (mainly cockroaches and ants) on the trap.  I guess this must be a result of Jerlene and Javier eating in my car.  Many times, especially Javier, they just threw their "unfinished" food, such as bread, biscuit, dough fritters, anywhere in my car.  I'm going to "ban" all food in my car from now onward.  At the same time, I will put another clean trap to see whether there'll be improvement in a month's time.

8 Jan 2014 - Going to Pro-Tech student care

During the first 3 days of school, there was a teacher who will wait at the dropoff point to bring children to Pro-Teach student care, which is within the school compound.  Starting today, Jerlene will have to walk there by herself.  But that's not a problem for her at all.

So far, she had been telling me that she enjoyed both student care and P1 class.  Glad to hear that and hope it stays this way always.  :-)

7 Jan 2014 - Jerlene's recess time

For the first 3 days of school, parents are allowed to view their children in the canteen during recess time.  Today, Jerlene bought a plate of chicken rice.  Her buddy was still with her till the end of this week.  Every class has its own designated table.

Initially, I thought she could not finish the food.  But to my surprise, she "emptied" her plate cleanly!

Now off she went to return her empty plate.

On the first day of parent's briefing, the principal said $1.50 should be sufficient for the recess food.  However, one plate of chicken rice above already costs $1.20.  And I heard Jerlene said one packet of Milo costs $0.70.  Probably the principal is encouraging students to bring their own water.  I actually did not know primary school food is costing so much now.  Still remember my time when I only had $0.40 a day, whereby I normally spent $0.20 on a bowl of noodles, $0.10 for a cup of drinks and still got $0.10 to save up everyday.  But of course, that was 30+ years ago......... :-P

3 Jan 2014 - Jerlene and her buddy

After the parent's briefing, it's time for us to move to the canteen area for the next part of the programme.  All parents gathered around the side of the canteen and view how P1 students buy food from the stalls.  Of course, it was with the help of their buddies from P3.  Sad to say, Jerlene forgot to bring her wallet, which we had prepared for her last night.  Fortunately, she brought some Oreo biscuits today and her welcome pack has a packet of popcorns.  After recess, her buddy brought her around the school as part of the orientation programme.

We followed them a while before leaving the school.

In the evening, we drove to the carpark next to the school to pick Jerlene up.  We regretted driving there because it took us 30 minutes just to exit the carpark.  If we walk, we could have reached home within 15mins.

3 Jan 2014 - School briefing for parents

During the first 3 days of school, parents are invited to the school hall for some briefing sessions.  Before the briefing, there were performances by the various CCA groups.  The performance from the Wushu team looks pretty impressive.  After that, all P1 students left the hall to their respective classes while parents stayed there for the briefings.

Most of the students looked calm.  It was unlike my time when almost half of the class were crying for the first few days.  I guess one main reason is that nowadays, most children go to childcare and they are already used to this kind of environment.

The briefing was first given by the principal, followed by vice-principal and various Head of Department.  From the sessions, it seems like P1 education should not have too much stress for the children.  There is no exam for P1 but there will be assessment though.  The principal assured parents that P1 students will not be given tons of homework.  She also discouraged parents from sending children to all sorts of external tuition.  She's confident that her teachers are able to cover any academic needs for the children.  I'm glad to hear that as I fully agree that children should not be given too much stress at such a young age.  And during weekends and school holidays, children should be given ample time to enjoy themselves instead of sending them to tuition after tuition.  So Jerlene, hope you will enjoy your school days!  :-)

3 Jan 2014 - Jerlene excited about first day in school

Most students start their first day of school yesterday but for primary one students of Rosyth School, it starts today.  Reason being the school had just relocated back to their original site after two years of renovation.  So yesterday was the familiarization day for all existing Rosythians while today, it was for primary one students.

Jerlene has been looking forward to going to Rosyth School.  This morning as I walked out from my room, she was already in her uniform, and so was Javier.

Glad to see them in such a good mood.  It will be good if this can last.......

As Jerlene is in the afternoon session, we sent her to the student care in the morning.  The student care is within Rosyth School and operated by Pro-Teach.  Breakfast and lunch will be provided by the student care.  After lunch, the teachers will bring the children to their respective classes in the assembly area.

2 Jan 2014 - Packing Jerlene's school bag

Jerlene will be entering her next phase of life tomorrow, primary education.  As her daddy, I will also have to make some adjustment to my usual schedule.  I was on leave today and I spent almost my whole afternoon wrapping Jerlene's textbooks as well as labelling all her items to be brought to school.

The above are all the items required for her first day of school.  According to a letter to parents, most of the books will be kept in the school lockers so that students do not have to burden themselves with heavy school bags.  Let's hope Jerlene will have an enjoyable and memorable school life.