28 Nov 2020 - Grade 5 Ballet (Distinction*)

Jerlene got back her Grade Five Ballet Exam result today.  To all our surprise, she achieved the highest rating possible, Distinction*.  It is totally unexpected because last year, she only achieved a Merit rating for her Grade Four Ballet Exam.  She was hoping to get a Distinction this time round and getting a Distinction* is really a bonus!  So WELL DONE, Jerlene!  Your hard work paid off.  :-)

She scored a total of 88 out of 100.  Despite the excellent results, the remarks below also show that there are still a lot of room for improvement.  So do continue to work hard and maintain the high standard that you have set now!  :-)

22 Nov 2020 - Windsor Nature Park

Early this morning, Tracy and I decided to do a little hike at Windsor Nature Park, located off Venus Drive at the Upper Thomson area.  We thought we were early but the car park was almost full.  Fortunately we managed to get one of the last 2 lots.

The 75-hectare Windsor Nature Park is a green buffer for the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.  There are several hiking trails in this park and one of them leads to the TreeTop Walk, a key attraction in MacRitchie.

While it is currently predominantly a regenerating secondary forest, much of the land once served as

a rubber plantation. Up until the 1950s, kampong villages and remnants of an aquatic plant farm existed on site.

We took the Drongo Trail, which features a sub-canopy walk where visitors can catch a glimpse of the fauna that are found under the canopy level, in addition to examining the understorey of the regenerating secondary forest.

A wefie taken at the end of the trail.

19 Nov 2020 - P5 results based on new scoring system

Javier will be among the first batch of primary school students whose results will be based on the new PSLE scoring system.  Starting next year (2021), P6 students will no longer see a T-score figure on their slips.  Instead, they will be scored using eight bands known as Achievement Levels (AL), whereby AL 1 will be the best level and AL 8 will be the lowest per subject.  So based on 4 subjects in PSLE, the best result a student can get is AL 4 (with all 4 subjects achieving AL 1).  This year, P5 students started using this new scoring system and Javier got AL 8 in total.  Two of his subjects actually missed AL 1 by one mark.  Though disappointed, at least he now knows that every mark counts.  :-)

The indicative AL cut-offs for individual secondary schools will be released in the first half of next year, based on the results and school choices of this year's PSLE cohort.

His other achievement includes playing the role of School Councillor as well we Vice-Chairman of InfoComm Club.

15 Nov 2020 - Baking Cookies and Blending Smoothies

We actually planned to spend our evening today to go for a walk in a park but due to the wet weather, there was a change of plan.  Instead, the kids decided to put on their chef's hat whereby Jerlene tried to bake some cookies while Javier tried to make watermelon smoothies.

The first batch of cookies were a bit burnt and learning from the mistakes, the second batch of cookies were much better.

Baking in progress.....

Finally it's a job well done, Jerlene!

As for Javier, he found a watermelon smoothie's recipe from the internet and decided to try it out.  I prepared the watermelon (below) for him and he took over from there.

Firstly, he threw in a few pieces of watermelon and a scoop of vanilla ice cream into the blender.

Then he poured some milk into the blender before starting the blending process.

He was very satisfied with his effort as the end product turned out very well.  I tried it and it's really not bad.  Good job, Javier!

14 Nov 2020 - Javier's Eyebrow has grown back!

About two months ago, I posted that Javier had lost a patch of his eyebrow above both eyes.  You may refer to the post here.  Today, I'm relieved to share that his eyebrow has grown back.  We are still clueless about the root cause but we guessed it could be due to the exam stress that he had exerted onto himself.  Anyway, glad that his "look" is back!  :-)

Just for comparison, below is the photo that I posted 2 months ago.

13 Nov 2020 - Javier achieved Gold (Honours) for the Roszania! Imagine Cup

If you had followed my blog postings, you would know that Javier participated in the Roszania! Imagine Cup, which is an annual hackathon competition, sometimes in September.  The results are out and I'm glad to share that Javier had achieved Gold (Honours) award for the Senior Category.

All the Gold (Honours) entries are posted here.  I have viewed through all the projects but I must say Javier's project really stood out among all.  It's the only project that is interactive.  He even coded features such as input validation, which even experienced developers may sometimes "ignore".  So WELL DONE, Javier!

This is Challenge Circuit 1 and there will be a Challenge Circuit 2 soon.  Hopefully Javier can continue to produce more creative and innovative projects.  加油!

8 Nov 2020 - Lunch at Tsui Wah (翠华) @ Clarke Quay

We had our lunch at Tsui Wah (翠华) - Clarke Quay today.  It has been quite a while since we last ate here.  Jerlene and Javier have been asking about this place recently and so here we were.

Jerlene and Javier enjoying their favourite savoury French Toast Bites served with Vanilla Ice Cream after our main meals.

After lunch, we decided to stroll along Singapore River to enjoy the outdoor atmosphere.  However, the sky suddenly turned dark and we quickly return to our car before it started raining.