25 May 2018 - Annual Speech and Prize-Giving Ceremony

Both Jerlene and Javier participated in this year's Speech and Prize-Giving Ceremony.  Javier was a prize recipient while Jerlene performed together with Chinese Orchestra during the concert.

We missed this ceremony last year as we were on our trip to Iceland.  After knowing that we were invited to this year's ceremony, we told ourselves that we will not miss it again.

Here's the photo taken by the professional photographer.  What a nice smile from Javier!

24 May 2018 - Comments from teachers

Jerlene and Javier got back their report books today with their first semester's results.  Below are what the teachers wrote about the both of them.  Glad that they are both doing well in school.

20 May 2018 - National Primary School Photography Competition

Javier was selected by his Info Comm Club teacher to be part of the team to participate in the National Primary School Photography Competition.  The theme of the competition is "Sustainable Singapore".  After doing some research on the internet, Javier decided to capture images of solar panels.  As such, we drove to Marina Barrage where there is a Solar Park with beautiful City Skyline as the backdrop.

The Solar Park is one of the largest collections of solar panels in Singapore. The 405 panels supplement daytime electricity required for lightings in the gallery and offices in the barrage.  It generates 76,000kWh electricity per annum, which is equivalent to the monthly electricity consumption of about 180 average households in Singapore.

Javier tried to apply what he had learnt during the photography classes and captured the following two photos.  The first one is based on the principle of "Leading Lines", which refers to a technique of composition where the viewer of your photos attention is drawn to lines that lead to the main subject of the image.  Click here to read more.

The next one below was selected by the teacher to submit for the competition.  For this photo, Javier applied the "Rule of Thirds", which is one of the first things that all beginner photographers learn about.  Click here to know more about this guideline.

The weather wasn't too good as it was drizzling the whole afternoon.  Anyway, Javier was quite satisfied with his photos above and we went home soon after.

19 May 2018 - Parent Teacher Club Day

Kidz Treehouse Student Care Centre, where Jerlene and Javier went to after school everyday, had organized a Parents Teachers Club Day this morning.  We, together with other parents, were first invited to the school's Performing Arts Theatre.  The theme today is "Going Green Together".  After the teachers shared with us some statistics about the current state of our mother earth, the students took on the stage for Choral Reading.  Both Jerlene and Javier participated in the reading.

After the presentation, we proceeded to the Student Care Centre for some snacks and drinks.  It's also a time for parents and teachers to mingle around.  The following is a video of the Choral Reading.

16 May 2018 - Is Friday a weekend?

Javier got back his maths paper for semester one today.  Originally he did not get full marks as he was marked partially wrong for the question below.  However, after seeing what Javier wrote on the paper, the teacher decided to accept his answer in the end.

So what exactly did he write?  If you look at the top of the paper, he wrote, "Is Friday a weekend"?  The original answer does not consider Friday as part of weekend.  According to Javier, after the teacher saw his question on the paper, she seek the principal's advice and decided to accept his answer.  A number of students benefited from this as well.  So thanks to Javier!

I was curious about the definition of weekend so I did a quick search on the internet.  Click here to see the result.  Most definitions do consider Friday night as the start of weekend.  So Javier was right!  :-)

13 May 2018 - Weekend Gardening and Harvesting

Our tomato plants have been bearing fruits week after week.  It's time to harvest and show our tender loving care by doing some weeding.

Our desert rose has also been blooming for more than a month.

As for our Bougainvillea, it used to be purple in color.  And now it has turned white.

12 May 2018 - One more step to his GOAL!

Javier passed his Taekwando Red Belt grading last month.  He received his Red Belt with Black Tip today.  He's now one step away to his goal of getting the Junior Black Belt.

Train hard and I'm sure you can achieve your goal very soon.  加油, Javier!

5 May 2018 - Education Merit Award Ceremony

Due to Javier's good academic results last year, we were invited to his Education Merit Award Ceremony. 

After Javier received the award from our GRC Advisor, Darryl David, we were invited to join in to have a photograph taken.

This is the second consecutive year that Javier received this award.

What he's looking forward to is actually the $80 book voucher from Popular Bookstore rather than the certificate.  Haha......  :-P

Well done, Javier!  Keep up the good work!

3 May 2018 - Learning Journey to Kidzania

Javier went on a learning journey to Kidzania at Resort World Sentosa with his class today.  Among the various job stations that he managed to try out, there was a Film Studio where he got the chance to be the host of his own video!  During the recording, there were scripts being projected on the screens at the left and right side of the camera.  That's why in the video, you can see Javier's eyes were looking away from the camera most of the time.  After the video is done, he can further edit, add music and effects to it.  Below is the end product.

1 May 2018 - First injury caused by drone, hopefully it's the last

While testing out the different flight mode of my Spark today, I somehow got the controls wrong and had a few cuts on my leg.  I was too over confident and made a mistake for not fixing on the propeller guard.  This is my first injury caused by my drone and hopefully it's the last.  :-P

29 Apr 2018 - First Outdoor Flight with DJI Spark

This evening, we decided to bring our Spark drone out for its first outdoor flight.

We understand that there are rules governing the flying of drones.  As such, we did some research on where are all the no fly zones (below) and also which are the parks where drone flying is not allowed.  Following are two important links for anyone who wish to fly their drones "legally".

- CAAS: Area Limits for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

- NParks: Parks with 'No Flying' Signs

Based on the above, we decided to go Bishan Park, which is just outside of the No-Fly zone and it's also not in the list of No-Fly parks.

Here is a video of our Spark's first outdoor flight.

I also tried out the hand gesture mode where Spark took off from my palm, followed my palm's movement, flew off for a selfie, returned and landed back on my palm.  See how I controlled Spark simply with a few hand gestures in the following video.  Jerlene and Javier also tried it out.  It's really fun!

29 Apr 2018 - Timetable for Revision

Since the past few weekends, I had requested both Jerlene and Javier to prepare a timetable for their revision in preparation of the coming SA1 examination.  I realized that this way has worked quite well as compared to the past when they did not have one.  Through this, they had learnt how best to plan their time for the day.  Also with the timetable, they will try to follow it as much as possible and achieve the goals that they had set for themselves.  I can see that they had a sense of achievement after seeing all the goals in the checklist had been checked.  :-)

27 Apr 2018 - First DJI Spark Flight

During the recent Lazada Sale, we managed to buy a drone at a very good price.  It was delivered today and we started unpacking it from the box.  We bought the Fly More Combo which comes with several accessories such as an extra battery, carrying case, propeller guard etc.
After watching some online tutorials via Youtube, I managed to activate the drone and ready to take it for its first flight.  I have to do it very carefully as I was flying it in my room.  :-P

27 Apr 2018 - Javier became teacher's assistant during period Phi

This year, Rosyth School is piloting a new program called Period Phi for Primary 3 and 4 students.  During this fortnightly one-hour class, the students get to learn new and interesting topics outside of their usual school curriculum.  The aim is to have the students to put on their thinking hats to be creative and innovative.

Today, the teacher introduced Scratch programming to Javier's class during Period Phi.  He was excited but at the same time, he was a bit bored because he already knows all the basics of Scratch programming.  When the students started their hands-on project, Javier took just a minute to create the following animation.

His classmates then started asking him how to do this and that.  He became the teacher's assistant for most part of the class.  :-)

22 Apr 2018 - Taekwando Red Belt Grading

Javier went for his Taekwando Red Belt grading today.  As usual, before entering the grading hall, he did his warm up and practice outside of the hall.

This time round, the grading was held at Ang Mo Kio ITE Sports Hall.  It's a good location for us as it's very near to our place.

I think Javier had improved a lot from his previous grading 3 months ago.  His power has strengthened and his kicks are higher.  Also, his sparring is now more aggressive.

Below's video shows his grading session.  He remembered all his patterns and I just want to say:"Javier, you did a great job today"!  Proud of you!