Salute to Teachers

My salute to Teachers I met lately from schools- mainstream & special school. And, of course teachers I saw and met online too!

There is much to be said being a Teacher for the experiences in classrooms and in non-classroooms. They are the ones who help foster reciprocal learning, mold ethical culture, and help evolve positive long-term relationships in knowledge cultivation between learners. Teaching, helping children to grow and develop is certainly one of the most visible and engaging activities. It is also one of the venue that brings fulfillment, contentment and sactisfaction while seeing children achieved their goal in life. "Children, your accomplishment in knowledge acquiring and growth as a upright citizens is a Teacher's best trophy in life."

Children, please do join me in prayer to thank all of your Teachers for their IMMEASURABLE contribution.

With GOD blessing,
May Teachers be free from all ailments,
May Teachers be loved, respected by all,
May Teachers overcome their difficulties,
May Teachers be blessed with wisdom, good health, strength, and peace.

Storytelling & Reading Alound

I love storytelling, sharing, and reading with children. Storytelling and reading is an important "ritual" in early literacy cultivation from birth, infancy to early adolescence; through storytelling children develop listening, speaking skills and construct sentenses; building concepts e.g. colour, shapes, problem solving, promotes self-esteem and of course it further enhance their appreciation in reading.In my classroom storytelling, I had tried hand made puppets, masks and invited children participate in the story play for particular stories. I realised these props and activities does not only serve as a tools for stimulating children's auditory, visual but capture my playful classroom pals' attention, promotes optimal learning retention and their kinesthetic learning modalities too...

A nice presentable puppet not just fascinated and inspired children but to engage their vast fantasy imagination. Briefly, to further enrich the storytelling session, do consider extensive children participation. My suggestions are as follows :

1) Each child shall be given a copy of Vocabulary Bank Book to deposit newwords that they have learnt from the storytelling session. The number ofnew words to be deposited should be set by the Facilitator accordingly tothe learning pace of each individual child (e.g. for fast learner : 5 newwords per week). There will be a reward for the child when he/she has reached the set target number of new words to be learnt at their level.-Improve the children's ability to produce and comprehend a language
2) Invite/encourage children to participate in storytelling competition (by letting them pick their favourite story). Points will be given based oponfacial expression, good utterance, creativity and imagination etc....-Enhance/improve the child's communicative competence, memory andunderstanding.
3) Let the children participate in the making their ideal puppet from thestory they have selected.-Enhance/improve their fine motor skill, eye-hand co-ordination andcreativities-Encourage them to use recycled material when making their puppet, therebycultivating the "Go Green" concept of recycle, reuse and reproduce.

Last but not least, do pay attention to the fairytale stories that these fairytale stories itself comes with ideas and concepts that has been argued for decades in children's literature, like stealing or killing in Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel & Gretel etc....is good to read it with adults' supervision.

A Quote

“Peace of Mind” is the Product I Carry,
“Integrity & Knowledge” is the Service and Sharing I Render to all children and educational facilitators.

Ways to Help Children With Short Attention Span or Hyperactive

Lets me drop a few tips for handling children whom suffer from ADHD / ADD. They are the one uses to struggle with changes to routine and need to know what to expect. Beside medication, behaviour motification, home and classroom strategies and sometime counselling can all help children with such deficit at home and at school.

Briefly:-
1) Verbal Instructions
-Keep instruction brief and clear; ask the child to repeat the instruction to make sure he/she have taken it in and understood it.
-Say the child's name / tap them on the shoulder to make and keep eye contact when giving important information.

2) Keeping Structure
-Have a fixed routine, display the daily schedule and brief the child the classroom rule and house rule.
-Tell the child in advance of any change in the schedule or warning of change and remind them more than once.
-To encourage the child to complere their homework, parents can:
>make teh work environment attractive but not distracting
>have regular scheduled time for homework
-Keep choices to minimum.

3) Written Work and Other Learning Strategies
- Use one-to-one instruction as often as possible
- A class 'buddy' who gets along well with the child, can helpful to reinforce instructions and direction.
-Make sure activities include plenty of 'hands-on' components.
-Physical environment, do keep the child sit near the front of the classroom decrease distractions. And, sit the child near classmates who will be good role models.
-a quiet place without clutter is important for homework.
-Build rest-break in between the lesson e.g. do structured tasks, errands such as delivering notes to General office

4) Self-esteem
- Encourage the child to take part in activities in which they will experience success.
-Set achievable goals.
-Acknowledge the child's achievements by congratulation them verbally and in written ways such as notes or certificates.
-Help the child to feel important in the classroom e.g. acknowledge their effort to do a task even if they don't succeed. Review with the child their accomplishments for the day.
-Attend to learning difficulties as soon as possible to restore self-confidence.

5) Social Skills
-Reward appropriate behaviour such as sharing and cooperating.
-Teach the child appropriate responses when they feel provoked eg teach them walk away or talk to the teacher.
-Talk with the child about the consequences of their actions upon themselves and others.
-Encourage the child to join activities where 'supervised socialisation' is available, such as Scouts or sporting groups.

Key Points to REMEMBER

• Teachers / Caregivers, be sensitive to parents' feelings - they have the difficult task of raising a child with ADHD / ADD. Also, help parents to feel proud of their child-find positive things to share with them about their child on a regular basis. This can be done in front of the child.
• Acknowledge and reward achievements and positive behaviour often.
• Medication, positive-parenting strategies, school support and counselling can help most children with ADHD / ADD and their families.

May my sharing help you to raise a happy, healthy child. My blessing and love to all Children.

Teach Children accept and learn from mistakes

My observation:

As a foreigner living in Singapore for decade, I have noticed an aspect of the Singaporean culture that is very prevalent: It seems that mistakes are not acceptable. Perhaps of the KIASU traits generally.

Many parents I came across can be hard on the children for making mistakes in their schoolwork. I understand that the parents are trying to ensure that the children make the most of the education with their great expectation.

Unfortunately, their children would, as a result, grow up afraid of making wrong decisions or taking risks. Such an environment is not conducive to creative thinking, which is intuitive and often characterised by the philosophy of "learn as you go" and "trial and error".

What I thought if you want your children to be creative, give them the freedom to learn from their mistakes, instead of instilling in them the belief that errors can only lead to bad consequences.

Creative and spontaneous action may not always yield success, but the truly memorable achievements in life will always come from an unfettered mind that is free from the fear of failure.

Boundless Love

(Refer to http://trustchildren.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html). This post states of compassion, altruism, peace and of course the act of highest essential of human aspiration. Hence, dedicating the following to The Founder, caregivers, facilitators and folks from all walks of life whom renders unconditional love and support to School and all beloved children.

Boundless love as the sky
Boundless love as the ocean
Boundless love knows no colour
Boundless love knows no border

Let this boundless love pervades in every space
Let this boundless love spreads to nourish every heart
Let this great compassion suffuse in yours and mine hearts
Just like the LOVE of a mother for her children.

In YOUR name I ask and pray
GOD with your greatest grace
May all be free from suffering
Rewards them with peace, well, and wisdom.

from the desk of
Blessedmum