3rd Playschool Trial - Day 1

After much hunting and homework done by mommy, finally found another Playschool.

Since Little Nic had elder siblings, one might wonder why I didn't enroll him in the same school...actually, I really like his sibling's school. I liked how they bring live to the class and the activities they do to help develop the toddlers' gross and fine motor skill. I also like their different monthly thematic approach and talks they brought in to the school (eg. occupation - they invite parents to come and explain to the children their occupation and even got the neighbourhood police officer to come showed the kids their job etc). Their excursions were planned round the theme and what I like most is they will plan to watch at least a play once a term and this really gave my kids the artistic boost. However, as the school grow in size, we had this feelings that they are more like putting on a show for parents to see and also very "marketing"...anyway, the main reason is because we had moved and the school is now 30 minutes drive away, how can I subject my kids to such torture?! His sister always fell asleep in the car, what worst for him...

Anyway, enough of side-tracking, first thing we did when we arrive is to sanitise our hands and followed by temperature, hands, feet and mouth check (HFMD screening). Little Nic was okay with all the checks except for the mouth. He just simply refused to open his mouth for the teacher to check. In order not to frighten him , they "let him go" this time round. Once inside the classroom, he was very excited and started to explore around. The room is a little old but its okay as he will be going to another new branch nearer to our house once they are really for "operation" in June.

The day began with the English teacher singing songs with the little ones. To mommy disappointment, there are no music and movements The little ones just sit there and follow the teacher's action or sing along occasionally. Once they completed the singing of a few songs, the teacher told them some stories and revised the flash cards on shapes. At this point, I couldn't help but compare this with his sister's school used to do with toddlers of his age, but have to keep pushing this thoughts away and try to convince myself that every school has its pros and cons.

Since they couldn't go for outdoor play, the teacher replaced it with art. My little Clean-Freak was initially reluctant to dirty his hands with the paint but after some coaxing, he unwillingly entertained us with a few strokes with his little finger and requested for it to be cleaned straight away.

See the frown on his face?

Free play time...making friends

Chinese teacher trying to "befriend" him

Copying what his new friend is doing..

The teacher did the HFM check every hourly (very kaisu hor?) and he simply refused to co-operate when comes to the mouth. They had their lunch at 11am and mommy tried to let him feed himself with SPOON. He did rather well I would say, dropping only a few rice here and there, but managed to keep his face rather clean unlike the previous time. And he eats fast too.

See how hungry he was...mouth wide open

Fruit for the day? Apples

After lunch, the Chinese teacher took over the class and repeats the same lesson as the English teacher. Then its home sweet home time.