Horrible Math!

Heard of the series of books called "Horrible Science"? My boys love reading this series of books. Apart from the facts, they especially love the humor. On my end, I am putting together a compilation of Darling son KW's Math problems from school. I call the compilation "Horrible Math". However, there is no humor involved here. I know the teaching of Math in the woods is far from that back home, but I'm really disgusted at the way the problems are put together and the way they are being taught. If you are easily disgusted, do not continue reading. Else, let's proceed to go down the disgusting lane of Horrible Math!

Simple question, right? Find the area of the parallelogram. You know the formula to find area, you know your multiplication table, you can easily work it out. So what is the fuss about? Square Centimeters. We do not write the words when dealing with Math questions and numbers. Throughout the worksheet, I see the words "square meters" and "square feet". I'm a little disgusted, having to write down the notation throughout the worksheet and highlighting it to my son. Ok, the disgust is mild. Let's move on. Note that this is question number 3 on the worksheet.

Question Number 2 on the same page. A question that requires the students to do fraction multiplication. Did he learn that in school? No. It requires the kid to know how to convert the fractions to improper fractions, to know how to multiply, to divide, then convert from improper to proper fractions. So I had to spend some time teaching my boy all the above and let him do a few extra questions to make sure he really understood what was going on. The level of disgust definitely went up a notch. Not because I had to teach him, but I felt that the curriculum planning at school is poor!

What do you think of this? Question 4 on the same page. Yes, the kids learn lattice multiplication in school, a very different method from what they teach in Singapore schools. His teacher went through the normal way of multiplication, prior to giving them the worksheets. So the kids have a choice of using either method. Fine. But look closer. This is decimal multiplication, which they were not taught at all. So I spent another considerable amount of time revising with him two digits by two digits multiplication, followed by decimal multiplication. Level of disgust at curriculum planning and lesson planning went up at least two notches!

The final question on that page! I should be happy, right, since I'm at the last question? But no! My jaws dropped when I saw this question! I was already sitting with my boy for at least an hour, going through the worksheet, teaching him fraction and decimal multiplication. My boy was exhausted after an hour of learning and relearning new things. He is after all, a Primary 3 student if we are back in Singapore!

Looking at the question, he knew he had to do division, and he could form the equation. But when trying to divide, I could see that he was going to cry. He didn't feel good after going through questions 1 to 5. Demoralising. When you get a worksheet to do at home, you are supposed to be apply knowledge you learnt in school. Yes, and No. The depth of teaching is very shallow in school. This was when I knew I had to stop my lesson with him. "Let's just use the calculator", I told him. I am very against kids at his age using calculators, and I always remind him not to use it when doing simple calculations, since it is required by the school to have a calculator in his desk. The level of disgust is super high, but it has yet to reach its maximum ... read on ....

Looks like a simple question, right? It is, just that there is no space provided for the kids to do their working. All the teacher requires is the answer. How does the teacher check the understanding of the student when there is no working? A wrong answer could mean "No understanding, cannot do, therefore, wrong answer". It could also indicate that the kid understood the question, but a careless calculation led him to the wrong answer.

Lack of curriculum planning, lesson planning, in depth practice, and checking of the student's understanding. And that's Chapter 1 of my Horrible Math! I need a break ....

Zombie!

Do you know this guy?

If you don't, then let me introduce him to you.

He is the star in the game "Plants VS Zombies".

A regular Garden-variety Zombie. He loves brains .... all kinds ... be it old and stinky, or rotten. So beware! Don't let him get into your house or it will be a case of "The Zombies ate your brains!".

Transform this drawing onto a sheet of nori, and this is what the boys get for lunch today. Hubby dear said the zombie looked very comical, staring at the flower.

Putting together the lunch was a breeze! It was very easy to cut out the head of the zombie. Attached some cheese eyes and we are all set. I even had some time left to neatly arrange the fish cake! But seriously, I had fun putting together the boys' lunch this morning =)

The boys were so happy on the way to school, as they caught a glimpse of the zombie before I put the lid on. And Darling son KW came home with these drawings!

"Did you do this in class today?", I asked him.

"I drew them during my free time, after I finished my work.", he replied.

And he was such a funny boy! He put all these little pieces of drawings in his helmet, wore his helmet with the pieces under the helmet but on top of his head, and cycled all the way home! He loves putting pieces of paper under his helmet. Sometimes, after school, upon seeing me, he will remove his helmet, take out a small piece of drawing, pass it to me and say "For you, Mama!". I greatly treasure and enjoy receiving these little pieces of drawings from him =D

Here's all the plants he drew in class today! He even added a plant which I didn't pay attention to, as it was for sale in Dave's shop ... the water-melon which throws frozen melons to freeze the zombies. Kids are much more observant than we think! Just look at the expressions drawn on the plants!

And my little boy YW started drawing furiously on little pieces of paper after dinner. He said "I have to help GorGor complete the chart!". And now I understand why my boys say that art lesson in school is boring. There isn't much drawing. Mainly crafts. Oh well, they are free to draw all they want when they are at home! And I'm their number one fan =D

Meet The Zombies!

Meet the zombies! Eight of them in total, and each one is different!

You know, Moms always say "Don't play with your food!".

That's what my mom told me when I was young. But I had a blast creating the faces of these zombies! Guilty, guilty. And Darling son KW told me, during lunch yesterday, his friend G was so taken in by the Red Bird, he decided to create his own using the tortilla from his Hot Lunch!

My mom would say "That's playing with food!". So I asked my boy if his friend finished up his lunch after "creating the bird". He said YES, phew!

I don't want G's mom to come after me for indirectly teaching her son to "play with food".

But it may not be a bad thing after all! I mean, playing with your food.

As long as one remembers to eat it all up. It helps the boys to see things at a different perspective, and encourages them to think out of the box.

At times, when my boys request for a certain character to be included in their lunchbox, I will tell them "Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't have the colour to do that. And I don't want to use food colouring". They will, most of the time, come out with all kinds of ideas and suggestions. Just this afternoon, KW suggested using the Japanese Cheesecake I just baked to create a catapult! He explained to me "See, the top of the cake is brown. Just like the stand. You don't have to worry about the colour. Just cut the stand. Then you cut a nori strip. Put them together and TADA!". They are indeed becoming more aware of the kind of pattern and figures their food can create =D

Well, back to their bento for today. It had to be quick and simple, as Darling son KW had an appointment with the Orthodontist at 815am! I woke up really early to start cooking, hoping to finish packing his lunch by 730am. These Japanese fishcakes were easy to cook. All that was left to do after cooking them was to put the expressions on the faces of the zombies. And KW came home very happy, not because of the zombies, but because the Orthodontist told him he need not wear the retainer at night till his tooth has emerged! I am happy for him too. Adults find it hard to wear it, what more kids. Getting a good night's sleep is very important for growing kids.

I really hope that his tooth come out well. Otherwise, it will be a stressful trip to the orthodontics clinic in six months' time.

Kids' Drawing and Writing

Darling son KW brought home from school the above drawing. Asked him what it was, he said it was a page on his imagined computer game. From wanting to be Lego-Designer, he is now a computer game "designer".

Here's his Lego Design called Blizzards' Peak. I found it among his stack of drawings on the table while tidying up the room.

Here's another drawing of the Ben 10 aliens. The drawing on the aliens were done during the Ben10-craze sometime back. So many sheets of drawing ... if only I can sell them for some pocket money for them =p

Darling son YW brought home a piece of writing on Spring.

Here's what he wrote about Spring :

Spring is good because we can play with water guns.

Spring is good and fun because you can wear shorts.

Spring is sunny and there are birthdays in spring.

Spring is sometimes hot.

I'm amazed at the things he can write about spring! And that he is observant enough to notice that Spring, although cold and missing most of the time, can sometimes be HOT! Yes, there were a couple of days when it felt like summer instead of spring. I really enjoy reading his writing. Did you notice that the teacher do not correct him on the spelling? As such, the kids are encouraged and motivated to just write and write. And they can just write about anything! I love their creativity and their imagination!

Author's Tea

We missed the Author's Tea last year, when Darling son KW was in Grade 2, as we flew back home for vacation. This year, we had to attend, as this would be the last year my boy would be in Mrs W's class.

The Author's Tea showcased stories written by the students. Do you see the Author's Chair in the photo above? Well, that's the chair for our little authors. They grabbed their book, sat on the chair, and with their parents sitting besides them, read the story out loud for everyone!

Well, the kids were given the freedom to write on anything they want. It could be a fiction or a non-fiction story. Most kids chose fiction, while one girl wrote about whales. The class was taught a unit on Whales and Mammals. Darling son chose to write a story about a friend's Grandma who swallowed a fly.

Seriously, the parents play no part in helping to write the story. The story and story illustrations were done in class. We had no idea what our kids were going to read to us. So you see the amusement on the adults' faces when the kids read "I love playing computer games, but I had to share the computer with my Dad." or "My dad ......".

We had a good time, and we sat through a 1.5-hour session, listening the stories. The event started at 6.30pm at the school library, and when it ended, it was almost 8pm! The kids were hungry, and were happily munching away the cookies brought to the event by the parents.

The boys were tired by the end they went to bed. And Darling son KW came to us and said "Thank you for coming to my author's tea.". So sweet. And we told him we enjoyed his story!

Horrible Science

I got to know about this series of books from a friend's blog. She blogged about how much her son T loved these books, and how he learnt something from reading them. I did a search on Amazon, read a couple of pages, and placed order for "Bulging Box of Books - Horrible Science".

These books were shipped from UK, and I was impressed by the prompt shipping by this external company, pbshopus. The books were shipped from their UK warehouse a day after I placed my order. And it came wrapped securely in many layers. The box was in very good condition when I received it! I will definitely order UK published books from this company again!

These books would be good for summer reading. Darling son KW was eager to start reading, and loving to do things systematically, he opted to start reading from Book A - Angry Animals. He even brought the book to school to read. I could hear him laughing out laugh as he read. Definitely a boy's kind of book =) And seeing his big brother reading and laughing away, the little one also started reading the first book, after his elder brother finished reading it.

And I'm happy to see them read! It seems kind of crazy to order a box of 20 books. But if the boys enjoy the books, and each book (including the shipping fee) cost less than S$4, why not? I would say that it is money well spent =)

My Son and His Braces

Darling son KW started wearing his braces near the end of April, and he had progressed from just a plain metal wire across his top six teeth, to adding a spring across them. Each time he sees the orthodontist, he gets to chose the color of the metal pieces. The first time, he chose green. And he changed it to red during his recent visit to the clinic =)

One night after dinner, hubby dear said to me "We should take photographs of his teeth, with braces on, to chart the progress".

Indeed, after a month of wearing the braces, just a plain wire across the top six teeth, his crossbite had been fixed. The above photograph showed the springs that were added during his second visit to the clinic. Compare the two central incisors in the above picture with the picture below, taken in April, before he put on his braces.

Can you see the difference? The top two central incisors are now aligned nicely next to one another! I didn't take any photographs of him when he first put on those braces. He was feeling very conscious about it, always hiding a smile, for fear of people seeing his braces. It was actually not obvious, unless he gave a big, broad smile. And to adjust to having a wire strung across six upper teeth was no fun at all! Soreness and pain set in, not to mention having to adjust to chewing his food and how his friends take to his braces. He did relax a little after a while, as he found out that another classmate had just removed her braces. They had a good chat about ... the pain of wearing braces =p

His third visit will be coming up at the end of June. I wonder what the orthodontist will do next. Fixing the slight crossbite on the lower two central incisors seems to be in Phase 2 of the plan.

As for my little one, he kept asking us when he was going to wear braces. His assumption is that whatever his GorGor goes through, he will get to experience/do as well. I had to laugh, as he has yet to lose a single baby tooth, considering that he is almost seven?

So here I am, patiently waiting for YW to lose his first baby tooth, and for two lateral incisors to emerge.

Braces and Meals

Darling son KW is finding it hard to chew with his braces on. He is starting to eat less of his favorite ovenbaked chicken. He tends to grind his teeth in his sleep, and with the braces on, it's without a doubt that he gets cold sores on the sides of his mouth.

So for today's lunch, I decided to give him something he likes, and easy to chew. Ham, strawberries, and egg roll with nori, and a slice of fishcake.

Before putting on the braces, he eats quite a substantial amount, but he doesn't seem to grow fat. I'm envious =P Now that he has the braces on and finding it uncomfortable to chew, I have to change my menu a little. More "soft" and easy to chew food. I do not wish to have the already skinny boy becoming skinnier.

Flowers Everywhere

Yet another cold and wet day. Darling son KW will be seeing the orthodontist today! He will be having the braces fixed onto his upper teeth. So far, he has not protested about having to see the orthodontist again.

To make him feel better, we thought we would just let him stay home for the rest of the day, after his visit to the clinic in the morning. We would like him to get use to wearing his braces at home. Well, the boy was extremely pleased to be able to stay at home after his appointment. I asked him if he was feeling good about the braces, he said "Yes". I also asked him if he was confident of brushing his teeth with the braces on, he answered "Yes" again. Phew! He was very diligent in brushing his teeth, paying careful attention to the parts where the braces were fixed. The nurse did an excellent job in explaining and teaching him how to clean his teeth with the braces on!

Since the elder boy was home today, I needed to prepare only one lunch box this morning. However, my body was still aching, and I was feeling extremely tired. Hence, I settled for "fast food" ... ham, japanese fishcake, and egg. Darling son YW brought a box of edible flowers to school for his lunch, and came home with an empty box =)

And when he saw his brother's braces, he said "COOL!". Luckily his elder brother was in a good mood, or else, a "Not Cool - Yes, Cool" argument would have followed.

Visit to the Orthodontist

Six months ago, when Darling son KW's upper lateral incisors came off, it gave us a scare. It was the second set and naturally, we thought it was the permanent set. It was in the middle of the night when he came into my room, holding his tooth, and saying "Mama, my tooth came out"! I couldn't sleep the entire night, as it was the second tooth and it was supposed to be the permanent one! Is he going to be toothless till the full set of permanent teeth grows out before something can be done? It is going to affect his speech. So we hurriedly made an urgent appointment to see the dentist the next day.

The dentist took a look at the tooth that came off, and said "Too small to be a permanent incisor.". We insisted that it was the second tooth that emerged, hand so, he took an x-ray. Conclusion? Darling son KW had two sets of baby upper lateral incisors. How about the permanent ones? Yes, they are there and they are huge! Phew! It could have been a case where the boy had only two sets of baby incisors and .... no more!

Six months later, and still no sight of the upper two lateral incisors emerging. We can see that the gums are a little bruised. The baby canines beside are still sitting firmly, with no sign of loosening. Something has to be done. Since we were at the dental clinic for the boys' half-yearly dental check, the dentist examined the teeth and wrote a referral for us to see the orthodontist.

The man brought the boy to the orthodontics clinic this afternoon. The dentist explained to the boy what was happening to his teeth, and the boy was worried. He was reluctant to go to the clinic. But he had to. The orthodontist identified the problem/s (yes, more than one, sadly) and suggested a possible treatment.

Firstly, the central incisors are not aligned. They call it a "Cross Bite". The boy grinds his teeth in his sleep, but this is not the reason for the CrossBite. It is due to the embedded permanent incisors pushing the central incisors. As a result, one of the central incisor is further front than the other.

Secondly, there is a lack of space for the lateral incisors to emerge. One way is to extract the still firmly rooted canines. But that means he has four missing upper teeth! Not a good solution. Bad for his self esteem, as well as his speech.

Suggestion by the orthodontist? Braces. Braces, starting from the left first molar, across the canine to the central incisors, and ending at the right first molar. To fix the braces across a total of six teeth. It will help to create some space for the to-be-emerged incisors, as well as help aligned the rest of the teeth. He has to wear the braces for 5-6 months, with a visit to the orthodontist per month. There will be some soreness, and the cost? Estimated at US$1600. The financial advisor will look into our dental insurance, and give us a more confirmed cost tomorrow, which should be less than what is estimated.

So now, our job will be to convince our darling son to go for the next appointment, to have the braces fixed. It is going to be tough ....

From Ben10 To Lego

Spring break has started! The weather had been bad ... cloudy and rainy. The kids stayed home most of the time. No visits to the playground, no biking around the neighbourhood, no playing and running about with their friends in our neighbourhood.

Apart from getting them to do their Math and Chinese, the boys spent most of the time playing with their Lego, and drawing. Darling son KW is finally tired of Ben10. He took out all his Lego magazines from his box, flipped through them, and started drawing again ... Lego figurines.

Seems like it is going to be rainy the whole week. The most I can do is invite his friend over for a playdate .... Oh well, we will see how it goes ....

Independent Learning

Since it was the last day of the school term, Darling son KW brought home yesterday, in his folder, the work he did during the term. He studied "The Physics of Sound" in the Science Unit, and this was what he learnt in class ... Structure of the ear. No wonder he was testing us during dinner a couple of days ago. Hubby dear and I were Physics teachers, and we both did not take Biology during our secondary school days. Needless to say, we couldn't answer all of his questions =P He was very pleased, as the last time he tested us on Matter, we could answer all his questions.

As with all topics learnt, you get an End-of-Module Assessment at the end of the unit.

I was pleased with what he had done ... paying attention in class to what his teacher had been teaching him. We did not do any extra with him at home. In fact, we did not even know he was learning about the Physics of Sound, although we had seen him writing down on his worksheet, sounds he heard at home.

After the Multiple Choice Questions, came the short questions.

Imagine if he was taught this topic back home! We would probably have to sit him down and go through the text and exercises with him before the test. Teach less, learn more?

Here's another surprise ... an assessment on his knowledge of Kenya. Every year, in conjunction with International Week, an annual school event, since there are so many international students studying at this public school, the students will study a country in depth. They learn about its geography, its people, its culture. Last year, Darling son KW learnt about Mexico, and this year, Kenya. Darling son YW on the other hand, learnt about China.

I am just happy that learning is fun for the boys! They enjoy these lessons, learning new things and engaging in activities. These end-of-module assessments were not stressful to the boys, and they did not add on to the parents' stress levels. The boys did not grumble about having to sit for these tests.

For the young, learning is about having fun. Assessment is just a tool in helping the kid to learn. When assessment becomes the main focus, one loses the joy in learning.

Rice Parcel

Darling son KW had diarrhea twice last night. It was 10pm when he went the second time, and he fell asleep almost immediately after he returned to his bed.

Although he seemed alright this morning, I was not keen to give him any dairy products for breakfast or lunch. He had a slice of plain bread with a cup of Milo, instead of the usual cereal in milk. As for lunch, no cheese cut-outs. Just a simple rice parcel, with nori strips attached, and a jeweled food pick to brighten up the parcel =)

In the bento, there are blanched florets of broccoli, sprinkled with a little sea salt, a couple of "Hanbagu", which I put on paper kitchen towel to soak up the oil, and the rice parcel! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed, that my boy will not be having diarrhea again today.

Ben 10 Alien Force

If you are a fan of Ben 10, you will be familiar with these aliens ... EchoEcho and Chromastone. Darling son YW has been a fan of Ben 10 all along, but not Darling son KW. Recently, KW became a StarWars-turned-Ben10 fan. I guess the fact that Ben can transform into different aliens is far more interesting than the droids, clone and storm troopers. Even I'm in love with these colourful aliens in many different forms, heights and shapes!

So the boys had been drawing ... aliens after aliens. They never get tired of drawing. They cut the aliens out and stick them on their bedroom wall. Now I have a gallery of aliens. Sometimes, two of a kind, since both of them draw the same aliens, but the same alien looks different.

KW being a little older and started drawing at an earlier age than his little brother, had drawings which looked more like the cartoon characters. He is however, encouraging, when his little brother feels discouraged that his drawings are not as "nice and real" as his gor gor's.

When I saw the above three drawings by Darling son KW, I couldn't resist taking photographs of the drawings! You know how hard copies tend to curl at the corners and the ink starts to fade after a while? With the digital copy, I can keep them for ages and show him when he is older.

For the little boy, he likes to draw combos of aliens ... that is, he likes to create his own alien, using the different parts of many aliens. And he was one happy boy when we agreed to let him stick the drawing of his combo alien on our bedroom door, erh, to protect us.

This is one powerful alien, as stated in the footnote of his drawing:

With Ben Ten Ultimate Aliens and regular ones also.

Drawings

Monday, another day of school closure. This is the fourth day the kids are at home. What have they been doing? Work on their chinese, finish their school work, play, and draw.

Yes, they have been drawing lots!

Every day, I receive little pieces of drawings on aliens from Ben 10. They draw, they cut the figures out, and they stick these figures on pieces of construction sheets. The fact sheets, they call it. The above sheet of drawing was done by Darling son KW. He already started cutting out the aliens on the second sheet while I was busy taking photographs of the first!

I love their drawings! And yes, I have a huge pile of papers kept in a file ... their drawing collection =)

Let's hope school will be open tomorrow.

100 Days of School!

Today is the 100th day of school! Activities for "100 Days of School" are lined up for the K/1 students. My boys love travelling on the Yellow School Bus. And, they were delighted to see the Yellow School Bus in their lunchbox this morning. On the way to school, I told the boys "Enjoy your 100th day in school", and Darling son KW said "Not for me".

The 2/3 students don't have activities lined up for them ... they are already counting beyond 1000!

Since I was busy in the kitchen, hurrying to pack the second bento, I requested Darling son KW to help take photographs of the first bento. He was all dressed up, snow pants and jackets, and was happy to oblige. After taking a few photographs, he realised that he had a little time to spare, and so he decided to try to take a self-portrait. He was so pleased with his photo shot, he ran into the kitchen to show me! "It was a good shot", I told him. So he went to school this morning, very, very happy indeed.

In the Bento, we have Ham flower, Sausage flowers, and many florets of broccoli! To all K/1 students ... Enjoy the activities for your 100th day of school!

Bunnies and The Magician's Hat

I'm the Magician's rabbit, and I'm happy to be with my friends again!

Don't tell the Magician that I'm here! I stole his hat so that I could visit my friends. Can you see the Magician's Hat?

When I showed Hubby dear the caption and the photo, he asked "Where is the hat?". Erh ... ok, it's camouflaged by the lettuce leaves. So, I uploaded another photo. Can you see the Hat now?

I was exhausted and sleep deprived, after having stayed up the night, looking after Darling son KW who was down with a fever and stayed home yesterday. After a day of rest at home, he could finally go back to school. But he was still coughing badly. I wanted to prepare something light for school lunch, and so settled on Japanese fishcake. Since I had no time to do my "homework", I recycled old ideas, and gave it a different look.

Don't you think the rabbits look very festive? I'm sure the kids will be happy to have it as a side dish for reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's eve =)

Where are you, Totoro?

Are you looking for me? I'm not quite the perfect Totoro. My ears are too long, and my body ... too short. The proportions are not quite right. But like my friends, the Makkuro Kurosuke, I'm edible =)

Someone stole my whiskers ... I feel strange without them ....

Here's the full view of the lunchbox. It's a 45oml Lock&Lock box.

The boys don't eat that much rice for lunch, since they have only 30 minutes for lunch in school. It was kind of challenging to make this mini Totoro, using about 3 tablepsoon of rice.

I had wanted to do a rice Totoro, after making the Makkuro Kurosuke yesterday. I was toying with the idea of using nori mixing with rice, instead of grounded black sesame seeds. The nori had to be cut to very tiny pieces, so that the rice would look like it had been "dusted". Being sleep-deprived, and needing something exciting to fuel my energy for the day, I decided to make Totoro! Why not, since it was only ONE Totoro that I was going to make. Why only one? Because it was Darling son KW's turn to be down with a fever last night. He would be staying home today, and having his "special" lunch.

Lesson learnt ... I'm a rookie in making bentos, and I need to do my homework. The proportions will be right, and I will definitely remember to put in those whiskers the next time! No wonder the rice Totoro looked kind of strange =p Check out AnnaTheRed Bento Factory's "How To" make a rice Totoro!

This toy was brought home by Darling son KW. His artwork from school. They watched "My Neighbor Totoro", and made this toy. He had fun stitching, after stuffing the toy with polyfill.

This green fellow even has a Birth Certificate.

His name is ... BOB!

Isn't it cool?!

And that's lunch for hubby dear! Eat more vegetables, they are good for you!