Kaleidoscope November 2019

Overseas Family SchoolKindergarten

Master Policy:To maintain a happy, safe and effective school for overseas families living in Singapore

Deepavali Celebration

Principal’s MessageOctober was an eventful month for the Kindergarten as we celebrated United Nations Day and the Hindu festival of lights, ‘Deepavali’. With the culturally diverse make-up of our OFS community, the United Nations Day celebration is an important and significant event for us. It is a special day where we recognise and celebrate the cultural diversity of our students and their families. The celebration started with a flag parade, followed by a presentation of songs and cultural dances performed by the Kindergarten children. The children looked dazzling, dressed in their national attires and with the colours of their flags. After the concert, parents were invited to join their child for a shared lunch with a cultural food fare in all the classrooms. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to our Class Mums, for helping us with the arrangements for the multi-cultural potluck lunch. We celebrated Deepavali (or “Diwali”), the Festival of lights, on Thursday, 24 October 2019. With the help of our parent volunteers, the children learned about the significance of the celebration through a Deepavali story and an Indian dance. Children then participated in activities such exploring clothes and props related to the celebration, decorating rangoli patterns and getting their hands decorated with tattoos and designs (mehndi). A huge thank you to the wonderful mums who volunteered their time to help make the Deepavali celebration a very educational one for the children. We had our second Parent Teacher Conference in October 2019. The conferences provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen our Home-School link as teachers shared with parents their child’s strengths and areas in need of strengthening; and work together to set goals for the rest of the academic year. Our next big event coming up will be our Open House on Wednesday, 20 November 2019. Details and schedule for the Kindergarten Open House will be sent home in the coming weeks.

Da-Khue NgoKindergarten Principalkhue_ng@ofs.edu.sg

Principal’s Message1

CONTENTS

Pre-K1 News2

K1 News3

K2 News4

From The ParentAssociation (PA) Desk1

Dates for your diary4

2 Pre-K2 News2

From The Parent Association (PA) DeskThe Parent Association (PA) invites all parents to join us for a special Deepavali Themed Coffee Morning. Deepavali (or ‘Diwali’) is the Indian festival of light celebrated to mark the triumph of ‘good over evil’ and ‘light over darkness’.

Event : Deepavali Themed Coffee Morning Date : Thursday, 14 November 2019 Time : 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon Venue : PA Lounge (Level 4 of Administration Block)

You will have the opportunity to participate in many activities including decorating the Indian “Charpoy” and using it as a serving platter, making colourful door tassels and swinging to the rhythms of popular Bollywood Beats. In order to provide adequate craft supplies for this event, please register your attendance by signing up on the OFS webpage:http://www.ofs.edu.sg/events/2019/deepavali-themed-coffee-morning/ If you would like more information about this or other PA events, please contact our Chairperson by email: parent_association@ofs.edu.sg.

Overseas Family School Kindergarten Kaleidoscope November 2019

• working on various puzzles (wooden, plastic and cardboard)

• kneadingclayorplaydough

• threadingorstringingbeads

• twistingandturning(e.g.Jars,nutsandbolts)

• cuttingpapers(maystartwithplasticscissors)

• playingwithconstructionblocks(e.g.building with large or small blocks, cubes)

• insertingobjects(e.g.Pegsandpegboards)

(Pre-K1 Bunnies)

• pinching objects (e.g. Clothes pins, eye droppers)

• puttingtogetherthings(e.g.Hookinglinks or paper clips together to make a chain)

• dressingstuffedanimalsordolls

• workingwithtongsandtweezers

• pouringandscooping

• washingandscrubbing

• drawingtemplatesandpatterns

Pre-K1 NewsDeveloping fine motor skills, also referred to small motor skills or perceptual motor skills, is our next area of focus. The purpose of focusing on fine motor activities is to develop the small muscles in the fingers and hands, as well as to improve hand-eye coordination. Development of small muscles will contribute to a child’s ability to write and read in future years. Further, fine motor skills can increase your child’s attention span, encourage persistence in a task, foster independence, and develop problem solving and thinking skills. Fine motor development takes a great deal of practice and exercise during the preschool years. We would hence, like to capitalise on children’s interests and give them lots of daily experiences that is fun, yet challenging. We usually begin by giving the children large objects, as children

become more confident, we move to smaller objects. For example, children should move from tearing paper with fingers, to snipping with scissors, cutting on lines, cutting curves, and cutting out shapes and objects. They should move from scribbling, to drawing simple lines and circles, to making more complex shapes and writing letters. These are some simple activities with familiar objects that will interest children while developing their fine motor coordination which you could possibly trial at home:

Pre-K2 NewsFor this month’s issue we will be focusing on the importance of developing large motor skills and physical fitness in young children. We will also give you some ideas for making and using simple homemade equipment for you and your child to play. Large motor skills, often referred to as gross motor skills, develop in children more rapidly than small motor skills. In the early years, children will master motor skills that will provide the foundation of all future movement and exercise. They will

progress from simple movements to more complex tasks. As they move, they develop strength, coordination, body awareness, self-control, and confidence. The benefits of getting the children to participate in gross motor skills are hugely advantage. They can make children healthier and happier, can serve as an outlet for energy, can provide opportunities for social interaction, and lastly, can help children concentrate and perform better. How Can You Make Your Own Equipment At Home?

• Bean Bags: Take an old sock and cut off 4 inches from the toe. Fill the toe with beans and securely stitch the top. Children can toss it alone, play catch with a friend, play replays with it, throw it at a target or toss it in a box.

• Balance Beam: Put a piece of masking tape on the floor. Ask children to walk forwards, backwards, sideways etc.

• Balloons: Ask children to keep their balloon in the air the longest, kick it, toss it, play catch with it or play balloon volley ball.

• Blanket Toss: Use an old sheet or blanket as a parachute for tossing balls and play games.

• Frisbies: Take some styrofoam paper plates and colour them. Thrown them as frisbies to play catch or see who can throw theirs the farthest.

(Pre-K2 Koalas)

Master Policy:To maintain a happy, safe and effective school for overseas families living in Singapore

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• Lookoutfornumbersintheenvironment(e.g.numbers in the lift, door numbers, TV channels, phone keypad)

• Countthecorrectnumberofcutlery,toysorcars

• Countthenumberofstepsonthestairsastheyclimb them

• Answerquizzes (e.g.askyourchild ‘Ihave3coins,you have 1 coin, who has more?’)

We are also working with the children on their phonics. They are encouraged to think about words beginning with that sound and are beginning to think about these sounds in their journal writing. At home you could play games such as:

• ‘ISpytheSound’.Forexample,“Ispywithmylittleeye, something beginning with the mmm sound.”

• Phonics Hopscotch. All you need for this fun phonics activityisapieceofchalkandtheground.Simplydraw hopscotchmarkingsontheground.Ineachsquarewrite a letter of the alphabet that we have covered in class. Youcouldcalloutaletterandaskyourchildtojumpon that letter, and as they do, for them to sound out each letter

• Look for sounds in the environment, or while reading books

• Playrhyminggames

• Playsnapgameswith the letter soundswehave covered in class

• Practicewritingthelettersonvarioussurfacesor objects(e.g.chalkboard,sand,rice,playdough)

(K1 Team)

K1 News

The K1 children have been working a lot on their number skills like writing numbers, recognising number, counting to 20 and understanding the concept of ‘more than’/‘less than’. It is important that the children acquire these basic skills in order to develop other mathematical skills. At home, you could play simple games with your child to consolidate these skills. Here are some examples you can ask your child to do:

Overseas Family School Kindergarten Kaleidoscope November 2019

Kaleidoscope November 2019

Overseas Family SchoolKindergarten

Master Policy:To maintain a happy, safe and effective school for overseas families living in Singapore

Dates for Your Diary•Wednesday,20November–KindergartenOpenHouse

Above all, have fun reading together.

(K2 Team)

• Talkaboutthepicturesinthebookbeforereading

• Predictwhatthestorymightbeabout

• Askquestionsaboutsimilarexperiencesyourchildmighthavehadtothoseinthestory

• Askquestionsusingthewords‘who’,‘what’,‘where’,‘how’and‘why’

• Allowyourchildtoturnthepages

• Pointtothewordswhenreadingastory-encourageyourchildtopointtothewords

• Askquestionsthatrequireyourchildtothinkcarefully-inferringfromthetext

• Sing Jolly Phonics songs about the letter sounds and ask your child to show you the actions

• Makemasksandpuppetstoretellstories

• Retellstoriesbysummarisingthemainpoints

• Encourage your child to check the initial letter sound of a word, as well as looking for picture cues

• Blend letters to make CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words like cat, jet, pop, etc, by writing the letters on cards, pegs, popsicle sticks and playing computer games

• Talktoyourchildaboutthefluencyoftheirreading-theuseofexpressionand the importance of punctuation

• Recordyour child’s readingand listen to itwithhim/her.Thenaskyour child to evaluate his/her reading

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K2 NewsThe K2 Reading Program has taken off to a great start. The children are showing enthusiasm in their weekly Guided Reading sessions and are enjoying taking home their readers each week. In the classroom, the children have been exploring print through a variety of rich experiences - including cracking codes on our recent ‘Superhero Challenge’ and by accessing the class word wall for their Journal writing. Most recently, the children have loved discovering all about the rainforest and its animals, and sharing information about them with their friends. Learning to read is one of the most important skills in any students future success. It is a sequential process that requires time and effort, starting with learning to read letter sounds, followed by blending them together into words and finally, developing fluency. Sharing a book with your

child each day is an important and enjoyable activity that can become a very special time for both your child and you to look forward to. This should be a fun reading time where you might read to your child, or you may take it in turns to read to each other. Besides sharing the Home Readers, it is important to share a wide selection of books with your child. This might include books from the Library, along with their favourite books from your home collection. Children love reading their favourite books over and over again. This helps them to feel confident to join in and have fun with you. Below are some ideas you can use at home to help your child with their reading: