Smiling Kids Child Development Centre

Welcome to the Kindergarten 2 Class Website

This website was made exclusively for the parents and children of the K2 class in Smiling Kids Child Development Centre! It was created for you to view updates and happenings in the class at the convenience of your home or office. In order to make this a meaningful experience, you may share the uploaded photos and information with your young ones. Additionally, there is a Dicussion Board for staff, parents and children of the centre to share their views on any issues or news regarding topics in the Early Childhood Field or anything in the sun!

♥ Teacher Cheryl

Form Teacher

Hello Parents and Children of the K2 class! I am Teacher Cheryl, and I am the form teacher of this class for the year. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Educational Studies and Leadership, Wheelock College (Singapore). I am personally interested in the Arts, especially in the area of Drama and Movement. I love to inject these elements into my lessons to make them fun and interactive. I look forward to meeting and working with all of you for the coming year.

Feel free to send any enquiries or feedback at cheryl.lee@smilingkids.com

Personal Philosophy of Education & Teaching Style

I strongly feel that Creative Drama is something that all children can benefit from as it encompasses all of the developmental areas. Incorporating this subject area enables the children to be actively engaged in solving problems and constructing their own knowledge to make sense of their environment (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2010).I believe in facilitating and building from children’s prior knowledge then gradually moving on to more challenging tasks. Children first learn about themselves and then extend that knowledge to their environment. This can be established through movement, by exploring their body shape and stillness followed by movement activities involving rhythm and various moods. This reinforces the notion of learning from the basics as children are to physically express their feelings and ideas and only using words when they are ready (McCaslin, 2006). So movement is a natural form as children know how to move and this is building on what they already know.

Therefore, adopting the constructivist approach by Piaget and Vygotsky (as cited in Isenberg & Jalongo, 2010, p. 73) where children are “active agents in their own development” is basis of my teaching style. This approach is supported by Winifred Ward’s (as cited in McCaslin, 2006, p. 304) quote “What children do is more significant to them than what they see and hear. They would rather act in a dramatization instead of sitting in the audience”.

5:05 AM

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

In relation to Lesson 1, I have included 2 take-home activities for you to complete with your family!

How Does Water Enter the Plants?
No. of participants: Entire family
Objective: To observe how water travels up the plant.
Materials:
- 1 or 2 celery sticks
- Coloured water
- Poster paint mixed with water
- Cup that is tall enough to support celery stick
- Knife
Procedures:
1. Pour the coloured water into the cup.
2. Place the celery sticks into the cup.
3. Leave the cup and celery sticks for 4 days.
4. After 4 days, remove celery stick from the cup.
5. Use the knife to cut slightly above the bottom of the celery stick.
6. Observe the coloured stains left on the roots of the vegetable.

*Fun Fact! Water enters the plant through the xylem in the roots and up into the stem and leaves.

A Plant that Eats Meat!
No. of participants: Entire family
Objective: To expose children to carnivorous plants.
Materials:
- Carnivorous plant
- preferably Venus flytrap*
- Dead insects
- A pair of thongs
Procedures:
1. Pick up the dead insect with the pair of thongs.
2. Place it in the carnivorous plant.
3. Observe what happens.

*Venus flytraps may be purchased at flower gardens, such as Far East Flora.