Term Break

2 weeks since the term break and our last Parent Teacher Conference for the year.

 

In a nutshell the feedback given by the teachers are really encouraging and definitely very positive especially that from the Chinese teacher.

 

By and large he had shown improvement in all areas of developments mainly in his gross motor skill. He can identify his alphabets really well and the sound they produce (phonics). When it comes to numbers, it is equally on par, rote counting as well as random counting. It was a pleasant surprise to realise that his form teacher commented that he love to dance and can dance very well even in front of the whole class.

 

This discussion came about as I have feedback to both teachers that I have observed him appearing to be lacking self confidence. E.g. when there are activities which I asked if he is keen to try or volunteer, he tend to shy away and reject politely of which I will encourage but do not force him. On the contrary, the teacher said he is very active in class, very confident and always keen to volunteer and offer his help e.g. stacking away chairs, rearranging the tables etc. A very good teacher's helper. The form teacher suspect that he just feel very conscious in front of us thus limiting his enthusiasm to try new things which can be commonly seen in young children. He did not seem to display any problem as well during Show and Tell. We then got to realise how important this Show and Tell activity is. Apparently now that the system had do away with examinations in Primary 1, they have turned to using Show and Tell as one of the evaluation activity for their 'grade'.

 

An area which could be further improved would be blending of letters e.g. We, am, is etc. Having said that, most of the children in class are unable to recognise much and there is no major issue or concern here. She do not see the urgency to push him further as after all they are just 4 years old kids.

 

The comments from the Chinese teacher were very positive. She was really pleased to see the vast improvement in him. He started from very limited Chinese vocabulary in the first term with some difficulties in understanding mandarin. forget about speaking, to currently he can converse well in mandarin. We feedback to her that we show the improvement in him at home, showing interest in identifying objects in Chinese, singing Chinese songs and Chinese rhymes. She is certainly very very pleased to hear that. 

 

Moving forward to next year, the school is likely to relocate in June 2015 instead. The children have been shown their new classroom and introduced to their new class teachers and identity - Peace 2. It was a good thing that the Chinese teacher will be following them to K1 next year but sad to say not the form teacher. There will be some shuffling in the classmates as well as some of his classmates would be separated to different classes. Coincidentally his best friend in class will be separated to a different class next year.

Generally I am pleased with the progress he is making in school which show that I have made the right move to transfer him to MKG. The teachers have been doing great with the children as a whole and honestly the environment and learning approach is fantastic. Would have been better if the teachers progress with the class instead of changing new teachers every year. Sadly the school compound will be given up next year and MKG will be relocating to their new building next year. Well, good and bad. Certainly the vast play area, close to nature and greens compound will be greatly missed. On the other hand it is indeed exciting for the children to be moving into a brand new compound with all new facilities!

Thank you Ms. Yoges!