Schooling journey so far.....

Arshi's school test is going to start from tommorow. Am a  bit nervous.But I know, she will manage it some how.She has been going to her P1 for the past 3  months and is pretty much comfortable.

with her buddy during Recess-Raksha akka as she calls.Arshi already knew Raksha.So. it was ppretty easy for Arshi to adapt to a new school with a already known buddy.

all ready to handle school by herself

When she began her P1 , I was the one who was very much afraid.I had loads of questions in my mind-will she be able  to wake up early?will she be able  to finish her morning breakfast in time?will she be able  to mange in her school all by her own?will she be able to carry her school bags and carry them to her class 3 levels up?will she be able to finish her lunch all by herself?and so on.But to my delight, i would say, she did manage in her new school pretty well.During the first term, she was appointed as her class librarian.that was her first step to being responsible.She has told me of her role and responsibility of  being a  librarian.I would ask her from time  to time on her role as librarian.She used  to say that, she has to arrange the books in her class library  Good job Arshi.As far her studies were concerned, she did manage well .She used to do her home works with lot of  love  and  dedication.She knew the importance of   doing them and  also the consequences of   not   doing them.I should thanks her form teacher Mrs.Wong for instilling   the love  to read in the kids. Arshi is blessed  with a  great teacher.Her form teacher used to update us  of the performance of the students and the happenings in her class through mails regularly.This was a way to get us connected with her school.They did have their spelling tests once  a week. Initially  they were given only 5 words per week.As the kids got used to the routine, the words were increased to ten words per week.The kids did manage them comfortably.To my surprise, I was always worried of her spelling,she got full marks in all her spelling test last term and even got a  certificate for that. Another pat  for my little girl.Her mother  tongue- Tamil class too was very interesting .The kids put  up  short performance before us parents by the end of term 1.All the kids were very confident.I could see the team work and co-ordination between these kids.

She also spoke about a traditional game she had learnt in he school in  front of the mic.I was really happy when she spoke that.

She also represents her school in a   Tamil singing competition that was held on Telok Blangah CC.Though she didn't win she did put up a  great performance.Am still proud of her.

But all was not that rosy with my little girl.She lost a school library book which I ha d to replace to the school librarian. Arshi learnt an important lesson from that incident.To be accountable  for the books  borrowed.After that incident, I discouraged her to borrow books   from her  school library.As usual, I make it a  practice   to borrow books    from NLB. She has lost a few stationary set too in her class.These are common when our kids enter a  new phase in their school life.We also instilled  a habit  to always be truthful what so ever is the situation.like for eg: after missing her pencil case, she tried  to hide them from us.But my hubby's  harsh(!) treatment did  pay off.After that  she is always honest.She immediately tells us of  any mistakes  she has committed. We too praise her for her deeds.

Now she is in term 2.Another good news for this term, is  she got appointed as her Class Monitress. She is really happy and  proud of her new role.As far her studies are concerned, I won't say she is an outstanding student.She is  an  average student just like her peers.She hasn't  got full marks in all her practice tests.But she does learn to be careful for her next test.As far as she enjoys being in her school, learns things,be creative I will be happy and satisfied.So far I have managed her school without tution. Hope to continue the rest of this year too by the same way.I personally feel, the kids are already under too much pressure and it is   just not  fair    to further put  pressure on them .Kids will learn by themselves .Some parents expect their kids to top in all they do .But imagine a student in a  class of 40.How can all the kids be in the top?Please set a  realistic goal for your kids.Further more, in Singapore they say, when a  child enters P3, they will be  streamlined  to different classes based on their performance in P1&2.Every parent want their wards to be in the top 2 classes.Too unrealistic.We have to keep one thing in mind-all classes are good classes and the teachers have the capability to train our kids.There would be no meaning in sending our kids to any school if  we don't have faith in the teachers,classes or the education system.I have  a faith   a  a strong faith- my child is in  safe hands and .....all the best for the rest of  her academic career.  Hope she continues  to enjoy going to school just as  she does today.Am proud  to say today she woke up early, finished her breakfast on time and got ready to go to her school as they have their early reading program for her mother tongue every Wednesday.Last week, she was  a  little late.But never mind, she learnt to get ready to her school today.Give our kids some time  to adjust. They are after-all kids.

School gate and "ee ki maatraa"

I was dropping Arshi at school today.We usually takes the secondary school gate to go and her teacher disperses the students from the primary school This is  a  ritual, we have been following ever since Arshi is going to her Primary school. Primary school is together with Secondary school sharing the same campus.But they both have different gates, one on each side of the road.Today she suddenly asked me, "as we pass thru secondary gate to school and then come back from the primary gate, the pattern does look similar to Hindi's "ee " ki matraa.Arshi has been learning Hindi nowadays(of-course with lot of tears).I stopped for   a while  and yes , she was right.The pattern does look like what she had mentioned.You never know, when kids have their creative juices flowing- even when we are late and rushing to school so early in the morning.Toady I learnt another lesson from this little girl of mine-maybe if your child feels some subjects boring, we can use some practical examples,things around us and teach them.I know Hindi ever since I started going to School.But, I could never relate any alphabet to anything around me.

Singapore Memory Project

I have pledged my blog for the Singapore Memory Project.Have you?
If you wanna be part of this national initiative, do so.

http://www.iremember.sg/index.php/smp-blog-pledging-initiative-faq/

Why blog?

I have  been blogging for some time now  and I really feel it is  an interesting thing to do- to remember the little little things around  you and of course  record something important in Arshi's life.It  may seem like we remember everything in our life but when we rewind, we might have forgotten most of our live's cherished moments.So I have taken up blogging as  a   tool for this.This has not only helped me record my nice moments, but has also given confidence in myself.A tool to further improve my language skills.A sayings goes, you cannot achieve perfection if you have not practiced and tried it.I am new to blogging and still exploring the options available.We should never stop learning.You too can blog about your interests and share them with your friends. Happy blogging (if you  are already a blogger, and if not why don't you blog?)and  have  a great time till my next post.

Remembering old playgrounds of Singapore

Old is gold,and so are the playgrounds built more than 30 years.I came across these old playgrounds from some magazines and posts in facebook. I was very fascinated and liked to visit at-least a few with Arshi.So far have visited a few and would like to share them with you.All these playgrounds were visited by myself and Arshi over these 6 months.Planning to visit the rest in the days to come.My experiences of these playgrounds:

Dragon Playground(Blk 28,Toa Payoh Lorang 6):

Dragon playground is an old playground in Toa Payoh.When we had   an opportunity to visit Toa Payoh(almost 6 months back), I had almost forgot about this playground.But, I had seen this many times I have been to Mediacorp through bus.So I started to hunt for the playground from a few locals.But to my surprise, people have almost forgot what is in their locality.I was surprised that , I couldn't locate this playground.But, I didn't give up and somehow managed to find the playground and after dozens of enquiry and walking around Toa Payoh, I managed to get glimpse of this playground.It is   a  sand  filled playground which is  very rare in Singapore nowadays.Usually modern playgrounds are finished with rubber mats.I found the playground quite interesting as it had  a spiral walkway,concrete slide.Kids are sure to enjoy .Arshi had  a blast that day.

posing in the spiral

You can see small plastic rides as well

Toa payoh mini dragon playground:

I spotted this playground on my way in  a bus and quickly on my return journey hopped down to take a look at this playground.Another playground from the yesterdays.It was raining, but it didn't stop us from exploring.Maybe another day when it isn't raining, I should bring Arshi back to this playground to play.

if you can notice, the floor is covered with rubber mats

a small plastic ride for the toddlers

Modern playground next to an olden playground. Isn't
 it so different?

Even could spot a  fitness corner.

Clock playground:

Spotted in Boon Lay, Arshi had played in this playground a few times earlier,but, I had not taken pictures during my previous visits as I dint knew of its significance then.So, once when we were there some 4 months back, I took it an opportunity to be there.But to my dismay, it was being demolished.I took photograph of them and here they are for you.

Watermelon playground(Tampines Central Park):

I never knew,Tampines had an old playground until a  few months back.Since then I have  been wanting to take Arshi with me to that playground.This March holidays, we finally manged to go to that Tampines watermelon playground.It is a  playground having swing,concrete slide.I loved the design.

a peep from the glass structure

dual function for this rod.....swing,exercise kit.....hahha....

Very near to this , there are two  mangosteens connected by iron bars.They looked lovely in the same park.

What really mattered me was the interior which had some  scribbling by strangers.We should try to preserve our heritage and not damage them.

My search for the old playgrounds won't stop here.I will surely continue with my journey and take Arshi along to these playgrounds.Will blog about olden playgrounds if I chance to be some where near them and blog about my experience.

A tip:

So if you happen to be in a  neighborhood or planning to visit  a place, do know some of the interesting places and try to cover them during your visits. Who knows you maybe exploring some great places and they may be in your cherished memories forever.

Kindness-some lessons learnt

It's March holidays and we started the week long holidays with a visit to Smarts kids Asia.For a record, we were there for 2 days.Yeah, believe me.Friday,was there for almost 2 hours and then again on Sunday, was there for almost   a whole afternoon and evening.What really fascinated me most was Singapore Kindness Movement's Kindsville.It was a cute booth with Singa characters and most importantly, they had some important message for the kids- how to be gracious, considerate.

Arshi was all OK till yesterday where the magic of Singa and friends had set up in her.Yesterday I took her to Tampines Regional Library as there was a performance from TPSS students on respect.They were taught about the importance of giving respect through  2  short skits by students.After the show, the kids got  to make their own kindness card.Everything was going smooth.I was wondering if Arshi had become a good girl.After our return from temple yesterday night, she again saw the signs of being gracious in bus and she started to discuss about being kind and gracious  and the booths she saw in the fair.I was glad, she remembered them well.I was further teaching her the importance of being kind.But to my shock, she said a statement I couldn't accept.She said, it isn't practical to be kind all the time and if we are too kind and if  others are bullying or dominating you, the next time  you try to be kind, they will try to be more adamant in their stands.I knew Arshi is wrong.But , she was right .These days all kids are too smart.She was saying "You can't be kind all the time.No way." Again , after walking from the bus, she helped me take a small bag by carrying them.I forgot to say "Thank you".She was upset.I had  to tell her that while helping, you can't always expect to be thanked.But we need to continue  with our good deeds.She was refuting to that as well.Now  I knew, I should thank my little girl to motivate her in all the good deed she does and maybe act as her positive role model.Hope she will learn the importance of kindness one day-to be really kind and be really helpful to others without any expectation.As parents we should be considerate, gracious,helpful to influence our kids.

Gloobaloo

This March Holidays, we had a chance to see Gloobaloo , a local musical show produced by Big Boat Studios.Arshi was very fascinated to be part of being a great audience. Gloobaloo is  an alien.So isn't it just perfect -alien and musicals. Arshi loved them from the start. In fact , we had to skip her Hindi class for that  .But fret not,Arshi isn't feeling for that.It was worth getting up early in the morning and we had to hurry down to Kallang theater before 10 am.As we started  a little bit late from our house maybe around 9.00 am I was really afraid if we could reach Kallang on time.But anyhow after taking bus, then transferring to MRT, then changing to the circle line,we manged to reach there almost there on time.The lightings inside the theater was fantastic and all the three of us-Arshi and us enjoyed every segment.The screen was changing to the drama and we were glued to the screen.Though Gloobaloo was very new to us, we loved him very much.There were many interesting characters in his enchanted forest.We enjoyed seeing unicorn.It was my favorite  We were there for some familiar songs like "clap your hands" .The dancers were in full energy.The finale where the kids joined with the artist dancing to Gangnam style was very entertaining for the kids.Maybe if the kids had a chance to get them photographed with Gloobaloo and the cast, it would have been even more fantastic.We loved the show.

Self click

with dad

The stage being transforming to a forest.I loved the stage and the lighting's were fantastic.

Our favorite Unicorn,it came all the way down the stage
.

Hoho.....it's the fire dragon.....

the cute water dragon

posing with the cast

interior of kallang theater. Isn't it nice.For a moment, I felt like being  transformed to some palace.

On the whole  a great show for both children and parents.We had a  great Saturday morning .