This was a surprise to me when C told me.

She showed me her attempts at Chinese calligraphy. 

I don't know that C would be exposed to this in school but I am not complaining. Writing these characters take skill and a lot of patience. It is definitely not an easy feat. 

The other member of our family who does a pretty good job at these characters is Aunt Di. She used to write them when she was younger too. I recall Aunt Di being in a calligraphy writing competition in her primary school and she had left out her name on the script that she submitted. She wrote the number "8" on the script and when the teacher gave out prizes to the winners, he had to announce for number "8" to go up for her prize. 

As for C, she still has a long way to go before she comes even close to entering calligraphy writing competitions but she is not reluctant to pick up this new skill and despite her rather messy writing some times, she managed to keep her writing paper clean. I really do hope to see improvement in her penmanship. :)

C is expected to write compositions and chinese compos at Primary 2 and these though Daddy and I could converse in Mandarin, writing those characters can prove tricky for us. While she did her homework, she would ask if we could help her with this word and that and I had to admit, there were times where I had to stop and think for a good 3-minute before the word came to me. A product of having not used the language as frequently as we should.

Though a simple piece, C took a while to complete because she was always coming up with complex sentences. Hence Daddy and I decided that she should get a little help:

:)

As for English, C is alright. :)

Weekly 听写 and we are glad that C has no problems. Our initial fear was that the hanyu pinying would be an issue but I guess our fears were unfounded.

Good job! C particularly adores the cute stamp her teacher puts on her assignment. :)

Writing in mandarin is definitely not something C does frequently but she has ideas. :)

She deliberated over what to write when she received her assignment over the March holidays. 

The other on-going assignment: reading. She has been diligently filling the log after each book she reads. She was most happy when she received many books for her birthday because she said, "Now, I can definitely fill up the entire log." Haha. Well, her filling up her log is really secondary because it's the love for reading and books that we want her to cultivate. :)

I guess there is a first for everything. I bought her these:

Nope, not that Precious needs them. Though she is in Primary 1, homework from school isn't a problem and she is able to complete them. However there are evenings where there aren't any homework and she would be bored so these assessment books are really to keep her occupied. :)

I am not about to 'complain' to the School about this 'lack of homework' thing because honestly I am pretty happy the way things are. C can't be working on her Math workbooks so it's best she has extras to do.

Why only Math and Mandarin? She adores her 好朋友 and would do all the exercises in them though she is only required to finish some. This evening, she did a total of 10 pages worth and would have continued had I not stopped her.

As for English,

she takes initiative and has started a journal somewhat. She is always with a note pad and scribbling things or sketching. She recently did an article on 'My Heroine' and she wrote about another one of her favorite teachers, completely different from the one she submitted. :) I guess I don't have to worry about English then. :)

For Primary 1, there aren't major examinations but there are what the School calls "Mid Point Checks". They are really more like tests as the school term progresses.

C is on the Stellar Programme for English and this is the programme that all primary school children have to go through. 

For Math, there are more practices on Number Bonds and of course, simple problem solving sums. 

For Mandarin, C does her 好朋友. She traces characters and answers questions on 汉语拼音. There are a lot of matching exercises and she likes working on those exercises. Her teacher will note down several pages that she has to complete as homework but Precious has this habit of finishing all the writing exercises in the subscription. 

So far, we have been heartened that Precious enjoys school. She loves her classmates and her teachers. She has been able to make good friends. She has no issues with homework and for subjects like Math and Chinese, she has also been appointed the class representative. 

Precious did a fair bit of work this evening. She started out with her revision for English Spelling and then went on to practise her Math.

They were simple pattern recognition about addition and subtraction.

Then she went on to complete her Chinese homework.


After the serious work, she spent some time playing with her play-doh. :) Soon, it will be story-reading time and she would call it a night.

This term, C learned about the different races and their cultures and she also returned with a reader.

She was really excited and wanted to read it to me before bedtime.



Although she still isn't very accurate with the pronunciation with some characters, I believe she will in time. :)

Cheryl's weekly homework included English, Mathematics, Spelling and Ting Xie.

Besides this, Ms Novelle writes me an update of what has happened in class and gives an account of what has been taught. In addition, C's progress is also noted. I learned that C is now doing Adverbs.

Then I saw the homework that she had to complete this week. I was surprised that at her level, she has been taught to identify Adverbs of Place, Time and Manner. Well, surprised because I teach these to pupils in secondary school, that's why. Hahaha! But if children can manage, then why not? Age should not be a barrier for learning. :)

Mathematics is also more complex now as she has to figure out the answer now that word problems are asked. 

As for Mandarin, she has been taught different occupations. There is also exposure to hanyu ping ying and I must say, she is doing well. C doesn't have much of a problem blending the sounds for these sounds in Mandarin.

Every once in a while, C returns with a Reader and she always enthusiastically reads to me. She was given this Reader last week and since then, reading it has become a nightly affair. Though she isn't very accurate with the pronunciation with some of the characters, she remains undaunted. :)



That's the kind of spirit and attitude we want her to cultivate towards her learning and studies: to never give up and never give in.

Daddy and I made a pact with each other and decided that for C would receive a reward each time she accomplished a milestone. This month alone, she had 2 major "exams"; one being her ballet exam and the other her swimming test.

So after her ballet exam, Daddy brought Precious shopping for a gift. She picked out this Hello Kitty play house and I only realised much later that Daddy and Daughter had a "big" plan. He said that I like Hello Kitty and hence it would be Cheryl and my toy: read: I will be the one to play with her.

Then on Saturday, we bought an assessment cum activity book for her for clearing her swimming stage.

Hahaha! Yes, an assessment book (like kiasu parents) and we had it nicely wrapped up too. Nevertheless, C was thrilled to receive another present. This evening, she happily did the first exercise; Spelling and we proceeded to do some revision on Math. Cheryl even got Daddy to mark her work after she finished the sums.

This exercise is planned for tomorrow. 

My mobile was ringing almost every 15 minutes because Daddy and I had told her that she would not be watching that much television in the afternoon. She kept calling after each task I set her out to do and this evening, she instructed me to set her more work for the next day. 

So there you have it:  tasks to be completed on Tuesday

1) Practise her piano piece for her upcoming concert in May

2) Revise Math

3) Spelling

4) 听写

C's regular work in Josiah.

For Mandarin, there is definitely more writing exercises. 

Math exercises. C has been working on more problem sums.

And for English, more exercises and practices on "verbs"- past tense for plural and singular nouns.