Did you guys know some Popular Bookstores in Malaysia stock really extensive collections of Geronimo Stilton at significantly less than Hong Kong prices?
You’re Welcome.
(We especially love the Geronimo Stilton series, which Rockstar has finished at the moment – either via school library or his own collection – because some of the text is often in font that matches the meaning of the word, plus interspersed with little pictures and real facts…)
#382/ 40
Me: D’you know how Spiderman got his powers?
Rockstar: <not looking up> Got bitten by a spider.
Miss: <authoritatively> Wouldn’t it be funny if he got bitten by a fly and then he became Fly Man?
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At mealtime, watching me put some egg in Rockstar’s bowl…
Miss: I want some… (I put some egg in her bowl) ……..squid. There’s the squid, Mum-may.
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And words of wisdom to start the week…
Miss: No one can really fart balloons.
Things that make ya go “Hmmmm.”
The rockstars recently researched (fine, Googled) that Methane however, really is flammable. May you find joy and discovery in the most mundane (possibly gross) things life brings you this week 🙂
One fine day of play…
This is Rockstar, playing at “The Force” with the Miss. This is a game they invented, that involves The Miss flinging him about various trampolines by using The Force. Both of them found this hilarious.
Not so hilarious: When The Miss then tried to apply The Force to the line of kids ahead of her, queueing to have a go on one of the other attractions. She was not amused (or quiet about it), when she couldn’t move the line.
The rockstars are no longer allowed to play The Force for fear of the lure to the Dark Side.
Epilogue:
And so this blur is Rockstar. Note foam cubes still floating in mid-air a la The Matrix, from his “takeoff”. And this the landing:
(No we didn’t send him for erm, lessons 😀 He started doing this on his own about 6 months ago. Life’s a blast, when it’s not a brush with sheer ice-cold terror)
#381/ #39
One day, people watching…..
Rockstar: Mum. That looks like that girl from … who was mean to Miss… remember the girl…. <trails off>
Me: <glance over to confirm we’ve probably never seen her before> Dude I doubt it (Rockstar raises his eyebrows) – you don’t remember –
Rockstar: Oh. Yeah.
Me: – don’t remember girls –
Rockstar: Yeah.
Me: – because you never really –
Rockstar: Yeah.
Me: You don’t look at girls.
Rockstar: Yeah. Yeah.
Me: And there’s a high chance –
Rockstar: They all look the same. Yeah. Probably. Never seen her before.
Me: Yeah.
Rockstar: Forget I said anything.
Me: Yeah.
Miss: <pipes up loudly> This- this girl was mean to me.
Me: What? But –
Rockstar: You’ve never seen her before.
Miss: No, no I haven’t. But she was mean to me <pouts>.
<pause>
Rockstar: <roars with laughter>
(Miss can’t keep a straight face for very long either)
Things That Make Ya Go “Hmmmmm…”
Fine – better, but erm, uncharacteristic 😀
#38
Also an indication how times are changing, our kids’ generation…
Miss: I’m brave like dinosaurs.
Rockstar: <??> As I was saying –
Miss: You were not saying.
Me: (to Miss) Uh.. I guess that was quite brave?
Miss: <authoritatively> God makes me brave.
Me: Oh. How does He make you brave?
Miss: <confidently> He sent me a Brave App.
Me: ?! Like on an iPhone??
Miss: <nodding convincingly> Yes. I saw it. On my (little purple bling-y toy) phone.
Random pic of her on school run NOT looking at the camera. Again.
ps: She pretends random animals call her on her phone also… Including a koi fish she “met” in Margaret River…
Hi.
This is a “ProBot,” Rockstar informs me authoritatively when I come back from Kennedy School Maths workshop and forget what the thing is. Short for Programming Robot. You stick a pen in the middle and “program” the thing to draw stuff. One Easter Break Rockstar did an external kiddie coding course that involved Scratch, the MIT-developed early programming language, and I have to say the ProBot steps are pretty similar. Just that one is on a screen and one is with this chunky large yellow taxi thing.
Wanna Math n Code? (note screen instructions)
In earlier years volunteering I remember sessions of mixed activities where large, wheeled “bumblebees” travelled along town maps, visiting the post office or mall, based on coordinates the kids work out and key in.
Beebot pic from tts.co.uk
But back to the ProBots. Your kids probably won’t find it as hard as you do, to figure out how these things work. To make the thing draw something like say, a hexagon, you need to work out the angle to tell that car to turn, and the length of each side. When the teacher really wants to spice things up, work groups get asked to draw say, a car.
It’s still early days for Rockstar in Year 4 (the packed hall – there must have been several hundred parents there with no seats to spare because Math – has a general information session before splitting into Y1-3 and Y4-6 classrooms of parents), but Rockstar already knew how they worked from watching the older kids during break in the school playground. That’s right, break. Not class. Some of us must be so turned on right now. Kids Learn Math From Older Kids At Break! They Don’t Actually Get Breaks! Thassa Whole Extra Hour Of Math Practice! Yaaay! Well in the packed hall of eager parents they mention that the most effective way for kids to flesh out their understandings is by teaching each other.
Which is just great, because when I hear “How many triangles can be found when diagonals are drawn from 1 vertex of a polygon to all non-adjacent vertices” I’m like, Isn’t This An English Medium School…. “…..children’s books can be effective vehicles for motivating children to think and reason mathematically…” Ok, better.
We’re treated to a reading of The Greedy Triangle, which I’d never heard of until now, recommended to us for its erm, non-threatening math stories, because of course math and early programming shalt be learnt at break, and little kiddie math stories shalt be read out with a ring of Burns or Blake.
Sponge Bob’s smarter cousin. (pic from books.google.com)
Oh, and just in case you were a little worried…
There’s “actual” math too 😛
Blurry because it’s zoomed in quite a bit – I was right in back.
So we’ve got the toys. Anyone can go buy the toys. Google reviews, scour recall sites (:D) read the instructions. There’s all the known shortcuts, too.
What d’you need a school and teachers for?
Because there is no amount of technology that can replace a human element to kids’ learning, which I think is crucial.
Early on in the packed hall, a number line goes up onscreen. It’s “just” a set of pretty much random numbers – for e.g., 3, 5, 7, 4, 13, 9…… Above the numbers, a rule. Say, “+10”.
The teacher making the presentation starts to clap. One clap. Two. On the third, and following the rhythm of the first two claps, we add 10 to each of the numbers and call out our answers. 13. 15. 17. 14. 23. 19….. That’s how they do mental arithmetic drills. Simple, yet so effective. They can vary speed, give harder or easier rules based on where the kids are at – “+1” or “x7+2″……
We are told that the teacher never calls out the answer in this one. Because the kids quickly learn to lip-read, not do mental math 😀 Instead, as the kids chant out their answers, the teachers are looking at each child’s face, making a mental note of which kids are struggling, which are finding it easy… Whether some kids help each other enough, help each other too much.. whether that’s effective learning for both kids or not…..
For several years now, Rockstar has come home and mentioned groupings. Sometimes the work groups stay the same, sometimes it seems like the immediate group changes frequently, but always, there is this attention to the groups. I think they must monitor the chemistry and the progress constantly. When kids learn/ teach each other/ flesh out their own understanding, it’s nice to know there’s a qualified adult out there who is refereeing monitoring their progress.
You could go into Tony Stark/ Age Of Ultron territory with the artificial intelligence and voice inflection recognition and facial expression analysis and what-not, or you could pay an investment bank salary to attract the absolute best professionally qualified and dedicated humans to take care of – not your investments, not your money – your kids.
In closing, we are reminded: Don’t say “I’ve never been good at math either,” don’t put it in kids’ heads that it’s ok not to be good at it cos you’re not good at it (though of course it’s true haha)… Chances are it wouldn’t even occur to them.. “We never say ‘I’ve never been good at reading,’ right?” Why do some of us still say that about math…?
The ends.
Epilogue: Sure, you don’t want someone who hates kids handling your kids just for the big salary, but you probably don’t want to lose someone who otherwise loves kids and would’ve nurtured and inspired them to instead be <cringe> an investment banker haha. Melodramatic in this part of the world maybe, but in say, some public schools in the States where kids and teachers alike more frequently drop out, certain big rich hairdos could erm, throw a big amount of money at the problem? 😀
For real though, my mum remained a public school teacher her entire secondary school teaching career. I’d never seen her as motivated as when she landed in a public school in a poor, rough neighbourhood. For some time she gave free English lessons to anyone who wanted or could stay back for them (lotsa kids helped in their parents’ hawker stalls or were tired from pasar malam work). Then one day, she got a “new second hand” car and proudly drove it to school for the first time. It got carved up before noon.
Her students eventually dragged the culprit to her desk, a boy she had never seen before, who plaintively said “It was just so nice and new! I would never have touched it if I’d known it was yours.” My mum sold the car anyway, and after her batch of students graduated, she got a transfer. My point in that whole convoluted story was, sometimes teaching, being nurturing all the time to a big bunch of growing kids, can be challenging despite the absolute best of intentions. (Like, I love my kids, but sometimes I still feel like locking them in a soundproof cabinet or popping them with a tranquilliser gun like what you see on African Safari tv with the lions and rhinos – and they’re my OWN kids. NEVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE THIS OK, save yourself the call to child services. I’m just sayin’.) My point is, it’s not easy to handle the ever growing needs and changing personalities of the kids. Adding to it by erm, unnecessary or excessive complaints about school expenses and salaries doesn’t help… (For one, you’re more likely to lose the best staff first, the ones who can find jobs elsewhere faster.)
Ok change subject. No one cares what I write anyway, we want pictures of the kids!
So here’s Xena Warrior Princess
About the only time these two are going to appear similar…
Twins! (This only lasts for a few minutes though)
The Miss btw is wearing one of Rockstar’s old coats in the picture. She loves taking over his hand-me-downs – because she thinks she completely turns them into her own look. As in, This Was Ko-ko’s ‘Boy Coat’. Now It’s Mine It Doesn’t Look Like Anything Ko-ko Wears Anymore.
Usually, this is more what they’re like.
Rockstar will be carrying everything and waiting for his sister with slightly exasperated expression because, in the words of our too-serious 8 year old, she is “Going Mental.”
A post about seeing things through new eyes…
The Miss’ Kindy had a field trip to watch 3 Little Pigs at the HK Theatre of Performing Arts recently. The Miss’ first reaction was “How come they get to wiggle their butts?” To which her teacher replied, “Because they’re pigs” 😀 (Seriously though, I’d been struggling with the Miss’ whole tail-wiggling thing because to everyone else she doesn’t have a fluffy, curly or waggly racoon/siamese cat/porker/labrador tail to vigorously wave about, so…….. No I Will Not Be Typing That Which Miley Cyrus Is Infamous For In A Post Where My Daughter Is Concerned.)
This is the Miss with morning and afternoon session classmates even as their teacher keeps them busy (and from wandering off) before the show starts with several sit-down-stand-up numbers
Now, the rockstars’ ESF Kindy especially likes to organise theatre trips, after reading the corresponding stories out to them, and here and there we would hear stories from both kids about acting out the various roles in class.
(Back in Kindy Rockstar’s first theatre trip btw was Stick Man, but it was Snow Dragon Sometimes Wolves You Meet Are Not Wolves (fine that was my old blog post which elicited a response by the show’s UK director/producer in the Comments section – the actual play is Snow Dragon) that we really got the most out of, way back then..)
But back to Pigs. The story line was never one of my favourites, but this theatre production is something else – if you have not see Stiles and Drewes’ Three Little Pigs, then you haven’t seen what music and dance can do to the grossest simplest of ideas. It’s a lot easier to make erm, princesses appealing. This trailer doesn’t do it justice, there is actually a lot more dancing than this, but anyways see if you notice anything else in particular:
Yup, the Wolf. Big Bad Wolf issa rockstar. Or buaya 😀 . These people just have wayyyyy too much fun with this thing, especially the wolf. Don’t get me started how many little kids gave the pigs up to the big bad wolf “There!! There’s a little piggie theeeeeere!!”
Eat The Fat Porker, You Supercool Wolf. Who does your wardrobe?
The Miss was dubious about his intelligence, “Why can’t he find the pigs, they’re right there?” but decided his wardrobe made up for it. Whispered approvingly, “I like his jacket!” (She has very strong feelings about her outfits)
pic from officiallondontheatre.co.uk
For real though, the very charismatic wolf does some serious flirting with the audience. The Kindy doesn’t advise you to bring siblings under 2, and sure there was a smattering of one or two tears among the young audience when the theatre dramatisation got a little loud, but the real crying was when the wolf fell in the pot and quietly went under, because some of the kids felt sorry for him 😀
The Miss didn’t see it that way.
Shortly after, at curtain call, the Big Bad Wolf makes a reappearance for a prolonged closing song and dance, to which the Miss concludes authoritatively ……………………………………..
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“After he fell in the pot, he came out nice.”
This Wolf Dances With Pigs, now -pic from Gettyimages.com
And so it was a very happy ending.
Social media and cyberspace are responsible for so much – for providing us with a ton of information and education……. In a world of double-edged swords (cuts both ways) however, the information bombardment both enhances as well as skews what we see.
A reminder, this week, of how much our prior knowledge and expectations can affect how we view things.
ps: Oh, and I much prefer the ending where Wolf gets Cooking Pot Lobotomy and is now Vegetarian.
#380
Sometimes you know they have you on the ropes…
So the Miss likes to do “online math practice” which is really super simple pre-school stuff, when she sees Rockstar on his laptop… I walk by this one time and she’s “counting” one dot on the screen, and so…
Me: Erm, you don’t think you want to do something a little more challenging?
Miss: <conversationally> Why?
Me: W-ell, you’ve done the same really easy ones a gadzillion times. Not to mention you could do that one in your sleep.
Miss: I like it.
Me: (walking into kitchen) Fine, I was just asking…
Miss: Why?
Me: Thought you might be bored and want to try something new. Something more challenging…
Miss: Why, Mum-may?
Me: Well, sometimes if you push yourself a bit, like when you’re climbing uphill, when you manage to achieve it it feels really good. You’d look back down and say “Wow, I did all that,” it feels –
Rockstar: <barks> Ay. You want to be stupid or smart ah? Ha? Ha?
Me: Wh –
Miss: <appears to be seriously considering>
Rockstar: You. Do this kind of exercises all the time then how to be smart ah? Ha?
Me: <splutters> Firstly –
Rockstar: No, Mum, wait, I got this. <To Miss> So? Smart or stoo-pid?
Me: First of all, WHERE is that accent coming from?
Rockstar: Whart.
Miss: Ko-ko, you are stupid.
Rockstar: <barks> MUM!!
Me: Um… um… Miss, you’re not supposed to call people “stupid”.
Miss: Then what do I call them when they’re being stupid?
Sometimes…. its… a balance?
In honour of the recent Book Week in school, Rockstar thought a little more contemplation was in order…
Rockstar is reading “Does My Goldfish Know Who I Am?” It’s got NO pictures, but each article is actually only 1-2 pages long while appearing decidedly… chim (“deep”). A great start to small print novels (and goldfish actually don’t have 3-second memories btw.)
(And I don’t know what these two thought they were doing, but they wanted a picture of it…)
