Go Green Holiday Workshop

Together with Da Vinci Kids, we held an inaugural Go Green Holiday Workshop in the month of December. The workshop is purposed with the following learning outcomes:

• Children will reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• Children will love the Earth.
• Children will be responsible for their actions.
• Children will do their part for the greater good.

Here is a snapshot of the five-day holiday programme.

On the first day, children learnt about their Earth through picture books and interesting videos. They were challenged to imagine what Earth would be like in one hundred years. They came up with interesting ideas like: If you litter the earth, aliens will come, Earth is like a space ship, people will live in the side, with homes made of ladders. One says, “If you don’t take care of Earth, rocks will fall into Earth.” We were most impressed with their unusual creative ideas.

On days two, three and four, the children made a book about the 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle) and created interesting crafts using recycled materials. Children also learnt to value their environment and the resources available. On the last day, the learning centre was messed up with cans, bottles, magazines, papers, glass bottles. Children role-played the 3R bins. They had fun sorting out the materials, cleaning up the centre, (which was Earth) and playing an active role to make Earth well again.

Leaders of tomorrow, let’s bring the message to others and make a difference!

Go Green Holiday Workshop

Goldilocks And The Three Bears

“Goldilocks and The Three Bears” is a classic children’s story. The story has various interpretations and has been adapted into board games, films, operas, and other media. “Goldilocks and The Three Bears” is an all-time favourite and one of the most popular fairy tales in the English language up till today. We realised this when the children enjoyed themselves so much when they role played the story four to five times during our Speech and Drama session last Friday, 26 November 2010. There is a bountiful of values that the children can learn from it. In “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, leadership skills such as obedience, love, care, self-control, respect, cleanliness, discipline, patience, responsibility, orderliness, contentment, forgiveness, gratefulness, and communication can be reinforced too. What a wonderful story it is, indeed!

Goldilocks And The Three Bears

Graduation Day 2010

The Amazing Leaders graduate! You run the race excellently. We are very proud of every single one of you. In Amazing Kids, every child graduates every year. NO ONE is left behind. We believe in embracing the love of learning and celebrating the uniqueness of every child. Therefore, each individual’s effort deserves acknowledgement. May you continue to be an Amazing Leader in the near future! Thank you, dear parents for placing your trust in us and giving us the honour to nurture your children.

Graduation Day 2010

Be Creative

Creative means having the quality or power of creating. Every individual is creative in his/her own way. It means being original. You produce high quality and genuinely significant ideas or products. It is extremely crucial in fostering children’s creativity. According to UNESCO, “the encouragement of creativity from an early age is one of the best guarantees of growth in a healthy environment of self-esteem and mutual respect — critical ingredients for building a culture of peace.” In the activity above, the children are challenged to use their creative minds to find a creative way to solve the puzzle. Each of them gave their best. Finally, they managed. But how did they do it? We said and asked, “You did it. Can you tell us your secret?” A child responded creatively, “Because we worked together as a team!” How wonderful is that? It is an epic moment to be remembered.

Be Creative

Be Curious

Be curious. That’s the leadership skill of the month. Being curious means eager to learn or know. A child’s curious nature is a quality shared with geniuses, pioneers, and all great creative people to some degree. Being curious has great benefits in propelling young children and even adults to understand themselves, others, and their surroundings well. In the activity above, the children obtain new knowledge about their friends. First, they drew lots from a pouch with a friend’s name on it. Then, they have to think of an intelligent question to ask that particular friend. For example, “Why are you so cute?” The friend too has to answer the question with an intelligent answer. For example, “Because I’m special!” They children did so well. We are very proud of them. Well done, Amazing Leaders!

Be Curious

OPEN DAY

Parents' Voice: Alif's parents (May)

"For a kid who has learning difficulty like Alif, the most important thing for me as a mother is that he is happy and is improving himself at his own pace.Since joining Amazing Kids, Alif has become such a happy boy and he is always looking forward to come to class.It's good to know that Alif participates and enjoys the activities at the Amazing Kids.Before that, he used to have a very low self-esteem attitude. Now he is much more confident with people around him.He improves a lot on his vocabularies and is good in making gestures such as when trying to be apologized.I hope as he is getting older, he can read and write like other kids.The most important thing is that he is improving." Alif's parents

Parents' Voice: Imran's parents (May 2010)

"Imran shows his development in comparing the words he learnt, for example mountain. So I will tell him similar word to mountain which is hill. Then I will ask him which is which." - Imran's parents

Parents' Voice: Nadzim's parents (May)

"Congratulations Nadzim! Be a nice boy! Keep it up!"- Nadzim's parents

Parents' Voice: Zara's parents (May)

"Zara shows dramatically changes when she asks for something.Even when she asks her grandfather, she uses polite words in English. Zara shows confidence when she is speaking in English."- Zara's parents

Parents' Voice: Adam's parents (May)

"We bought a box for Adam's toys.Now he cleans up all his toys when he's done playing!Yeah!Less mess for me!hehehe!During the two weeks holidays, Adam was excited to go to school!Every day he wakes up,"mummy,teacher's house."He looks out the window pointing to the shop lots outside"mummy,teacher's house." I think he miss you guys!"- Adam's parents

Parents' Voice: Ashley's parents (May)

"Ashley really enjoys herself in school.Even at home or outside, she is quite persistent and does want to do things her way.Thank you Amazing Kids for the wonderful work you have done to out Ashley!"- Ashley's parents

Parents' Voice: Yusof's parents (May)

"We have followed Yusof's progress with enthusiasm as Yusof has certainly developed his reasoning and logic skills well.We are happy to see this development and hope Yusof would grow up using these skills and able to express his views to peers, family members and people around him with confidence."- Yusof's parents

Parents' Voice: Zara's parents (April)

"Zara keeps updating her father about what she did in Amazing Kids.She is improving her skill of presenting the knowledge or views."- Zara's parents

Parents' Voice: Ashley's parents (April)

"Ashley loves her school and her teachers.She can remember the words of the songs she learnt in Amazing Kids and that is quite amazing for a girl who is barely 3 years old.Thank you teacher DJ and Christine for making Ashley's first experience in schooling so pleasant and happy!"- Ashley's parents

Parents' Voice: Emmilia's parents (April)

"Emmilia cant wait for the speech and drama class every friday.She is really interested in participating the SPA class and every time she goes home,she will talk about what character she acted in the SPA class with her other siblings."- Emmilia's parents

Parents' Voice: Nadzim's parents (April)

"Dear teacher,
Wonderful!!
This activity can help Nadzim to be a good person.I believe that he will be a good person and love his parents, teachers andd friends.
Thank You."- Nadzim's parents

Parents' Voice: Alesya's parents (April)

"I will encourage Alesya to be more disciplined at home when she speaks.Thank you."- Alesya's parents

Parents' Voice:Adam's parents (April)

" Ever since Adam starts going to Amazing Kids, he cant wait to go to the teachers house(Amazing Kids) everyday even on weekends.Now he knows how to close the fridge gently!"- Adam's parents

Parents' Voice: Imran's parents (April)

"Imran shows his passion about going to school.Even he had eye sore last few weeks, he was very eager to go to school when he said,"I can wear a sunglass and the virus wont spread to my friends."- Imran's parents

Parents' Voice: Alif's parents (April)

"Amazing progress from our observations:He was being so helpful with everything from vacuuming the house to washing the dishes.He wants to do it himself.One thing that we notice is that his appetite on every meal.It is a very good thing that he refuses bottled milk.Instead, he really enjoys all his meals.He was not like this before.His conversation is getting better.It seems that he is picking up new words everyday.I was really surprised when he said the word "please".Keep up the good work teachers...." Alif's parents

Parents' Voice: Yusof's parents (April)

"A lot of people say that Yusof is an active child.However, sometimes he is a little bit shy to try out new things especially he has to do it in front of other people.We have noticed that Yusof has regained his self confidence and able to interact well with his peers and people around him.We hope that Yusof will develop his skill of public speaking at an early stage.Thanks Teacher DJ and Christine."- Yusof's parents

Give Us A Break!

Phew!! After learning much, our teachers rewarded us with an exciting day of celebration. We had cakes, balloons, and music. We ate, sang, danced, and did many other fun activities together. Each of us had a balloon to take home too. We were delighted. We love to be in Amazing Kids everyday.

Peer Learning

I don’t always need to work alone when I am in Amazing Kids. Sometimes, we work together in pairs or even in groups. I learn from my friends and they learn from me as well. This gives me a wider perspective and solutions to everything I do in Amazing Kids. I can apply it in my daily living too. Peer learning makes me happy. It is so much fun!

We Did It!

Yay! We did it! Our teachers and friends in Amazing Kids always encourage us to complete our tasks. Even during challenging moments, we are taught to use our creative minds to solve the issue at hand. Be it individually or together, we can do it if we continue to persevere and give our best. We are Amazing Leaders after all!

Amazing Kids Is My Second Home

Amazing Kids is my second home. My parents always wish for Fridays to come but I can’t wait for Mondays! I am loved and accepted here by my teachers and friends just the way I am. My skin colour doesn’t matter at all. I can be myself when I am in Amazing Kids. I enjoy every bit of my time here. Come and join me in Amazing Kids. You’ll love it here too.

Give Us A Break

Amazing Kids Is My Second Home

Peer Learning

We Did It!

Parents' Voice (March) : Yusof's father

"I kind of agree that Yusof is very imaginative and creative.He likes to explore things around him and that makes him to learn as well.I appreciate all the effort to encourage and assist him to explore his creative side.Thanks Teacher DJ and Christine."- Yusof's father

Parents' Voice (March) :Alif's mother

"Alif is much more obedient and he is listening to the instructions given better.He seems much more happier now." -Alif's mother

Parents' Voice (March) : Emmilia's mother

"She is having fun in school with her teachers and classmates.Maybe she should consider extending the time of the school by 1 hour to include academic subjects.Reasonable extra charging fees is ok with me.(I guess most parents also)" - Emmilia's mother

Parents' Voice (March) : Nadzim's parents

"Nadzim learns a lot of things in Amazing class.He likes to tell about what is happening everyday in his class.He also likes to ask the meaning of the words that he doesn't understand.Teachers, please guide Nadzim to be more confident.Thank you." -Nadzim's parents

Parents' Voice (March) : Zara's parents

"Coincidentally Zara shows her caring to her new-born sister lately.She always acting like she is the big sister to the baby.We are very happy that she can adapt the environment of her home and school." -Zara's parents

p/s: Zara starts to tidy up the house even the toys are his brother's

Parents' Voice (March) : Nadya's father

"DJ, you know what's inside.Informed u the details.We are happy as Nadya is happy.Thank you." - Nadya's father

Parents' Voice (March) : Imran's father

"Imran reminds me of my childhood and I am laughing out loud when I see this.Like father like son." - Imran's father

Parents' Voice (February) : Alesya's father

" Thanks to the teachers who guides her to be such a wonderful child." -Alesya's mother

Parents' Voice (February) : Imran's parents

"At home, Imran always lost his focus to learn. We observe that he likes to learn in a group environment rather than learning alone. We are very happy when Amazing Kids introduces the leadership program since Imran is our first son." -Imran's parents

Parents' Voice (February) : Zara's parents

" Zara is depending to his brother, Imran when learning at home. She always asks her brother about her books.Yet, Zara shows improvement when speaking in English. Perhaps she can improve in public speaking in English since she talks a lot in BM." - Zara's parents

Parents' Voice (February) : Nadya's father

"Great and good achievement. The best part is that Nadya is enjoying her "school" and always looks forward to go. We are happy and satisfied. Nadya sings songs and is now teaching her "bibit"(maid) to speak English too." - Nadya's father

Parents' Voice (February) : Daniel's father

"Daniel's progress with Amazing Kids is simply AMAZING :-
1. He participates actively in our bedtime stories reading.
2. He is happy to wake up to "school"(school=amazing kids) and actually volunteers to sleep early and asks to go to school when he wakes up.
3. He is more obedient and takes instructions positively. He enjoys responsibility; for example, he looks after his egg in his pocket whole day and after school.
Thank you DJ and Christine"  - Daniel's Father

Parents' Voice (February) : Yusof's parents

"It is glad to know that Yusof has shown impressive progress. We hope that he will learn more and able to speak , read and write in English.Thanks Teacher DJ and Teacher Christine." - Yusof's parents

Parents' Voice (February) : Emmilia's mother

" Thank you very much to the teachers of Amazing kids for teaching her." -Emmilia's mother

Parents' Voice (January) : Emmilia's mother

" I am happy that Emmilia has improved a lot. Everyday she really cant wait to go to school even during holiday. Thank you teachers for making the school an interesting place for my kids." - Emmilia's mother

Parents' Voice (January) : Nadya's father

" We are definitely glad to see Nadya's joyful smile while drawing circles. Thank you for guiding. We hope that Amazing Kids will excel and progress fast. Thanks again." - Nadya's father

Parents' Voice (January) : Imran's parents

" Imran has developed his social skill very well. Even though he speaks BM at home, we can know that he is translating English to BM which he learns from Amazing Kids as his BM sounds weird when speaking." -Imran's parents

Parents' Voice (January) : Zara's parents

"Zara learns new things very well. She is interested to learn alphabets and tries to write with her hand in the air." -Zara's parents

Parents' Voice (January) : Alif's mother

"Alif seems to love and enjoy going to Amazing Kids. He looks more confident when interacting with other children." -Alif's mother

Parents' Voice (January) : Alesya's mother

"I am happy and proud for Alesya's creativity. Alesya told me that she enjoys doing activities especially singing in the school. Teachers, thank you for helping Alesya." -Alesya's mother

Why Is Play Important?

Play is essential for the children’s growth and development. According to the guidelines from the Association for Childhood Education International and the National Association for the Education for Young Children, play:

• Enables children to make sense of their world.
• Develops social and cultural understandings.
• Allows children to express their thoughts and feelings.
• Fosters flexible and divergent thinking.
• Provides opportunities to meet and solve real problems.
• Develops language and literacy skills and concepts.

Based on these rationale, play is central to the children’s learning in Amazing Kids. In the following photos, consider how play contributes to children’s cognitive, social-emotional, physical, language development. Do you notice the smiles on their faces when they play?

We Like To Play

Parents' Voice (January) : Daniel's father

"Daniel went to a few children enrichment programs but Amazing Kids is Daniel's favourite place where he looks forward to come to the centre. We have no problem at all to go to the centre. He learns to read quickly and start recognizing connective words like "the", "and", "in" and others. He is really happy, thank you and do lengthen your centre hours." -Daniel's father

My Little Penguin

Fun With Puppets

Benefits of Puppet Play

Puppets really engage and delight children. Watching them is in itself a form of art therapy for the audience. In some parts of the world, performances contain a moral message and are watched with deep reverence. Puppet play helps one to achieve greater harmony between the mind, body, and spirit. Of course, the activity has an educational aspect too. Children are often fascinated by puppets and interact strongly with them, which can lead to an overcoming of shyness and fear and greater use of speech. The interaction also encourages concentration and use of the imagination. Psychologists use puppets to help traumatised and abused children to express their feelings. This activity is able to reach deeper, unspoken levels in relationships with others. Sessions can become a form of deeply loving and healing communication. The making and operating of puppets can be a form of serious, carefully thought-out or joyfully spontaneous activity. This also greatly encourages creativity in children.

Yusof's Birthday

It was a day of fun and surprise for the children when Yusof's parents showed up with party hats and chocolates on Yusof's birthday. Yusof turned five in June 2010, and our birthday boy beamed with joy as he marvelled at his birthday present - Woody from Toy Story 3. Thank you daddy and mummy for your generosity and love for the children!

Be Kind To Yourself

This week, the children learn to be kind to themselves. We use an activity to impart this leadership skill of "Kindness" to the children. Assortments of objects like baby cream, a nail cutter, a bottle of powder, sun block, sunglasses, cotton bud, a bar of soap, handgloves, socks, and etc. were placed in a pouch. Children took turns to take an object from the pouch and they were to share with others how they could use it to be kind to their bodies. For example, if a child took the bottle of baby cream, the teacher asked, "How can we be kind to our body? How can we use the baby cream to care for our body?" The child replied, "When our hands are dry, we can use the baby cream to keep our hands moist." Children came up with various responses and it had been a fun learning experience for everyone.

Be Kind To Yourself

A Birthday Celebration

Our Amazing Kid, Adam turned three last Friday and he celebrated his birthday with his friends in school. The children enjoyed some nuggets and chips, a generous contribution by Adam's family.

A Creative Language Game

Learning can be fun and creative! This week, the children were challenged in a creative language game where they had to use their creative minds to recall the phonic words they have learnt. Children first had to wait for their turn to roll a die and moved their token. If the token lands on the letter 'a', the child has to say a word that begins with letter 'a', for example, the word 'apple'. Many skills are incorporated into this easy-to-play language game, like: patience, memory skills, letter recognition and listening skills. Try a creative language game with your children at home, to stimulate their learning interest.

A Creative Language Game

Juice-Making

Assortments of fresh fruits like oranges, watermelon, apples, pineappples and guavas were brought to Amazing Kids for the children to feel, touch and taste. Today is a day for the children to learn about fruits and juices. We have also prepared freshly packaged juices for the children to taste. Children are encouraged to juice the fresh fruits with a juicer. This activity has enabled the children to enjoy learning with real fruits, juicing and tasting their very own freshly-squeezed and blended juices!

Juice-Making

Self-Control

Research has indicated that it takes twenty-one days to learn a new habit. We have diligently applied this finding in our leadership training with children. The leadership skill of 'self-control' was reinforced in the children's daily learning in Amazing Kids and our Speech and Drama on Fridays. Enjoy the sequel of Self-Control in The Amazing Garden as the children role-played as insects, learning when to say and do what is right!

Self-Control

We Have Self-Control

This week, our Amazing Kids learnt the leadership skill of self-control. This skill is reinforced through our Speech and Drama. At the beginning of the session, teachers placed a bottle of sweets and chocolates on the table. Children were informed that sweets and chocolates are not good for their teeth and bodies. They are to have self-control over their desires to want to eat these sweets. As the children danced to the Red Indian Pom-Pom, one child will be chosen to move towards to sweets and chocolates. All the other children were to dance in a circle to try to stop the child from eating the sweets and chocolates. When they successfully stopped the child, everyone cheered: "Self-Control". We found that children caught this concept through experiential learning, in a fun and creative way!

We Have Self-Control

Amazing Boys On An Adventure

Pretend play has many benefits to preschoolers. When preschoolers engage in pretend play, they explore their personality, creativity and imagination. They would imagine that they are in a faraway land, they have superpowers and they fight monsters, they save the world, they are princess with big castles, and the list goes on. While their creativity is enhanced, preschoolers learn to develop social skills, too, through pretend play. They learn to communicate, they learn to take turns, to accept each other's ideas and foster good friendships. As exemplified here in a pretend play, our Amazing Boys bonded well with each other, on an adventure in an island of monsters and dragons. We have also noted that the children's literacy level increased as they exchanged ideas, talked to each other and shared their wonderful adventures.

Amazing Boys On An Adventure

Folding An Envelope

Children learned the phonic word 'envelope'. To help them learn through experience, we decided to challenge them in a creative activity where they were asked to fold an envelope on their own. So, we gave the chidren a sample envelope and one piece of A4white paper. Most of them took some time to figure out what to do. As soon as one of the children started folding the paper into half, the others followed suit. We were quite happy with the outcome of this creative activity as the children were ready to be challenged and they figured out how to fold an envelope using their creative minds.

Folding An Envelope

Discovering My Personalities

This week in our Speech and Drama, we observed that children chose the costumes they liked best. The children's selection indicated that their preference of the animal costumes were closely related to their everyday living experiences. The child who chose the dog costume shared that she liked dogs. The child with the chick costume liked chicks and she entertained us with her little 'chirps'. The child dressed up as an empress loved working with dolls and she wanted to be dressed as an empress. We learned much about the children's personalities and what they liked this week.

Discovering My Personalities

A Creative Box For Me

Learning is a process. In Amazing Kids, the children are encouraged to enjoy the learning process through creative projects. Here, the children are all smiles after working on their creative boxes for eight consecutive weeks!

A Creative Box For Me

Spiderman's Visit To Amazing Kids

Last Friday, Spiderman showed up at our Amazing Kids Literacy Centre. He surprised us with his super speech fluency and super enthusiasm in our Speech and Drama. Spidy certainly spiced up our Speech and Drama with his presence.

Spiderman's Visit To Amazing Kids

A Lesson on Balls and Buttons

This week, the children learned words beginning with the letter 'b'. Some of the words were 'ball' and 'buttons'. To help the children remember the words, we had a variety of activities with the ball like bouncing, throwing, catching and rolling the ball to one another. Children learned to sort assortments of buttons, too! We have observed that children learned best when they experienced the learning process with hands-on activities.

A Lesson on Balls and Buttons

Amazing Kids At Work

We believe that every child has the potential to be a leader. We are here to groom the child to become a leader. Our Amazing Kids start by serving others during the snack time, like setting up the table for their friends, serving drinks, tidying up after themselves, cleaning and drying the bowls and cups. Bravo to our Amazing Kids!

Amazing Kids At Work

Highlight Of The Month-Cutting An Apple

Well,the highlight of the month is the apple-cutting session. Our Amazing Kids got their hands on cutting the apple into small slices with a butter knife! We have observed that children enjoyed learning how to use the butter knife as they were given the opportunity for autonomous learning.

Highlight of the Month-Cutting An Apple

The First Week Of School

It had been an exciting week for us working with the children and getting to know them. It didn't take us long to find out about their personalities, what they like and their favourite activity in the centre. Children had a tour of the centre and learned the names of the various learning corners. Bountiful materials are made available for the children to use and from the smile of their faces in the photos, we know that they are learning and having a good time here. Since we are here to develop leadership skills in the children, they were given the opportunity to serve their friends, during the snack time. They set the table, served drinks, washed the cups and bowls and dried them afterwards. It had been a rewarding experience to see the children adopting the role of a servant leader!

The First Week Of School

A new day, a new beginning in 2010

4 January 2010 will be our inaugural day of learning together with the children have enrolled with us. We look forward to having the children with us. Right now, there is plenty to do to welcome the children to our centre, like cleaning up, setting up the learning corners, arranging the hand puppets, and so on. Well, we will keep you posted on the wonderful time we will be having with our Amazing Kids. Stay tuned!