A Penny for My Thought

Slat Book

2011-11-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

During the art lesson in my Chinese school, I learned about slat book in Ancient China, and learned to make one.

Making Chinese Bun

2011-11-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

There is no class as my chinese teacher said that we are making chinese bun.

My teacher is showing how she fries the Taiwanese bun.

My Thai friend, Dylan, and his mommy said we look like brothers, .....haaaa....

Easy Cupcakes

2011-11-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Finally, Mommy bought a electric mixer for my baking fun. It's definitely so much easier and save a lot of time whisking using the electric mixer :) I threw in all ingredients and mixed. ....

...oiled the baking pan ....

....and scooped mixture into the pan....

all done and ready to put into oven....

Cupcakes are ready.

...time to decorate with chocolate frosting ......

......and add some colorful sprinkles......

simple cupcakes decor.......

Let me have a bite........Elliot ccouldn't wait to taste the cupcake ....yummilicious....

Creative Writing - Letter D

2011-10-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

The dog and duck were playing im the water when dog found a donut and duck found a die.

Creative Writing - Letter C

2011-10-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

The cat was eating the candy and he got into the car.

The cushion was on the couch and Daddy was cutting apple on the chopping board.

I was using calculator to add the price of compass and cabbage.

Blueberry Muffin

2011-10-23T22:29:00.000-07:00

We still have a pack of frozen blueberries, so Mommy decided to use some of it to make some blueberry muffins. I think the instructions seems pretty easy to follow.

I measured and poured in all the neccessary ingredients....

....stirred thoroughly.......

.....added in the blueberries, and mixed again.......

.....scooped into the baking pan........and ready to go into the oven.

I was so excited when I saw the dough expanded ....Yummy..........some for Elliot.......and he loved it ...signed for more ....

Jello is my favorite

2011-10-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

I love to eat Jello, so for Life Skill, I told Mommy that I want to make Jello. Mommy got me to read the instructions on the Jello box, and she helped me light up the stove to get hot water.

I poured the Jello mix and tried to stir the solution. Mommy helped pour the hot solution into the measuring mug of cold water, and I had to stir it.

Once done, I poured the warm solution into cupcake mould.

After few hours in the refrigerator, my Jello is done.

Time to enjoy my homemade Jello ;) Yummy!

Fingering

2011-10-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

Finally, this week, Ms Janet taught us fingering on one hand, and told us that we will learn how to play with two hands once we are familiar with one hand. After some practice, I no longer play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with my pointer finger! No wonder, Mommy doesn't want me to play the real big piano yet because it's not easy for little fingers to play with fingering positions, and as what Mommy's friend told her, if the fingering position is wrong, the bones of little fingers will have bad finger bone structures. Nevertheless, Mommy hopes that the class will learn how to play with both hands soon.

Silkworm Caterpillar

2011-10-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

I love attending my Chinese class because after Chinese class, I like to attend the art and craft which exposes the students to the Chinese Culture. This week, we learned about silkworm and how silk came about from China. After the teacher shared about the silkworm and how silk is made, she taught us how to make silkworm caterpillar. Mommy doesn't like to do craft with me at home because she finds it very cumbersome to keep all the craftworks as they take up space. So every week, I am always looking forward to my Chinese and art & craft lesson.

Transportation Learning Folder

2011-10-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, I was so much into the various types of transportations. I learned about water, land and air transportations, and did a number of word search on the various types of vehicles. It has been a while that Mommy did my last learning folder, so Mommy decided to compile my work and make it into my Transportation Learning Folder.

Assessment for States Capitals

2011-10-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

Mommy assessed me on the capitals of United States, and I finally learned all the states and their capitals. I am still learning the Europe Map, and hope to learn it by end of October.

Without notes

2011-10-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Indeed, practice makes perfect. I was eager to show Daddy that I know how to play "Mary had a little lamb" without the animal notes. Hopefully, I will not be nervous when the class performs a mini concert end of the year.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-10-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

Mommy thinks that it's the right time to let me learn how to cook or bake, or even just let me help out in the kitchen which I always watched Mommy cooked when I was younger. Since I love to eat chocolate cookies, Mommy let me try baking some after she got all the child size baking accessories ready.

Mommy printed out the recipe and let me try getting all the ingredients ready with some guidance.

I threw in the butter, sugar, few drops of vanilla extract, and started to whisk the mixture.

It's so tedious as Mommy said I needed to whisk until the mixture is light and fluffy, but I had fun whisking though ;P

Mommy tried to help me whisk at the end as I was too tired. Mommy said we will get a hand mixer next time as it will be a lot faster. When the mixture was light and fluffy, I blend in the flour, baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Once it was a little doughlike, I put in the chocolate chips to mix them evenly in the soft dough. When the chocolate chip dough was ready, I scooped a big tablespoon of dough onto the baking sheet, and made 6.5 cookie dough. I made a smaller one for my baby brother.Mommy preheated the oven, and when it was ready, she helped put the tray of cookies into the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

I was checking the cookies every 5 minutes. Can't wait to eat my homemade cookies ;P

Finally, after 20 minutes, my end product was ready.

I am glad that His Masterpiece loved my cookies, and the small cookie was just right size for his little hands ;P

Commutative addition

2011-10-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

Mommy thinks it's important to learn the various ways to get a number. I chose 7 and I use the manipulative that Mommy bought in Singapore two years ago.

Mommy started by listing the various ways, and then asked me if I observed any pattern in the list.

I managed to do the matching, and Mommy hopes that I learned about commutative additions.

Oil and water experiment

2011-09-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

I chose to do science, and Mommy decided to teach me about mixture.

Mommy started by asking me to predict what happened when she pours Ribena into a cup of water.

Then, Mommy asked me to predict what would happen when she poured some oil onto the water.

Mommy wanted me to mix the water and oil with a spoon.

I observed what happened.

I learned that oil is lighter or less dense than water and therefore it floats.

Reading time

2011-09-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

During reading time, I have to read instead of Mommy reading to me. Though the listening device is useful for reluntant readers so that they could listen better to what they are reading, Mommy still prefers me to use it so that I am not just merely reading to her but also be able to listen to myself better. The device is made of PVC pipe, and it is sold in the store too as learning tools. It is a great tool for reading especially for reluntant readers.

Simple chinese characters

2011-09-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Mommy is very pleased with the Chinese class that I attend because I am motivated to learn with other little children. I learn to recognize and write simple chinese characters, and that is really a relief for Mommy because she thought that I do not have any interest in learning Chinese, and never have high expectation on me. Daddy told Mommy that in the class, everyone learns to recognize only 1-10 in Chinese, and when I told Mommy I can write beyond 10 in chinese, she didn't believe me. Maybe Mommy should have more faith in me ;P

Creative Writing - Letter B

2011-09-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

My unedited first draft on writing Letter B

I put my baseball in my backpack and ride my bicycle to the barn.

The bus carries the banana and crush the bulldozer.

At night when my hair is long, I brush my hair. Something happen, lightbulb was burst.

My Learning Schedule

2011-09-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, Mommy would plan the whole week learning time table and she was the one deciding what I should be learning everyday. As I get older, Mommy wanted me to have a choice of what I want to learn for each day. So she decided to come out with a visual learning time table divided in 3 rows for morning, afternoon and evening time. At the end of each day, I have to decide what I want to do or learn for the next day.

However, I will not be allowed to choose "Computer, TV, Outdoor and Quiet time" because these are the rewards which I decide what I want for my good behavior. If I behave well for that day, I will be able to choose one of the rewards to be in my learning schedule for the next day.

So far, we started the learning schedule since school started, and it has been very effective for me as I look forward to my learning whenever I am with Mommy at home.

How am I doing Tree

2011-09-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

Rewarding good behavior especially giving stickers, candies or prizes, are very common among teachers and parents. However, Mommy refuses to use such reward systems on me because if I display undesirable behaviors which lead to no stickers/candies/prizes, it doesn't really matter to me because I wouldn't really care less, as Mommy tried before. Thus, Mommy has to think of something that works for me. Knowing that I am some sort of a perfectionist and very intrinsically motivated, she decided to come out with several suggestions and we talked over it.

Finally, I chose to have "How am I doing Tree?" Then, together with Mommy, we "planted" a child size tree on one of the walls. I pasted all the 25 fall leaves on the branches, and it looked perfectly great.

Good and desirable behaviors are expected out of me, and whenever, I exhibit good behaviors, Mommy uses a lot of praise, hugs and positive feedfacks instead of tangible rewards like stickers, candies or prizes. When I am self disciplined or doing good, Mommy will allow me to put up extra leaf on the tree. When the 25 leaves or more are hanging on the tree at the end of the day, I get to choose my one of the intangible rewards - computer time, TV time, outdoor time or quiet time.

So what happen when I display undesirable behaviors at home or outside? One leaf will be "withered and dropped" from my "How am I doing Tree", and I will not be able to get my intangible rewards for the next few days depending on how many leaves have "withered and dropped". Mommy also allows me to redeem myself if there is any fallen leaf before end of the day. If Mommy catches me doing good, she will "revive" the leaf and hang back onto the branch. So far this has been doing great for both Mommy and I, since school started, and Mommy observed that there are less power struggles eversince. Mommy hopes this will continue to work well for me.

Experimenting Black

2011-09-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

I told Mommy I wanted to work on Science today, and I tried to find out what happened when I dipped black into the water.

After checking the internet, I tried to get black.

This is the closest I can get black.

Show & Tell

2011-09-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

It's my show and tell again and Mommy was free to watch me today which I didn't expect. I showed and told my class about the picture that I painted for Daddy on his birthday, and a picture that I drew.

Creative Writing - Letter A

2011-09-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

I started working on my Alphabet Box few months back, and Mommy said that we have to do some creative writing using the Alphabet Box. Alphabet Box A has 3 objects, and I wrote down the name of each one in my notebook. Mommy wanted me to draw each object besides the names. After providng some examples of Mommy's created sentences, Mommy wanted me to think of my own sentences.

I wrote : An apple drops on an ant and he crawls on to an ambulance to the hospital.

Knowing 50 states

2011-09-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Though I have done learning all 50 states, Mommy has not assessed me on all states. So she decided to see if I remember. Yes, of course ;P Mommy will be assessing me on the various countries in Europe, and hope I can do as well when she assesses me.

Novels

2011-09-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

Eversince I have done reading the chapter books, the Magic Tree House series written by Mary pope Osborne, I have been reading Nate, the Great, a series of novel written by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. Nate, the Great is about Nate who is a detective, trying to help solve cases, and it's a child version of Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed reading and finding out how Nate solved his cases.

Room for improvement

2011-09-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

I have been practising my keyboard skills on and off. When Mommy assessed me today, she saw some improvements that I played slightly faster than I first began, and I used finger 2 & 3 more when I played compared to my first trial. Indeed, practice makes perfect. I hope that by the time Ms Janet teaches us the fingering, I will be able to play the song better.

Leak or not leak?

2011-09-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Mommy saw an experiment from a magazine sometimes ago and we haven't got chance to experiment it. Mommy remembered the experiment few days ago and we decided to try it out. Isn't it amazing? A new lesson was taught, and Mommy hope to provide more experiments for me to try in the near future. Do try this out, and have fun with your child ;)

Letter Writing

2011-08-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

We were having jetlag so Mommy read the above book "Fairy Tale Mail" to me, and taught me how to write simple letter.

So I decided to write to Mikayla.

This is what I wrote:

Dear Mikayla

How are you? I am in US now. I had fun in Singapore. I want you to come to US to play with me.

Best wishes

Ethan

Instruction Writing

2011-08-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

Mommy and I read the book "Tess Builds a Snowman" together, as Mommy wanted me to learn how to write instruction on "First, Next, Then, Last".

Mommy asked me how I swim. I told Mommy and she wanted me to write it down on my notebook. Mommy asked me a few questions so that mentally I could gather some information before I write.

My instruction writing : How I swim?

First, I get into the Dino. Next, Daddy puts me into the water. Then, my legs starts to kick. Last, my hands also start to swim.

For every writing, Mommy wants me to draw what I did before I write but I refused. It's fine with Mommy because as long as I have mental pictures in my head, it doesn't matter if I have visual pictures or not as all kids are different.

Learning to write chinese

2011-07-31T04:54:00.000-07:00

Mommy started to read chinese story books and speak Mandarin to me when I was two years old. Though I understand basic conversation, and answer simple questions, I have no interest in learning the chinese characters. Chinese is not important in US, but Mommy thinks that as Asians, I need to learn some basic chinese. Honestly, Mommy doesn't have any idea how to teach me chinese, so she went to Popular to get some Chinese nursery books. Mommy hopes to use these books to teach me to recognize some simple basic chinese characters and write some simple chinese words.

Library talk

2011-07-24T04:14:00.000-07:00

Learning to play my 1st song

2011-07-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

My music class has just ended as half of the class will be gone for vacation. Our music teacher wanted us to practise all our "animals" notes during our summer break so that when the class resumes in Sept, we are well prepared. Even though I know the position of the 7 "animal" notes (out of 12), it's kind of tough when the "animal" notes are assembled into songs. It's easy when all the "animal" notes are played in stepping up or down position, but when they are placed with the different animals, it's hard to get my little fingers to tab on them. Anyway, our music teacher said it's totally fine if we play with one finger as the most important goal for Sunshine level is to know the positions of all the "animal" notes.

My summer break music homework is to practise several songs, and I practised my 1st song "Mary Had a Little Lamb" yesterday. For beginner learner like me, learning to read the "animal" notes, sing and play at the same time is really challenging, but Mommy was happy that at least I can sing and play at the same time, and know the position of the "animal" notes, fluency in playing will come later. There are more songs to practise and my goal is to try not to look at the keyboard as often possible.

Smart links

2011-07-15T19:19:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, Mommy observed that I didn't show any interest in building or fixing things together, and thus I didn't spend a lot of time with my blocks or lego. Recently, we went to Burger King and had this little toy, Smart Links, from buying a kid's meal. Out of a sudden, I decided to fix it. The toy looked simple, and that's not the point. Mommy was surprised that I took the initiative to fix it cos' I have never shown any interest in doing anything like this. This shows that interest can be either developed or relinguished.

List Writing

2011-07-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

As I will be going for a trip during my long Summer Break soon, Mommy wanted me to learn how to write a list of things that I need to pack into my luggage. I read the book "Grandma's Lists" by Rozanne Lanczak Williams on the example of various lists that one could write.

After reading, Mommy and I brainstormed some of the items that I may want to bring for my upcoming trip, and Mommy then let me write the things that I want for my packing list.

Poster Writing

2011-07-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

I am starting to read the Learn to Write Reader series by Rozanne Lanczak Williams, and Mommy will be teaching me to write the various genres after reading each book.

In this book, I am learning to write a poster, and this is my first draft.

My first draft

2011-07-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Since I am learning how to write, Mommy chose the books written by Laura Numeroff for me to read first before I write my own story. I spent a couple of days to read these books a few times, and Mommy asked me if I am ready to write my own story, and "Yes! Of course I am ready." I told Mommy. Mommy wants me to enjoy writing as much as I enjoy my reading and thus she wanted to make sure that I am ready to write. In the beginning, Mommy and I brainstormed what I wanted to write, and thus we wrote down some ideas. After brainstorming for ideas, I was ready to put my ideas down on papers. As I am a beginner writer, Mommy doesn't want to stress me out on writing the whole story in one sitting as it can be very stressful for young writer like me.

Thus, I spent a week to write my story, each day I wrote a page. The below are my first draft, and came from my own words and I wrote them down on my notebook for any written activities.

If you give a dog a cake, he'll want a candle to go with it.

So you'll give him a candle. When he has the candle, he'll want a light for it.

Then, he'll want to blow the candle, and his happy birthday is over. He'll eat the cake, and he wants to share with his friends.

Then, the cake was all gone. When he gets hungry again, he'll ask for a cake.

Then, if you give the dog a cake, he'll ask for a candle again, and he'll want a light to go with it.

Learn to Write series

2011-06-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

As I have 3 months of Summer break, Mommy thinks that it's time to learn how to write my own stories. Writing can be a struggle for many children who do not have sufficient language and ideas on how to write. Therefore, instead of jumping into getting me to write my own stories, Mommy decided to take out the Learn to Write Series Reader Books that she bought 2 years ago. Before I start to learn how to write, Mommy wanted to introduce to me that writings come in various forms and genres such as reports, postcard, memos, list, letters etc. Thus the Learn to Write Series Reader Books come in handy as the author, Rozanne Lanczak Williams, writes each book in such a way that emphasizes the various form of writings in the context of an engaging and easy to read story, and thus motivating and encouraging young readers like me to want to write on their own.

Mommy also wants me to develop good habits in writing, and thus she feels that learning to write shouldn't be a hastened process for beginner writer. Instead, the steps of writing process should be introduced so that every time I write, I will consider the importance of the writing process, and thus slowly developing myself into good writer.

Word Search

2011-06-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

Mommy thinks that word search is a little tough for my age, but guess what, that is my recent craze. I find it fun and challenging.

Reading Chapter book again

2011-06-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today, Mommy wanted to record me reading at least one page of the chapter book to show how she guides me through when I encounter words beyond my age level. Being 3.5 years old reading chapter books which are meant for 4-8 years old, though many said that Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne are for reading level for 1st graders (6 years old) onwards, can be quite challenging. Mommy said that when reading chapter books, there is no picture at all to provide any cues, so reading has to depend on letter sounds very much. Mommy hopes that in time to come, I will be able to read more fluently.

Last day of school

2011-06-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! Today is the last day of school, and my Summer break of 3 months officially starts tomorrow. Since it's the last day of school, the teachers organized a picnic near our school. Mommy prepared some bagels, cut watermelons and went to MacDonalds to get harsh brown and my strawberry lemonade for the picnic.

Di Di was trying to "steal" my picnic lunch.

My blonde hair buddy, Emma.

I had fun sliding with my black hair buddy, PeiPei too.

Time to go home

Playing Simple Song

2011-06-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

Reading chapter book

2011-06-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

I have started reading chapter books since this year and Mommy has not recorded my reading because it will take a while to record me reading just one chapter. So Mommy just wanted me to read a short paragraph of my chapter book by Mary Pope Osborne.

Random Conversation

2011-06-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

Mommy talked about the use of "ing" - past/present continuous tense last week, and while we were walking along the trail,

Me: Mom, see.... I AM PICKING up some flowers.
Mommy: Great! You ARE PICKING up the flowers.
Me: Mom, ARE we WALKING to Justin's house?
Mommy: No, we ARE not WALKING to his house.
Me: Mom, I need more water. (My water bottle is emptied)
Mommy: Why, you just drank already.
Me: Because, I AM HICUPPING.
Mommy: Errr...hicupping??!!!?
-----------------------------------

After Mommy fed Elliot, she tried to burb him, and he gave a loud burp ....

Mommy: Good Job Elliot, that was a loud burp!
Me: No, Mommy, that was a loud fart!
Mommy: ....(lol)

Spelling words

2011-06-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

Since Ms Susan has started me with letter sound spelling simple words few weeks ago, Mommy thought it would be great for me to practise spelling any words. And of course Mommy did not give me a list of words to learn beforehand as she wants me to spell my words based on letter sound. I did spelling on 5 words on letter "B" from my alphabet box which I have when I was 2 years old.

My alphabet Box "B"

Measurement

2011-06-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, Mommy saw me using a ruler trying to measure all my trains and mumbled some numbers. Then, Mommy asked me why out of a sudden I was so interested in measuring my trains. I told Mommy that Ms Susan has taught the older kids about measurement, and I saw my older classmates trying to measure things in the classroom. So today, Mommy thought it would be great to spend some time working on measurement instead of working on Geography map. Mommy wanted me to write down at least five toys that I wanted to measure. I choose to measure Thomas, dump truck, ice cream truck, caboose, and the black train "Hiro". After measuring them, Mommy asked me which one was the longest and shortest in length. I lined them up accordingly, and picked up the longest and the shortest vehicles.

Parent Celebration

2011-06-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

Last month, our school had Parent Celebration held in conjunction with Mothers' Day and Teacher Appreciation Week. Today, we had another Parent Celebration in lieu of Father's Day, and Daddy took an hour off from work so that I can show Daddy my work.

My first activity, I did picture matching with words. The second activity, I chose to read to Daddy and Mommy. The last activity, I chose to do triangle box which was pretty challenging as I needed to use the smaller triangles to form a big triangle.

Daddy is pretty happy that I enjoy what I learned, and I am looing forward to learn more new things from Ms Susan this coming new school year in September.

Spelling Words

2011-06-05T07:16:00.000-07:00

Mommy remembered when she was teaching in Singapore, students were always given a list of words and they had to learn by heart for spelling test every week. In my class, we are expected to learn letter sound and when teacher gives a word, we will spell out using the movable alphabets, and write down the word according to what we hear. The first part, I was given a set of wordless pictures, and by looking at the pictures, Ms Susan will say a word, and I will have to spell it out and write down using letter sound. I spelt "mix, mop, sun, fan, dog, rug, gum, cat, nut and cot".

The second part has no picture, and Ms Susan randomly chose some words for me to spell, "jump, frog, nest, best and rest." Mommy was glad that I mastered my letter sounds and she wants to try getting me to spell any simple words as part of our learning activity.

Geo Puzzles

2011-06-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

We went to Cosco and saw this Geo Puzzle. I told Mommy that I wanted to try doing the puzzle since I have learned the various states and the world map. Mommy thought it may be a little difficult for me as some of the puzzles are very tiny, and it may be a challenge for me, and worried that I may give up doing it totally. Nevertheless, I insisted and told Mommy that I can do it, so Mommy bought it for me to try.

I was so excited to try out the puzzles, and asked Mommy if I could fix it. Mommy left me alone for about 1.5 hours to do the United States puzzles, and was happy that I could do it with minimum help. Having completed the United States puzzle, the next day, I told Mommy that I wanted to do the World puzzle. Mommy was glad that I was able to complete the puzzle without help.

All about books

2011-06-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah! My summer break of 3 months is coming and I will get to spend more time with Mommy learning from her. Summer reading is here in the library, and this morning, Mommy brought my brother to the library and happened to see a set of Curious George on the shelf. She decided to borrow it because she saw that I was watching Curious George on Netflex last week. Mommy is trying to borrow more books for me to read during Summer since I am not going to school for 3 months.

Mommy also borrowed books about hurricanes and earthquakes because few months back, there was an earthquakes in Japan which I saw on TV. And there was also hurricanes in America and I asked her how it happened. So Mommy decided to borrow the books so that we can talk about hurricanes and earthquakes.

Mommy loves this book "More than one". Yes, one can be more than one. It teaches about one pair, one dozen, one week etc. A great concept book on more than one.

Singing to the beats

2011-05-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

After learning about beats and rhythms in my music class, I told Mommy that I wanted to sing song and play my toy piano. I was trying to sing to the beats. Mommy thought it was a good try.

Comprehension Passage

2011-05-29T22:49:00.001-07:00

Mommy just started me with filling in the blanks comprehension passages as the workbooks for activities like connecting dots on numbers/alphabets, counting, coloring, patterning, matching or tracing words etc are too easy and not challenging enough for me. As I just begin to learn about filling in words in comprehension passages, Mommy loves the fact that the passages are taken from familiar nursery rhymes with helping words. It allows me to fill in the blanks by myself with confidence as they are something familiar. I completed the passages in this book with a breeze and it really built my confidence in filling more challenging passages.

Random Conversations

2011-05-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Mommy and I were reading one of the ABC books,

Me: Mom, what is xylophonist? (pointing to the word in the book)
Mommy: It's someone who plays xylophone. It's like someone who plays piano is called pianist, someone who plays guitar is called guitarist, and someone who plays violin is called violinist.

Me: Then, Mom, what do you call someone who plays tuba?

Mommy: Errrrr.....tubist...
--------------------------------------
Mommy talked about death few weeks ago, and she said that everyone dies, both people and animals....

Me: Mom, are you going to die and meet Jesus?
Mommy: Yes, when I get old, Mommy will die and go to Heaven to meet Jesus. You and Elliot must take care of each other when Daddy or Mommy get old and die.
Me: Mom, I don't want you to die.
Mommy: Hon, everyone dies, you will not see Mommy anymore when Mommy gets old and die one day. (I was sitting on Mommy's lap playing with her hair and I asked...)
Me: Mom, why you have some white hair?
Mommy: Because Mommy is getting old already.
Me: You are old already? Oh no...are you going to die soon?
Mommy: argghrr .... (speechless)

Music Assessment

2011-05-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

It's about a month since I started my music class, and every week, Ms Janet will teach us new key. This clip was taken when I was halfway through learning the keys, and by the time, Mommy posted this, I have already learned all the music keys. In the past , Mommy didn't know where all the keys on the keyboard. After attending the music class with me, like myself, Mommy has no problem identifying all the keys in any given keyboard. Mommy thinks this music class is pretty worth the money as three persons are learning with the price of one....my brother also gets to sit in with us, listening to Ms Janet's teaching....haaaa.....

ABC Books

2011-05-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

Though I mastered my ABCs when I was 17.5 months, I am still engrossed with those ABC books. Many ABC books teach simple ABC nouns such as A for alligator, B for ball etc. And Mommy found the above alphabet books by chance and she was glad that she borrowed them because after reading them, I learned most of the simple adjectives for the alphabets, like Angry A, Bashful B, and Confused C etc. If you have a chance to get hold of the above two books, "The Alphazeds" by Shirley Glaser, and "The Absolutely Aweful Alphabet" by Mordicai Gestein, it will be great for your little ones to learn about the simple adjectives of ABCs.

Sign Language Books

2011-05-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Mommy still borrows picture books even though we have been reading chapter books on the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. Though I mastered the signs from a to z, Mommy thinks it's time for me to pick up other signs. She borrowed Story Time with Signs and Rhymes by Dawn Babb Prochovnic, and she loves these books because not only I get to learn rhyming words, I also get to learn about signs. Mommy hopes I would be able to "talk" to her with signs one day.

Western States Assessment

2011-05-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

I started learning the names of the various states beginning of May starting from the Western states. Mommy said kids have super memories, and after two days of memorizing the western states, I was able to tell Mommy when she assessed me. I am almost done with the 50 states by the time Mommy has time to write this post, and I will be learning how to spell the states as well as the abbreviations of those states.

My proud Mommy

2011-05-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Usually, Ms Susan doesn't get the 3 years old to do any reading or writing as yet because they are not ready. But I am a special case and Ms Susan started early with me. I have been bringing back some writings from school since two weeks ago, and Mommy thought that I was practising my writing in school until Ms Patti, my religion teacher, showed Mommy this piece of my work when she picked me up one day. Ms Patti told Mommy that I chose to work on the alphabets today and I spelt the following words from the randomly alphabets that were placed on the rug. Mommy asked Ms Patti if I copied all these words from a given list (letters, car, bar, mar - I saw Mommy wrote March as Mar before, target and tar). Ms Patti said "No!" , and told Mommy that I spelt them myself with all the individual alphabets lying on the rug. Ms Patti was impressed that I could spell the word "letters" and "target" at 3 years 4 months. And Mommy of course beaming with pride ;)

Parent Celebration

2011-05-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

This morning, we had Parent Celebration in my school. It's a time where parents get to see their children's work. Since it was also Teachers' Appreciation Week, Mommy bought a cake to thank the teachers for working so hard. The morning started with some light snacks before all the parents went into the class to see their children's work. I love the cake and the yogurt. After having the light snack, everybody went into the classroom.

I showed Mommy my first work which is matching pictures with words. Ms Susan changes the pictures and words everyday so I will see different pictures and words if I choose to do this activity everyday.

The 2nd activity, I worked on number counting puzzles.

The 3rd activity, I worked on fixing the peg into the holes.

The 4th activity, I matched the shapes with their words, and try to stack them on top one another.

My friend who is 5 years old, showed her Mommy, the life cycle of a frog.

The 5th activity, I showed Mommy how I balanced the wood which are unevenly sliced. It's not easy to stack the wood with uneven cut and balance them. It requires a lot of patience.

The last activity, I chose the balancing tower which I am familiar with because we have one at home. Mommy bought one for the class too. Mommy spent an hour watching me work on the activities, and she is happy that in this Montessori school, not only that I learn many different set of skills with a lot of hands on activities, I also develop important values and characters in such self-motivated and non threatening environment.

Forming Simple Addition

2011-05-01T23:49:00.000-07:00

Mommy caught me practising my simple addition using the number puzzle that she bought for my water play during bath time.

Little Morzart Wanna Be

2011-04-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

Eversince I attended Little Morzart Music School, Mommy is even busier because almost everyday, I have to practise music with her. Mommy is happy that everyday I look forward for my music lesson.

I am "dinasaur" ready.

I learned about beats and rhythm

My bunny hops for beats

My castanets to tap my beats Color my hop bunny Draw pictures that are forte Locating my dinasaur's den

After every practice, I need to color on the day that I practise so that Ms Janet will give me stickers for my practice.

Mommy will share about this music class and why she loves so much about the class in her blog. Finally, God has answered her prayer about finding a class that really focuses on music education for young children.

Learning the 50 States

2011-04-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Beside the Solar System foam puzzle, Mommy also bought the United States foam puzzle to get me to learn the names of the 50 states in America. Mommy hasn't really started the actual teaching yet, but of course, I have to start with our own state first which is Washington State which is also known as the Evergreen State in the West on the top left corner of the puzzle in green. Many of Mommy's friends thought that we are at Washington D.C. which is located in the East, and it's not a state but the capital of United States of America. Mommy wants me to focus on the capital of each state and its flag. I think it may take me months to learn all that Mommy wants me to learn.

Learning the Solar System - Part 3

2011-04-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

After Mommy posted my learning about Solar System, she received Aunty Theresa, and Aunty Kelly's emails and told Mommy that Pluto is not a planet and how come I am learning it as a planet. Thanks both Aunties for your concern of my learning. Mommy knows that Pluto is not a planet, and of course I learned that too : ) And in Mommy's piggyback song which begins as "Nine little planets I once learned..." which tells that she once learned there were nine planets even though Pluto has been demoted to a dwarf planet since 2006. Before I learned about the Solar System, Mommy realized that even though there are officially eight planets, Pluto is still always mentioned as part of the solar system, and I do learn that Pluto was a planet before its demotion. Anyhoo, Mommy loves how the web site Nine Planets puts it together:".. this change in terminology does not affect what's actually out there. In the end, it's not very important how we classify the various objects in our solar system. What is important is to learn about their physical nature and their histories". Yes! Mommy totally agreed. At least I learned about the names, its relatives sizes and their nature, whether or not Pluto is a planet is not as important.

As Mommy knows that I also learn best during my bath time, she decided to get the foam puzzle of the Solar System to reinforce my learning on their positions and the names of the nine planets. I couldn't wait for bath time, and told Mommy that I wanted to play with the puzzle.

Mommy tried to put together a learning folder on my learning of Solar system but she didn't have time to complete :( She hopes to get it done by end April. Will see....

Learning the Solar System - Part 1

2011-04-13T17:17:00.001-07:00

Since last year, Mommy tried to teach me based on my interest instead of teaching me according to her curriculum. The learning of Solar System began when I was reciting my Bible Verse for "I" which is "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth" Genesis 1:1. I saw on the pictures with few round drawings and I asked Mommy what they were. Mommy told me that they are planets. Then I asked Mommy what planets are, and Mommy decided to borrow books about the Solar System.Once Mommy got the books, Mommy left me to find out about the nine planets, and Mommy told me that if I want to know what the planets are, I have to read and tell her what I have learned. So I started reading the books. Mommy just wanted me to learn the basic idea of the Solar System like "orbit", the names of the planets, the relative size of each planet, and the colors of the planets.After learning about the nine planets, Mommy wanted me to use playdough to form the sphere for the nine planets so that I can see the size of each comparing to one another.

Mommy loves music and she knows that I learn best with songs. The Nine Planets piggyback song was written by Mommy when she took her music class in her graduate school. Mommy taught me how to sing, and of course with this song, I learned the sequence of all the nine planets in the solar system.

Learning the Solar System - Part 2

2011-04-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

After learning about the size, colors, and sequence of the planets, my art lesson was to draw and paint the nine planets. Mommy helped cut out the nine planets, and I have to glue the planets in sequence from the sun.

My Nine Planets

Even though I learned the relative size of each planet using the playdough, and also drawing out and painting the nine planets, Mommy wanted to reinforce my learning with a 3D solcar system. Mommy's initial idea was to get different sizes of spherical styroform and paint them, but it's hard to get the different sizes that she needed. So Mommy decided to get a set of ready made 3D glowing solar system instead. Mommy helped to string them up, and they were ready to be hung. The glowing planets were supposedly to be hung on the celing, but we have a vaulted ceiling and it would be too high to hang them up. Therefore, Mommy decided that we used the lamp of the living room as the sun.

My Personal Solar System

Mary Pope Osborne

2011-04-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

If you have been following my learning development blog, by now you should have known that Mommy's main focus on my learning is READING. Therefore, towards the end of January, Mommy decided that it's time to introduce chapter books for my age group reading. Mommy borrowed the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. Mommy loves the Magic Tee House series because it allows me to go into various time era, and it's like kind of time travel to different places with the main characters, Jack and Annie. From each book, I learned about the different places, and the adventures undertook by Jack and Annie, and I also learned to imagine myself in the story exploring with them. I am done with #1-5, and currently reading #6. Sometimes, Mommy will read to me, sometimes, I will read to her. We will read one chapter before naptime, and bedtime at night. Each book I am taking about a week to finish, and there are 28 books in this series, and Mommy hopes that I could finish the 28 books by Sept/Oct time frame so that I can move on to the next series. I have fun traveling with Jack and Annie exploring the different places, and I hope you will have fun with these books too.

Drawing

2011-03-31T18:17:00.005-07:00

I have been drawing quite a bit during my free time, and I love to draw buses and fish. Mommy wonders why it always has to be a smiley fish whenever I draw fish. I guess because the fish is happy that I don't eat them as I am allergic to fish ....heee....

Cell number/home address

2011-03-31T18:17:00.003-07:00

I acquired the concept of numbers and letters and know how to write at a very young age, so Mommy wasn't surprised at all when I am able to remember her cell phone number, and write down our home address which Mommy didn't post here as she doesn't want strangers to know where we live...heee...

Reciting my bible verse

2011-03-31T18:17:00.001-07:00

Last year, Mommy decided that this year's learning, I will be focusing on building up my character and learning the values of God. So based on the ABC Bible Verse book, Mommy wants me to remember God's word in my heart. This video was taken in mid March, and so far I have remembered until letter Q. Mommy is hoping that I will be done reciting from A-Z by end of April so that I can move on to other learning.

My bookmark

2011-03-31T18:16:00.001-07:00

Upon request of Aunty Theresa, Mommy decided to "revive" my web blog on my learning and assessment. There are so much new things that I have learned these three months, but Mommy will only post some of them as it's too time consuming to update all of them.

As Mommy decided that I should start reading chapter books end January / beginning Feburay, she decided to get me to work on my bookmark so that I can use it for my chapter book reading. Mommy provided all the working materials such as stickers, sparkles, glue, colored paper, a pair of scissors, marker, crayons, and she let me choose the color of my bookmark. While I was working on my bookmark, my brother and Mommy were watching me work. For the first time, I worked on the bookmark all by myself. Mommy just helped to laminate the bookmark, and punch hole for the ribbon.

Front Back

Happy 2011!

2011-01-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

This will be my last post for my blog, and Mommy has created a new blog Growing Up Together http://growingup2gether.blogspot.com/ and join us as she pens down our life in this country, I call my home.

Brotherly Love

2010-12-31T19:03:00.001-08:00

Last August, Daddy and Mommy decided on 3 names which they love very much because they are biblical names deriving from the Hebrew, and the other two are Latin, and Scottish. I am helping Daddy and Mommy to choose a name for my sibling, and I am so glad that I have a say before he was born. I am sure he will like what I chose for him when he grows up :). Mommy asked me twice on the name, and twice I chose the same name :). So Daddy and Mommy decided to use the name, and they were so glad that I could be part of my brother's life to remember our brotherly love.

I am a Big Brother now!

2010-12-27T15:26:00.001-08:00

Grandma said my sibling and I look alike when we were baby, and Mommy thanked God that my sibling has big eyes with double eyelids, and a dimple on the left cheek, just like me :). I guess both of us inherited the dimple from Mommy, and big eyes from Daddy ...haaa.....

Me My sibling Me My sibling

Mommy asked me one day:
Mommy: Can Mommy call baby "Honey"?
Me: No! I am Honey, not baby.
Mommy: Then what should Mommy call baby?
Me: Baby is so cute, can we call baby "Cutie?"

Mommy's two beautiful babies from God

Calendar Learning Time

2010-12-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

resources taken from Homeschool Creation and 1+1+1=1

Finally, Mommy completed the last learning material for me for the year 2010. One of the learning goals for next year is to use Calendar to teach which is a very common routine in all the elementary schools in the US. Mommy found some printed resources from some homeschool websites, and adopted most of it for my learning purposes for next year. Today is the last day of my school, so Mommy started teaching me using the Calendar this afternoon, and hope that we will continue until my sibling arrives. I guess Mommy will have to stop until we resume in mid Jan or early Feb. Will see. Part 1 of the Calendar teaches the days, date, month, and season of the year. It also teaches the various weather types by getting me to check the weather outside each day. Making the date allows me to use the coins to make up the date for that day. As the date is 20th today, I use 2 dime to form 20. The clock let me practise the moving of hour and minute hands by looking at our clock and write the numeric time for the day, learning p.m. for afternoon and a.m for morning. Part 2 of the Calendar teaches the numbers of days, and hopefully learning the place value of hundreds, tens and ones as we go through each day of home school. Mommy added the Lord's Prayer which we will pray first before I start learning the calendar, and also the Pledge of Alligence that I need to learn to memorize when I go Kindergarten few years later. As Godly character will be the main focus next year, Mommy added the character quality and bible verse for me to remember and memorize.

Reading time

2010-12-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

Mommy has been the one reading to me before bedtime when I was young, and since last month, there was a change in reading role. Before bedtime, it's Daddy who reads to me for now because Mommy wants me to get use to Daddy's reading to me after my sibling arrives. So far, I enjoy reading with Daddy, though I hope Mommy will take over the reading job sooner, I guess Daddy will be the one reading to me until Mommy decides to take over the reading job.

My Christmas presents

2010-12-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

If your children love Thomas and Friends, you will kind of undestand how my Mommy feels. In fact, Mommy's feeling was neutral when I was just contentedly playing with Thomas the train when Daddy first introduced to me. But when I keep asking for more than what I need, Mommy started to get mad with Daddy. Those who are addicted with Thomas and Friends know each train and even their names, and Mommy was fine with that. But when I kept getting Daddy to buy every train, Mommy was not very happy. I have been asking for No 2. Edward for the past two weeks and Edward was nowhere to be found in any mall or store. Mommy did warn me that she is not going to get any more train since I have collected most of the numbered trains, except Edward. Mommy was mad that so much money has been spent on these trains which she doesn't think it's educational. Blame it on Daddy! Mommy is not going to waste anymore time searching for Edward, and therefore, no more Thomas and Friends trains for me!!! Then, Mommy's worst nightmare came when my playmate, Justin's Mommy bought me a pair of Thomas the train rainboots for Christmas! Daddy and Mommy had to change the size because it was slightly too small, so off the mall we went to change the size of the boot. When I saw the Thomas the train raincoat, I fell in love with it! And there goes Daddy's money on the raincoat and Thomas the train's underwear! Mommy was like "Why do I need everything on Thomas and Friends?" Mommy hopes these will be the last items on Thomas and Friends, and hope that I will pass the Thomas and Friends' phase!!!

Bible Memory Verses

2010-12-14T21:14:00.002-08:00

This is the first time that Mommy wanted me to memorize bible verses, and she was pretty apprehensive about it at first because she doesn't know if I can do it. But I guess Mommy has faith in me. Afterall it wasn't that hard as I took 3 days to memorize A and B bible verse using the book "ABC Bible Verse Book" from Deedra Scherm.

My 1st handmade Chirstmas ornament

2010-12-14T21:14:00.001-08:00

These two years, Mommy doesn't really let me work on craft work because she wants me to do the craft all by myself instead of helping me complete the craft work that I couldn't handle. And also she finds craft work takes up a lot of space after when they are done. However, few days ago, I told Mommy that I wanted to do something to be hanged on our Christmas tree. Mommy was reluntant at first but after some thoughts, she thought it would be a great idea that every year I should work on one Christmas ornament to be hanged on the tree, and in years to come, I would have a collection of what I have done. This was what some of Mommy's friends did: collecting their children's handmade ornaments, and when they have their own family and have their own Christmas tree, they took all what they did when they were younger, and hanged them on their very own Christmas tree. It becomes a tradition for them. Mommy wanted to start this new tradition too and hopefully every year I will make one ornament together with His Masterpiece, and we will have our very own collection of ornaments for our very own Christmas tree when we grow up.

I told Mommy that I wanted to make a circle ornament out of playdoh, so I helped Mommy with the playdoh, and I put glitters on top of my ornament. It took a couple of days for my ornament to be dried, and finally, Mommy tied a ribbon, and we hanged my 1st Christmas ornament together on the Christmas tree.

My 2nd Christmas tree

2010-12-09T13:39:00.007-08:00

Mommy doesn't think that we should get a Christmas tree this year because she worries that Daddy will be too busy taking care of her and my new sibling, and myself, and that he might not have time to get rid of the Christmas tree, and keep all the decorations once Christmas is over. However, Daddy thinks otherwise when I kept pestering him that I want to have a Christmas tree this year, and I want to help decorate it. Daddy also thinks that when His Masterpiece arrives, we can take a picture of His Masterpiece with its 1st Christmas tree. We got our 6" Grand Fir from Home Depot, and Daddy and I started to decorate our tree.

My first hanging figurine in 2007

I told Daddy that I wanted to put tracks around the tree so that Thomas and Friends could go around the tracks. I had fun watching Thomas and Friends go round the tracks.

Before
After

Continents Assessment

2010-12-09T13:39:00.005-08:00

Yes, I can do it!

2010-12-09T13:39:00.003-08:00

3rd Birthday Celebration in school

2010-11-30T23:54:00.001-08:00

It's my special day today, and though my school doesn't allow any celebartion with food and cake, Mommy was happy enough that the teacher allocated some time for those who are having their birthday in class. Ms Susan made me feel special today in class, and Mommy was glad to learn that even though the children cannot really celebrate with food and drinks in class, the school made an effort to celebrate children's birthday in a Montessori way. It was an eye-opening to see how the Montessori teacher celebrated children's birthday in class even though without food and drinks. I guess in a typical birthday celebration, the birthday child feels special by standing in front of his/her birthday cake with friends, family or teacher singing birthday songs, blowing out candles, and receiving birthday presents. Mommy thinks otherwise after seeing how Ms Susan really made me so special on my birthday even without standing in front of birthday cake, blowing of candles, or receiving any gifts.

The most wonderful thing of all,Mommy thinks that all children learn the concept of months of the years, and the earth moves round the sun, and be seated patiently, paticipating, and showing respect to the birthday boy/girl and watching every moves.

I walked around to show my pictures to my classmates.

Then, I leaned on the comfort of Ms Susan's body, recieving my friend's well wishes.

I learned from Mommy that God says it's more blessed to give than to receive. Finally, I felt so blessed that I was able to give the children little gift that Mommy had prepared ....heeee..... That ended my 3rd birthday celebration in class. I really felt so loved and special. Thank God for making my day so wonderful and special!

3rd Birthday Celebration

2010-11-30T23:53:00.001-08:00

At night, Daddy and Mommy decided to go Red Robin to celebrate my birthday. I wanted nothing else for dinner but Macaroni and Cheese. I never get tired of eating my mac and cheese, and it seems to be my staple food nowadays. The Red Robin staff gave me a surprise and I didn't really know how to react.

After dinner, I had a mini celebration with my little ice-cream cake that Daddy bought.

Happy Birthday to me :)

YUM YUM!!

The fun part of celebrating birthday is opening presents of course ....haaaa....Since Mommy has already given me my early presents, the 3 presents are from Daddy ...what else would have come from Daddy? Toys again ....

Happy Turkey Day

2010-11-25T19:28:00.007-08:00

Almost every year, Mommy will bake turkey to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. This year, at this time, Mommy is too big and heavy to do anything, and on top of that, all of us caught bad flu bugs :( Justin's mommy invited us for Thanksgiving dinner celebration, and we couldn't attend as we were not feeling good so dinner was sent to us instead. Justin's mommy was kind enough to bring over her turkey for our dinner. Though all of us were sick, Mommy was still thankful to God who has provided us the 3 Fs that we need : family, friends, and finances.

This year, the weather was really cold before Thanksgiving, and the road was pretty icy. There was some snow, not much though. I had fun stepping on the snow:)

Invented spelling

2010-11-25T19:28:00.005-08:00

I learned to spell most of the high frequency words before I was 2.5 years old, and as I am coming to 3 years old, Mommy observed that I tried to attempt invented spelling words, which Mommy learned that it's pretty common for children who learn how to spell. As children go through the various stages of invented spelling, Mommy learned not to correct new words that I don't spell correctly. Invented spelling is a learning process that all kids will go through, and they will come to a stage where they are able to spell it right. So, teachers who emphasize on spelling test or what not, will just dampen the children's enthusiasm of learning how to spell unknown words by themselves.

One day, I went to Mommy and tell her that I am a Superboy. As Mommy never teaches me how to spell any difficult words, out of curiosity, Mommy asked if I know how to spell "Superboy". I showed Mommy how I would spell it.

After I showed her, Mommy immediately knew that I am in my stage 2 of invented spelling. So it will be a great opportunity to provide some interventions to improve my spelling so that I will move on to the next stage instead of memorising words by heart which many traditional schools, and teachers are still doing that by providing spelling lists and test children - Mommy thinks it's a little outdated, and children should learn to apply strategies on how to spell words correctly, instead of pure memorization.

I am a "SPBOY"

I'm a little penguin

2010-11-25T19:28:00.003-08:00

I love my little penguin lunchie bag, and the moment I saw this penguin knitted hat, I fell in love with it :). Don't you think the head part matches with my penguin head lunchie bag and backpack ....heeee....

No more junk, pls!!

2010-11-25T19:28:00.001-08:00

Mommy doesn't like young children to start eating junk food like fries, candies, chocolates, ice cream, titbits etc because she worries that if the child started too young, it's bad for their teeth, and also develop bad eating habits. Daddy always like to introduce me to junk food as such and Mommy doesn't like it at all! especially, now I am always asking Daddy for more M&Ms, fries, candies, and ice cream etc and Mommy always frown when I ask for those junk! Recently, Daddy taught me how to eat my next junk....Mommy is shaking her head now :(

Flag painting

2010-11-20T10:37:00.003-08:00

I have not done with my flag painting, and it's coming to year end, and Mommy thinks I won't be able to finish painting all the flags with the rate I am going now. I guess there is no hurry in learning all the flags for this year, and I just have to paint whatever there are remaining next year then. At one point, I told Mommy that the flag of Romania looks like the flag of Chad which I painted long time ago.As usual, after painting, I experimented with the mixing of various colors with brush. I didn't get quite enough out of the brush, so I thought I'd better use my hands instead....

Flag of Yemen

Flag of Russia Flag of Romania

Copy, right?

2010-11-20T10:37:00.001-08:00

Every 1-2 months, my school will get us to bring back book order form to see if our parents want to order any books from the Montessori book catalog. There are so many great books that are recommended for Montessori teachers, and it's impossible for Mommy to buy all of them. Fortunately, most of the books on sales in the catalog are found in our library here. Mommy borrowed some of the books recommended in order to widen my reading knowledge. Among these few books, I love the book "10 things I can do to help my world"by Melanie Walsh, and "The dot" by Peter Raynolds. Then, one evening, we went out for dinner and while we were waiting for the food, I started to draw as usual. And I showed Mommy what I drew. Mommy asked me what I had drawn, and I told Mommy that I didn't know how to draw, so I drew a dot, and sign my name. So obviously, I learned from the book, "The dot". What an inspiring book! Maybe, Mommy should frame up my "dot".....haaaa......

Toys for me

2010-11-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

Mommy doesn't really like to spend money on toys for me unless they are educational toys. On the other hands, Daddy loves to buy me toys like cars, trains, games etc. Last year's birthday, Mommy bought me some books, and this year, she thought of getting something different because I read most books from the library and Mommy doesn't want to add on to my library collection unless they are Dr. Seuss' books. So this year, Mommy ordered the following items from my school for my coming 3rd birthday :) Hugg-A-Planet-Earth pillow, rainstick, wooden slide whistle, stethoscope, sandwich maker, and balancing tower.
Hugg-A-Planet pillow - since I am learning geography on continents, oceans, and countries, Mommy thinks that I will enjoy hugging this pillow and learn some countries before I sleep. The world map on the pillow is real map, and Mommy likes it because on the map of America, it indicates all the states of America, and Mommy said I will learn the 50 states and the capitals next year hopefully. Daddy was testing me where some of the countries are and I pointed them to him.
Rainstick and Slide Whistle - Mommy loves music and she has been wanting to get a rainstick for the longest time. These two items are more for Mommy than for me, but I enjoyed playing with them.

Working Stethoscope - Yes!! This stethoscope WORKS!! I am able to hear my heartbeats, and Daddy's.

Sandwich maker - Mommy got this sandwich maker as she wants me to make my own sandwich for snacks, and hoping to entice me to eat my snacks during snack time in school.

Balancing Tower - I can spend long time playing this game, and no matter how hard Mommy and I tried to put the shapes to balance, we can never get pass 3 shapes!! It's really hard and challenging, and requires a lot of patience and determination when playing this game.

Mommy is hoping to order more of such toys from school as it's cheaper to get from school than to order from another source.

I am a child of God

2010-11-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

As of today onwards, Mommy said that I will be a child of God because she led me to the sinner's prayer, and I accepted God as my God and Savior! Everything is possible with God and I pray that through my simple understanding and simple faith, I will learn more about Jesus and His love for me through Mommy's guidance and prayers. I pray that I will grow stronger in my faith in time to come, and that God will help me to be a man of God that He wants me to be when I grow up. Mommy prays that I will be baptized in the name of Jesus in God's timing, and that I will follow Jesus for the rest of my life. May the Holy Spirit guide me and give me strength. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Matthew 19:14 - Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (NIV)

Learning water displacement

2010-11-10T20:25:00.001-08:00

Mommy read to me the Chinese book about a crow trying to drink water from a vase the night before, and today Mommy wanted me to understand and see how the water rises up as I add pebbles to the vase. Usually, water displacement teaches to find the volumn of solids, but in this case, Mommy just wanted me to learn that water rises as pebbles are added, and the water remains the same even though the water level rises.

I told Mommy that I was able to drink the water. Mommy hopes in time to come, I will learn to find the volumn of solids as I get older.

Math Learning - Addition

2010-11-10T17:08:00.003-08:00

Few days ago, I told Mommy that I wanted to do Math, and so I took out the cubes from the shelf. Mommy took out my Math Assessment book that she bought from Singapore. Mommy wrote down the horizontal addition sum on my magnetic board, and she wanted me to place the correct number of cubes in the box according to the addition problems. Then, I will try to add them up, and write on the magnetic board, as well as on the book. Mommy is trying to teach me that additions can be written both horizontally and vertically. The next day, I told Mommy I wanted to do Math again. This time, I used two big dice. After I threw the dice, Mommy wrote down the addition sum on my magnetic board, and I would write down the total. It was Mommy's turn to throw, and Mommy wrote down the addition sum on my magnetic board, and I had to add them up again. We played throwing of dice a couple of times until I said I was done. Then, I decided to use my toy cars to do Math. Mommy got me to write my own addition sum on my board. Mommy hopes to use various maniplulatives to help me learn Math.

Painting Flag

2010-11-10T17:08:00.001-08:00

This is the most challenging flags that I have painted so far because of the fine lines, and I really have to use my fine motor skills to make sure that I don't paint the lines too wide. Usually after painting, Mommy will wash the painting materials for me because she doesn't want me to splatter the colored water all over the walls. However, Mommy thinks that I should clean up after painting, and as I offered to help Mommy wash the palette, she let me do it instead.

Flag of Morocco

Phonics Reader books

2010-11-09T16:39:00.005-08:00

The other day, I went to the library with Mommy and she borrowed these Phonics Reader Books: Get Ready, Get Set. Read. It comes in 5 sets. Set 1 and 2 are for Age 4- 7, in which Set 1 focuses on short vowel word families: at, ed, ish, im, op, ug. Set 2 focuses more practice with short vowel sounds: an, and, et, if, og, ub. Set 3 - 5 are for Age 5-8, in which Set 3 focuses on long vowel sounds: ake, eep, ide, ine, oke, ose, ue, ute. Set 4 focuses on vowel sounds: ale/ail, een/ean, ight/ite, all, ound, y, ow, ew, and set 5 focuses on: all, ound, y, ow, ew.

Liesbet Slegers

2010-11-09T16:39:00.003-08:00

Liesbet Slegers is also one of Mommy's favorite author who is from Belgium. She writes for very young children, and she is pretty well known to English Language Learners. Mommy loves her books because she uses very bright, attractive and shining colors to illustrate her books, and thus draws the attention of young readers. Slegers also uses very simple sentences which are great for beginner readers. Mommy loves Slegers' Guess Series books, and I really have fun guessing with all the clues given. Mommy thinks it teaches me how to describe using the adjectives, and "I Spy" game will be a great follow up after reading these Guess Books from Slegers.

Chinese Books

2010-11-09T16:39:00.001-08:00

Uncle Roy knows that I am learning Chinese from Mommy, and it's hard to get Chinese assessment or story books from US. So he bought these sets of Chinese books for K1 and K2 for me and get Uncle Elmos to bring over to US so that Mommy can use them to teach me. Upon browsing through the books, Mommy thinks that it's too complicated and early for me to learn how to write Chinese now. As I am in the US, writing Chinese is not as important as English so Mommy doesn't really expect me to write Chinese at my age. Mommy only wants me to learn how to speak and understand Chinese first. Mommy will teach me how to write when I recognize the words later. For now, Mommy is still exposing me to Chinese story books, and she tries to read to me everyday if possible. Uncle Roy also bought me a set of Chinese DVDs : Tell me why, and hoping that I will learn something from these DVDs. Mommy hopes to send me to a Chinese school here to learn Chinese when I get older. Mommy's expectation of me in Chinese is that as long as I can speak and understand, and if I can write Chinese characters, it will just be a bonus. If I can't write any Chinese characters, I must at least learn how to write my chinese name which is very very hard for me because it has many many strokes.....maybe Mommy should simplify my chinese name .....haaa....

My 1st exposure to violin

2010-11-06T12:15:00.001-07:00

Among all the musical instruments, Mommy loves violin and she is hoping that I will pick up violin. Unlce Elmos brought this little violin all the way from Singapore and let me have my 1st exposure to violin. Mikayla jie jie has graduated from her violin lessons, and Uncle Elmos played some songs with this little violin while he was here in the US. Interestingly, Mommy learned from Unlce Elmos that children as young as 3 years old could start learning how to play musical instruments as most music schools in Singapore accept them at a young age. Unfortunately, here in the US, many music schools that Mommy enquired only accept children from age 4-5 onwards. Anyway, Mommy doesn't think that I should learn any instrument now because she wants me to be exposed to the various instruments first so that she knows which instrument I am really interested in learning. Mommy doesn't believe in making the decision for me on which instrument I should learn or attend the class just because she thinks that it's good for me. She wants me to learn because I want to or interested in learning the instruments. For now, I have not shown any or very specific interest in any musical instruments yet, and it's o.k. with Mommy. So far, I have been exposed to guitar, violin, and little keyboard, and Mommy is hoping that in time to come, I will choose one among the 3 instruments. Of course, she is praying hard that I will pick up violin.

Impromptu learning and assessing

2010-11-06T12:14:00.001-07:00

I learned about "Insects" few months back, and I have not visited the topic since then. This morning, I saw some insects at the window, and I pointed to Mommy. Mommy took the opportunity to assess me since I already learned about "Insects". Mommy decided to teach me the word "insecticide" since the opportunity arose. Mommy likes this way of spontaneous learning, teaching and assessing, and hope that more of such will occur in our daily life.

Magnet Art

2010-11-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

So far my art lesson at home is still learning the various country flags through painting them, and I have not done art using various tools for a long time. Mommy is hoping that she will make time to provide opportunity for me to use various tools to create my art pieces.

I did the magnet art using magnets, and I really had a blast creating this art piece.

Magnet Art

Back to Routine

2010-11-04T20:17:00.003-07:00

Eversince the Tan family visited us, Mommy stopped all learning activities, and she also never assessed my learning during those 2.5 weeks. All activities such as painting writing, math and science learning, came to a halt too as I spent most time playing with Mikayla jie jie. Reading is the only activity that continues every night without fail. When the Tan family was here, they were able to witness my knowledge of all the country flags that I have learned so far. Mommy assessed me in their presence, and Uncle Elmos was really impressed that I really know all the flags. I could even tell him that the flag that he has on his cap is from Netherland : ). And also one night, Mikayla jie jie was trying to read to Uncle Elmos during bedtime, and I was lying beside Mikayla jie jie listening to her read. She came across a difficult word and she stopped reading. Immediately, I read to her "pajamas" and Uncle Elmos was very impressed that I could read the word. Then, Mikayla jie jie immediately said that she hasn't used her phonic skills to pronounce the word yet, and I jumped into telling her how to read the word. I felt so proud of myself ....heeee.....

After the Tan family left, Mommy was worried that I may forget my learning so she started to try getting back to my routine in assessing me on my knowledge. Mommy was glad that I still remember all the country flags that I have painted so far.

Mommy also assessed me on the various terms of animals that I have learned.

I also got back my routine of drawing as Mommy caught me drawing a bus, and wrote the word "bus" on the paper. She was glad that I love to draw, like Mikayla jie jie.

Music is always part of us in the house, and eversince the Tan family was here, there was no music in the house. Once they left, music is back to life, and Mommy enjoyed watching me dance to the music expressing myself freely.

Playing educational games from the computer is also part of my routine, not only I learn to manupulate the cursor using my finger, the games assess my learning.