Regency Preschool

Missing lyrics

2011-05-22T01:17:00.000-07:00

This is still with the Top 10 list, I want to continue our singing become more excited games. This is how we played the games. At first we split the children into two groups.
And I gave a small bell to each group so they can ring the bell before they answer the questions.
And I started to sing a song. When I stopped singing, they have to ring the bell and I pick the fastest group who ring faster then they can answer by continue singing the blank lyrics.
Wow this is a new invention games in kindergarten for us, simple but very effective to give them a lot of fun and also practicing their memory.
Also a lot of them forgot to ring the bell first. So I must to review the rules over and over again. But it's worth.

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TOP 10

2011-05-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Finally, nearly the year's end. We had learned a lot, including new songs. This year we sang a lot of mandarin songs that I already translated them into english. Those make our song library become richer. I didn't realize that we already have 10 new songs this year.
Now this is the time for us to do the countdown of the top 10. The children are really excited about it, they are following me singing the songs one by one from 10th to 1st. I let them to speak up their mind about which song is the best. I'm so excited too coz they never stop arguing each other which song which is on the top list.
Anna said," I like the duck song, coz I had duck at my home."
Bryan said," I like the tiger song, coz I want to have one at my home."
LOL
So many arguments among of them.

It's very nice my teaching's idea already make them busy and can lift up the class atmosphere :)
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Shoes Incident

2011-05-10T00:41:00.000-07:00

This is about shoes, nothing else. And this is the first time in my teaching life that I ever experienced . One day after all of the students already went home 2 hours before. Our school's office phone was ringing, I immediately got the phone. Because the only teachers left in the school, there were only me and one lady teacher.
" Hello, I am the mother of H student."
I said,"Yes mam, what can I do for you ?"
"Oh I have to tell you, Mr.D. My child miswears shoes at school. I think her friend got the wrong shoes."
I replied,"Ok mam, tomorrow we will check if there any students realise that they got the wrong shoes or not."
"Ok, thank you Mr.D. see you tomorrow."

In tomorrow morning, I remember that yesterday's phone. And I also asked the other teachers to help me to find the students with the wrong shoes.
Suddenly I met the student who her mother called me yesterday.
I asked her," What happened with your shoes?" I tried to examine her shoes, her shoes is black color with pink flowers all around them.
But I didnt find anything wrong, oh perhaps she got the wrong size shoes after got changes from her friend.
And the student said to me with smiling,"I got the wrong side of the shoes."
"Ohhhhhh............................. hahaha."
I just didnt realise that she came to school wearing the shoes with all the right side shoes hahaha. Can you imagine that ? She had to wear all same side shoes to school for finding the other true side of her shoes.

So now it's easy for us to find another victim that wearing with all the left side shoes.

That's how we find a lot of ridiculous moments in kindergarten :)

1st day of school

2010-07-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

After having long holiday. It's so exciting to meet new preschoolers. New challenge, new parents, new classes, new voices ..... :) hey some of the old preschoolers are making different sound of their voices. Hahaha not meet them for a month, they are grown up already ya. Taller, bigger, prettier, and more handsome :)
Really cool !!!!

Welcome children :D
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Eyes contact and Hand signing

2010-06-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

First thing in the kindergarten, we have to understand that we are facing the children. We are facing a group of happy children. We know what happen when they are happy or too happy. They were playing too excited, they even didn't hear me when I was calling them. Or even when I touched their shoulders, they didn't pay attention to me.
What's wrong with that, there was nothing wrong. We just didn't have the eyes contact with the children. When we had a chance to meet eyes contact with them, we can do all of the hand signing to communicate with them after that.

* How to get eyes contact with the children : just get in the right position for targeting ones, pro active and be patient :)

* Hand signing is very important, it's the beginning of learning more about body gesture for socializing.

* When you got the eyes contact, immediately do the hand signing before the situation will be expired :)
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This year

2010-05-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

This year, we'd been through a lot of things together with the children. The K-2 class will graduate soon. I just remember that we did a lot of silly things, playing around together, we are so happy with that.
Well although I 'd been through this every year, the sad feeling always pop up suddenly in worth of my tears. They are always in my heart. A lot of things that I will be missing. Just like watching them playing in the waiting room, always be a chaos there :)
Or helping me watering the plants, well they were also watering the class :)
Or they were setting up a dinner table for me to join :) with imaginary food.
Or they are hiding under my table, for testing up my heart beat :)
Etc........ A lot lah.
But what makes me really proud after all those things above. They will say,"Mommy...mommy, they are my teachers, I love my teachers so much."
*sobbing* in happiness .
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Matches and shapes

2010-05-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Now the K-1 class (4 years old) have a chance to make shapes.
They make shapes from matches. Here are the materials that we should prepare :
- a box of matches
- A4 color paper for the media
- white glue
- cotton
- little tiny cut green paper

We have to guide the children to create shapes.
Let them try it first to create the triangle and rectangle, don't put the glue yet. After they succeed to make it, then they can try to use the glue with.
We want to make a simple house with little garden in front of it.
The steps are :
- create the triangle shape
- create the rectangle shape under the triangle shape
- put cotton as the cloud in the sky
- put the glue under the house shape
- pouring the little tiny cut green shapes

Voila, a small house is ready to tease your imaginations :)

Happy trying @ home.
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108

2010-05-19T05:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday so early morning, as usual there was just one kid already come to school. Her name is Jess. Jess is the famous one in the class , because she's so active. I think she is the gang leader of her friends. Wow :). She is so special to me because she is always coming to school earlier than me. I never met that before. I realize it's almost one year, and she and her parents are so consistent for coming to school earliest.
After she put her bag in the classroom, then just go out and play in the playground. While she was playing, suddenly she was calling me from the distance.
"Mr.Danny...... Mr.Danny....... "
I said,"What's the matter , Jess?"
She replied,"I found an half mango,sir."
Half mango ???
I found that an half mango on the ground, it fell from the mango tree last night.
FYI our kindergarten has a giant 30 years old mango tree.
It's been already at there since the beginning of the kindergarten.
I look at the half mango, ah I see. It's a bat that did it.
"Last night a bat was having a party at here." I said.
"A bat, Mr.Danny ?" She asked.
"Yes, the mango is beginning to ripe at up there. The smells is really good yeah. The bat was attracted by its smells." I answered.
" Oh we must pick all of them now. Before other bats know the mango." She replied.
"Hey that's a good idea. I will pick one for you yah, because you give me the idea for saving the mango's sake up there." I told her.
And then I pick the big one which the most below one and give it to her. She is so happy to receive the mango from me. The mango is very big, as big as my open palm.
"I will give it to my mom, when I got home." She told me.
"Oh really? Don't forget to wash it first, ok?"I replied.

After the school I and the office boy were picking all the mangoes from up the tree till evening. We have 108 mangoes back there. :)
Can't wait till tomorrow.
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As a replacement teacher

2010-05-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is very interesting. One morning it came out that one of my teacher mate who teach english in english session didn't show up. She got sick.
And I have to fill up the english session with the material that she prepared before. Because I was the only one at that time who has the free minutes.
When I came inside the class, with english teaching materials. I saw the children's face, they were a little bit confused by my present :)
And suddenly one of the children asked me ," Where is Miss C?"
And I answered them," Sorry, Miss C is sick today and cannot come to teach you guys."

After that we begin the morning greetings.
I greeted," Good morning, children."
They replied me," Good morning, Miss."

"...................????????"

I was jumping backward a little bit and said," WHAT.......???!!!! Am I a Miss now ? Hahahaha ."
They were all laughing too, they forgot that I am a male.

And then all the time in that session , they always called me wrong.
"What is that Miss , ooppsss...sorry!"
Or
"Can you help me ,Miss ? Oops sorry again."
Or
"I can't see it , Miss , oops!"
And so on with oops this oops that.
I only can take a deep breath then.

I guess the english session, it really sticks to our Miss C's image. Even she is not in the class, but she is present to the children's mind and the children's heart always. It can really control the children's tongue :D LOL

I am wondering if I also have a temporary replacement teacher for my mandarin session, what will happen then :)
Will be like this also ? OOPS :)
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See with your ears

2010-05-10T23:02:00.001-07:00

, o

This is a simple game, I knew this kind of sense game from a comic
book. I read the "KUNG FU BOY" comic books. I am very curious to that
comic, it told me that we can really hear the tiny little bird's voice
nearby the waterfall.
Is that possible ?

As we know that we really depend to our five senses in our daily
activities, but we only use our sight sense as our first main sense to
do all of our activities. Approximately 80% we really depend on our eyes,
we only share 20% to four others.

I bring the K-2 class to go to the school's backyard. I give them 2
minutes to see everything in there and tell them to memorize as much
as they can. After 2 minutes I tell the children to close their eyes
and blindfold them.
"Ok children be silent please, no voice from you."
"Listen carefully your surroundings, find things for me, find it with
your ears."
"I also blindfold myself."
This is the beginning of our adventures in the backyard. It's so
amazing, they actually really find a lot of things with their ears.
Even without knowing where the sound come from. This is the list that
we found in our backyard :
We found "birds" (actually we don't know where the bird is)
We found "train" (there is a train station a mile away from us)
We found "so many cars"
We found "buses"
We found "motorcycles"
We found "polices" (haha........ we can hear him very from here)
We found "foot-step" (by hearing it from the neighbour)
We found "fire-fighter's car" (of course..........so loud)
We found "radio" (our neighbour is playing the radio)
even we found the "push-cart seller" in our backyard (they are yelling so loud LOL)

Hahahaha................our backyard's so noisy, pretty amazing yeah............

Finally I have to say that so many things that we really miss out because we didn't use
our five senses very well, especially our hearing.

The most important that they are practising how to concentrate and
focusing on a thing by using their hearing sense.

You can play with this little game with your little kids at home.
Have fun then :)

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2010-05-05T17:42:00.003-07:00

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Join me on Facebook

2010-05-05T17:42:00.001-07:00

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Join me on Facebook

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See, hear, touch

2010-05-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

Last week's post , I was writing our activity about finding the animals in our school's backyard for K-2. The children were very enjoying their time.
At this time for K-1, I make a table chart which is containing 3 categories of the way you finding the animals. And some pictures of bugs, birds and reptiles on the other papers.

They have to find the animals :

By seeing it.......
By hearing it ........
By touching it ........

And they have to color the animals with different colors each by according how the way they find it.
It's really challenging their ability to use their senses.

So I bring them to the backyard, and we begin searching in the bushes, under the trees, on the ground, etc.
At first we find the animals by seeing it. We found a lot of course.
The second time, by hearing it.
I tell the children to close their eyes, and start to listen surroundings very carefully.
One girl said," Ms. Reni !!!!!!"
Hahaha that's my teacher mate, apparently she has a loud voice. When she is teaching we can hear her voice from our backyard :)

"No honey, that's Ms. Reni. Try another." I replied.
It's pretty amazing they are, they have a good hearing. And very sensitive hearing too :)
We found bees *buzzing* and we found birds *chirping* and lizard on the wall *clicking*

The third time, I ask them which animals can be touched and cannot.
Well we only found ants that can be touched.
I was also introducing to them some animals that can be dangerous if we touch it.
Like spiders and bees.
Birds and lizards are unreachable.
We were really enjoying the moments, no one wants to stop looking for it.

Before the class is finished, I give them the final question ,"What animals that live very close to us in backyard but we can't see it, we can't hear it and we can't touch it."
"What are they ?"

PS: I wish someone can make me a simple song for this backyard activities. So I can sing the song along with the children :)
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Answering the door

2010-05-05T03:28:00.000-07:00

"Why" This is the question I always ask to myself, even until tonight.

It was happened this morning. When I was accompanying my student before they got picked up, in the waiting room. Someone suddenly was knocking on the door *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* with panic sound.
I just opened the door right away, I saw a mom of my student with her heavy breath and sweating just like running a 10K. "Sir, my son , did he already get inside the class?" She asked.
I said,"Already , ma'm."
After that she said,"Mr. Danny, I just wanna tell you that when the class will be finish. Please tell my son to wait for me."
"Don't let him go out with anyone else, including someone that will tell you that he is his father."
Basically I never met his father before. There is always his mom the one who pick him up.
I just realize that something happened in their home.
I know it's hard for me not to care about this, or pretend not know anything about this.
I know that her son still doesn't know about this.
I guess I just keep standing out of the circle from this problem.

I know how to answer her ,"Ok ma'm, don't worry about this."

That was the best answer I could give to my student and his mom.
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Left hand

2010-05-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

Recently I am so busy with my offline works, and also I tried a lot of things with the children the idea that I've got from other's blogs. Some can be done and some can't be done as we expected to. But the results were better, hahaha...........

And now, today morning finally one of my students, V is coming to school. After 4 days she had rest at home. Because she got accident when she was playing see-saw at her uncle's apartment park. I got the news in monday morning when her mom called me, and telling me that bad news. I asked her mom,"How come?"
She said when V was playing see-saw, she played with 3 other kids. And it happened so fast that the see-saw's handles, usually which the kids grab when they ride the see-saw, were bent and broken, got pulled off.

She and her friend, both of them felt on the ground, in bad position. Her friend was falling on her, and it got her right arm. I just can't stand it hearing the news on the phone. Immediately her mom brought her to a Chinese medical doctor (Sin She) for having the arm treatments. There's a problem with hte bones.
But I have to admit that V is very understandable girl, although she is only 5 years old. She understood that when her mom brought her to the doctor, her mom told her that it would be really hurt. At first V was very scared. But her mom gave her 2 choices : #1 do you wanna be like this forever and cannot go to school ? or #2 let the doctor handles it, it's very ....very ......very hurt only for one time, and your arm will be well soon.

She made the choice, she picked the Choice #2. What a brave girl :)

I meet V at school today morning, I saw her with the arm treatment.
I asked her,"is it still hurt?"
"Yes, still a little bit."
Since she cannot write with her right hand, she must write with her left hand. It's very hard for her to do that.
But she didn't give it up, she keep trying it. She is so sad that her hand-writings are not good anymore.
I immediately said to her,"Don't worry V, I will also use my left hand to write on the white board. See that............. my left hand writings are also not as good as my right hand writings."
Hoho.... apparently my left hand writings is really worse than hers :)

Now I can see her beautiful smile is back on her face again. :)

"Hope your arm will get well soon."

Uninvited guests

2010-04-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

Suddenly I just remember this important thing that happened two years ago at the end of July, in our kindergarten. After we had a long holiday, that day was the 1st day the school began. When all of my students were already in the class. There was one student came late to school. His name is JK. I saw him when he was walking into the class. His hair got a little bit powder trace on the left of his head. As he walked from the door until he sat on his chair, he was scratching all the times. I went near by him at once and asked him in private," Why are you late? Is there anything that you want to tell me?"
"My head is so itchy, sir." He answered.
"Oh really ??? What happened? Because of the powder on your hair?" I was guessing.
"No sir, because my mom says I have 'uninvited guests' in my hair." He answered me.
"Uninvited guests ???? OMG...... There are some kind of hair habitat."
After I was silent for a moment then I immediately brought him to the school's backyard to let him sat there for a while. I called his mom at once for telling her to pick up her son
ASAP. At that time I was afraid that the uninvited guests will go and visit to everyone else in the class.
Not so long after that his mom arrived at school and just picked up her son and went home. Before going home , I asked her mom what happened. She said that in the holiday they were visiting their relatives to the village. "Ohhh...I see."
"This hair habitat should be cured immediately." I said.
And then on the next day, he came to school with a full moon on his head.

I guess this is the best way to cure and clean up everything in the house :)
Glad it was going well.

Head lice http://www.dhpe.org/infect/lice.html
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In our school's backyard

2010-04-28T01:11:00.000-07:00

We have a beautiful morning today. Beautiful sunshine, the weather is not too hot, not just like yesterday. The wind is not too strong, but still OK.
Today's activity for K-2 class is that I am planning to let them aware to our environment and living organisms among us in everyday life. It takes place at our school's backyard.

I bring the children marching at my back just like ants (they really like it when I lead the marching)to our school's backyard. There are 4 teams, each team has 4 members.
Apple team, banana team, tomato team and melon team.

Their jobs are to find any kind of animals that live at our school's backyard which they see or touch or hear from distance or maybe they find evidence of organisms without actually seeing them.
They must have use their senses to find the animals.
In my hand I hold blank list papers, and I share it to each team leader. The three other members of the team have to look for the animals and count them. And the team leader's job is to write down the animal's name on the blank list and also to follow the counting.

This is so exciting, they are just running right away and start looking for the animals at every corner of our schoolyard. It's very remarkable, at the first time I thought it's kind of hard for the children to build a teamwork. But when I see it now with my own eyes, how they run, how they coordinate each other, they are building a very strong teamwork at here.
Kid 1 :,"hi friends, come over here. I found ants here."
Kid 2 :,"I will look over there to find something."
Kid 3 :,"Hey look over here."
Kid 4 :,"Hey I know how to write bird, let me write it."
...............etc.

Those conversations above are very common that we found in this activity. And also we found a new unknown species bugs hiding in the avocado tree. Personally all the teachers don't know the name either :) See the picture above.

They also found a lot of living organisms inside a holes of the old jackfruit tree's trunk as their habitat. We found ant's nest inside. And also a tiny plant is growing inside the holes.

Luckily our schoolyard is very rich of plant and tree collections. It's not too hard to find a nice spot for finding the animals.

We also found lizards but it's too fast for us to observe because they just run just like wooosshhhh........... inside the bushes.
We didn't realize before that our school's backyard has a wonderful habitat for alot of kind organisms.
As the result, there are some habitats :
ants, worms, cockroach, spiders, butterflies, bird, flying bugs and lizards.

We really have fun today by doing this kind of teamwork's activity. It already took for half an hour, but the children still want some more times. Sweaty but fun :)

Here is the example of our observation's worksheet :

Plays, sweats and happy

2010-04-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

When I taught the new song "Yi zhi ma yi" (English = There's an ant) to the children last week. The children completely still remember the music rhyms, but they start singing the words not so clear. I heard they were singing it in the morning before the class begins. I think I must interupt their singing for a while and then told them ,"Let me sing the song again, all of you repeat after me, OK?"
"Ok , sir."they replied.

After finish to sing it and all of them understood (well, not all of them), I went to the playground for checking up the toys safety and condition. I do this every monday morning. Checking up the screws and bolts, the joint, the rope, etc.

But you know what, and then my students were singing behind my back and following me around in the line just like the ants do. So we have a group of giant ants walking in the line at the playground then :)
I was pretending not knowing that, and suddenly I turned my back with a surprising voice ,"Eeeehhhhhh.........." "Aaaaahhhhhh"

I know it's still in the morning, I still can smell my perfume which I put it on this morning.
But if the children ask me to play with them before the class begin, so be playing with them in a wwooosshhh....

Well I guess, a little bit sweat in the morning makes a big bit happy for the rest of the day. Indeed.

PS > I have my own perfume with me in my bag :) LOL

Blogging a discussion about teacher identity

2010-04-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

We did a small discussion in facebook, via "Teach Preschool" fan page. I am asking about the teacher identity in school and in the public. I love the discussion, it really truly opened my mind about the profession.
So I save it in my blog for me to remember it always.
In this discussion we have peoples who contribute their comments :
Tom Hobson, Shara Lawrence-Weiss, Deborah J.Stewart and Jo Caller.
Here is the question:
Regency Kindergarten via Teach Preschool fan page : "should teachers be allowed to wear tank tops
& shorts when taking a walk on the plaza?" The larger question for teachers everywhere is: "does a teacher need to 'look' and 'act' like a teacher .... all the time? If so, then there's this: "what does a teacher look like?"

21 comments :
Tom Hobson at 16:15 on 22 April 2010

Naturally, teachers should wear superhero costumes all the time. =)
. . . alternatively, they may dress as owls or cowboys!
I know this is a serious question, but I couldn't help myself. =)
{Tom is a fun teacher , he is the frontliner in the school which's run by a lot of peoples : one teacher Tom and a group of parents. Parents make a very important role in the school. This is the model of communal homeschool}
Shara Lawrence-Weiss at 16:23 on 22 April 2010

HAHA! I agree with Tom. Of course...if your superhero costume is in the wash, you must reconsider. At that point, I think anything "non revealing" is probably okay. There are some tank tops that are fine...others are certainly not.
I was invited to join a new fan page this week - created by a mom who runs the PTA at her child's school. I can't even repeat the fan page name but I can tell you this much: if any Principal was looking to hire her for a classroom job and she/he Googled this mom's name...and that fan page popped up...she'd never get hired.
When polls are taken, the general public still expect certain career holders to demonstrate a higher standard of ethics: teachers, police, firefighters, etc. Might as well be safe - than sorry, eh? Otherwise, the teacher might just end up on the "Bad Teachers Wall" over at MomLogic.com. And nobody wants that :-)
Regency Kindergarten at 16:49 on 22 April 2010

@ Tom : Don't worry Tom, a teacher is full of fun and fun and fun............ :)
@ Shara : you are right Shara, a teacher is a public figure. Because we are teaching the future president :)
@ Tom : I wish I can wear that cape and still looks great just like you :)
Teach Preschool at 17:05 on 22 April 2010

@ Regency - You can't really judge the book by the cover. I have met some pretty amazing teachers through this online forum and they all look very different but I know after reading their posts that they love what they do so for that reason, I even like teachers who wear super hero outfits! LOL!
PS> I would wear my Cat Woman super hero suit but I don't want to end up on MomLogic as a bad teacher:)
Tom Hobson at 17:09 on 22 April 2010

Everyone looks good in a cape!
Shara Lawrence-Weiss at 17:17 on 22 April 2010

Or a pink cowgirl hat!
{Shara likes to wear pink cowgirl hat :) }
Teach Preschool at 17:24 on 22 April 2010

LOL! I got to get me one of those:)

Regency Kindergarten at 19:16 on 22 April 2010

I once ever wore a cap with a rotor, the rotor can be spinning.
I wore it in front of the children.
But never wear it in front of the parents.
Sometimes it's hard to make other peoples believe "don't judge the book by it's cover"
:)
But Tom wore a super hero suit with confident.
With his confidence, I start to believe that he really can fly :)
Shara Lawrence-Weiss at 19:20 on 22 April 2010

I agree...when I see Tom's image, I think - that guy can fly! Where is he going? What town is he saving? Who needs him?
Regency Kindergarten at 19:28 on 22 April 2010

I believe with suits, the children will always remember their teachers.
Even 20 or 30 years later, they will bring their kids or even grandchild to the same kindergarten as they had.
They will tell to their kids,"He/she was my teacher"
Jo Caller at 02:01 yesterday

@RegencyKindergarten...I would hope that children remember their teachers for more than their suits!
And what is it that I must do to 'act' like a teacher?
Dress should be appropriate for the environment that we work in and take into account issues such as sun safety, cultural expectations and comfort...I would be concerned to find a early childhood teacher dressed in a suit!
I have dressed as a fairy,train driver,clown to name but a few and have been proud for parents to see me! It's all part of the fun and the children and families LOVE it!
Regency Kindergarten at 07:55 yesterday

@Jo Caller : Good point Jo, I think I must add some confidences into me wearing those costumes.
Personally a formal suit is very boring to me, we have a formal teacher's uniform for teaching in the class.
Every teacher are not the same just like the uniform.
I think in these discussions I found something valueable.
'Act like a teacher' is = we don't need to act like a teacher because we are the real teacher and not an actor/actress.
The real teacher simply has the "teacher charming" inside :)
Jo Caller at 17:38 yesterday

@Regency....You got it !!!!! It is what comes from within...the passion, the caring, the love!
So glad this discussion has helped :)
Teach Preschool at 18:01 yesterday

"The real teacher simply has the "teacher charming" inside :)" Well said!
Deborah is the one who runs the Teach Preschool fan page.
She introduce us the new idea of teaching and connecting teacher with other teachers.
Good job!
Jia you , Deb!!! (English: cheering!)
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A story of Greedy

2010-04-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

Story by Tsabita Doll

There was a very greedy dog. This dog likes to take other dog's food. When it sees another dog was eating, it will chase and take the food from that dog.

One day the greedy dog was very hungry. The dog ran around looking for food. Near the marketplace, the greedy dog stole a piece of meat. The dog bit the meat and carried it home.

On its way home, the dog went through a small bridge over a creek. The water was very clear. The dog looked at the river below and saw clearly a dog's shadow on the water.

The greedy dog thought that there was another dog carrying a piece of meat...quickly the dog jumped into the water. The dog wanted to have the "other dog's" meat.

(In doing so) the dog lost the piece of meat from its mouth. The piece of meat was carried away by the river. There was no other dog. The one it had attacked was its own shadow. The greedy dog was soaking wet and with great difficulties reached the shore. The greedy dog went home sluggishly. Its stomach was getting even hungrier...

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Nice Mike and Rude Jude

2010-04-22T01:11:00.000-07:00

Fun with Phonics.

This story introduces the 'magic e' spelling of the long i and u vowel sounds, as in bike and cube.

This is Nice Mike. He is always polite.

This is Rude Jude. Nobody likes him.

Jude acts like a brute.

He makes Mike wipe and shine his shoes.

He takes Mike's things :

his five white mice,

his crazy kite,

his Silly Slime

and his nice red bike.

But Nice Mike has a surprise for Rude Jude.

It's Mike's big brother, Huge Bruce.

"GULP! He's twice my size !"

Numbers , ants , and yikess....!!!!!

2010-04-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, finally the CD "Simple songs for Preschool" by Deborah J.Stewart was arrived. How excited I am, I play the CD immediately when I got home. The songs are so awesome, this is what I was looking for all this time. It will be one of my rare collections at my home. When I let my baby daughter to listen the songs, she's just moving her hands and shaking her body LOL :D. I think Deborah really understands the children's needs for songs. Even my 11 months old baby is loving it.

It's really a coincident that I already palnned for chinese teaching material last week for today, counting numbers of "the ants" and also counting ant's legs. I pick one of the songs from the CD : "There's an Ant" Track 7. But firstly translate into chinese, here's the translation :

一只蚂蚁靠近我身边

yi zhi mayi, kao jin wo shen bian

one little ant, come near on me

一只蚂蚁靠近我身边

yi zhi mayi, kao jin wo shen bian

one little ant, come near on me

我怕我 eeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh................

wo pa, wo eeeeeehhhhh.............

I'm scared I'm eeeeeeeehhhhh............

它来我身边

ta lai wo shen bian

It still come near on me

一只蚂蚁靠近我身边

yi zhi mayi, kaojin wo shen bian

one little ant, come near on me

I changed the translation for finding the suitable words in chinese language.

We had so much fun from the song. When we were singing the song, we also did the motions :

1. We do the "ant's face" by putting our both index finger on our forehead, pointing to front.
2. We do the "crawling things" by playing our finger just liked an ant crawling and towards to us.
3. we do the "eeeeeehhhhh......." the yikes part by jumping on the spot and shaking our body and both hands.

In this session, I also introduced all about the ants to the children.

How's the ants' crawling ? or

What do the ants like to eat ? or

Why do the ants crawl in the line ? or

Where do the ants crawl ? or

What's it called the pair of pointing stuff on ant's forehead ? the answer is the antennas.
Alot of children didn't know what it's called, they just called it,"ant's horns" or "ant's hair" or "ant's moustache" or "ant's ears" ....................hahaha LOL :D

After the class, I still can hear they are singing the song together at the playground :)

Ma yi = ant

Spontaneous

2010-04-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Zi fa : spontaneous

This is the act that all peoples have done it before. We were already planning it before. But sometimes we must be spontaneous to react to every kind of situation that we're not expecting so. Everyone have different reaction of it.

As long as I am teaching, the spontaneous is my super weapon to break the situation.

These are the situations that need our spontaneous infront the kids :

Situation 1 ---> a kid is yawning in the class, I break their yawning spell with my idea to count the kid's teeth. And everybody will be busy counting each other's teeth after that :)

Situation 2 ---> nose picking in the class , this is a big issue for all of teachers. And I am just saying,"Freeze........, put both your hands up in the air !! " And I am pretending that I am a policeman who catch a nose picking thief. ( Haha, I hope it's not too extreme )

Situation 3 ---> when a kid is running around at the playground and suddenly fall down. I m just saying ," HOORAAY...., you are the running winner." It will prevent them from crying. And I hug his/her body and checking out his/her possiblity of injury. If not then I let them to continue playing again.

Situation 4 ---> when the children are not paying attention to me and just talking each other in the class. I said," Ooopsss I lose my marker. Can anyone find it for me?" after that they found an erasers or pencils even hair accessories from under the tables.

These are the situation that I often face it. I just do what I must gonna do to lift up my class' mood :)

If you have another experiences, please tell me a story of it, thx
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A liquid absorbing device

2010-04-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

Kids really love to play with water. I mean who doesn't like to play with water :)
At this time the children have got a chance playing around with it.
Don't be afraid of their clothes will gonna be wet, a lot of them care about their clothes instead.

Now we introduce the sponge to the 3's . We didn't tell them the name of this stuff. They are so curious about it. The soft feeling in their hands and when they press it, it becomes smaller. If they release it, it becomes bigger.
We demonstrate how to use the sponge to fill up an empty bucket with water.

One by one, they start filling up the bucket with their both handsFrom this activity, now I know who have patient and who have not. And this is one of the montessori activity that I know.

The children are having so much fun with this. Squeeze here squeeze there, splash here and splash there.
Ho ho , I tell them this is called sponge.

After the class is finished, one of my boys came to me and asked," Can I take the sponge home, sir? I want to play with it and draw eyes on it."

"Huh ??" Hmmm,... Really weird.

I give away the sponge to him and he said thank you and walk away.

When I am on the way home, I suddenly stop and almost screaming ," SPONGEBOB... "
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How to hold chopstick ( children version )

2010-04-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

Are there anyone can use chopstick ? :)
Today I am teaching chinese lesson for the kids. I am bringing many pairs of new chopsticks from home to show them to the kids.
I am always collecting chopstick , usually I took home an new extra pair of chopsticks from the restaurants. I never brought home the ones that I used to eat. So don't worry about that :)

I already prepared the learning tools which are : Chopsticks, numbers shape (EVA) and a small bucket.

When I come to class bringing chopsticks, the children are saying ,"Wow we are gonna to eat noodles."
Then I said," Nope, we will play with it. Is there anyone can use chopstick ?"
"I can !!!" " I can !!" " I can !!!!"
Hahaha everyone said," I can............ !!"

" Really ???!!" I replied it with a doubt.

I started to give the chopsticks, each one got a pair then. I guided them how to hold a chopstick just like the last post ( Chopstick ). My hands are in the air when I demonstrated to hold the chopstick.
Everyone already held their own chopstick, as demonstrated by me.

"Ok, you start to grab the number "wu" (5) with your chopstick and put it in the bucket." I pointed Vio.

He just cannot maintain to hold the chopstick in the right position, but he didn't give up. Finally he succeded to lift up the number with his own way :)
I didn't say it wrong to them, because in this lesson I try to encourage them to practice to use chopstick.
Chopstick is the best way to practice their fine motor skill.

I am watching them using chopstick to grab the numbers shapes,there are 5 positions how to hold chopsticks :

1. Using both hands : each hand hold a single chopstick, just like holding a spoon and a fork. This technique is quite difficult, maybe I hardly do that too :D.

2. Sword and shield : haha this technique is the easiest one, they hold a pair of the chopstick in one hand. And then together using the other bare hand to lift up things :)

3. Crossing the sticks : They hold a pair of chopstick in one hand, the chopsticks is in cross position. And they successfully lift up things. { I have no idea how this can really work :D LOL, personally I can't do that }

4. Pushing : This might be against the chopstick's user manual book :) . They are just pushing stuff with chopstick, just like a hockey player :)

5. Big Jab : Haha with a big jab they stroke things with chopstick. This technique is very common among us when we eat a meat ball :)

I start to use chopstick when I was 4 years old. Start at young age makes me even better to hold chopstick when I'd grown up.
To learn to hold chopstick at young age, it just like when we want to learn to swim.

So everybody go and buy a pair of chopstick, use it when you eat noodles or even spaghetti.

Chopstick : kuai zi ( chinese )

What I do, what I did, what I will do

2010-04-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon there'd been a heavy rain at here. We had to wait untill the rain stopped, I was going home a little bit late then.
Today in the morning, it's a shiny day. When I just come to open the class , there still noone's coming yet. And then I am preparing the teaching stuff for today. After that I go to the playground to look at there for a while, I found that our playground is covered by just a few of dry leaves from the Jackfruit tree.
I have to tell you that our kindergarten has a big giant jackfruit tree on the middle of the playground. With its leaves and branches, it makes a big canopy shape, at noon it's giving the children a perfect shading while they are playing.
Lately, I just found out that in the rainy season, the jackfruit tree is producing a huge number of dry leaves. It's very strange, right ?
After finish preparing the teaching stuff, I feel I need to go to the toilet.
While I am in the toilet, I kind of hear the sweeping sound from the playground. Eh............. it's weird that I thought noone's coming yet.

I just walk out at once and try to find out, .......I see two of my students are sweeping the playground using floor squeegee :). Apparently only the two of them just arrived to school.

I am very touched by their kindness, I know at the other day I was just doing what I think it's the right things, by sweeping the playground by myself ( helping each other post ) . They just believe in me, what I was doing it's the right things.

The children really paid it well, they just do "what I do, what I did", and perhaps they will figure it out "what I will do".
Maybe this is what we always called the "bonding" between teacher and the children.

Chopstick

2010-04-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

It is a chinese traditional tool for eating. It's already exist thousands of years before. They use chopstick ,especially when they eat noodles, but you can use the chopstick to eat any kind of food.
You can use chopstick to eat meats or vegetables or beans , peanuts , even to eat rice. Have you seen peoples eat rice using chopstick before ?
Tomorrow I am planning to teach the children to use chopstick.
I am expecting all of them are able to use it :)

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Imagining the finger trace

2010-04-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

Chinese language or mandarin is very difficult for most of peoples, even the Chinese people also said so. When the first time I suggest to put chinese language in kindergarten curriculum. There were a lot of pro and contra. The "contra" said,"How come, a very young child can understand chinese." or "it's too difficult" or "we as parents don't understand that" or ......................... (a lot).
After we explained to them, and convinced them. They finally agreed with us.

Writing Chinese :

There are so many way to learn to write chinese character, and you can do writing practice at anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

1. Writing in the air

What I mean is we can practice to write the chinese character in the air. Write the every character strokes one by one in the air. This will make the children having a pictorial image to every chinese words.
They have to imagine the chinese word is hanging in front of them, and tracing the strokes. They must use their pointer finger to write it, and keep the stroke trace in their mind.
This practice can be done at anywhere and anytime.

2. Writing on the flour

This is the method for the beginner. And I believe this method is as old as the human civilization. We use flour as the media and pour it on a flat surface, for example : a tray. Then the children can write the chinese character on the flour.The different to writing on the air is the finger traces are visible. This is quiet fun for them, because I make it as a "flour mark" game.
If they forgot one stroke in a chinese word, they have to put one flour mark on their face.

So everybody won't easily forget in the future.

The first time I teach using the flour to write, when I came into the class with a tray on my hand, the children were asking," What do you want to cook, sir?"
I answered them," I want you all to help me and get dirty......"
"Hooraaayyy............!" they're yelling.

That's the story of how our class civilization is beginning :D LOL

The Food Artworks

2010-04-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

Aha...! Moms and children in team's cooking competition for celebrating the Easter. For the contestans, the competition's rules are :

1. should be adding the eggs ingredients in the food, but make it as simple as possible
2. the good teamwork between mom and child
3. hygene ( of course ...... haha )
4. the good taste

Very awesome, it's very interesting that all of the children have the competition's spirit. They wanna be the winner. Especially their moms start saying ,"Help me here" or "Help me with that" or " Help me to put those....." or " Don't eat that.........yet." :) The playground is now full of laugh from everyone.

All of them already cooked the egg and other ingredients at home, so at school they're just arranging the food on the dishes in a nice compositions.

One had drawn a funny face with the fried egg :) and the others had designed a pretty house with the egg, with some noodles for the cloud LOL :D. Is that a "man" on the food ?

And how you designed the food by adding a pair of wiggling eyes, this is for the example :

We're displaying the food artworks on the table so every other parents can see it. Hmmmm...... Yummy !

So guess, who is the winner ? :)

Thank you moms, thank you children for your great enthusiasm in this competition.
Happy Easter everyone.

PS : please do not swallow the wiggle eyes :D

Melting

2010-04-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

Easter eggs, we celebrate Easter after the Easter holiday. That's our tradition in our kindergarten. I don't know why, perhaps that will make the holiday 's felt much longer than the others.
I think it's absolutely right, till now I can feel that the holiday hasn't been over yet.

The 3's class were bringing two eggs from home, one egg is only the egg and the other one has already been added ornaments or drawn or painted or put a hat, etc. We are hoping that children and parents can enjoy working and designing the egg together at home. There will be a competition for that, we have prizes too for the winners :)

The other egg is for the egg hunt activity . We hide the eggs from the children and add some more eggs from the teachers to be hidden. It's Ms. E's turn this year to hide those eggs in the garden and at the playground. Last year was my turn to hide those eggs, they didn't pick me up again for this year because I am the master of hiding eggs. They said it's too difficult to find if I was hiding it .LOL :D. (it's only under those dry leaves anyway....)
So maybe we still can find last year eggs in the garden, Hahahahaha.......................

After we finish collecting the designed eggs from the children and put those on the table for displaying. And now we are starting to hunt the hidden eggs. How exciting they are, just like hunting a treasure.
The children are walking around ,running around, wandering around, confusing around :),...................

It's very contrast the differences between a child who has confidence and a child doesn't have any.
A confidence child already found 1 or 2 eggs, meanwhile the other was starting to cry.
And this the time we have to guide them to find the egg.

After each of them at least got one or two eggs, we finish the egg hunt and go to our classroom.
In the class room, we clean the eggs first then everyone have to eat the eggs by peeling it first.

Just a few of them can peel off the egg skin cleanly, most of them were just complaining and saying that they never did that before. And I said,"If you want to eat the egg, you have to try to get rid the skin first."

Suddenly a girl came to me, and telling me," Mr.Danny, what happened with my egg, it's melting from the inside...!!"
When I saw her hand, it already got messy of egg york.
"Haha, you never saw the half boiled egg, ya ?"
"This is what will happen if your mom was too busy in the morning." Or maybe her mom was mixed up with her dad's breakfast egg or something.
But anyway, and then I asked her,"Do you like the taste?"
She said," I like the taste, sir."

"So now you understand about "half-boiled", so next time you can order the half boiled egg from your mom." :)

I will be very proud that I hope in the morning my students can say to their mom ," Mommy, I want to order half boiled egg, please.." :D

Numbers, teeth and yawning

2010-04-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is a review from the last year lesson, numbers in mandarin session in my class. The numbers are until 18 (shi ba).
When we start to begin counting 1 to 18, it happened that one of my students was yawning so big that the whole inside view of his mouth was seen by me. Well it's still in the morning, but I never dreamed of last night that I will see the biggest yawning today in the morning :)

"Wow Zio, you are yawning in front of everybody." He's just smiling while still yawning.
Suddenly I have an idea................................................
"And now everybody must count Zio's teeth." I am saying it with my wicked smile. LOL :D. Because I think this is a good idea for learning numbers.
"Count only the upside teeth." I continued. Because I was teaching them 1 to 18 only.
"Ok Zio you start yawning in count of three, 1.......2.........3........yawning........ !!! " :)
And then everybody got closer to Zio and start to count his teeth.

" Oh Zio, you only had ten teeth on upside. And now I will open my mouth, and everybody count my upside teeth." I was asking.

After finish counting, they all said," You have 16 teeth, Mr.Danny."
"Why do you have 16 teeth, sir ?"

I answered it," Because I am already grown up, and anyway my mouth is bigger than yours." :)
"All of you will have 16+16 teeth later when you are big."

"And Zio next time, please go to sleep earlier at the night before, so you won't yawn again in the class in the morning." :)

1 = yi

2 = er

3 = san

4 = si

5 = wu

6 = liu

7 = qi

8 = ba

9 = jiu

10 = shi

11= shi yi

12= shi er

13= shi san

14= shi si

15= shi wu

16= shi liu

17= shi qi

18= shi ba

Twins

2010-04-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Twin is a life's phenomenon to me, it's a gift from God. Every year our kindergarten is always having twins students. Any kind of twins, boy-girl or boy-boy or girl-girl. This year we have Steve-Jos twin brothers in K-2 and Claire-Cleo twin sisters in K-1. This is so incredible that we have double twins in a year, it's the first time.

Steve-Jos are identically twins. If we look at them, we can't find any differences with their body or hair or skin or face or the eyes. I often call one of them with wrong names. The only difference is a tiny mark on Jo's cheek that only can be seen on 30 centimetres face to face. Wow can you imagine that how difficult to recognize their difference ?
We have K-2 in 2 class, so Steve in K-2a and Jos in K-2b. When - I was teaching and asking Steve a question about something, the answers mostly the same as Jos. Vise versa. It amazed me.
One day Steve got sick and had to stay at home, I saw Jos was also a little bit different. It seemed that he missed his half. And the next day he also got sick and had to stay at home too.

Now about Claire and Cleo. When I look at them I know the differences between them. They are not so identically twin. Cleo has curly hair and Claire has straight hair. Both of them are in the same class, they are so dominant in the class. They are so pretty and charming. They got the same bright eyes and very smart too :). Had the same answer too in every questions.

After all they are just ordinary kids, can be happy or can be sad , can be lazy :) , etc.
I wish I have twin, it looks so much fun :)

But one thing I already learn from this, we may not compare them each other in the skills. Different person different skills and different characters.

I think this year I must spend a lot of time with them to understand better about this twin phenomenon :)
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Helping each other

2010-04-05T01:04:00.000-07:00

After a long weekend, for Easter holiday, we got holiday from last Thursday till Sunday. In monday morning when I come to our lovely kindergarten, I found that a lot of fallen dry leaves on all over the playgorund. What a magnificent view, well I guess I am the first who comes to school. I must start to clean the playground by myself before the children come.
Anyway I have to burn my fat from last week Easter holiday, my family was having a feast at restaurant. We are visiting so many restaurants. I ate quiet a lot :)
Doing a little exercise in this morning, that's what I should do :)

I started to sweep the playground from the farest corner, I didn't realize one girl of my students , Jess, already come to school. It's still early, it's 6.15 am. That's really so early for her.
She's watching at me while I was sweeping out the dry leaves.
She asked me then,"Mr.Danny, I will help you, is that OK ?"
"Of course Jess, why not ?"
I was so happy for her kindness. She wanted to help me :)

Not in a minute, another student , Avel, came to me and asked me," I want to help you too, Mr.Danny."
"Ok, give me a hand then."

Another 1 minute , another students come. They just put their bags on their seat in a hurry, then running to the playground to watch us sweeping the leaves. After that they just grab the other broom and start to sweep together with us.

"Helping each other", this is the topic for this morning that I never planned before.
Now we have a crowd here that were sweeping the playground.

They didn't think of anythings, just go and help others, help friends. This is our life in a monday morning.

I guess I have to cancel my appoinment this morning with my "nature trainer"(the broom) for burning my fat :)

Yue lai yue xiao

2010-03-31T16:30:00.001-07:00

My topic for teaching mandarin today is "yue lai yue da, yue lai yue xiao" (it's getting bigger and bigger, and it's getting smaller and smaller).
Although the weather is a little hot outside, and our classroom's air conditioner got a little bit of problem ( not cool enough ). But the children are still so excited about our mandarin session.
"Ok children, we say it together ... 1..2..3...." And all of students say it together," yue lai yue da".
After that I asked them," what kind of stuff that is getting bigger and bigger ?"
All of them said," a baby !!! A tree !!! We are also getting bigger and bigger!!! ........"
"All of you are absolutely right", I replied.
"And now let's say together yue lai yue xiao"
"Yue lai yue xiao!"
" And now what kind of things that is getting smaller and smaller", I asked.
"........................????", *silent* and they 're just looked like the audiences that start mumbling each other.
"What ??? Can you all answer it ? Look at surround you, and find a thing", I said.
"I don't know Mr. Danny."
(Hmmmmm..... I think it's a little bit hard to answer even who read this post have to think it very hard, am I right ? :)
And suddenly one students ,name Arvio, start to answer it. Arvio basically is a smart boy, but sometimes he is too busy to talk to his friends rather than answer my question :)
He answered," An eraser, sir." (He means rubber eraser).
"GOOD ANSWER!! ", I said.
Finally ..... After 5 minutes waiting their answer.
" Any other ??? " I asked.
" A pencil, Mr. Danny."
" Good answer too."
" Felicia ...." Luckily Felicia is the smallest girl in class. It's a desperate answer I think.
" No, she is not getting smaller. But she is just smaller than you."

And until the class is over, we only got those two right answers :(
Any ideas from all of you ?

Yue lai yue da = it's getting bigger and bigger.

Yue lai yue xiao = it's getting smaller and smaller.

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Numbers and sea animals , idea from Ayn Colsh

2010-03-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

I've got the idea from Ayn Colsh's blog : Little Illuminations

What a clever idea, she used food bags for the media, but I choose to design it with computer Corel Draw and printed it out on hard paper. Once again, thank you Ayn.

Note : I put the worksheet in JPEG file, so all of you can copy and print it by yourself :)
Don't forget to print out the door image on the back of the paper :)

here is the door...................

So happy teaching...........................................

Smileeee........................ click

2010-03-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today is parents meeting in school, all teachers are busy preparing for that. The meeting will be held after the school. We plan that while parents have the meeting, their children are waiting on the playground.
I am busy arranging the chairs for parents to sit. And I ask some children for assisting me, for telling the direction of the meeting-room to parents. They are really good assistants. Thank you.

While I was busy and also everybody were, suddenly I heard the clicking sounds from my back. But I ignored it coz I was too busy. Sometimes I heard it from my back, sometimes I heard it in distinction. And then the sound came near again.

When I heard the clicking sound for few times, I was so curious. I turned my body around as lightning, wanna see where it came from. I saw one of my students, a boy ,holding a camera-toy, "capturing" my pics.
I was standing at there without moving, like a big statue, and parents were also watching at the boy and me.
And also other students are watching at me and him. (Why suddenly everybody are looking at me ,huh...?)

I was thinking," Ahh..... let's be silly lah..." I started posing in front of the camera, with silly pose. The boy were just standing there, with mouth opened, not saying anything, already forgot to click.
I said,"hey, quick take a pic of me, I am posing for you........."

After saying that, I couldn't remember how many pose I had, and other students started to pose too with me and others. Everybody are starting to smile and laugh including the parents.

Haha, it's really nice to have a laugh session before the meeting.

The meeting goes well after that.

{The camera-toy was mine, I had it when I was a child. I donate it to the school 2 years ago..........so happy that now the children can play with it too}

Comic books

2010-03-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

All these times, I found that my students often brought some comic books to the school. But they only just wanted to show off to their friends.
Just looking at the pictures for a while, after that they put it back into the bag and never open it again till got home. They didn't have a willing to share it with their friends :(, or read it together. Some of them are so picky.
Yesterday we got an idea, how about to let them bring their own comic books to school. So each one of them will bring different comic books then for today.
I let one girl start to read the comic in front of her friends.
" Ok go ahead ", I say.
She starts to read it, and all of her friends only see the comic cover.
"Vina, your friends cannot enjoy your comic. Please hold your comic beside your shoulder while you're reading it".
"Can't do that ,sir."
Oh I forgot, only a teacher can read it in that way :)
"Well children , all of you can make a small group and read the comic together", I tell.
Aha.... Each student now can enjoy their comics together.
While they are reading, I am asking Vina,"what is the title of the comic?"

" Sapi kebelet kawin " she say. (English : a cow that want to get married)
"What....!!???"I really wanna know how's the story goes, but I don't have a chance to read it coz their hair are blocking my view.
I thought perhaps I will ask her to let me read it for a while. After school I try to find her but then her mom already pick her up to go home.

Oh no, I really wanna read that comic badly. Pleeaaasee......
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Cake

2010-03-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

The pocketmails are really something for us, especially for the children. They've got more friends, they become to know each other better. Also make us closer with the children, they also send mail to their teacher.
One of my teacher-mates, Ms.E....., I think she is more excited than me in sending mail or replying mail from children. Her mail -replied is always creative and full of color, make the children badly want to read the mails, and I am always being asked by the children for telling them what the meaning is :o)

And voila............... Ms.E 's pocketmail is always full at the end of the day.

Today, I saw two girls of my students are sneaking around, in front of Ms.E's classroom. And holding something.

I ask them, "What are you doing, girls? Should both of you be in the class right now?"

Both of them answer me,"We want to give Ms.E a piece of cake." and with one little yellow M&M chocolate on the cake :D

And they continue walking slowly, maintaining her balance, while holding a small piece of cake in her both palms.......................
I mean the cake is really in her palms..........!!!

I say." Eh...wait???!! where do you get that from?"

"It's from my lunch, Mr.Danny. I bring 2 pieces of cakes, one for Ms.E"

Ah............I get it, I thought they are holding their unfinished lunch.

So I say," Girls, if you want to give something to somebody, you should put the cake on something first, for example put it on the tissue. So it will be looked nice, better and hygiene." I dont want to let them get dissapointed by rejecting the only one cake in their hands, their little present that's from the heart. Although the cake is already not in a good shape.

Then I give them the tissues, and they put the cake on it. Ms. E is very happy to accept the cake, the girls are also happy. I am also a happy guy who keep the little secret :)

Imaginery Taxi

2010-03-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today the K-B class (K-2) are learning mandarin, the topic is about get on and get off the taxi.
We move their chairs to make two lines, which looked like inside the taxi's seat. Front seat and back seat. When I said "Shang Che" it means get on the taxi, they must do exactly as real taxi. Open the door first, then get on your leg and sit on inside, after that get on the other leg. It's so much fun, because a lot of them skip to open the imagery door car. And I say," Oh no, you can walk thru the door." They are all laughing, and they repeat it again. After they get on the taxi, the imagery taxi just start to go without closing the door first. I say,"Oh my God, it's very dangerous if you dont close the door car first." They laugh again. After finish getting on the car perfectly, then I ask," Who's driving?" They immediately point to their friend who sit on the right front seat. (FYI : we are in Indonesia use to drive on the right side, right side steer). It's amazing that they perfectly know which side should the driver sit on. They really paid attention on this issue before. They aware it.
After that the imagery taxi is starting to go with 3 passengers inside......... Brrrrooommmmmmm................
"Don't forget to pay before you get off the car ya...........!", I yelled.

Shang che = get on the car

Xia che = get off the car

Honest Scrap

2010-03-22T00:18:00.000-07:00

Hmmm..............I think this is a good idea not only in blog worlds but for our pocketmails. I think I am gonna use this methods for the children in writing the postmail- letter :) . Hahaha I think it's going to be so much fun when the children are being honest to each other.

I've got the award from Deborah J.Stewart who really inspire everyone about early childhood education. She also has liitle fingers that play and Excellence in early childhood education in my favourite blog lists.

And now in this event, I'd like to pass this award to all the bloggers in the world of bloggership :). First thing I have to be honest :

1. I like to watch cartoon movie, it makes me smile. Especially when it's the silly one :)

2. First time I faced the children, and was teaching in front of the class. I was sweating. Pphhuhh.....

3. I nearly got a job as a water-fountain designer, coz I am really crazy to watch dancing fountain.

4. I like to dance with my daughter, and my wife recorded it. When I watched it, it seems that I am sillier than my daughter :)

5. My english is not too good, but it's really strange how peoples understand me.

6. But I can speak mandarin fluently, but only few can understand me :)

7. I was stealing something.................. from Deborah J.Stewart, her blog design is awesome. I stole some of her blog designs and put it into my blog.

8. I am always keep saying "drop comments into my blogs, please", when I met my little sister. And she is keep saying to me ,"Later lah !!" . Till now she only put one single comment in my blog :(

9. I'd like to eat PIZZA coz it's big and alot , 8 pieces !!!!! ..................
No, just kidding. A Pizza is teaching peoples how to share to other peoples. The power of sharing.

10. I and my wife love to eat frozen yogurt in Sour Sally, especially when it has 50% discount.

Now the 7(+) blogger :

to all of my students, they are the future blogger. We will play this honest scrap with pocket mail, ok?

Slide, the children's imaginations

2010-03-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

We have two slides, the "old" one which is bigger and the "young" one which is smaller. Why I call the blue one is the "old" one, because we've been having it since 20 years ago............ WOW>>!!!!! Can you imagine that how many times is it being used to slide down by children ? And all of our alumnies , which are already in high-school, when they come and visit to our kindergarten they are just saying "Oh My God." With a surprising face, and mouth widely opens. They have a good memory to our kindergraten, in details, I really mean it. They remember their former teachers' names, they know the positions of the classroom, they remember where they was sitting in the classroom. Even one of them is saying," I really miss Fried Rice made by our former kitchen head." Hmmm we are so proud of those.

They also remember that the "old" slide was orange color. We already repaint it and turn it into blue color.
Anyway talking about slide, children are having a lot of imagination, easy get bored of somethings. They need challenges, even in playing. So they are doing this to the both slide (below).

It's a simple idea from the children's minds, an overlaping slide. They just drag the red slide to the under of blue slide. That's really cool, we appreciate that.
Sometimes we cannot provide them a lot of toys to play , but we dont have to worry about that again.

Their minds and imaginations will provide something new for them to play :)

Enjoy playing it then :)

Cleaning Time, My Little Busy Bee

2010-03-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

In order to introduce to the children about clean environment effects our healthy, we just let them do the cleaning in their own class. Everyone bring their own cleaning tools from home. (I hope their mother didn't miss the tools :) .They bring : duster, wiper and broom. And we provide the mop and the water buckets.
One of my students who is using the duster, which is miss busy, she is very active cleaning. Running around with her duster, and scanning every dusty spots. Just liked a busy bee.

Everyone are cleaning their wiper-clothes in the water bucket after finish wiping. We teach them how to squeezee, because it's new to them and they can't do that by themselves. And Why all of the photos are so blur, because they are moving so fast and very quick, just liked bees. Can't follow it. Although not everyspots they can reach to.

Look at the photo above, I even cannot capture them focusly with camera.

The song that we sing =

Wipe, wipe, wipe !

Dust, dust, dust !

Sweep, Sweep, Sweep !

Everybody are happy when the class is clean . Yo !

{ sing it in rap }

Urgent matter

2010-03-19T03:52:00.000-07:00

The thing is a little bit privacy, noone wants this happened. Including kindergarteners, but somehow lately in this unfriendly weather, heavy rain in the morning and in the afternoon is going to be hot and too humid. A lot of them 've got cold or runny nose or cough. And stomachache too.

If there's stomachache, now we are talking about the doing no.1. But still some students are too shy to tell it to the teacher earlier, so something bad will happen then. We told them that no need to be shy if you've got really urgent matter which is doing no.1.
Most of them were saying : "afraid to do it alone" or "usually my mom help me to do that" or "not comfortable if their friends heard abt it" or "it's an embarrassing thing ,sir".
All of the answer is so common, all I can say is "it's very natural, children. No one will be laughing at you, no one may laugh at you." " It's an healthy thing" " don't worry, let us teach you how to handle it by yourself,OK ?"

This is the trust that they need from us. The trust that to let them doing it by themselves under our supervision. So everybody no need to worry anymore :)
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I've got mail : to the next level

2010-03-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

I stare the pocketmail, well a lot of mails inside. And I found this one, when one of my students show me the letter. Haha......... now they are sharing their home phone numbers. By the way, the other day we taught them the song about phone number using the "Skip to my lou" rythm (from Teach Preschool-Deborah).
"3324567...........3x"
"Dont you forget to call me up"
They are really happy now because they remember their own phone number, thanks Deborah. It's really nice that the children have the spirit just like that. By sharing their own phone number, it means that their friendship is going to the next level.

Shadow

2010-03-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

One day I have to teach the children animal's name in mandarin. I have animal shapes that made of EVA material (sponge-like). But it's too small for children to look at from distance. So I planned to bring along my 'only one' light torch from home, the big one, coz it needs 5 'big' batteries to turn on. I've got it from my parents, wow it's quite old. But it's still in good condition to show it to the children. FYI : It can light up so far, the light distance's about 30 meters. When I was starting to teach, suddenly I turn off all lights in the classroom. They seem so surprised. They are wondering in the dark what am I doing.........................
I am drawing!!!!!!...... on the whiteboard using my marker. It's really need a very hi-l skill to draw in the dark, not even a professor can do that.........:D. But a kindergarten teacher can do that. hooooraayy............
Then I start to turn on the torch, directing to the whiteboard. Now everybody can see my drawing, it's a jungle.
Well please don't expect it too much :) . There are four trees, bushes and grass. Then I begin to play with my animal shape in the torch light. The children are so excited coz my animal becomes alife when I play it, the monkey is jumping to the tress, and I ask one of them assist me to play the lion shape too as it's walking and hiding in bushes. As we know that we used to play shadow without any background, so in this condition I add the hand-drawing jungle background. It's quite simple but it's very effective to chill up the children.

The picture that I took, it's not so clear. Coz no flash's allowed in my little shadow playing :). Thanks torch !!

this blog provides us to learn hand-shadow, please enjow it : http://earlychildcare.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/5-awesome-hand-shadows/

I've got mail : the power of giving

2010-03-11T18:17:00.000-08:00

Ar first, we designed the pocketmail is for sending mail only (as far as we thought). But the children are having so much creative, sometimes far away from our ideas. Beyond unthink-able things. They are now even sending a gift box or presents via pocketmail !!! That's cool.
We grow their sense of sharing between their friends. They've learned that if we care to our friends, their friends also care to them. By this mail-sending activity, they will understand the power of giving.

Giving it first then you will be receive it too.

Sadly Awkward

2010-03-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

Since the first term beginned, we already made the database of the children, including : full name, copy of birth certificate, father's name, mother's name, address and children's medical histories, etc. So we put their datas in our student's guide book, then fill their names and datas on children's daily books' front page. The daily book is for communicating between teachers and parents.
I t's been half year I taught the class , one day I had a homework for them. The homework is a cut-paste pictures, so I think some of them needed adult assistances at home for doing that. Then I told to everyone in the class," Children if you guys cannot do it by yourself, you must ask your mother or your father to help you. Bcoz you have to use scissor safely." Everyone nooded that mean agreed with me, but suddenly one boy student raised his hand and told me,"I can't ask my father to help me, because I don't have a father."
I was in silent for 10 sec, no word came out from my mouth. I had to think fast, then I said:,"Oh............then you can ask your grandma, grandma can help you for sure." with my awkward smile.
After the class, I tried to find infos about that student from his grandma. His grandma is always picking him up by walking after the school. I feel so sorry, bcoz I found out that his father was already gone since a year ago. Deepest condolences. I never realized before, we have wrong database. It's because his mom didn't mention any of this situation. Perhaps they need more times to accept that. My fault, that I didn't know that.

Hope never happened again in my life.

I've got mail : Cinderella teacher

2010-03-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

These mail sending activities are really motivating the children to write, to draw and to color. The most important is that they want to know how to write their friend's name. I can see on their face, when they were writing mail-letters, what a full enthusiasm face. One student can write 3 to 4 letters a day. Haven't counted those'd been written at home. How cool it is. I also saw that one girl has a small cute notebook with colorful pages in her bag, ready to be ripped off one by one page when the girl want to write a letter. Last week I found that they only wrote letters to their class mates, this week they were writing letters across to other classes. Even in different levels. Surely also across the gender :). That's pretty amazing.

My teacher-mate, teaches PG class, told me that she got many mails from other class students. And the letter it's quite interesting, it writes ,"Miss D........, you are so beautiful, just looked like Cinderella" or "Miss D......, you're looked like a ferinses" (it means Princess). it's a sweet letter, makes everybody happy :).

Deep in their mind, it's so simple, the "beautiful" word is belong to Cinderella or princess, and the "handsome" word is belong to the prince. And it's very true, indeed.

Since we have mail-pockets, our class' life is much more fun and surprising :)

I've got mail part 3 : Likes you

2010-03-09T05:01:00.000-08:00

T'day ,in the morning as usual I open the classroom and see nothing special since yesterday that I left. And also looking at the empty postmail pocket. One by one students go inside the classroom. Putting down their bag on the chair and go to play in the playground while waiting the bell rings. Then I go to the playground for checking up the toy safety. After 15 min, the bell rings, all of us go into the classroom. I see the postmail pocket is already full with mails. Wow what a surprise. They have enthusiasm about the mail sending things. They already wrote the letter at home. It's very sweet to know that they spent time @ home to write letters for their friends. There's one boy in my K-B class , got a lot of letters in his mail-pocket. And when I asked him, he said he got those from a girl on his class. And when we read them , the letters got the same contains. There are about 4 letters. "Dear A......... , you are so handsome , you looked like a prince from a fairy tale. I like you. Love G.....
Huh.... ???!!! Well well ,Some of them can show their feelings ,and others can't show their feelings so open :) I think their writing skill is improving a lot.
Hope will find other new interesting letters soon.
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Lion dance (kids version)

2010-03-07T23:37:00.000-08:00

Chinese new year celebration is already end, not for this kids. I found them that they are playing lion dance infront of our kindergarten's gate. They are 2st and 3rd grade from neighborhood school. We really appreciate that their awareness to the chinese culture. It's so fun.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures :)

Big smile, big future

2010-03-07T22:43:00.001-08:00

Some kids have a easy going character, some have hard going character. Every year when the school just begun we will find this kind of condition always. Once I had a student named Ipul, a little guy with a big white teeth smile. Still new to the school, but he was already running around to all of school's part ; classes, office, playground, toilet, etc. He is so amazing, even when he's playing ,his friends are always with him. He got alot of friends at school. He's so popular. He's staying in the neighbourhood, which is one block from the school. Everybody in the neighbourhood, I mean the adults know him. When he went home , everybody along the street that he met always say :"Hi, Ipul". That's including me to say that !!!!!! :) Wow I never met a kids so popular before, he's popular not bcoz he is handsome or good looking or being smart, I don't know perhaps his "aura", I mean his character it's so friendly. I think if we have a score in socialize, I will give him an A++. In the class he's smiling alot at me when he need my help, always smile when I call him, when he did wrong he will smile to the teacher.
Now he is in the 1st grade, in different school, well I just really really miss him :) Who can forget to that smile :))))

The world becomes better with our smile :D

Heart touching story

2010-03-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Kids are so excited when we tell them that we want to tell them a story. "Hooorrraayyyy.... " They re yelling. The story of one leg toy that I choose. Why I choose that story, coz recently I saw the children are a little bit disrespecting to their toys. I want to grow their sense of belongings. The story is a little bit different from the book, it's adjusting the way of life in here. I don't bring the book into the class, but rather sketching and drawing on the whiteboard. 'That one day a rich dad bought a lot of presents for his daughter. She found out that one of her dolls got only one leg'. 'She throw the one leg doll out of the window onto the street.' 'While outside starting to rain, the doll is starting to cry.' The children are starting to get stunned at this part. 'The doll feels so cold,lonely,dirty no one wants her.''And it started to cry'. ' With all the way on the street, into the river by a dog, and swap away by the river's current, finally get to the river bank nearby a poor family house.' The poor family has one little girl that find the one leg doll on the river bank.' The little poor girl is very happy.''So the doll now has a new home, with little poor girl that is loving it forever'. Some kids drop a little tear on the eyes corner after finish listening to the story. They feel sorry for the doll in the story, also they begin to remember their toys at home that they already broke it. They didn't realize that already wasting a lot of toys at home. They promise to play carefully and must take care their toys much better next time. A lesson for me : If we want to give a message to children, the best way we can do is telling them a " heart touching" story. After the class, one girl came to me and said, 'Sad story, sir'.
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Fingermath

2010-03-05T03:27:00.001-08:00

Recently I am always hearing fingermath method among the parents. I am so curious about it, coz never know it before. The parents said , it's the new method for teaching the children about mathematic. 'Really?? ' I said. 'Yes!!' They explain it as far as I remember here there are : for example , the multiply. 7 x 8 = 56, we symbolize the 7 as two fingers of left hand which are thumb and pointer are opening, and we symbolize 8 as three fingers of right hand which are thumb, pointer and mid finger are opening. So left hand we have 2 opening fingers and 3 closing fingers, right hand has 3 opening fingers and 2 closing fingers. Then we add the opening fingers 2 + 3 = 5 then we multiply the closing fingers 3 x 2 = 6. Put the opening fingers' result infront of the closing fingers' result, now we have 56 then. Unbelievable...... Right? You can try with other multiply e.g 6 x 6 or 9 x 9 or etc. FYI : this is only for multiply among this group of numbers 6,7,8,9. I think I will find out. I think I will learn more about this method. Perhaps if you read and and read again my post you will get what I mean.
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Confusing broken bookshelf

2010-03-04T09:40:00.000-08:00

I remember a funny story that happened last year in the kindergarten. One of my students, name is Vynna. One day I found out that one of our bookshelves was broken on the first shelf, below part. We all teachers were kind of weird and surprised by this coz never happened before even the shelves is quite old. We investigated a few students at that time who playing around there. Finally we found two boys admitted, but were still in confusing face :) .Then we fixed the broken shelf immediately. A week after that suddenly Vynna , a girl student, came to me and tell me that she broke the shelf again, just like the last time that she did. Huhhh..........?????!!! Then she demonstrated that she wanted to reach the toys and how she broke the shelf in detail, with a sweet smiling face. 'Why you just tellin' me t'day?' She just confused. Hahaha...LOL sometimes when I remember this, I am just smiling by myself :)
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I've got mail part 2

2010-03-02T21:18:00.000-08:00

Everything first time is always hard, today we begin to use the postmail pockets. Writing a mail is new for the children. Some can write their name but cannot write their friend's name, some can write their friend's name but forgot how to write theirs :). But something at the first time to tell them the rule of writing a mail:

1. write their name on the paper

2. write friend's name

3. write or draw and coloring

4. fold the letter and put into friend's mailpocket

Now they know the rule, they can freely write mail without any wrong address :)

Beads paintings

2010-03-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

I took the idea from Deborah's one of her facebook's links, but I am kind of forgot when it is. Still use the same material as yesterday, the colored white glue paint. First time we put the paper in the used coke box then drop the paint on the center. Now we drop the beads then move the box forward-backward, right-left so the beads we will be rolling to every corner of the box. The paint will make unpredictable shape, lines, dots, etc. It is very fun coz noone know the painting result, will bring Picasso in the class.

Little finger that painting

2010-03-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

Finger painting is the most common drawing acitivity in kindergarten, but as every year we've done it, we still find new thing about it or different material to make it.

Last year we use the ingredient from sago glue and today we use the glue for woodplex (not for PG class) , and the color we use is the food coloring. So it's safe for children.

K-B class color the ice cream, we add some textures after finish coloring. The texture on ice cream cone, so it's three dimensional-like. The finger painting help children to control their fingers, they can use their each finger tip with different colors, it's really challenging for them. Some of them can't do that, but we keep encouraging them to use at least 2 fingertips.

For K-A class is coloring the baloons, much more simple. After all finished, we take the drawing under sun. It takes 3 hours to make the drawing dry completely.

Cooking class ?

2010-02-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

Sometimes funnythings are happened in kindergarten, especially in playing time, right after the meal time. Kids are always bringing toys to everywhere into the playgorund. Well after finished the playingtime, most of them are putting the toys back. Just few of them ignore to do that. It has already been 1 week, some kids do "the cooking class" in one of our toyhouses. No teacher pays attention of this, we just realize after everyone go home, we saw this beautiful small kitchen :). I am always thinking to find out who did that, but I always forgot this. They know how to put stuff or arrange stuff in the right place so it's kind of interior designer do. Whoever are they (coz till today forgot to find out) we believe we already taught them well :)

Doctor 's visitng to school

2010-02-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

Today's there is a doctor visit to our school, dr.Vita. To meet children and to talk to children about healthy and hygene. The kids are very interest about it, because we already told the kids that no need to afraid of doctor. The doctor is very kind. :) Alot of question that dr.Vita asked. There is one question that answered by a child so cute. He is Kazio. Dr.Vita asks,"How many kind of doctor that it has?". Kazio answers," There are two kinds of doctors, a boy and a girl..........................". hahahaha everybody is laughing include dr.Vita. Of course after that we tell him that what dr.Vita means.

I've got mail, an idea from Mrs.Deborah J.Stewart

2010-02-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

Finally.............we made it, with the help of other teachers which I designed it first. Now after a month, we made it, the postmail pockets for children that children can send letters each other by putting letters in their freinds' mailpockets :). Can't wait to start using it :). Thanks again Mrs.D.

Book's cover = home's situation

2010-02-22T21:44:00.000-08:00

Recently, I realize that we already have been for 8 months the children used the practice book. Some children still have their books in good shape, but only a few of them have their books just like this -------------------------------------->>> shape.
What a poor book, too bad that the children didnt keep you well enough,,,,,....?????? do you think this is the children's fault? Then I asked Euodia the one that has her books in good condition. "Why you so nice to the book, look at your book, it's still in good condition". She answered ," Well my mom always keeps an eye on me when I am working out my homeworks". After that I asked Arvio the one that has the "poor" books, and also had ever lost his books at home once," why your books are so dirty, and rip off all the way on the edges?" He answered me," Sorry sir, I will tell my mom to buy a new one, when she has time." My poor Arvio, his parents dont have time for him at all at home. Sometimes he forgot to do his homeworks. Well I will prepare the brand new book for him. I hope his parents will pay attention for him as soon as well. It's a pity to see the reality, nowadays parents are so busy, everybody's so busy, no time at all...................

Score

2010-02-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

In K-B class I give students score for the test every two months. Score 60-100, below 60 I just write 'study more' down. Of course there some kids have a nice score this time but not the other time. Only few of them have a good score everytime. One day I have a student named Janice, the last month's little test she had score under 60, and my other student named Vinca always had a good score. This time little test, I also kind of surprised that Janice got perfect score ,a 100. I said 'good Janice, nice job'. And funniest thing that Vinca were asking Janice with a surprised mimic,"Really Janice? How come you can get 100? " . OMG I just realize that we have a competition in here, and they take attention to their competitors wow... Kids are unbelieveable, with score we believe that kids are being motivated to reach and to get what they want. Study hard will get good result. This only take effect to K-B class, it's not for K-A and P-G class. They still don't understand of it. :)
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Raining for new colors

2010-02-20T15:31:00.000-08:00

It's already two weeks that we are experiencing raining everyday. Everybody had their own raincoats, including the children's. Now my daily viewing , will see many raincoats hanging on everywhere, on the backdoor, on the wall, on the seesaw, on the sliders, etc. The coolest thing that the kid's raincoat are very colorful (blue,light green,yellow,red,purple,pink), so eyes-catching. Our school now is much more colorful. We got new ideas for the school's environment color painting then. Sometimes ideas just pop out that we never expected before, just look around us......
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Baking bread

2010-02-15T21:02:00.000-08:00

Today K-A are baking breads, everybody are so happy. Everybody are preparing their breads by themselves. It's very interesting that they can do exactly by watching the teachers. Haha see the kids are so exciting about their breads. After that we help them to bake the bread. The class are already hungry, let's enjoy the breads..... Yoohooooo.....
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Chocolate for mom and dad

2010-02-11T01:50:00.001-08:00

yes this week PG classes make the chocolate for valentine's day. The teachers are preparing the ingredients after that the children just pour the melting chocolate into cute plastic malt. After that they stick the little heart shape on the chocolate after we wrap it with plastic wrap. So the kids can know chocolate maing process, can pour it then taste it. It's a new experience for them. Happy Valentine's day Children............ :)

Just wait and sit down, please ! :)

2010-02-08T17:27:00.001-08:00

Waiting room, the kids should sit and wait at. Haha that's our procedures, that's what we want. No one will sit in the waiting room, they will be running around in the waiting room. I mean if there are 5-6 kids in the waiting room. They are talking, chatting, laughing, sillying hahaha ................. well they are all kids, what do you expect from them, an adult?????

But when there's only 1 kid left, now you can tell him/her to sit down. That's very cool things I found, kids need to socialize to others. They feel so happy..............happy...............happy........... when they meet their friends :). We saw it as naughtiness but they felt it as happiness :)

Fine motor skill for helping teacher :)

2010-02-06T05:16:00.001-08:00

Thank you Kezia, Kezia is one of my students. At that time, I was kind of busy preparing my Mandarin worksheets. I saw her that her parents hadnt picked her up yet. Then I called her for helping me to clip bundling with the bundle clipper. At first time she needed long time to bundle it, after took a while she got used to it. Haha a little bit sweating, she really took seriously the job, then finish the jobs. The girl, Kezia, really has sense of responsibility :) Thanks again

Ideas for teaching

2010-02-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

First time teaching was in 2006, really really nervous in front of kids. The class was just like in chaos, some kids were playing under the table, the other one was on the table haha.. The teaching materials that I prepared were completely useless.
Suddenly I got an idea, we took the kids outside and I told them that the garden hadn't watered yet,
Let's watering the plants, hahaha kids really like to play with the water, incl watering plants. They took the jobs very seriously,
Even they were asking to me abt the plants' names. We didn't realize it already took an hour.So from that moment I always remember, took ideas from the nature, then the nature will finish the jobs by itself :)

There is something wrong with my blogspot

2010-02-04T01:06:00.001-08:00

I have no idea what happened, but now when I visit my blog, only January's posts show up, Feb's post not show up. And when I wanna make new entry post, I cant upload photo files from my computer. It always said, "failed".................................. OMG

Littering plans part 2

2010-02-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

Finally, when I already put poster on the wall "THANK YOU FOR NOT LITTERING" with green background. I reduced 75% of trash that belong to children in the class and parents at waiting room. No food anymore on the floor, but there are still some used tissues and used plastic glasses on the floor. Well that's ok, it can be cleaned quickly. If there's food on the floor.................... yackkkk......!!!!
Hmmmmm...............but still left 25%, what can I do with that ?......hmmmm........wondering, have to find another ideas. Perhaps I will put the "talking trash bin" that like the Japanese has....... :) or should I put CCTV camera on every corners................ mpppiuuhhhhhh...........

Attitude guidance for child 入则孝 ru ze xiao

2010-02-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

I found this book is very interesting, it will useful for our kids :), do you think so ?

父母呼，应勿缓
fu mu hu, ying wu huan
if parents call you, you immediately answer them ,dont postpone it

父母命，行勿懒
fu mu ming, xing wu lan
if parents give you a job, immediately finish it, dont be lazy

父母教，须敬听
fu mu jiao, xu jing ting
if parents are telling you, you must hear them respectly

父母责，须顺承
fu mu ze, xu shun cheng
if parents discipline you, you must accept with open heart

出必告，反心面
chu bi gao, fan xin mian
tell parents when you go out, and find them when you come home

from 弟子规 by Master Zeng Zi (Chinese Philosopher, live in Tang Dynasty)

Thank you for not littering plans

2010-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

The children's awareness are still low about littering. Well we all the teachers have plan for the next week, to put posters on the place that children can see it, even parents who wait outside the school can see and read it. I hope it will work effectively. Well let's see for the whole next week.

To know "Soya bean"

2010-01-30T17:53:00.000-08:00

This week we experiment about "beans", now we do the products from soya bean. K-A class were so exciting about this.

The soya bean's products are soya bean milk and "TEMPE".

"TEMPE" is Indonesian traditional original food that made of soya bean was being fermented before.
Fried Tempe is very delicious one, children can taste it after that. Even they know tempe and ever eat tempe, but their awareness about tempe are still low. And they will learn the benefits for body health when we eat tempe or other soya bean products.

Do you guys want to taste it too ? :)

everybody love it !!!

the soyabean milk seller (push cart)

To know "Green Bean"

2010-01-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

Our Kindergarten A class did the experiment that planting green beans.
Tools that we need :
1. used plastic glass
2. green beans
3. cotton

First put cotton in the glass, after that pour the water in to the glass, not too much only make the cotton wet.

Then we'll put the green beans inside the glass, wait and see every hour and everyday the beans' growth.

Put the glass nearby the light.

Braiding follow the shape

2010-01-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

Tools that you need : used wraping paper, used hard paper (carton box, etc) and shoe laces.

First thing stick the wraping paper on the carton paper, then you draw a car pattern on it (or animal pattern or anything). After that cut following the pattern and make holes on every egde of the car shape. Now your baby can do the braiding test by using shoe laces, isn't it easy rite?

Hand washing activity

2010-01-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

1. make the handwashing place more fun, stick cartoon stickers or put some funny posters. Green color also makes children feel clean and comfortable.

2. funny water tap :)

3. with 3 water taps, you can make example of how to wash hands more comfortable for parents or teachers. Well at home at least you need 2 water taps side by side.

4. make handwash place is reachable, reachable water tap can make them motivated.

5. three different liquid soaps, the childs can choose which one they like more. We as grown-up are also very fancy about our soaps , rite? :)

Children's Flu Fighters

2010-01-19T01:23:00.000-08:00

I edit the poster by adding the mandarin words, we put it on the wall in each classroom. You can use it too. :) Please visit their website : http://www.childrensflufighters.com/

6 tips to make your children wash their hands

2010-01-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

Step 1

Sing, chant, jingle or cheer. Kids need to lather up for at least ten to fifteen seconds to kill germs. Singing the ABC's once slowly or twice quickly does the trick for young kids. Have older children recite multiplication tables or a jingle from their favorite commercial to fill the time. When they are done with the song, they are done with their hand washing.

Step 2

Hang posters in the bathroom representing good hand washing technique. Soap companies and preschool education websites are a couple of resources.

Step 3

Blast germs with superheroes. Put stickers of your child's favorite superhero on the soap container and tell your child that he is going to fight the germs. This is even more fun if you talk the part of the soap hero and let your child be the germs or vise versa.

Step 4

Buy two different types of soap with different scents. Tell your child to wash up and then try to guess which soap they used.

Step 5

Use waterless alcohol-based, antiseptic gel which is much quicker and more convenient than soap and water. Let your kids pick their favorite scent and keep it in their backpack. Use soap and water if hands are soiled.

Step 6

Compete with your kids. Put up a chart and have everyone put a sticker on it each time they wash their hands following the proper rules. Let the winner have a special treat.

Honesty, the Best Policy

2010-01-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

Children need to learn that benefiting from manipulating or lying to others is dishonest and unworthy of them.

What to do

• 1. Tell the story about the boy who cried "Wolf!" so many times to get attention that when the wolf finally came, no one believed him.

• 2. Ask your child if anyone has ever lied to her. How did that make her feel?

• 3. Be careful to follow through on things you say to your child. Commitments that may seem minor to you can mean a lot to your child. Make promises and keep them.

Gifts From the Heart

2010-01-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

What you'll need

• Crayons, pencils, paints, or other art supplies

• Paper

• Packaging from around the house

• Your child's special gift

What To Do

• 1. Talk to your child about gift giving. What does it mean to give something to someone else?

• 2. Instead of buying a gift, have your child make a gift. Does your child have a special talent? Maybe your child would like to sing or write a song for a relative? Is there a chore your child could do? Maybe wash the dishes for a week. Is there a special toy that could be loaned to a sister or brother for a week?

• 3. Use materials from around the house so that little, if any, money is spent.

• 4. If the gift is an activity or chore, have your child make a card with a note on it, telling what the gift will be.

• 5. Have your child use imagination in making an inviting package. Perhaps your child could paint a small rock and wrap it in a big box. Or make an envelope out of the comics from the Sunday newspaper.

Respect and Compassion for Others

2010-01-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

What to do

• 1. Set a good example by acting respectfully toward others. Always make clear that prejudice is wrong and that all of us are equals, no matter our color, gender, or background.

• 2. Show an interest in learning about and from others--from neighbors and relatives, and from books about our own and other civilizations. Tell your child interesting things you have learned.

• 3. Encourage your child to learn about many different lands and people, to learn more than one language, and to read stories about children from all over the world. Show your child how you try to see things from the point of view of others.

• 4. Listen attentively when your child wants to tell you about interesting things discovered about history, geography, religions, art, and ways of life.

How to make your child has responsibility ?

2010-01-15T05:40:00.000-08:00

What Do We Mean by Responsibility?

None of us is born acting responsibly. A responsible character is formed over time. It is made up of our outlook and daily habits associated with feelings, thoughts, and actions. Responsible people act the way they should whether or not anyone is watching. They do so because they understand that it's right and because they have the courage and self-control to act decently, even when tempted to do otherwise.

We want our children to appreciate the importance of being responsible. We also want them to develop the habits and strength to act this way in their everyday lives. Learning to be responsible includes learning to

1. Respect and Compassion for Others

"Daddy, why was Grandma crying?"

"She is very sad. One of her closest friends just died. Come and sit with me. Do you remember how you felt when your gerbil, Whiskers, died? "
"I felt sad and lonely."
"I'm sure Grandma feels that way, too. Maybe you can think of a way to help her."
"I could give her a hug..."
"That's a great idea! I'm really glad you thought of it."

2. Honesty

To understand the importance of being truthful to others, our children need to learn that living together depends on trust. Without honesty, trusting each other becomes impossible.

3. Courage

Courage does not mean never being afraid. It can involve trying to overcome our fears, such as a fear of the dark. But our children also need to learn that sometimes it is all right to be afraid.

"Daddy, a man showed us money by the school playground today."
"What did you do? "
"We ran for the teacher."
"Why did you do that? "
"We were scared. You and Mommy and our teacher Mrs. Jones said never take anything from grownups we don't know. Run away. Go and tell somebody we know. "

"Good for you. It was right to be scared. Lots of people are nice, but some are very mean. They can hurt you. The mean ones sometimes try to fool people by pretending to be nice. Now, tell me, what did the man look like?"

4. Self respect

While we help children have high standards for themselves, we also need to let them know that failure is no embarrassment when we have done our best. For example, losing a game when we have played our best, and our opponents have simply played better, is no disgrace.

Tell me how you're feeling 告诉我你心里 from Deborah J.Stewart

2010-01-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

Tell me how you're feeling
告诉我你心里
gaosu wo ni xinli

On this special day
在这一天
zai zhe yi tian

If you're feeling happy
如果你很高兴
ruguo ni hen gaoxing

Then laugh with me this way.
你跟我笑一笑
ni gen wo xiao yi xiao

Tell me how you're feeling
告诉我你心里

gaosu wo ni xinli

On this special day
在这一天
zai zhe yi tian

If you're feeling sad
如果你在伤心
ruguo ni zai shangxin

Then cry with me this way.
你跟我哭一哭
ni gen wo ku yi ku

Tell me how you're feeling
告诉我你心里
gaosu wo ni xinli

On this special day
在这一天
zai zhe yi tian

If you're feeling nervous
如果你很紧张
ruguo ni hen jinzhang

Then jump with me this way.
你跟我跳一跳
ni gen wo tiao yi tiao

Tell me how you're feeling
告诉我你心里
gaosu wo ni xinli

On this special day
在这一天
zai zhe yi tian

If you're feeling scared
如果你很害怕
ruguo ni hen haipa
Then shake with me this way.
你跟我摇一摇
ni gen wo yao yi yao

Tell me how you're feeling
告诉我你心里
gaosu wo ni xinli

On this special day
在这一天
zai zhe yi tian

If you're feeling angry
如果你在生气
ruguo ni zai sheng qi

Then stomp with me this way.
你跟我动动脚
ni gen wo dong dong jiao

Tell me how you're feeling
告诉我你心里
gaosu wo ni xinli

On this special day
在这一天
zai zhe yi tian

If you're feeling tired
如果你很累
ruguo ni hen lei

Then yawn with me this way.
你跟我打哈欠
ni gen wo da ha ce

translated by Danny 2010

A little bird

2010-01-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

When I saw a little bird, came hop....hop....hop
So I cried to little bird to stop...stop....stop
I was going to the window to say "how do you do?"
But it shook its little tail and far away it flew

An English song from Rheinald

How to wash your hand properly

2010-01-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

Coloring activity : the "Batik" pattern

2010-01-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Batik is Indonesian heritage that is from Java island. We made it as coloring activity that can make children aware about our heritage. You can visit : id.wikipedia.org/wiki/batik , to know better about "Batik"

Creativity for children

2009-12-14T18:25:00.001-08:00

All kids are creative, they're born that way. But more than ever before, children are losing their innate ability to "think outside the box" at early ages. In schools government standards have prompted teachers to focus on teaching skills and knowledge needed to pass tests. They hope parentswill be able to encourage children to explore and imagine. But parents, overwhelmed by the pace of the schedules, all too often dont have time to sit down and help their kids write or draw or discover. They hope the school will pick up the slack.

Where do most kids go to feed their imaginations ?
That's rite, television, computer games, videos. Though these provide entertainmentm they do little to encourage kidsto make up their own stories, their own games, generate their own ideas.

What should we do then ?
Sit down with your kids or students and give them a chance to dream up a story. Help them brainstorm. Develop a main character together. Give them some paper and challege them to come up with their own superhero, cool house, or a perfect pet. Or reading a story just like the old time our parents, that's really tickling their imaginations.

Good try ! :)

Vegetarian for baby ?

2009-12-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

When your baby reaches the 7, 8 or 9 month old mark, you may think of the need to introduce Meats into the diet. Does an infant really need to have meat introduced into his/her diet at this young age?

Is it important to gain proteins solely from Meats?

Can introducing meats in baby's diet cause digestive issues or future health problems?

What if you wish to raise your child as a Vegetarian of one form or another; will the lack of Meat hinder growth and development?

These are all questions that have been asked by many parents as their babies hit yet another milestone age. This week's article will explore the answers available.

Why should parents introduce meats?

One of the most important reasons that parents begin to introduce meats is for the protein factor. Meat is one of the best sources of "complete" protein available. Along with meat, some excellent sources of protein are eggs, nuts, and dairy products.

The Vegetarian baby - where else can baby get protein from?

Protein is also found in plants such as legumes (like beans, peas, lentils), some vegetables, grains and fruits though many of these sources of proteins are considered "incomplete" proteins.

Will not introducing meat proteins harm my baby's growth?

Many parents worry that not introducing Meat into an infants diet will harm the baby's growth. This should not be a concern and many vegetarian babies gorw up to be healthy children. Parents should research and find alternative ways to get protein and Iron into baby's diet

Consider this: a baby's main source of nutrition comes from either formula, breast milk or both during the first 12 months of life. These food sources contain adequate amounts of proteins to sustain and allow your baby to grow and develop properly. Even at the 12 month age mark, your baby still does not require meat in the diet. What your baby does need is protein.

What types of proteins are there?

As mentioned earlier, there are 2 types of Proteins; Complete and Incomplete. There are also 20 essential Amino Acids that our bodies need and protein helps us gain these amino acids. Our bodies produce 11 of the essential amino acids however we rely on food sources to get the other 9 essential amino acids.

Complete Proteins are those that contain all 9 of the essential Amino Acids. The best source of complete protein is Meat, Eggs, Dairy and Nuts and Seeds.

Incomplete Proteins are lacking in 1 or more of the 9 essential Amino Acids. Plant foods such as legumes, grains, fruits etc.. are considered to contain the Incomplete proteins.

What age should I introduce Meat into Baby's diet?

The current recommendations for introducing meat into your baby's diet varies greatly from country to country. Many countries are now recommending that meat be one of baby's first foods to ensure Iron intake. It is typical for meat to be introduced into the diet between the 7-9 month age range. You should discuss the introduction of meat into your baby's diet with your baby's pediatrician.

Whether or not you choose to introduce meat into your baby's diet prior to 12 months of age, if at all, is entirely a personal decision. Rest assured however that meateat itself is NOT a necessity in an infants diet - Protein is the necessity.

Your child can receive all the proteins needed by combing the foods that contain both the complete and the incomplete proteins without ever having to eat meat.

An example; peanut butter and bread, black beans and rice, cottage cheese and avocado, milk and a grain cereal.

Again, we urge you to carefully consider the exclusion of Meat from your child's diet. We further urge you to consult with your pediatrician and/or a Registered Dietician prior to embarking on a "Meat-Free" or other form of Vegetarian diet for your baby as his/her First Birthday approaches.

Resources and Learning More:

National Institutes of Health(NIH) - Protein in diet

Kids Health.Org - Learning About Proteins

Feeding your vegetarian child

Vegetarian Diets for Children

Dr. Seto Mulyadi, Psi,Msi

2009-11-24T19:13:00.006-08:00

Nama:Seto Mulyadi (Kak Seto)

Lahir:Klaten, Jawa Tengah, 28 Agustus 1951

Agama:Islam

Ayah/Ibu:Mulyadi Effendy/Mariati

Istri:Deviana

Anak:- Eka Putri Duta Sari- Bimo Dwi Putra Utama- Shelomita Kartika Putri Maharani- Nindya Putri Catur Permatasari

Pendidikan:- SD Ngepos, Klaten (1963) - SMK, Klaten (1966) - SMA St. Louis, Surabaya (1969) - Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Indonesia (S1, 1981) - Program Pascasarjana Universitas Indonesia (Magister bidang psikologi, 1989) - Program Pascasarjana Universitas Indonesia (doktor bidang psikologi, 1993)

Karir:- Ketua Pelaksana Pembangunan Istana Anak-Anak Taman Mini Indonesia Indonesia (1983)- Pendiri dan Ketua Yayasan Mutiara Indonesia (1982-sekarang) - Pendiri dan Ketua Umum Yayasan Nakula Sadewa (1984-sekarang) - Dekan Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Tarumanegara, Jakarta (1994-1997) - Ketua Umum Komisi Nasional Perlindungan Anak (1998-sekarang) Kegiatan Lain:- Sekretaris Jenderal Ikatan Sarjana Psikologi Indonesia (1983-1985) - Director at-large International Council of Psychologists (1985) - Anggota International Society for Twins Studies (1985-sekarang) - Anggota Creative Education Foundation (1993-sekarang) - Anggota World Council for Gifted & Talented Children (1994-sekarang)

Buku:Anakku, Sahabat, dan Guruku (1997)

Penghargaan:- Orang Muda Berkarya Indonesia, kategori Pengabdian pada Dunia Anak-anak dari Presiden RI (1987) - The Outstanding Young Person of the World, Amsterdam; kategori Contribution to World Peace, dari Jaycess International (1987) - Peace Messenger Award, New York, dari Sekjen PBB Javier Perez de Cuellar (1987)- The Golden Balloon Award, New York; kategori Social Activity dari World Children’s Day Foundation & Unicef (1989)

Alamat Rumah/Kantor:Jalan Taman Cirendeu Permai 13, Jakarta 15419

Sahabat Anak-anak

Kedekatannya dengan dunia anak membuat dia begitu dikenal sebagai sahabat dan pendidik anak-anak. Namun, tidak banyak yang tahu kalau peraih The Outstanding Young Person of the World 1987 ini pernah melalui getirnya hidup menjadi pembantu rumah tangga, tukang batu, dan tukang semir sepatu di Blok M.

Seto Mulyadi yang kemudian dikenal sebagai Kak Seto pada awalnya bercita-cita menjadi dokter. Manusia berencana tapi Tuhan yang menentukan. Seto malah mendedikasikan hidupnya demi kemajuan anak-anak.

Pria kelahiran Klaten, Jawa Tengah, 28 Agustus 1951 ini memiliki saudara kembar, dr. Kresna Mulyadi dan seorang kakak yang menjadi anggota ABRI. Ketika masih kecil, Seto termasuk anak nakal dan tidak bisa diam. ''Saya ini bengal,'' katanya.

Akibat kebengalannya, Seto pernah jatuh saat bermain sampai kening kirinya sobek. Untuk menutupi bekas jahitan, potongan rambutnya dibuat ala The Beatles. Sampai dewasa, ketika sudah menjadi Ketua Komisi Nasional Perlindungan Anak, Seto Mulyadi tetap setia dengan model rambutnya.

Perjalanan hidup Seto di masa muda penuh liku yang pahit. Ayahnya, Mulyadi - direktur perusahaan perkebunan negara di Klaten - meninggal pada 1966 saat Seto masih berusia 14 tahun. Ekonomi keluarganya pun mulai kembang-kempis. Untuk mengatasi tekanan ekonomi ini, Seto terpaksa dititipkan ke rumah bibinya di Surabaya, bersama kakak dan saudara kembarnya, Kresna. Di sana, Seto melanjutkan sekolahnya di SMA St. Louis Surabaya.

Demi meringankan beban bibinya, juga untuk memenuhi biaya sekolah, Tong - panggilan akrab Seto dalam keluarganya – nyambi jadi pengasong di jalan-jalan selepas sekolah. Ia aktif pula mengisi sebuah rubrik untuk anak-anak di majalah terbitan Surabaya, Bahagia. “Di situ saya mulai memakai nama Kak Seto,” ujarnya. Sejak itulah, dan sampai sekarang, ia dikenal dengan panggilan Kak Seto.

Walau sekolah sambil bekerja, Seto tetap bisa aktif di OSIS bersama kembarannya. Bahkan rapornya selalu bagus. Lulus SMA, ia bercita-cita melanjutkan studinya di Fakultas Kedokteran. Tapi, cita-citanya menjadi dokter kandas, tatkala tak diterima di fakultas kedokteran, baik di Universitas Airlangga maupun Universitas Indonesia. Sementara Kresna diterima di kedokteran dan kakaknya, Ma’ruf, masuk Akabri.

Diam-diam, Seto memendam kekecewaan. “Hidup seperti itu membuat saya tertekan hingga akhirnya saya memutuskan meninggalkan rumah dan pergi ke Jakarta,” tuturnya. Subuh, 27 Maret 1970, ia pun berangkat tanpa pamit, hanya meninggalkan surat kepada ibunya.

Tiba di Jakarta sebagai penganggur yang luntang-lantung, Seto menumpang di garasi milik keluarga temannya, yang kebetulan ia kenal di kereta. Tidur beralaskan dua keset yang digabung, ia hidup sehari-hari dari penghasilan sebagai tukang batu, serta sesekali menulis di majalah Si Kuncung. Sembari bekerja serabutan dia kemudian mendaftar di Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Indonesia, tahun berikutnya. Tapi, seperti halnya kala di Surabaya, kali ini pun kegagalan kembali menyertainya.

Seto kemudian mencoba melamar pekerjaan ke hotel-hotel. Namun, akhirnya ia malah menjadi tukang cuci dan pel suatu keluarga yang kebetulan mempunyai anak cacat. Seto, yang juga bertugas merawat anak tersebut, harus bersedia menempati ''kamar'' bekas kandang ayam yang berhadapan dengan WC. ''Baunya minta ampun,'' ia mengenang.

“Waktu baru di Jakarta, saya mulai dari bawah, ya, saya kerja jadi pembantu rumah tangga, jadi tukang batu, jadi tukang semir sepatu di Blok M,” kenang Seto. “Berat sekali keadaan waktu itu, dibentak-bentak dan dimarahi oleh tuan saya,” lanjut pria yang merasa tenang bila dekat ibunya ini. Hingga suatu ketika, di rumah tempatnya menumpang, ia tertarik pada acara yang diasuh Bu Kasur di TVRI.

Satu hal, kalau melihat orang lain mampu melakukan sesuatu, Seto selalu berpikir, ''Ah, saya juga bisa.'' Lalu dicarinyalah rumah Bu Kasur, dengan niat ngenger (berguru). Pak Kasur, yang menerimanya, membawanya ke Taman Kanak-Kanak Situ Lembang, Jakarta Pusat. “Akhirnya saya jadi asisten Pak Kasur,” tutur Seto.

Kegagalannya masuk ke Fakultas Kedokteran UI, membuatnya putar haluan dengan memasuki Fakultas Psikologi UI, atas saran dari Pak Kasur. Dua tahun kemudian, ia masih membantu Pak Kasur, sambil menjadi pembantu dan pengasuh anak di rumah Direktur Bank Indonesia, saat itu, Soeksmono Martokoesoemo.

Bersama Pak Kasur, Seto bisa menumpahkan “obsesi” masa kecilnya: kecintaan pada anak-anak - sesuatu yang berawal dari kerinduan datangnya seorang adik, setelah adiknya yang masih tiga tahun meninggal. Pilihannya pun makin mantap di saat mengasuh acara Aneka Ria Taman Kanak-Kanak di TVRI, bersama Henny Purwonegoro. Seto mendongeng, belajar sambil bernyanyi, bermain sulap bersama anak-anak.

Ilmu Pak Kasur ia gabungkan dengan kemahirannya bermain sulap, yang sudah ia pelajari sejak masih SD, melalui buku. Teknik mendongeng, menurut pengagum Mahatma Gandhi serta Napoleon ini, ia peroleh dari penulis dan penutur cerita anak-anak, Soekanto S.A., ditambah dengan pengalamannya sendiri.

Dengan bonekanya Si Komo berikut lagunya, ia pun makin lekat dengan anak-anak. Dan, ekonominya pun mulai membaik, hingga setelah menggondol gelar sarjana psikologi, Seto mengundurkan diri dari keluarga Soeksmono.

Saat masih duduk di bangku kuliah, 1983, Seto mendapat kepercayaan Ibu Tien Soeharto untuk mengetuai pelaksanaan pembangunan Istana Anak-Anak di Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta. Bahkan kelompok bermain Istana Anak-anak di yang dikembangkannya, di luar dugaan, memiliki peminat yang cukup banyak. Kini, pengembangan kelompok bermain yang bernaung di bawah Yayasan Mutiara Indonesia itu sudah menyebar di berbagai cabang di Jakarta dan sekitarnya. Bahkan, sampai di Bandung.

Pada 1987, Seto menikahi Deviana – yang usianya terpaut 20 tahun – gadis yang dicintainya. Tepat pada hari pernikahan, di saat tamu berdatangan, pengantin baru Seto-Devi melaksanakan nazarnya: mendongeng di panti asuhan.

Dengan membaiknya keadaan ekonomi, Seto membeli rumah tinggal di kawasan Cireundeu tetapi tidak ia nikmati sendiri. Sebagian dimanfaatkan untuk sarana bermain anak-anak. Di lahan seluas 2.000 meter persegi itu ada perosotan atau ayunan, ruang kelas, kolam renang mini, laiknya taman kanak-kanak. Semua ruangan didekorasi dengan warna-warna yang ceria dan benar-benar membuat anak-anak merasa di alam fantasi mereka.

Di situlah keempat buah hatinya, Eka Putri Duta Sari, Bimo Dwi Putra Utama, Shelomita Kartika Putri Maharani, dan Nindya Putri Catur Permatasari menikmati masa kecilnya. ''Sebenarnya, tujuan membuat halaman yang luas adalah supaya anak-anak aktif bermain, menikmati alam dengan bebas serta lepas,'' jelasnya, pada kesempatan lain. ''Bila anak-anak terlalu dikekang, akibatnya seperti kuda liar.''

Di dalam keluarga, dia menjadikan anak-anaknya sebagai sahabat dan guru. Hubungannya dengan buah hatinya itu sudah dituangkan dalam buku, 'Anakku, Sahabatku, dan Guruku' (1997). Di buku itu dia menuliskan betapa anak dapat menjadi sahabat dalam berbagi masalah. Anak juga bisa menjadi guru untuk belajar tentang kreativitas, spontanitas, kebebasan berpikir, pemaaf, tidak pendendam, dan mempunyai kasih sayang yang tulus.

Kendati begitu, dia masih saja mengaku tidak selalu tahu tentang anak. Dalam kaitan ini, mantan Dekan Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Tarumanegara, Jakarta (1994-1997) ini pernah menuturkan, ''Saya bukan tahu segala hal tentang anak-anak, tapi berusaha untuk tahu tentang mereka.'' Untuk itu, ''Saya memiliki senjata rendah hati, tidak pernah merasa paling berkuasa di keluarga, menghormati mereka sehingga mereka terbuka kepada saya.''

Kedekatannya dengan anak-anak, boleh jadi, membuat Seto kian merasakan kebutuhan untuk perkembangan anak. Dia pun mengharapkan agar anak-anak dipenuhi hak-hak mereka: hak memperoleh suasana gembira, hak bermain, dan hak untuk tumbuh dan berkembang dalam suasana tenang, tanpa merasa tertekan.

Kreativitas dan ide Seto makin cemerlang dengan mendirikan sekolah TK Mutiara Indonesia. Juga membentuk Yayasan Nakula-Sadewa yang menghimpun anak-anak kembar yang berasal dari keluarga kurang mampu. Sebagai pakar psikologi anak yang bergelar doktor, selain menjadi dosen di Universitas Tarumanegara, Jakarta, ia kerap menjadi pembicara dalam seminar, menulis artikel, dan buku.

Atas pengabdiannya pada dunia anak-anak, yang sampai kapan pun akan terus dilakukannya, Seto telah dianugerahi sejumlah penghargaan. Antara lain Orang Muda Berkarya Indonesia, kategori Pengabdian pada Dunia Anak-anak dari Presiden RI (1987), The Outstanding Young Person of the World, Amsterdam; kategori Contribution to World Peace, dari Jaycess International (1987), Peace Messenger Award, New York, dari Sekjen PBB Javier Perez de Cuellar (1987) dan The Golden Balloon Award, New York; kategori Social Activity dari World Children’s Day Foundation & Unicef (1989). Kemudian, walau tak pernah terlintas dalam benaknya, sejak 1998, Seto dipercaya menjadi Ketua Komnas Perlindungan Anak (KPA).

Dalam kapasitasnya sebagai Ketua Komnas Perlindungan Anak (KPA), Seto semakin giat berkarya membela anak-anak. Pasca bencana Tsunami di Aceh misalnya, ia bersama pemerintah merealisasikan pembentukan Trauma Center. Pendirian Trauma Center ini ditujukan untuk menangani gangguan traumatis pada anak-anak Aceh yang menjadi korban bencana alam dahsyat tersebut. Apa yang paling cepat membantu menyembuhkan trauma anak? "Adanya cinta, perhatian, dan dunia indah untuk bermain," kata Seto.

Seto yang mempunyai motto: bangsa yang besar adalah bangsa yang mencintai anak-anak ini berharap supaya semua orang menganggap setiap hari adalah hari anak. “Bukan cuma tanggal 23 Juli saja, tapi setiap hari adalah hari untuk anak,” kata Seto. “Sehingga anak-anak Indonesia sekarang, apalagi yang terpinggirkan, bisa memperoleh hak-haknya sehingga mereka bisa tumbuh dan berkembang dengan baik dan menjadi putra-putri bangsa yang terbaik untuk bangsanya,” ujarnya lagi. ►mlp

Vegetarian food recipes for baby

2009-11-24T19:13:00.005-08:00

Vegetables / Vegetarian Baby Food Recipes - Broccoli With Gruyere Cheese
NOTE: If you can't find Gruyere, use any Swiss cheese as a substitute
1 medium potato, peeled and diced 6oz (3/4 cup) broccoli florets 4 fl oz (1/2 cup) milk 2 tbsp grated Gruyere 1 tbsp fresh, chopped parsley 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Boil the potato until tender. Steam the broccoli florets. Finally, combine the potato and broccoli with the remaining ingredients, mash or puree as desired and top with the parsley.

Vegetables / Vegetarian Baby Food Recipes - Wholesome Twice Baked Potatoes
1 large baking potato (we prefer to use red skinned potatoes - they have a creamier texture) 1oz (1/8 cup) butter 2 fl oz (1/4 cup) milk 3 oz (1/3 cup) grated mild cheddar 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh chives
Wash the potato, prick with a fork, then bake at 350 deg F, 180 deg C for about 1 1/2 hours, until the potato feels soft. Remove from the oven and cut in half. Scoop out the potato and place in a bowl, along with the milk, butter and most of the cheese. Mash well. Return the potato mixture to the skins, place on a cooking sheet and top with the remaining cheese. Return to the oven and cook for a further 10-15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and is golden in colour. Sprinkle with the chives.

Vegetables / Vegetarian Baby Food Recipes - Carrot And Lentil Soup
8 oz (1 cup) dry, rinsed lentils 8 oz (1 cup) carrots, peeled and diced 1 small onion, finely chopped 34 fl oz (4 1/4 cups) of water 1 tbsp olive oil
In a large saucepan, gently saute the onion in the oil, until soft. Add the lentils, carrots and water. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the lentils are soft. If necessary, you can puree the soup once it's cool, adding a little water to thin the mixture.

Baby's massage part 2

2009-11-24T19:13:00.004-08:00

Arms
1. With one hand, hold baby's wrist. Relax her upper arm by tapping it lightly.
2. Hold her wrist with one hand and hold your other hand in a C-shape around baby's upper arm; stroke from her shoulder down to her wrist.
3. With each hand grasping her arm, one right above the other, stroke down from shoulder to wrist with both hands rotating in opposite directions, as if you were gently wringing a towel.
4. Massage her palm, moving thumb over thumb from heel of her hand to her fingers.
5. Stroke down top of hand from wrist to fingertips. Gently squeeze and pull each finger.
6. Massage her wrist by moving your fingers in small circles.
7. Roll her arm between both your hands.

Back
1. Place baby on tummy horizontally in front of you, or lay her across your outstretched legs. Keep her hands in front of her, not at her sides.
2. With both of your hands on baby's back, move each hand back and forth (keeping them going in opposite directions) from the base of the neck to her buttocks.
3. Hold your baby's buttocks with one hand and use the other to stroke down from her neck to her buttocks.
4. Using your fingertips, massage in small circles down one side of baby's spine and up the other. Avoid pressing on her spine directly.
5. Massage her shoulders with small circular motions.
6. Massage her buttocks with big circular motions.
7. Holding your fingers like a rake, stroke down her back.

Legs
1. Lift one of her legs by the ankle and relax it by lightly tapping the upper thigh.
2. Hold her ankle with one hand and hold your other hand in a C-shape, thumb down, around your baby's upper thigh. Stroke from her thigh down to her foot.
3. With your hands grasping the leg at the thigh, one right above the other, stroke down from hip to foot with both hands rotating in opposite directions, as if you were wringing a towel.
4. On the sole of her foot, use a thumb-over-thumb motion to massage from heel to toes.
5. Use your whole hand to stroke the bottom of her foot from heel to toes.
6. Stroke the top of her foot. Gently squeeze and pull each toe.
7. Massage around her ankle using small circles.
8. Roll her leg between your hands, as if you're rolling dough.

General Tips
Make strokes gentle but firm, and not ticklish.
Build massage into your baby's daily schedule.
Follow baby's signals about when to stop. A massage can last 10 minutes or 30 minutes, depending on her moods.

for further details, always consult with your doctor.

Baby's massage

2009-11-24T19:13:00.003-08:00

Tips and techniques on how to massage your new baby.
By Amy Zintl

Getting Started

Daily infant massage is a great way to bond with baby. What's more, researchers are finding that massage may promote better sleeping, relieve colic, and perhaps even enhance an infant's immune system, motor skills, and intellectual development. Here are some tips and techniques to help you along.
Use a blanket or towel, and massage oil in a non-breakable container. (Test the oil on a small spot of your baby's skin and wait a day to be sure no irritation appears.) Start when your baby is in a quiet yet alert state -- not immediately after a feeding or when she's sleepy. Sit on the floor with the soles of your feet together, forming a diamond shape with your legs. Drape the blanket over your feet and between your knee.
Undress your baby down to her diaper and place her on the blanket, cradling her head on your feet. Start with a gentle "hello" stroke from baby's head to her toes. If baby stiffens, cries, or becomes irritable, move to another body part or simply end the massage for the day. If she responds well, start gently massaging her body section by section.

Tummy
1. Hold your hand so your pinky's edge can move like a paddle across your baby's belly. Starting at the base of the rib cage, stroke down with one hand, then the other, in a paddle-wheel-like motion.
2. Massage her abdomen with your fingertips in a circular, clockwise motion.
3. Do the "I Love U" stroke: Trace the letter I down your baby's left side. Then trace an inverted L, stroking across the belly along the base of her ribs from her right side to her left and down. Trace an inverted U, stroking from low on the baby's right side, up and around the navel, and down the left side.
4. Walk your fingers around her navel, clockwise.
5. Hold knees and feet together and gently press knees up toward her abdomen. Rotate baby's hips around a few times to the right. (This often helps expel gas.)
6. Place hand on tummy horizontally and rock your hand from side to side a few times. Note: Avoid massaging tummy if the cord hasn't completely healed.

Head and Face
1. Cradling your baby's head in both hands, massage the scalp with your fingertips, as if you're shampooing. (Avoid the fontanel, the soft spot on top of baby's head.)
2. Massage her ears between your thumb and index finger.
3. Trace a heart shape on your baby's face, bringing your hands together at the chin.
4. Place your thumbs between your baby's eyebrows, and stroke out.
5. Again with your thumbs, stroke gently out over baby's closed eyelids.
6. Stroke from the bridge of the nose out over the cheeks.
7. Using your fingertips, massage the jaw in small circles.

Chest
1. Place both hands on your baby's chest and stroke outward from her sternum to her shoulders.
2. Beginning at her sternum, trace a heart shape bringing both hands up to her shoulders, then down and back together.
3. In a crisscross pattern, stroke diagonally from one side of your baby's hip, up and over the opposite shoulder, and back down to her hip.

to be continued

WANT A SMART BABY ? TV'S NOT GOING TO HELP

2009-11-24T19:13:00.002-08:00

By Madison Park

(CNN) -- Watching television does not make babies smarter, according to a study released this week in the journal Pediatrics, adding to existing research that challenges the usefulness of baby educational videos and DVDs.

Researchers from Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and Harvard Medical School reached this conclusion after monitoring more than 800 children from birth to 3 years of age.
"Contrary to parents' perceptions that TV viewing is beneficial to their children's brain development, we found no evidence of cognitive benefit from watching TV during the first two years of life," the authors wrote.
Educational DVD and videos geared towards enriching babies and toddlers, such as "BabyGenius," "Brainy Baby" or "Baby Einstein," which proclaim to "encourage discovery and inspire," have no benefits, researchers said.

This echoes a similar finding published in the August issue of Pediatrics. Researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute found no evidence of benefit from baby DVDs and videos and suggested that it may be harmful. Infants who watched the videos understood fewer words than those who did not watch them.
Pediatrician Dr. Michael Rich, a co-author of the latest study from Boston, calls baby educational DVDs and videos "just wasted time."
"At the very best, they steal time from much more productive cognitive developmental activities," he said. "Ultimately, what it's about is to make parents not feel guilty about an electronic baby sitter."
The parents of the 872 children in the Boston study estimated the number of hours their toddlers spent in front of the television, including TV programs and DVDs. Researchers did not have data on what kinds of programs the toddlers were watching.
On average, babies at 6 months watched approximately 0.9 hours of TV per day. That number increased as the child aged: 1.2 hours at 1 year and 1.4 hours at 2 years.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen media for children under the age of 2 years. Educational DVDs are tailored for babies as young as 3 months.
In the Harvard study, two I.Q.-related tests were administered to the children: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III, which indicates how many words the child understands and uses, and the Wide-Range Assessment of Visual Motor Ability test, which presents puzzles and peg boards to test cognitive abilities.
Babies who spent more time watching TV had lower language and visual motor skills at age 3. But when results were adjusted for household income and education levels, the association did not appear.
Lead author Marie Evans Schmidt and her colleagues "did not find evidence of harm or benefit of TV viewing."
Based on the existing body of research, Schmidt, a developmental psychologist instructor at Harvard Medical School, said, "there's still more evidence of harm than benefit as far as TV viewing in infancy is concerned."
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Studies exploring the relationship between TV viewing and the effects on children are just beginning, she said.
"My hope is that when this information is made available to the general public, that it won't be perceived as study that means there are no harmful effects of TV viewing on infants, because other studies have shown TV viewing at high levels can put kids at risk for some things like obesity, sleep disturbances and possibly attention problems," Schmidt said.
Rich, a pediatrician who directs the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, said TV watching during infancy instills habits that promote obesity.
"You're teaching 4- or 5- or 6-month-olds how to watch TV," he said. "They're learning to watch TV. The more they watch as they get older, they're snacking in front of TV, they're exposed to snack-food commercials, which inspire them to eat even more and sit even more. It is a cumulative effect of many, many factors."
But Karen Hill Scott, a senior fellow at UCLA who works in the field of child development, said the criticism ignores real life. "To me, as a scientist and parent, we can't hold on to completely demonizing screen time when parents are really very determined to use it."
Modern parents "want kids to be literate on computers. They don't see the screen media as evil," said Scott, a consultant for Baby Einstein."The net effect that it's not harmful is a relief to many families who have been made to feel guilty or awful that they use screen time."
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Scott said the material in educational baby DVDs is similar to what is in books.
Baby Einstein products were designed by Julie Clark, a teacher and mother, and were not devised through scientific research. Susan McLain, general manager of Baby Einstein, said the company receives thousands of letters from satisfied parents.
"We've basically stayed true to the philosophy to what [Clark] created. That was exposure to real-world imagery," she said. "The core themes are art, music and nature; that's the core essence of what we've created."
She said the Harvard study indicated that "screen time is not harmful for baby and infants."
Rich, the study co-author, recommended relying on what has been proved to benefit children.
"The best thing for our kids is to provide them with stimulus that we know is positive for their brain development," Rich said. He suggesting activities like reading, singing, interacting and stacking blocks to help children.

THE SCHOOL BEGINS

2009-07-23T05:36:00.000-07:00

STEP2 INSIDE

Flash card

2008-11-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

Bagaimana Flashcards dan Dotcards Mampu Meningkatkan Kecerdasan Anak

oleh : Taufan Surana

Setelah saya menulis artikel yang berjudul "MeningkatkanKecerdasan Anak Balita dengan Cepat dan Pasti !" di newsletterBabyBrain eZine edisi Bulan Mei 2002 (artikel selengkapnya bisadilihat di www.balitacerdas.com), banyak sekali yang memberikanresponse dengan pertanyaan, "Bagaimana mungkin flashcards dan dotcards bisa meningkatkan kecerdasan anak ?".Pertanyaan yang sangat wajar tentunya, karena penerapan permainanflashcards/dotcards di Indonesia masih di lingkungan yang sangat terbatas. (catatan: untuk selanjutnya, flashcards dan dotcards ditulis dengan "F/D")Jawaban langsung dan singkatnya adalah : Permainan F/D yang dilakukan dengan menunjukkan gambar secara cepat (1 gambar per detik) akan men-trigger OTAK KANAN untuk aktif menerima informasi yang muncul di hadapan mata.Mengapa harus otak kanan ?Untuk menjawabnya, kita perlu tahu dulu apa perbedaan fungsi otakkiri dan otak kanan.Tahun 1968, Dr. Roger Sperry pertama kali menemukan perbedaan fungsi
otak yang berbeda antara belahan kiri dan kanan. Secara garis besarnya,
fungsi yang dikendalikan oleh masing-masing belahan otak adalah sbb :OTAK KIRI mengendalikan : - pikiran sadar - analisa, logika, rasional - bahasaOTAK KANAN mengendalikan : - pikiran bawah sadar - emosi - kreatif, intuitifMungkin anda pernah mendengar dimana para ahli mengatakan bahwakita HANYA menggunakan 3% dari seluruh kemampuan otak.Mengapa ? Karena sebagian besar kemampuan otak terkunci di dalampikiran bawah sadar, yang merupakan bagian dari otak kanan.Jika dijabarkan lebih lanjut, otak kanan akan mengendalikan fungsi : - photographic memory - speed reading, listening - automatic mental processing - mass-memory - multiple language acquisition - computer-like math calculation - creativity in movement, music and art - intuitive insightAnda lihat, betapa powerfulnya kemampuan yang tersimpan di otakkanan, sementara hampir seluruh kehidupan kita, baik mulai darisekolah sampai dengan kegiatan sosial sehari-hari hanyamenekankan pada kemampuan otak kiri.Artinya, sistem pendidikan dan masyarakat saat ini hanyamenfokuskan pada kemampuan otak kiri saja. Perkembangan otakkanan seakan-akan ditinggalkan begitu anak masuk Sekolah Dasar.Anda lihat, begitu masuk SD, anak selalu dituntut untuk selaluberpikir logis, rasional, dst., yang merupakan sifat dari fungsiberpikir otak kiri.Jangan salah paham !Saya TIDAK mengatakan bahwa perkembangan otak kiri itu tidakdiperlukan. Kemampuan otak kiri yang baik SANGAT diperlukan.Tetapi, perkembangan otak kanan JANGAN sampai ditinggalkan !Artinya, kita perlu menyeimbangkan kemampuan kedua belahan otak,supaya kecerdasan anak berkembang dengan maksimal. Dan sebelumanak-anak kita terlanjur terjun ke dunia otak kiri di sebagianbesar hidupnya nanti, maka tugas kitalah untuk mengembangkan otakkanan anak.Banyak cara yang bisa dilakukan untuk meningkatkan perkembanganotak kanan, antara lain yaitu image training (latihan imajinasi),visualisasi, dll., termasuk juga permainan F/D.Mengenai permainan dotcards, ada sebuah pertanyaan yang sangatsering ditanyakan, yaitu,
"Kita orangtua saja tidak bisa mengerti berapa jumlah dot yang
diatur secara acak itu. Bagaimana mungkin anak balita bisa
menerima dan mengerti ?".Disitulah perbedaan orang dewasa dengan anak balita. Kita orangdewasa sangat cenderung menggunakan otak kiri untuk menerimasegala informasi, sedangkan anak balita sangat mudah menerimainformasi dengan menggunakan otak kanannya.Contohnya, jika saya katakan no.telp. saya adalah 89678524,apakah anda langsung ingat sekarang ? Saya yakin sebagian besardari kita tidak akan ingat.Mengapa ? Karena kita menerima informasi tersebut dengan otakkiri yang kemampuan menyimpan memorinya sangat terbatas.Dr. Makoto Shichida, seorang spesialis perkembangan anak balita,dalam bukunya "Right Brain Education in Infancy" menjelaskansebuah hasil studi di Nippon Medical Center oleh Prof. Shinagawaterhadap seorang anak yang bernama Yuka Hatano.Yuka Hatano adalah seorang juara dunia menghitung cepat, yangmampu menghitung 16 digit soal LEBIH CEPAT daripada kalkulator !Ketika Yuka melakukan perhitungan tersebut, melalui "PET scan"terlihat bahwa yang mengendalikan fungsi otaknya adalah otakkanan bagian belakang.Itulah kehebatan dari otak kanan yang telah berkembang.Di sekolah Shichida, saya melihat bagaimana anak-anak SD mampumembaca 1 jilid buku hanya dalam waktu 3-5 menit saja, dan diatahu persis apa isi buku yg dibacanya. Menurutnya, dia sepertimemotret tiap-tiap halaman buku tsb, dan ketika ditanya, dia akanmembuka tiap-tiap halaman bukunya di dalam otaknya untuk mencarijawabannya dengan cepat.Jadi, mari kita berikan stimulasi-stimulasi kepada anak-anak kitasehingga perkembangan otaknya, baik kiri maupun kanan bisa tumbuhdengan seimbang.Jika anda belum pernah tahu apa itu flashcards atau dotcards, danbagaimana cara membuat dan menggunakannya, informasinya dapatsegera anda peroleh dengan cara mengirimkan email kosong ke :membaca@balitacerdas.com (untuk flashcards)matematika@balitacerdas.com (untuk dotcards)

Selamat Mencoba !
Waktu terpenting anak balita anda berjalan sangat cepat. Jangan sia-siakan
waktu ini...

Anak Membaca Ekspresi Wajah

2008-11-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

Mengapa Anak Harus Mampu Membaca Ekspresi Wajah
oleh : Taufan Surana

"Di sebuah keluarga, Adi (usia 5 tahun) tiba-tiba melemparkan mainan
yang sedang dipegangnya, sehingga adiknya yang terkena lemparan
menangis keras. Mama Adi yang melihat hal ini langsung menunjukkan
ekspresi wajah yang sedih bercampur marah di depan Adi tanpa
mengatakan sepatah katapun. Tetapi Adi sama sekali tidak menunjukkan
rasa bersalahnya, dan tetap melemparkan mainannya kesana-kemari."

Apakah anda pernah melihat kejadian yang mirip dengan cerita diatas ?

Mengapa Adi bersikap seperti itu ?
Ternyata Adi tidak bisa memahami dengan baik apa maksud dari ekspresi
wajah Mamanya.

Pertanyaannya, perlukah anak seusia Adi mengerti apa maksud dari
setiap ekspresi wajah orang lain ?

Sebuah grup di Universitas Delaware mengadakan penelitian panjang
terhadap anak usia pra-sekolah (usia 5 tahun) selama 4 tahun. Hasil
penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa anak-anak yang mampu memahami
ekspresi wajah orang lain dengan baik ternyata lebih jarang mengalami
masalah dalam perilaku sosial maupun gangguan belajarnya.

Inti dari penelitian ini adalah bahwa pemahaman emosional dan
kemampuan anak dalam mengatur emosinya sangat penting bagi anak
dalam menghadapi lingkungan sosialnya di masa depan. Istilah
populernya adalah, disamping IQ, EQ (Emotional Quotient / Kecerdasan
Emosi) juga merupakan faktor yang sangat penting dalam mendukung
kesuksesan anak di masa depan.

Adalah tugas kita sebagai orangtua untuk mengajarkan kepada anak kita
tentang cara mengungkapkan perasaan yang sedang dialami oleh anak,
dan mengenal nama dari perasaan tersebut. Dengan demikian anak akan
menjadi mengerti perasaan orang lain dari ekspresi wajahnya. Anak yang
tidak bisa mengungkapkan perasaannya cenderung untuk berperilaku
kasar dalam bentuk kekerasan seperti memukul, melempar, dsb.

Bagaimana cara mengajarkan hal ini kepada anak sejak dini ?

Banyak cara yang bisa dilakukan, misalnya adalah :

1.
Bercerita/mendongeng kepada anak tentang cerita yang berisi
berbagai ekspresi perasaan dari para pemeran dongeng tersebut.
Dalam bercerita ini anda perlu menunjukkan ekspresi tersebut
dengan sungguh-sungguh, sehingga anak dapat menangkap perasaan
yang ada di balik ekspresi wajah anda.
2.
Jika anda bisa menggambar berbagai ekspresi wajah seperti
tertawa, sedih, marah, dsb., anda bisa menggambarkannya di
setiap muka ujung jari, dan ketika mau tidur, anda bisa bercerita
sambil menunjukkan gambar tersebut. Setelah itu, anda tanyakan
kepada anak anda, misalnya, "Adi hari ini mengalami gambar yang
ada di jari mana ?".
3.
Dan masih banyak lagi...
Bagi yang belum pernah menerapkannya....
Selamat Mencoba !

Perkembangan Otak Anak

2008-11-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

Hubungan antar sel-sel otak dibentuk dengan adanya saling

kirim-dan-terima signal. Signal yang berupa getaran aliran listrik

ini mengalir dari sel yang satu ke sel yang lainnya, dan dengan

bantuan zat kimia seperti serotonin, terbentuklah hubungan antara

sel-sel otak tersebut.

Rangsangan yang terus-menerus, yang anda berikan melalui

bentuk kegiatan yang berulang-ulang, akan semakin memperkuat

hubungan antar sel-sel otak.

Satu sel otak mampu membuat 15.000 hubungan dengan sel otak

yang lain. Hubungan yang sangat rumit inilah yang membentuk jaringan

antar sel-sel otak.

Pengalaman yang diterima oleh bayilah yang akan menentukan

bentuk jaringan di dalam otak.

Sejak bayi lahir, jaringan ini akan dibentuk dengan cepat sekali,

dan pada usia anak mencapai 3 tahun, otak anak anda akan

membuat kira-kira 1000 trilyun hubungan, dimana jumlah ini adalah

2 kali lipat dari jumlah hubungan jaringan otak pada orang dewasa.

Hubungan otak yang densitas/kerapatannya sangat tinggi ini akan

tetap dipertahankan sampai dengan umur 10 tahun.

Setelah itu, apa yang akan terjadi ?

Setelah anak menginjak usia 11 tahun, hubungan antar sel-sel otak

tersebut akan diseleksi secara alami, dimana hubungan yang sering

digunakan akan semakin diperkuat dan menjadi permanen,

sedangkan hubungan yang tidak pernah digunakan akan diputus/dibuang.

Disinilah pentingnya pengalaman pada usia awal/dini.

Disinilah peran orangtua akan sangat menentukan. Stimulasi yang anda

berikan kepada anak anda akan sangat menentukan apakah hubungan

antar sel-sel otak anak akan diperkuat atau justru diputus dan dibuang.

Clumsy

2008-08-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Mengenal Anak Clumsy
Clumsy merupakan gangguan motorik khas. "Gejala"nya mudah dikenali karena berkaitan dengan perkembangan motorik halus. Untuk itu, orang tua harus tahu perkembangan normalnya. Tapi, bisakah clumsy disembuhkan? Sering kita lihat seorang anak begitu keras menekankan pensil saat menulis, sehingga pensilnya patah atau kertasnya malah sobek. Atau seorang anak yang tak mampu menangkap bola dengan baik, sering menjatuhkan benda yang dipegangnya, dan sebagainya. Biasanya orang tua akan memarahi si anak, karena dianggapnya ia sembrono, tak hati-hati. Padahal, terang psikiater anak, Dr. Dwidjo Saputro, SpKJ., si anak sebenarnya mengalami gangguan motorik khas atau disebut clumsy. "Jadi, koordinasi motorik, khususnya motorik halus, tak berkembang dengan baik. Hal ini berkaitan dengan kematangan fungsi otak," jelas pendiri dan pimpinan Klinik Perkembangan Anak dan Kesulitan Belajar Jakarta ini.
Perkembangan Motorik
Kemampuan motorik halus, tutur Dwidjo, diharapkan sudah muncul pada usia sekitar 3 tahun. Sejak bayi, orang tua bisa memantau perkembangan motorik halus tersebut. Misalnya, telapak tangan si kecil terbuka saat umur 3 bulan. Sebulan kemudian ia sudah bisa menyatukan kedua tangannya, lalu di usia 5 bulan bisa memindahkan benda antara kedua tangan dan melemparkan benda pada umur 9 bulan. Selanjutnya di usia 11 bulan sudah menjumput dengan dua jari (pincer grasp) dan genap setahun sudah bisa menggunakan sendok. Kemudian di usia 2 tahun bisa membuka baju sendiri, usia 3 tahun membuka kancing baju, usia 5 tahun memasang tali sepatu, dan sebagainya.
"Itu semua merupakan fungsi-fungsi kehidupan sosial sehari-hari yang diharapkan lingkungan dari seorang anak." Adapun kemunculan kemampuan ini melalui perkembangan sensoris dan motorik. "Perkembangan ini berlangsung pesat sejak bayi sampai usia 3,5 tahun, yang disebut fase sensorimotor. Fase ini merupakan dasar perkembangan kemampuan kognitif atau berpikir anak." Nah, melalui perkembangan sensoris dan motorik yang pesat ini, anak akan mengolah semua rangsang yang ia terima. Misalnya, meraba, menarik, menggenggam, mendorong, melangkah, dan sebagainya. "Dari situlah kemampuan motorik anak mulai timbul." Jadi, melalui pengolahan sensoris motorik ini anak mulai berpikir. Misalnya, mengenal konsep jarak. Anak memahaminya melalui gerakan, yaitu dengan melangkah, "Oh, ini jauh, ini dekat."
Contoh lain, melalui gerakan meraba, anak belajar tentang halus-kasar, licin-kesat, dan sebagainya. "Dengan demikian pemahamannya bukan murni pikiran tapi juga melalui pengalaman bergerak. Anak berpikir secara motorik." Semua itu, lanjut Dwidjo, merupakan informasi yang sangat kaya untuk pengembangan kognitif anak. Sehingga, bila perkembangan motoriknya terhambat, otomatis akan juga menghambat perkembangan kognitif dan perkembangan lainnya seperti sosialisasi, kemampuan untuk menyesuaikan dan melakukan tugas sehari-hari. Bahkan, pada akhirnya juga menghambat perkembangan akademik si anak.
Hal inilah yang tak banyak dipahami oleh orang tua maupun kalangan pendidik, ujar Dwidjo, "Mereka kurang memberi perhatian." Yang justru lebih banyak diperhatikan adalah bentuk gangguan sensoris motorik dalam bentuk kecacatan atau ketidakmampuan yang berat seperti cerebral palsy. "Umumnya orang lebih tertarik mengamati akibatnya, oh, anaknya enggak bisa menulis, enggak mau sekolah. Jadi hanya dilihat dari hasil akademiknya tanpa menyadari apa yang dihadapi oleh anak."
Latihan Untuk Si Clumsy
Jika anak Anda usia 4 tahun, cobalah minta ia mempertemukan ibu jari dengan jari kelingkingnya. Bila ia tak dapat melakukannya, sebaiknya Anda berhati-hati. Atau bila di usia tersebut ia belum bisa memasang tali sepatu atau memegang sendok. Karena, hal ini berarti koordinasinya tidak bagus. "Bisa jadi ia mengalami clumsy," ujar Dwidjo. Langkah terbaik segera berkonsultasi ke dokter ahli syaraf/neurologi anak. Untuk mengenali apakah si kecil termasuk clumsy, orang tua harus tahu tentang perkembangan normal motorik halus. Memang setiap anak berbeda dalam berbagai aspek perkembangannya. Selain dipengaruhi faktor potensi dan kapasitas inteleknya, juga dipengaruhi pola perkembangan perorangan dan keturunan. Yang penting, jangan menganggap enteng setiap kelambatan perkembangan yang dicapainya.
Banyak hal yang bisa dilakukan untuk melatih motorik halus. Misalnya, latihan menjumput, meronce, atau membuat bentuk dari lilin. Dwidjo juga menyarankan orang tua untuk tak menghambat anak yang suka mencorat-coret dinding. "Dengan mencoret-coret, anak melatih kemampuan motorik halusnya. Ini akan menghindari tingkatan clumsy," ujarnya. Bila ada anak yang tak suka menulis di buku, "Mungkin saja ia memang clumsy." Sediakan kertas yang lebar atau tempelkan lembaran kertas di tembok. Bila perlu, buatlah kotak-kotak besar pada kertas yang ditempel di tembok. Setelah itu, ajari anak untuk menulis di dalam kotak. Besoknya, kotaknya diperkecil dan anak diminta mencoret di kotak terkecil. "Tanpa disadari, anak akan mulai mengatur gerakan motorik, sehingga perkembangan motoriknya akan mulai lebih bagus."
Latihan lainnya ialah dengan meminta anak mengepalkan dan membuka telapak tangannya secara bergantian dalam waktu bersamaan. Misalnya, tangan kanan mengepal bersamaan dengan tangan kiri membuka, lalu tangan kiri mengepal bersamaan dengan tangan kanan membuka, dan seterusnya.

Musik

2008-08-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

Dengan musik membentuk kecerdasan anak.
Pengaruh Musik pada Anak
Musik merupakan salah satu hal yang mempunyai pengaruh pada kehidupan manusia, mulai dari bayi hingga seseorang menjadi dewasa. Hal ini telah diteliti oleh para ilmuwan. Penelitian membuktikan bahwa musik, terutama musik klasik sangat mempengaruhi perkembangan IQ (Intelegent Quotien) dan EQ (Emotional Quotien). Seorang anak yang sejak kecil terbiasa mendengarkan musik akan lebih berkembang kecerdasan emosional dan intelegensinya dibandingkan dengan anak yang jarang mendengarkan musik. Yang dimaksud musik di sini adalah musik yang memiliki irama teratur dan nada-nada yang teratur, bukan nada-nada "miring". Tingkat kedisiplinan anak yang sering mendengarkan musik juga lebih baik dibanding dengan anak yang jarang mendengarkan musik.
Grace Sudargo, seorang musisi dan pendidik mengatakan, "Dasar-dasar musik klasik secara umum berasal dari ritme denyut nadi manusia sehingga ia berperan besar dalam perkembangan otak, pembentukan jiwa, karakter, bahkan raga manusia". Penelitian menunjukkan, musik klasik yang mengandung komposisi nada berfluktuasi antara nada tinggi dan nada rendah akan merangsang kuadran C pada otak. Sampai usia 4 tahun, kuadran B dan C pada otak anak-anak akan berkembang hingga 80 % dengan musik.
"Musik sangat mempengaruhi kehidupan manusia. Musik memiliki 3 bagian penting yaitu beat, ritme, dan harmony", demikian kata Ev. Andreas Christanday dalam suatu ceramah musik. "Beat mempengaruhi tubuh, ritme mempengaruhi jiwa, sedangkan harmony mempengaruhi roh". Contoh paling nyata bahwa beat sangat mempengaruhi tubuh adalah dalam konser musik rock. Bisa dipastikan tidak ada penonton maupun pemain dalam konser musik rock yang tubuhnya tidak bergerak. Semuanya bergoyang dengan dahsyat, bahkan cenderung lepas kontrol. Ada suatu istilah yang disebut "head banger", yaitu suatu gerakan memutar-mutar kepala mengikuti irama music rock yang kencang. Dan tubuh itu mengikutinya seakan tanpa rasa lelah. Jika hati kita sedang susah, cobalah mendengarkan musik yang indah, yang memiliki irama (ritme) yang teratur. Perasaan kita akan lebih enak dan enteng.
Di luar negeri, sebagian rumah sakit memperdengarkan lagu-lagu indah untuk membantu penyembuhan para pasiennya. Itu suatu bukti, bahwa ritme sangat mempengaruhi jiwa manusia. Sedangkan harmony sangat mempengaruhi roh. Jika kita menonton film horor, selalu terdengar harmony (melodi) yang menyayat hati, yang membuat bulu kuduk kita berdiri. Dalam ritual-ritual keagamaan juga banyak digunakan harmony yang membawa roh manusia masuk ke dalam alam penyembahan. Di dalam meditasi, manusia mendengar harmony dari suara-suara alam disekelilingnya. "Musik yang baik bagi kehidupan manusia adalah musik yang seimbang antara beat, ritme, dan harmony", ujar Ev. Andreas Christanday. Seorang ahli biofisika telah melakukan suatu percobaan tentang pengaruh musik bagi kehidupan makhluk hidup. Dua tanaman dari jenis dan umur yang sama diletakkan pada tempat yang berbeda. Yang satu diletakkan dekat dengan pengeras suara (speaker) yang menyajikan lagu-lagu slow rock dan heavy rock, sedangkan tanaman yang lain diletakkan dekat dengan speaker yang memperdengarkan lagu-lagu yang indah dan berirama teratur. Dalam beberapa hari terjadi perbedaan yang sangat mencolok. Tanaman yang berada di dekat speaker lagu-lagu rock menjadi layu dan mati, sedangkan tanaman yang berada di dekat speaker lagu-lagu indah tumbuh segar dan berbunga. Suatu bukti nyata bahwa musik sangat mempengaruhi kehidupan makhluk hidup. Alam semesta tercipta dengan musik alam yang sangat indah. Gemuruh ombak di laut, deru angin di gunung, dan rintik hujan merupakan musik alam yang sangat indah. Dan sudah terbukti, bagaimana pengaruh musik alam itu bagi kehidupan manusia. Jikalau kita merasa hari ini begitu berat, coba periksa lagi hidup Anda pada hari ini. Jangan-jangan kita belum mendengarkan musik dan bernyanyi".
SUMBER : Situs Psikologi

Kemandirian anak

2008-08-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

Agar anak dapat belajar mandiri, rajin berdiskusi dan berdialog dengan anak. Berarti memberi kesempatan anak untuk memberi suara, ini juga merupakan bentuk pengakuan dan pengakuan dan pengahargaan orangtua terhadap potensi kemandirian anak.

Regency Preschool

Missing lyrics

TOP 10

Shoes Incident

1st day of school

Eyes contact and Hand signing

This year

Matches and shapes

108

As a replacement teacher

See with your ears

Join me on Facebook

Reminder: Be my friend on Facebook

Join me on Facebook

Join me on Facebook

See, hear, touch

Answering the door

Left hand

Uninvited guests

In our school's backyard

Plays, sweats and happy

Blogging a discussion about teacher identity

A story of Greedy

Nice Mike and Rude Jude

Numbers , ants , and yikess....!!!!!

Spontaneous

A liquid absorbing device

How to hold chopstick ( children version )

What I do, what I did, what I will do

Chopstick

Imagining the finger trace

The Food Artworks

Melting

Numbers, teeth and yawning

Twins

Helping each other

Yue lai yue xiao

Numbers and sea animals , idea from Ayn Colsh

Smileeee........................ *click*

Comic books

Cake

Imaginery Taxi

Honest Scrap

Slide, the children's imaginations

Cleaning Time, My Little Busy Bee

Urgent matter

I've got mail : to the next level

Shadow

I've got mail : the power of giving

Sadly Awkward

I've got mail : Cinderella teacher

I've got mail part 3 : Likes you

Lion dance (kids version)

Big smile, big future

Heart touching story

Fingermath

Confusing broken bookshelf

I've got mail part 2

Beads paintings

Little finger that painting

Cooking class ?

Doctor 's visitng to school

I've got mail, an idea from Mrs.Deborah J.Stewart

Book's cover = home's situation

Score

Raining for new colors

Baking bread

Chocolate for mom and dad

Just wait and sit down, please ! :)

Fine motor skill for helping teacher :)

Ideas for teaching

There is something wrong with my blogspot

Littering plans part 2

Attitude guidance for child 入则孝 ru ze xiao

Thank you for not littering plans

To know "Soya bean"

To know "Green Bean"

Braiding follow the shape

Hand washing activity

Children's Flu Fighters

Smileeee........................ click