Class Journal

Every student in grade 2 has his/her own personal journal to write in class. They are encouraged to write any stories or personal experiences that they might think interesting. I'm not so sure how often they are required to write, but according to Ilham he writes almost every day, but sometimes he does not have time. I found him purposely misspell during the spelling time in class so that he could stop doing the spelling and write in the journal instead. It seems that every monday when they have spelling, students who have reached 7 mistakes would stop and be required to either read or write while waiting for the other kids to finish their spelling which could be up to 30 words. So one day, Ilham "cheated" on the spelling by leaving out the last alphabet and spending the rest of the time writing his journal.

I think it's definitely a good idea to encourage kids to write and try to express their feeling in the journal. I try to do the same at home, but somehow it's quite difficult to do that. After much persuasions , he did manage to write a few things :( I love one particular story, which he wrote of his own accord, without having to be asked. He was so sad by what happened that he just had to write it immediately. It's a story about his favourite ball and how he lost it, he even drew a coffin for it :) complete with the remark "RIP Ball" which he got from watching Michael Jackson funeral a few months back .

But recently, ever since Ilham read the "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" book, he is inspired to have a "journal" of his own. I'm happy that he has been writing in it every few days :)

Bring And Buy Haiti Earthquake

Bring and Buy Haiti Earthquake was a fund raising event organised by the Lower School Student Council to raise money for the victims of Haiti earthquake. Students were encouraged to bring their old but unbroken toys, books or CDs to the class and together with the teacher, they would decide how much the items can be sold. Most of the items were set at 1 to 3 euros, but there were some priced at 5/10 euros and even at 50 euro cents. Some of the toys and games were new and the books were hardly used.

Ilham and I had volunteered to help out at Grade 2 tables together with other students and parents. He was definitely excited about raising money for charity and was willing to forgo his judo class in order to do so :)

Judging from the crowd and the not so many items left at the end of the 2 hour period, I think it was a successful event.

We bought a few items ourselves :) Ilham managed to buy a brand new monopoly game for only 3 euros ! He only realised that it was a singapore version later ha..ha... But "it's ok" he said "Singapore is part of Malaysia", he continued :)

This is what we bought, 2 board games, 4 books and a polly pocket doll, all for 10 euros. It's a real bargain... books are expensive here.