Scientist On The Making...

I do not seem to have time for Ilham's learning lately.... all I did was just to make sure he does his reading everyday and his mathletics once a week. His home learning ??? I totally ignored that for almost a month !!!

We are supposed to submit at least 6 home learnings in the second term. We only submitted 3 and we had only 3 weeks before the term ends !!! I received a reminder by his teacher that states something like this "Your son had only submitted 3 HL so far, he has 3 more to do and only 3 more weeks left". Ohhh dear.... I thought we could get away with not doing it !!! And yesterday, I received another reminder in his diary "1 more HL and 1 week left". One way or another, Ilham has to do the final one by next Monday. I know what he wants to do... some sort of exercise that he could show to his friends in class, unfortunately he needs a gadget to monitor his pulse and that is something that I have yet to find and have no idea where to find it !!!

He is into science nowadays, that's the reason for the pulse checking exercise.... Last week he came home wanting to do this experiment...

Requirement :-

Water, oil and salt

Instructions :-

• Pour in water in a glass
  
• Pour in oil
  
• Put some salt in
  
  
  

  And walaaa.....

  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bubble creations....
  
  
  

  It's very interesting..... To be honest, I have never done it in my student days.....

  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Never too late to learn :D

  
  

Apa tu ??

"Next time, I want to make an invention that really works !!!"

That's what Ilham said when he got home from school on Monday. Hmm... what happens ?

"Maybe something that can move.... the only thing that works in my invention is the torchlight!"

Well... that's good, we have to improve ourselves right. We will see how you are going to do that next year, afterall your mama and abah are not science genius !!!

But... that's the spirit boy, always try to do better next time !!!

Now let us see the invention that does not work....

Apa tu ???

Totally different from the rough design !!!

Trans-O-Magic, a teleporter....

????

A machine that will transport human to another place, faster and hassle free, no queueing, no jams, go green and eco friendly !!!

Not a GPS, not an alien detecting machine, not a poffertje detector or feline detector for that matter.....

From the inside,

The torch is the sucker gadget supposed to turn you into mini pixels and transport you to another place !!!

Let's just hope that you will get back into normal form !!!

The solar panel, saves the planet

The reserve solar battery and the satellite signal


*sigh*

I wait for the day of such machine....

*sigh*

I Wonder What He Is Doing...

Ever since he brought home the science competition booklet last week, Ilham wanted to do this invention, "something" machine....

The term he used to describe it was unfamiliar to me.... I had to check whether such word actually exist :D

When I said he should invent something practical...

He INSISTED on the machine.

Since he had already fully recovered from the fever that made him sent home from school on Monday,

I INSISTED that he starts his invention project immediately

And this....
was what he made yesterday....

A rough design of his invention

Anybody knows what he wants to do ?

Science Day

The school shall have their Science Day on the 17th March next week. In conjuction with that, there is a Magic Science Competition held for the students. We were given out this booklet detailing the competition on the 4th March and we have 10 days to submit an invention. According to dear son Ilham we MUST do something !!! In my opinion, since it's a competition, only those who are interested shall do it right?



Anyway, now let us see what is the requirement of this competition :




Requirements :-

• Invent a device that will solve a problem


• Details of the problem it solves


• A drawing of the invention


• Labels of different parts


• How it works


• Make a poster and/or build the model

Very challenging and we have 10 days to complete. When I checked with Ilham what kind of inventions he learned in class, he said none. Further queries reveal that they did not even read/study about inventions in the class. That surprises me. The students do not learn anything in class and yet they are expected to come up with an invention in less than 2 weeks, with the help of parents of course. This is where Home Learning comes in I suppose.


As I understand it, on Science Day there will be displays of these inventions among other things, for the parents to see. I was looking forward to see what my child is learning or making in Science, but now I feel disillusioned. I do not want to see something that the kids do at home, I would like to see what the kids are doing in school !!! Afterall, we pay a lot of money for it, it's not free !!! Am I too demanding and not rational ?? Why am I feeling this way?


When we were at the ISA, when Ilham was in Grade 2 last year, he learned about invention in one of the unit of inquiries. It took them 7 weeks to complete their study. They learned about Leornado Da Vinci, the Wright brothers and so on. They learned how certain inventions had and are still having impacts on the world and how some of them solve our daily problems. They guided the kids in completing their inventions and at the end of it, they had a convention where parents were invited to come (see Invention here and here). Most important of all, they teached and nurtured these kids on how to think like inventors. But what does British School teaches my child about this?


Lucky for us we have the previous work at ISA to guide us, and Ilham have some ideas of what he wants to do. I wonder how other students are doing... or am I the only one complaining ???

Year 4 Presentation To Parents

Yesterday on 3rd February Year 4 had "presentation to parents" workshop. It was the first ever since Ilham joined the school in September. It required parents involvement in the games and workshops provided by the students. There were a few workshops runned based on what they have learned so far... The games were made by the students (some through home learning) and there were also dancing and drama performance by the students. One dance, a disco number involved parents involvement lead by two students.

It was interesting to see some of the games and the dance that the students come up with. One particular game was a copy cat from a monopoly - but represented in an ancient egyptian way. Wheres the "cold and hot" dance performed by the students was a simple choreograph of slow and fast moves.

I had similar vague ideas when it came to the board game and the dance. I was hoping that Ilham could try to do that for his home learning project. But I was not confident enough on how to make and present it, in the end we never did it. Presenting the project in a creative manner is very difficult for me and it makes me realise that I was not used to this kind of things. In other words, I'm not creative, it just never occur to me to present it in the way the studends did. Ilham has yet to present a project based on body - kinesthetic learning. The only thing I can think of is a dance...

Back to the presentations, Ilham was in charge of the workshop on "mythical creatures", based on their current study of mythical creatures and imaginary land. There was a display of all the creatures that the students had drawn.

Creatures drawn by L4CK students...

Ilham's creature...

Looking at his creature I understand why he was in charge of the workshop. His creature was easily the best among all (sorry... this is a proud mother talking he..he..). Now I recall him saying a few weeks ago that his friends really liked his creature, that it looked monstrous and had a lot of details. His teacher said a similar thing to me yesteday :D

In this workshop, parents were asked to draw our very own creatures and we were presented with blank papers and colours. Naturally as a parent I went to Ilham first, before I went to other kids and I became his first victim. While he chatted and showed me his and his friends creatures, I had to draw my monster. Now... I didn't expect this !! How to draw a monster? Having to draw on the spot like this was difficult and I did not have good idea..he..he..

So I ended up drawing this evil creature...

He..he..he.. I knew that it didn't look monstrous at all, so I added the fangs. Ilham said I should draw using a pencil first, but I was just trying to get it over with and ignored his advice. Now I couldn't amend the smiling mouth !!

Then, I went to the next workshop.

In this workshop, we were asked to draw a map/place to show the imaginary location of where our monster creatures live. And I ended up drawing this...



Then there was a short play based on the monstrous creature...

Students getting ready for the play....

Then, a disco number...

I recorded the "cold and hot" dance performed by two students, and wish to show it here but it took so long to be uploaded to you tube that I decide to forget it. But it was a simple but interesting dance move.

The presentation was not what I expected, somehow I thought I would be looking around seeing more of what they learned in class and perhaps reading one or two of their writings. I did not expect to spend my time drawing things !! But it was quite entertaining....

Walk Like An Egyptian

Egyptian dancers drawn in class


And this is Ilham's version of egyptian dance...







I suggested for him to do egyptian walk

as one of his home learning project under bodily-kinesthetic section,

but he REFUSED...

what a shame... been thinking to use the Bangle's song..

so catchy....

still, he agreed to do it at home for me :D

Temple Of The Doom

One good thing about Home Learning(HL) is that it forces me to "study" and do research in order to assist Ilham. While doing that, I learn many new things as well and sometimes it made me recall things that I had forgotten. I like it most of the time, that is. Doing research can be time consuming, and sometimes we didn't have that. We need to sit down together, otherwise it will be my homework and not Ilham's!!!



For the second HL project, we thought of making a temple of ancient egyptian. As usual, I suggested it to Ilham because I thought it was one of the easiest thing to do and didn't require much time to complete :D Afterall my motto is "Don't complicate your life" :D So, we sat down together and browse through the internet looking at various designs of ancient egyptian temples. We tried to find common things that these temples had and any special features about them.



Some of the temples are truly interesting like the Abu Simple Temples. Looking at the photos of the two temples (great and small temples), I remember watching a TV documentary on how this temples were relocated in the 1960s, from its original location on the bank of River Nile. The relocation was necessary to avoid it from being submerged by the rising water of River Nile due to the building of Aswan Dam. The temple complex was originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharoah Ramesses II in the 1240s BC. During the relocation, the entire complex was carefully cut into large blocks, dismantled, lifted and reassembled at the current location.

The temples during the day and at night

It was believed that the axis of the temples was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on 21st October and 21st February, the ray of the sun would penetrate and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall except the statue of Ptah (the so called god of the underworld).



Ok, back to HL, Ilham was very excited about the project. He made a temple with LEGO pieces, complete with a pyramid, palm tree(I think it should be date tree right??) and river Nile. The temple was built and then kept being dismantled and reassembled for a few times. He was no architect mind you, so he made the temple without really thinking and without proper planning :D He started building from the back of the temple, eventhough I advised him to start from the front. So in the end I made the entrance (but he modified it) and we had to move it a few times trying to place it at the centre and the right size. We also had to keep dismantling parts of the temple so the colours would balance and mix nicely. He insisted to put hidden treasures inside the pyramid just like the real ones. That was a real pleasure for him, he had such fun showing the treasure to his classmates :D

Side view (picture taken before the inclusion of funny looking pharaoh and priest)

Front view

Yeah... we had fun doing this. Even DH was also involved :) he placed the small yellow "statues" at the side of the temple and he added top part of the entrance, making it looked like a triangle. He even put a LEGO man on top of it (but we took it out before going to school he..he... Ilham didn't like it).

The Story Of Ramses

After browsing through the suggested activities for Home Learning, I suggested for Ilham to "write a story set in Ancient Eqypt" as his first activity. It was the easiest one I could think of. What we needed was only a piece of paper and lots of brilliant ideas. It was easy !!! Or so I thought....


First, he made a list of what he thought ancient Egypt was like :

Pyramid, river nile, temple, pharoah, the boy king Tut, egyptian boat, mummies, dessert.... hmm... what else??? These things could be mentioned in the story.


Then, the story needed a plot. So what's the plot about?? Ilham didn't understand what a plot was. I had to rephrase that "what is the story about?" After thinking about it for a little while, he said it's about how a boy saved King Tut's life. Hmmm.....that sounded like a good story....


Let's see what transpired between us in the making of the "story"


"Once upon a time in the golden sand of Egypt, there lived a boy named Ramses", then he stopped.


Me : That's a nice beginning. Explain a little about Ramses. Who is he?


"Ramses was poor boy", he stopped.


Me : What did Ramses do?


"Every day, he helped his father in the field. When he finished, he would go to the river Nile to fish and to enjoy the view."


Me : That's nice, write a little bit more.


"Sometimes he would play around the pyramid"


Me : Go on...


Ilham : No, that's enough, you only need a little introduction.


Me : Ok, let's write the main story then, remember your plot.


"One day, Ramses saved King Tut's life"


Me : If you write that, your story will end in 3 lines. This is the interesting part, explain how Ramses saved King Tut's life. What happened on that day. What was Ramses doing.


"One day, Ramses was lying on the river bank. Suddenly he saw King Tut fell into the river. Then Ramses saved him"


Me : First, in your story do you want Ramses to know that it was the boy king? Second, make it more suspense. What happened when he fell.


So the sentence was rewritten....


"Suddenly he saw a boy fell into the river from a boat. There was a crocodile in the river. The crocodile came towards him. Ramses killed the crocodile. He saved the boy."


Me : That's good, but maybe you should explain a bit what did the boy do next when he fell, and how Ramses kill the crocodile. Remember, you want to make it suspense! And tell me first before you write, that way, you don't have to keep erasing.


"The boy tried to swim to the river bank, but then the crocodile came and grabbed his legs"


Me : Good, what did Ramses do then.


"Ramses took his spear and throw it at the crocodile, but it missed. Then Ramses jumped into the river. He took his knife and stabbed the crocodile until it died"


Me : Very good, then what happened?


"You saved my life" the boy said to Ramses,"come to the palace, I must reward you"


Ilham : I'm tired now, can we continue tomorrow?


That was the end of our writing on the first day. The following day, Ilham had another session of writing, with his father this time. It was easier the second day, he had more "ideas" of his own - the boy king and Ramses became friends, the Romans came, people died, Ramses defeated the Romans, they lived happily until King Tut died, Ramses became pharoah etc...


Conclusion : Writing is not easy :)

Home Learning

Schools in Europe are definitely different from what I was used to. Here they believe that children should not be pushed too hard, that they need to learn at their own pace, that different kids are different, that boys and girls are different etc..etc.. We as parents do not know exactly what the children are learning at school. They do not even have textbooks to give us some guidelines. And they hardly have any homeworks too.


When we were at ISA, Asian parents always complained that their children do not have enough homeworks especially Mathematics. We feel that our children are always "playing" in school. Initially, that's what I felt too. But, as time went on, I could see the benefits in my son. His reading and writings (Language Arts) had improved. Most importantly, he had more exposure of global issues like saving water, saving the planet, recycling, taking care of our health, respect for others, charity etc..etc.. When it comes to homework and Maths, yes I agree that the school needs to improve on that.


Then, we moved to Den Haag and to the British School(BSN). BSN is different from ISA, for one thing they have Home Learning. I will write about Mathematics on another day, insyaAllah :))

Home Learning is homeworks/activities that children have to do at home with the support of parents. This is a sure way to get parents involvement in their childrens' learning!!! Let's see what BSN has come out with on the suggested activities for Year 4 Term 1.

The Home Learning Booklet given to parents



The Do's of the booklet


Do complete a minimum of 6 different activities for Term 1 (ie until Christmas holidays)

Do spend at least one hour each week (it's ok to take 2 hours- ie. 2 weeks)

Do discuss and give a little help and guidance

Do ensure that your child keep notes of what he is doing in the diary

Do sign the diary so that teachers know that children are completing an activity



Hmmm that sounds like a lot of work..... Now let's see the Dont's



The Dont's


Do not do the work for your child.

Do not make sentenses for the child. Children should write in their own words at their own level

Do not copy word to word from the internet



Now that sounds a bit stern right? But it's true, that's what is written in the booklet. Now let's see the suggested activities as laid down by the teacher.

If you look at some of the suggested acivities, I do believe that this is a little bit too much for 8/9 year olds. Bear in mind that they have to do research, write in their own words and then, they have to practice because they are expected to do excellent presentations in class !!! The time allocated is certainly not enough, believe me. Further, not copying from the internet is very difficult to do when you are dealing with facts (which most of the suggested activities are). For some children, to compose a sentence is certainly mind boggling.

Uhhuhhhhh... if I ever complained before, I regret it now :))))