What to do with those old flash cards

The kids have outgrown their flashcards. They still look quite new. I don't think they used it very much as a learning tool. They probably used it more like a throwing tool. Throwing it all over the living room for me to pick.

Yesterday we took them out and devised our own flashcard/pictionary game. We took turns to pick a card. Then we had to act out the card and without a word spoken try to make the other persons guess what is on the card.

Its a great game. The kids love it. We had great laughs. It is also quite educational. It helps them to think a little bit.

For example, when my 7 year old girl got a card with vegetables on it, she thought about it a little while. Then she did an action to depict eating, followed by a "good" hand signal, then she pointed up and down her body, meaning a food that is good for your body. We guessed "eating" then "fruits" and finally "vegetables". It makes them think.

However, the 5 year old did not enjoy this game quite as much. When he gets his cards, he prefers to "draw out" in the air the item that he is holding, then he gets frustrated when we can't guess it. Poor lil fella. However, he did manage quite well when he got a "wolf" card, he pretended to roar and showed his claws but we still couldn't get it. "Is it a bird?" we asked and he shook his head. "Is it an animal?" and that made him get down on all fours to crawl about. We guessed "tiger", "lion" but we still couldn't get it.

Finally, I had to help him out. I took out the red towel, put it over my head like a hood and pretended to run away from him and the girl got it at once "Wolf" she said because she realised I was pretending to be "Little Red Riding Hood."

Its a fun game. So don't throw away those old flash cards. You can still use them even when the kids are older.

His Report Card

This is the season for concerts, exams and report cards. Yesterday I collected the boy's report card.

The teacher said that he did well for all his subjects, all accept for....... why... Mandarin Chinese of course. Oh dear. He scored full marks for most of his subjects but when it comes to Chinese, he had trouble with it, even when guided. That means even when teacher reads out to him the questions. He simply cannot recognise the chinese characters. Looks like I have to concentrate more on his Chinese next year since he will be attending Chinese school.

On his behaviour, teacher commented that he is "gentle and has formed good friendship with his classmates. He has build up more self confidence in order to bring out his best." Teacher said that everyone wants to "friend him" both boys and girls, though at the beggining of the year, his friends were mostly girls.

I am glad that he enjoyed this whole year of kindy. I can see that he is very happy at the kindy from his bright smile when I see him there.

Its funny that both the kids' teachers used the word "gentle" to describe them.

End of the Year Report Card

We collected the report card for my girl recently. I can't believe that she has almost completed her Standard 1. Time flies. She was 4th in class and 20th in the standard. Hmmm.... That means that even with an average score of 96.95 she will be around 20th in her future class? Thats a high standard to maintain.

Anyway, that isn't really important. We encourage our girl a lot in her studies but we will not push her beyond her own equilibrium. Just let her do what she can in a comfortable pace. That is good enough for us. At the end of the day, positions in class are just numbers. Its not going to help you in later working life.

Teacher wrote that "her character is gentle and kind, clever and cute. She is careful in doing work and has a sense of responsiblity." As for her chinese, I am glad to note that teacher has commented that "her chinese diction and pronounciation is good. She can follow the lesson and can use accurate words and terms to express herself and is fluent in the language." In the first term the teacher commented that her pronounciation was all wrong.

My girl was very happy to hear what teacher wrote. She also had a good laugh with us when she saw that her English teacher had written "keeps it up" instead of "keep it up".

I don't know how the streaming works in her school. If I am not mistaken, it works like this. There are 7 std 1 classes. There will be 2 top classes in std 2 and the rest of the 5 classes are equally rated. If that is true, I think that is a good system. This way, there won't be any "bad" classes. :)

Craft Ideas for the School Holidays

Here's another craft which we did some time ago. It is a picture made of paper crepe. You can try it during the school holidays.

The girl learned it at school and wanted to replicate it at home. So she taught us how to make this paper crepe craft.

This is how to make a paper crepe picture.

You will need:

1. Black Construction Paper
2. Paper Crepe 0f Various Colours
3. Glue
4. Scissors

Instructions on how to make a paper crepe picture:

1. Draw a picture on a piece of black construction paper
2. Cut the paper crepe into thin strips (6 inches long and 1/2 and inch wide)
3. Roll the crepe paper into small rolls
4. Glue the rolled up crepe paper onto your picture

Thats it! You're done.

Here's the paper crepe picture of a car done by my 5 year old boy.

Here's the crepe paper picture of a peacock done by my 7 year old girl. She is really meticulous about rolling the paper and making sure its glued perfectly. So meticulous that I am afraid she has not completed her picture yet.

More Origami Fun with Rainbow Origami Paper

Recently we bought some Rainbow Origami paper from a stationary shop. The origami papers are double sided ie both sides have different colours.


We also bought some shiny and glossy Origami papers but they cheated on that one. The packet had shiny paper at the top and normal coloured paper hidden inside. They're not as nice as the rainbow coloured ones because its only one sided so you have to be careful which way you fold your origami projects. Hmm.... what you see is sometimes not what you get eh? We must always be careful buyers but its hard to check when its all nicely sealed up.

However, we won't complain that much since it comes with some folding instuctions as well. The papers cost us around RM1.50 - RM3.00 for sets of 15 - 20. It is another fun project we can do for under RM5.

We folded some birds following the instuctions. The rainbow ones turned out very nice indeed. My little boy folded some paper aeroplanes. (since he's mad about those and he can fold one from memory now.) He folded one shiny paper aeroplane for himself and one rainbow origami plane for his sister who was at school when we folded them.

Here's a pair of Origami Love Birds. Nice? You can try them out for the coming school holidays. You can probably find these papers in any bookshop or stationary shops.