The Great Leap Forward

Now that Big Bee is well adjusted to her primary 3 life, we parents are the ones who are constantly amazed (and frazzled) by how quickly children adjust to changes. I am also truly impressed by children's capabilities to absorb information and tackle new challenges at whichever stage they are. It indicates that every child has an infinite pool of ability to assimilate new knowledge and we should always be encouraging this boundless retention. 

The leap from primary 2 to primary 3 is indeed startling, albeit not overwhelming - yet. There is more homework, but Big Bee kind of got used to it after 2 years in primary school. However, the work had elevated a fair bit in terms of difficulty, especially for Math, Chinese and the new inclusion of Science. 

Critical thinking is essential, and should be a fundamental skill by primary 3. This is very apparent in P3 comprehensions, when teachers would expect our little 9-year-old to analyse logically and think independently when tackling tricky questions. Very much like GP last time! No longer can they be expected to derive answers directly from the passages like in the first 2 years, but they are required to deduce answers from critical reading. 

Hence, I think it is important that we build up critical reading and analysis skills even in the kindergarten years. 

Big Bee had been delving a lot in Math homework this week, leaving her no time to dabble with the other subjects. Using models to derive answers for Math may seem irksome to many parents but I find it a wonderful tool to help children visualise the problem sum logically - and the beauty is, models can even be used for sums involving multiplication and division! It is fundamental for parents to learn modelling as well, so we can guide our kids along. It is not rocket science, and is actually very rational! 

A few samples of problem sums from her work tonight that needed modelling to solve. In these cases, using models revealed the answers in a logically simple manner!

1. Vivian had three times as many orchids as roses. She had 84 more carnations than orchids. If she had 120 roses and carnations altogether, how many flowers did Vivian have altogether?   

2. Each kilogram of prawns cost three times as much as each kilogram of fish. Mrs Pang bought 4 kilograms of prawns and 3 kilograms of fish. The prawns cost $36 more than the fish. How much did each kilogram of prawn cost? 

Other types of P3 Math will revolve around heuristics, a concept that would be practised starting from P1. An example below: 

It takes much longer to complete a Math exercise now, but I guess we have to teach our children to just bite the bullet and soldier ahead, rather than lamenting about how easy their previous work used to be. And of course, reward them fully with lots of sunshine and play whenever the weekend approaches! :)