Solar System Minibook

We had been reading LOADS about the 8 planets in the solar system in all semblance of books and online materials. The Bees now have their favourite planets in the solar system, they now know how to sing the planets song and they also know the order, key characteristics as well as look and feel of these planets. More importantly, it is a learning process that I go through with them. Nothing of the mentor-student relationship, but we all learned together and enjoyed the process thoroughly. 

To synthesise what she had learned and read, Little Bee created a minibook on the Solar System with key facts about each planet. She selected some of the facts to highlight, but copy-wrote a fair bit as her spelling is still not strong yet. She based her planet pictures on actual photos of the planets, so there might be shadings and sketchings in odd multi-coloured hues as she was trying her best to emulate real-life photos, which was rather challenging. She also added her own little sketchings and doodlings on some pages, which looked a little out of place!

We also used this book to further reinforce the concept of ordinal numbers as evident in the booklet.  

Enjoy!

Her doodlings: She was trying to highlight the day and night concepts of Earth in her little sketch of a half-shaded Earth, and drew stars to represent space.

She claimed the little dot right in the centre of Earth is the tiny island of Singapore, where she lives in. Haha, the perception of a little kid who thinks the world revolves around them. 

Nightly Spa Sessions

The Bees and us had been indulging in nightly spa sessions - by ourselves! It was a simulation/play-acting game I devised last week because the girls' bedtimes were getting really late during the June holidays (11pm!), and I had a long day, so I dimmed the lights of their bedroom, turned on some spa music on my iPhone, and encouraged them to whisper like therapists in a spa (they had been to one spa with us in Penang). Then of course, I had to be the first customer, and requested for Big Bee as my therapist. She is seriously an excellent massage therapist. Her full body massage on me was rapturous, which was followed by Little Bee's little hands on my face for my "facial".

Soon, it was Big Bee's turn and I could literally see her winding down, relaxing and all ready for bed after my full body massage for us! Same for Little Bee! Lots of sighs and smiles from them during my massage on them :) They were very tickled whenever the "male masseuse", in the guise of their Papa, massaged them though, haha. 

Thereafter, the Bees were truly excited by this game, and looked forward to the "spa session" before bedtime nightly! Big Bee, being older and probably knows how to enjoy relaxation techniques more, especially looked forward to it every night, and would insist that she gives me a massage every night as well. What a darling. 

Hence, we now have a "spa" at home, complete with soft soothing music, dim lighting and cute little whisperings. And we never failed to drift off to dreamland shortly after our 5-10 minutes massages. Divine...

Mountainscapes

In the midst of creating the mountain glitter globes, while waiting for the clay to dry, the Bees decided to indulge in a bit of casual doodling and sketching mountains. They were shown pictures of different types of mountains on the Internet, and both selected different choices of mountainscapes :)

Little Bee drew sharp, narrow and barren peaks after pictures of desolate Arctic mountains caught her eye. She also drew green snowflakes drifting down from the sky and doodled all 4 of us as mountaineers, attempting to conquer the peaks of some very challenging Arctic mountains! I believe she drew Papa who conquered the peak of the second mountain from the right! 

As all mountain ranges have names, I asked Little Bee to name her mountain range. Here was what she named it in English, and I translated it into Chinese for her, as well as taught her to write the Chinese name of her mountain range (her Mandarin is still not strong). 

Big Bee - like me - love anything lush and green, so she sketched out lovely emerald fold mountains, undulating in a tropical setting, complete with a graceful coconut tree and a tranquil river. She created a very idyllic, rustic and picturesque painting, with a fisherman fishing placidly by the riverbank, a fishing boat and a quaint simple jetty. It makes me want to disappear into her painting and live there forever! 

She also drew a couple of us who conquered the peak of one mountain (can you spot it?) as well as a couple of us who were still scaling the mountains. 

I must bring them to Nepal or New Zealand for some trekking soon! They had perused through Hubby's and my trekking photos in Nepal, and were adequately intrigued...so I guess we should start training them in Bukit Timah Hill first! :)

Vivification

We are back home - rejuvenated, revivified, recharged. 

7 days of traversing through...

Spectacular gorges

Gentle valleys

Photo courtesy of Big Bee

Photo courtesy of Big Bee

Breathtaking undulating hills

Photo courtesy of Big Bee

Majestic craggy mountains

 

Photo courtesy of Big Bee

Tranquil emerald lakes

Placid meandering rivers

Photo courtesy of Big Bee

The tempestuous Pacific Ocean

Serene farmlands

Splendid sunrises at 4.45am

And myriad stunning landscapes 

Photo courtesy of Big Bee

A true escapism with the entire extended family - all 4 grandparents, the Bees and us - to Taiwan. More details soon! :)

Pancake Art

On lazy Sunday mornings, we would indulge in the Bees' favourite breakfast fare of pancakes. To add variety to their pancakes, I would sometimes present them with different fruits to decorate their pancakes, and they may pile whipped cream, butter, honey or jam onto their creations at times. 

Here were what they created some time ago!

Big Bee's pancake

Little Bee's pancake

Homemade Mountain Glitter Globes

We were learning about mountains last week, and the Bees understood how mountains were formed by using clay pieces. We simulated tectonic plates pushing into each other by using "clay continents", slowing pushing 2 continent clay pieces together so that the edges buckle and squish up into mountains. 

We bought a brand of clay that was exceedingly soft, so it was rather hard to create big strong mountains just by pushing 2 continent pieces together, so the Bees had to mould their mountains a fair bit thereafter. 

We then let the mountains dry before painting them. Through this process, we learned about the shapes and structure of young and old mountains. Big Bee created narrow, jagged mountains with rounded peaks, whereas Little Bee created rather undulating, broader mountains with sharp peaks! 

Big Bee's mountains on the left; Little Bee's mountains on the right

The painting allows us to talk about snow-capped mountains and how mountains changes colours with the seasons. We also learned about snow mountains (arctic mountains), stony mountains (grey slate and all) and green rolling hills and mountains (their favourite!). 

Big Bee's painted mountains

Little Bee's painted mountains

When the clay hardened, we decided to create homemade mountain glitter globes by sticking the mountains onto the caps of glass jars. 

We then filled the glass jars with water, and the Bees were excitedly sprinkling glitter in the shapes of sun, stars and moon into the glass jars to emulate the atmosphere around mountains and demonstrate how close mountains are to celestial beings. 

Big Bee's jar

Little Bee's jar. She also learned about sinking and floating concepts of lighter and heavier objects in the process.

However, this craft turned out to be a disaster because 1) our acrylic paint was not water-proof, despite what the package stated, and 2) our clay - although hardened - was disintegrating gradually in the glass jars, resulting in a murky glitter globe! I took the opportunity of a cloudy jar to explain the concept of snowstorms swirling around a mountain! 

Big Bee's mountain glitter globe!

Little Bee's mountain glitter globe!

The Bees, albeit disappointed, were laughing alongside me as we embarked on a couple of rescue missions to rectify our mountain glitter globes, to no avail. 

But the spirit of endeavour permeated our house that evening, as we gamely destroyed our crafts despite working on it over a few evenings. The Bees were great sports about this, and we used this opportunity to learn about the concept of impermanence, where we created an object of pride and beauty in one moment, and eradicating it with mirthfulness in another moment. I was glad they were laughing through this entire process :)

Big Bee wrote a rather hilarious account of our craft in her blog here. Enjoy reading! 

Her Ambition

Little Bee has always been highly expressive and articulate, with strong EQ (emotional intelligence) skills. She is also an enthusiastic kinesthetic learner with keen interest in dancing and singing all day long at home :) 

Which was why it came as no surprise when she wrote that she aspires to be a singer and dancer in a recent piece of schoolwork. She aptly drew herself performing on stage with a beaming row of stagelights!  

She loves pirouetting and prancing around the house in her ballerina shoes and ballet skirt. Or strumming her little pink guitar, one minute crooning like an Italian serenader, another minute prancing around like a little rock star.

In school, she revels in regular assembly performances, always eager to present her best on stage and never displaying any semblance of stage fright. 

In a recent Book Week in school, she dressed up as her favourite book character, Belle, from Beauty and The Beast, and brought the book along to school. Her teacher was chuckling as she was relating to me how Little Bee was describing the story of Belle's life through a first-person account, with the teacher addressing Little Bee as Belle. During the Book Parade, she was strutting without diffidence on stage, breathing the role of Belle with true conviction!

Little Bee with her friends in school during Book Parade. Her teacher is dressed as Elmo beside her! Little Bee's sunny disposition usually means she has no qualms about hugging or cosying up with teachers, chatting with them and expressing her affection for them.

She certainly brightens up our lives with her brilliant showgirlship! :) 

Halfway Point

I cannot believe that Big Bee is now at the halfway point of her primary school life. At primary 3, she is now considered one of the bigger kids in school and the P3 kids are expected to be very independent and settled into school life by now. It wasn't an easy odyssey for children to assimilate into the challenges of primary school from their warm and cosy kindergartens, but it is a journey that all kids have to trudge through, no matter what. 

One of the fundamental ways that primary school children can enjoy a typically rigorous and demanding school life would be to immerse them in non-academic school activities. And as parents, we should endeavour to participate alongside them as often as possible. 

Through intensive participation, I strongly believe that our kids would create an indelible bond with their primary schools, and not merely associate their school lives with pure studies. I heard of parents who worry that extensive participation in non-academic activities might eat into precious study time, but I think CCAs and representing the school in some activities are wonderful platforms to cultivate multi-dimensional children, nurturing their social and leadership skills. 

Hence, I keenly encourage Big Bee to participate in school activities enthusiastically. She is now in the school performing dance team, and was recently chosen as the only primary 3 ballet student to perform in a concert, together with other bigger girls. She also plays tennis in school on a recreational basis, and I am heartened that her school organises many non-academic activities for the parents to bond with the children in school. 

Some of the recent activities in the post-exam hustle and bustle include:

1) Zany Brainy Day

This was a day in which parents took over the entire management of the school, so that teachers can all take a well-deserved break right after the mid-year exams. Parents planned a full day of fun and games for all the students, and it was generally a convivial, noisy, hot but memorable affair!

I had been volunteering as a parent helper in this event since she was in primary one, and had been a "class teacher" and a "games judge" in previous years. This year, I was arrowed to be a "dance parent" where we had to guide the kids to dance a little K-pop routine! We even had to attend a dance practice the night before, and then danced our hearts out during the event, so the kids could be motivated! It was truly fun and exhilarating!

Such events also allowed me to network with other parents, so we could exchange notes on the fierce P3 teachers (!!), homework, exams, tuition, CCAs and other idle gossips :)

More importantly, I also had the good opportunity to know Big Bee's friends better through such activities. A lot of them treated me amiably as I tried to be as crazy as these 9-year-old kids. It was evident Big Bee was secretly pleased, with her wide Cheshire Cat grins whenever her friends teased me. 

2) P3 Musical Extravaganza

Last Thursday, the P3 kids in Big Bee's school put up a musical for all the parents. I went early to help the children dress up in their glittery, glamorous outfits and to put on make-up for them, although I noticed that girls this age are already interested and capable of putting on make-up themselves! 

It was great fun having dinner with them, and changing them up in the dressing rooms. And even funner joking with Big Bee's sprightly friends again. 

The colourful stage actors!

After the kids were transformed into dazzling stage actors, I joined Hubby, my mum and Little Bee for a buffet dinner held in school, whilst networking with other parents. I love such opportunities for parent networking!

We were all aptly impressed and very awed by the quality of the musical performed entirely by the whole P3 cohort. There were 6 acts, and 2 extra performances by students from an Indian primary school here on exchange (who looked so sweet and tiny!). Throughout the 2-hour musical, the students sang and dance just like a Broadway or West End musical - very captivating indeed! 

Big Bee was a singing mouse...hmm....

I am very glad that Little Bee would be embarking on this independent journey like Big Bee, who is beginning to have a significant social life of her own now. 

Little Bee was very inspired by the musical! 

And yet, I wish to be by their sides whenever they need me, ubiquitous and supportive, but not obtrusive. 

Baking For Dummies...

...and I am that dummy! We have no oven at home (and no microwave nor toaster too), and I had only baked once at a friend's house ages ago, way before I became a mom - using Betty Crocker's no-sweat recipe, no less - and I remembered Hubby being truly surprised and somewhat bewildered then!

But my Bees are a lot more domesticated and feminine than me, and they had been persuading me to do some baking with them. So, I got my hands on a no-bake Oreo cheesecake package from the supermarket, and started work with them last Sunday morning - to their utmost delight!

Another reason why I don't bake is because I limit the Bees' intake of sweet stuff, and I always ask my baking friends what they did to the delicacies they baked! True enough, we still have some of these Oreo sweetcakes in my freezer now, almost a week after our baking adventure.

The Bees were extremely excited at the start of the session, and it was hilarious looking at their bound-up energy. I was the "baking teacher", calling out the instructions from the package, and the Bees were diligently performing the required tasks. 

Step 1: Lay out the tray with paper muffin cups (Little Bee's task) and mix cookie crust with melted margarine (Big Bee's task).

 

Step 2: Press the cookie crust onto the bottom of the muffin cups to create a firm Oreo cupcake base. This is where the Bees demonstrated teamwork at their best!

Step 3: Pour mix and milk into a bowl and whip it until dense and creamy. Instructions was given on the package to use an electric blender for precisely 4 minutes. However, without any baking appliances at home, we did it the old-fashioned way with a manual whip. The Bees and I took turns whipping the mix for almost 10 minutes (with me doing much of it, of course!) and the mix turned out beautiful and creamy. 

Step 4: Pour Oreo cookie bits into the creamy mixture and blend well. 

Step 5: Fill muffin cups with mix. Again, the Bees demonstrated very agreeable teamwork here. 

Step 6: Decorate the cupmix with Oreo cookie bits. The Bees tried decorating the mix with their initials, if you can spot those!

Step 7: Put in freezer for 2 hours and time to enjoy!! :)

The whole process took less than 40 minutes, and could be done completely by the Bees with a little help from me. I would say this would be a wonderful, fuss-free playdate or party activity for kids! 

And the verdict? The Bees (and Hubby and me!) loved the uber-sweet Oreo "ice-cream cupcakes"! 

Post-Exam Laissez Faire

The Bees had a glorious day of crazy chuckles, hysterical squeals and exuberant cheering on Sunday - reunited with their good buddies Eugene and Claire. After a long hiatus during the school term when the 3 primary school kids were busy with schoolwork, they had complete licence to do whatever they wanted on Sunday - a true blue laissez faire day :)



We met in the morning for breakfast and hung around the entire day till late afternoon, letting the kids indulge in activities like poolside catching, arcade games, hide-and-seek in shopping centres and an exciting game of bowling for the 3 big kids (with the hubbies engaging in 2 games too!).




The final scores between the 3 kids

The big kids were acting rather rambunctiously with raucous exclamations and remarks, and Little Bee was beginning to be accepted more readily into the group, as she is becoming more like a big kid herself! Which led to the adults chatting more easily and relaxing more, compared to days of yore!

Am certainly looking forward to the post-exams liberty and exhilaration of the June holidays, and am planning more activities with the Bees and their friends soon!