Pat's Schoolhouse's National Day Celebrations

{Media Event Invite}

Last Friday, I attended a National Day celebrations party at Pat's Schoolhouse @ Claymore. Watching the pre-nursery to kindergarten kids dancing their hearts out, I couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy. I miss my little ones when they were this young. This is AA's K2 year, and very soon, he'll be having his graduation concert, and then he'll be starting his primary school journey. Despite my wish for them not to grow up so fast, I know they are my babies, always, no matter how old they are. And yes, I will nag at them always too. :)

Look at these kids all dressed in red. Aren't they irresistibly adorable?

Besides celebrating National Day, Pat's Schoolhouse also took the opportunity to unveil a new logo, as well as an enhanced curriculum that supports bilingual immersion and is integrated with music. 

The new logo creatively uses shapes and colours to reflect a familiar preschool brand name that everyone has been so familiar with for the past 30 years. And with this, Pat's has injected some fresh ideas into its curriculum. One refresh is to ensure that for all lessons, there are always two teachers co-teaching English and Chinese at the same time. No matter what lesson it is, all children are exposed to both languages at the same time. 

I think this kind of bilingual environment is extremely important for the child to be used to both languages. It gives them the opportunity not only to hone their listening skills, but also their speaking skills, and ultimately the practical usage of the languages. Together with parental support, children's grasp of both languages is definitely a lot easier, and prepares them for future education.

The other curriculum refresh is the integration of music into the curriculum. It's not just about music lessons. Music here is integrated into all the lessons, and popular songs or rhymes can be creatively adapted to suit the particular themes that are being taught. For example, the rhyme Itsy Bitsy Spider may be used to teach about spiders one day, and the next, the kids may be asked to change the tune or lyrics to talk about the spider's diet. It's all about giving the kids the opportunity to creatively expand their thinking and challenge themselves.

Play is extremely important in a child's learning. As some of you know, I do try to infuse that into our home learning wherever possible. When this happens, kids naturally become curious and ask questions. Of course, as a FTWM, what I do can sometimes be rather inconsistent. And as EV is in formal education, the temptation to turn to assessment books is great, but I try to fit in fun science and craft projects where possible (check out our Instagram for pics!).

So when a school infuses such inquiry-based teaching, it definitely takes the load off busy parents. Just check out some of the learning areas at Pat's Schoolhouse. I wish I had the time, and space, to do such activities.

A wall dedicated to STEM - need to find me a wall at home now.

A thematic project on biodiversity, which the kids at Pat's did after a learning journey to Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

A board about plants in both English and Chinese. The mind maps were co-created by the kids. The carton box at the bottom right hand of the picture is actually sprouting mushrooms.

A little garden area, where different plants, other than green beans, are being planted.

My hands are itchy now... need to get some more home learning activities started and going.

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