My little boy is done with Nursery!
As of last week, Sean is officially done and dusted with Nursery.
Because he has been a lot more mature and independent this year, we haven't had to monitor his every move as much as his Pre-Nursery year. And maybe for that reason, I feel this year has really just flown by!
Sean had a party in school on his last day of school and he brought some mini-cupcakes to share with his teachers and friends.
I met up with his two beloved class teachers and this was what they said about him in a nutshell:
♥ He is very bright and imaginative. Generally an enthusiastic learner who picks new concepts up quickly.
♥ He is good in Math. He enjoys writing and is learning how to read by sounding out individual letter sounds.
He can read simple books on his own now though it doesn't come naturally to him yet. Mrs T was actually surprised when I said he was not attending any phonics classes (which made me wonder - do most of the children this age attend phonics classes?!) because he can read reasonably well. He has also been telling us about letter 'blends' at home.
He is quite a bookworm so we hope to continue nurturing that love for books by reading to him everyday.
♥ His Chinese is pretty decent too. L Lao Shi said he does a good job of recognising the Chinese characters taught in school and will happily read aloud in class. (In this regard, I think his enrichment classes at Berries have really helped in giving him a good foundation in Chinese/Mandarin.)
♥ What he doesn't like so much: colouring. Apparently, most of the boys in his class don't.
It is quite obvious when you flip through his worksheets and you see everything haphazardly obscured in one solid patch of colour, haha. L Lao Shi said she told the kids that they are not allowed to colour everything in black so Sean colours them in blobs of red, blue, orange...
♥ He also doesn't enjoy singing much. Every time they sing, he doesn't participate and instead prefers to play at the back of his class. Hmm.
(I found this surprising because after more than a year of hardly hearing any songs from him, he has been belting out full songs and rhymes one after another at home. Both in English and Mandarin. So I think even though he doesn't seem to be paying attention, he is absorbing something!)
♥ He is very sociable. Whenever I see him with his friends, he is always straggling behind the class and chattering away (and not paying attention obviously)!
I was a bit worried at the beginning of the year when he could not tell me any of his classmates' names (and it did not seem to bother him one bit) but now he can tell me who are his group mates (they are divided into 4 groups), and even what their Chinese names are and who he likes hanging out with.
Recently, he has been particularly besotted with a sweet girl called Natasha - he tells me where she lives (they take the same school bus), what funny thing she did in school that day, how he helped her do this and that and asks me to buy her a birthday present and bring him to her party (but we were not invited?!). HAHA, it's kinda cute.
♥ The children have been learning about animals, fruits and vegetables for the past two terms. They visited the zoo back in August, helped to look after a pet caterpillar in school and planted their own seeds in a cup and watered them to make them grow.
♥ He also did a show-and-tell about his favourite fruit. I gave him some toy strawberries and packed some strawberries in his snack box but apparently, he ate them all before his show-and-tell so he had to make do with a plastic orange from the toy box in class. He said he likes oranges because they are 'sour and juicy' and they are good because they give you vitamins and 'fibo' (fibre) which are good for your 'aestestines' (intestines) :)
♥ He enjoys hands-on activities such as arts and crafts and helping out with little jobs around the class (e.g. watering the bean sprouts and clearing plates after their break).
♥ He is naturally agile and enjoys his gym sessions very much. It was only after I saw some pics of their gym sessions that I understood why he likes to scale the wall while supporting his weight with his hands on the dining table at home!
♥ He also takes weekly computer lessons but I don't really know what goes on in them or see the value of them. I have half a mind to take him out of the class but I don't want him to feel left out so we will evaluate again in the new year.
***
Sean is very excited to be going to Kindergarten next year. I tried explaining he would have new teachers and classmates but it doesn't seem to faze our Mr Easygoing one bit ;)
I think kindergarten is when the real work and preparations for Primary School begins so we are going to have to monitor and supervise his schoolwork more closely. He would also have more enrichment opportunities such as Speech and Drama classes (both in English and Chinese).
His school will also be moving campuses next year so it is definitely going to be a busy year ahead for him (and us)!
In the meantime, we are just going to sit back and enjoy the well-deserved year-end hols!
PS. Read about his first day of Nursery and a mid-year recap.
PPS. Wish Ryan was joining his big brother in school next year but he still has to wait one more year. He is quite precocious for his age and is certainly more than ready for school. Poor beginning-of-the-year babies!
Because he has been a lot more mature and independent this year, we haven't had to monitor his every move as much as his Pre-Nursery year. And maybe for that reason, I feel this year has really just flown by!
Sean had a party in school on his last day of school and he brought some mini-cupcakes to share with his teachers and friends.
I met up with his two beloved class teachers and this was what they said about him in a nutshell:
♥ He is very bright and imaginative. Generally an enthusiastic learner who picks new concepts up quickly.
♥ He is good in Math. He enjoys writing and is learning how to read by sounding out individual letter sounds.
He can read simple books on his own now though it doesn't come naturally to him yet. Mrs T was actually surprised when I said he was not attending any phonics classes (which made me wonder - do most of the children this age attend phonics classes?!) because he can read reasonably well. He has also been telling us about letter 'blends' at home.
He is quite a bookworm so we hope to continue nurturing that love for books by reading to him everyday.
♥ His Chinese is pretty decent too. L Lao Shi said he does a good job of recognising the Chinese characters taught in school and will happily read aloud in class. (In this regard, I think his enrichment classes at Berries have really helped in giving him a good foundation in Chinese/Mandarin.)
♥ What he doesn't like so much: colouring. Apparently, most of the boys in his class don't.
It is quite obvious when you flip through his worksheets and you see everything haphazardly obscured in one solid patch of colour, haha. L Lao Shi said she told the kids that they are not allowed to colour everything in black so Sean colours them in blobs of red, blue, orange...
♥ He also doesn't enjoy singing much. Every time they sing, he doesn't participate and instead prefers to play at the back of his class. Hmm.
(I found this surprising because after more than a year of hardly hearing any songs from him, he has been belting out full songs and rhymes one after another at home. Both in English and Mandarin. So I think even though he doesn't seem to be paying attention, he is absorbing something!)
♥ He is very sociable. Whenever I see him with his friends, he is always straggling behind the class and chattering away (and not paying attention obviously)!
I was a bit worried at the beginning of the year when he could not tell me any of his classmates' names (and it did not seem to bother him one bit) but now he can tell me who are his group mates (they are divided into 4 groups), and even what their Chinese names are and who he likes hanging out with.
Recently, he has been particularly besotted with a sweet girl called Natasha - he tells me where she lives (they take the same school bus), what funny thing she did in school that day, how he helped her do this and that and asks me to buy her a birthday present and bring him to her party (but we were not invited?!). HAHA, it's kinda cute.
♥ The children have been learning about animals, fruits and vegetables for the past two terms. They visited the zoo back in August, helped to look after a pet caterpillar in school and planted their own seeds in a cup and watered them to make them grow.
♥ He also did a show-and-tell about his favourite fruit. I gave him some toy strawberries and packed some strawberries in his snack box but apparently, he ate them all before his show-and-tell so he had to make do with a plastic orange from the toy box in class. He said he likes oranges because they are 'sour and juicy' and they are good because they give you vitamins and 'fibo' (fibre) which are good for your 'aestestines' (intestines) :)
♥ He enjoys hands-on activities such as arts and crafts and helping out with little jobs around the class (e.g. watering the bean sprouts and clearing plates after their break).
♥ He is naturally agile and enjoys his gym sessions very much. It was only after I saw some pics of their gym sessions that I understood why he likes to scale the wall while supporting his weight with his hands on the dining table at home!
♥ He also takes weekly computer lessons but I don't really know what goes on in them or see the value of them. I have half a mind to take him out of the class but I don't want him to feel left out so we will evaluate again in the new year.
***
Sean is very excited to be going to Kindergarten next year. I tried explaining he would have new teachers and classmates but it doesn't seem to faze our Mr Easygoing one bit ;)
I think kindergarten is when the real work and preparations for Primary School begins so we are going to have to monitor and supervise his schoolwork more closely. He would also have more enrichment opportunities such as Speech and Drama classes (both in English and Chinese).
His school will also be moving campuses next year so it is definitely going to be a busy year ahead for him (and us)!
In the meantime, we are just going to sit back and enjoy the well-deserved year-end hols!
PS. Read about his first day of Nursery and a mid-year recap.
PPS. Wish Ryan was joining his big brother in school next year but he still has to wait one more year. He is quite precocious for his age and is certainly more than ready for school. Poor beginning-of-the-year babies!