Childcare or no Childcare?
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dokomo:
Hmm personally I don't like the idea of doing so much colouring! What purpose does it serve? I never heard of any centre doing it twice a day. To me, it sounds like a lazy way out. Easier for the teachers. Just give the kids colouring pencils and some drawings and leave them to do their own thing.Hi Fuzz,
Agree with you, putting them at full day ccc is like throwing them into the deep end of the pool. Btw, do most ccc make the kids do colouring at least 2 times a day generally?
I've read quite a lot about early childhood education and also learnt from friends and relatives who are in the industry. It's actually not ideal to make kids do colouring on ready-made templates. It doesn't teach them creativity. It's better to give them the art materials and let them create their own artworks. -
Fuzz:
Hi Fuzz,
Hmm personally I don't like the idea of doing so much colouring! What purpose does it serve? I never heard of any centre doing it twice a day. To me, it sounds like a lazy way out. Easier for the teachers. Just give the kids colouring pencils and some drawings and leave them to do their own thing.dokomo:
Hi Fuzz,
Agree with you, putting them at full day ccc is like throwing them into the deep end of the pool. Btw, do most ccc make the kids do colouring at least 2 times a day generally?
I've read quite a lot about early childhood education and also learnt from friends and relatives who are in the industry. It's actually not ideal to make kids do colouring on ready-made templates. It doesn't teach them creativity. It's better to give them the art materials and let them create their own artworks.
Never occur to me that colouring may hinder their creativity. Thanks for the pointer.
Btw, I have dropped my kid from the childcare after she attended for 2 days. She has gone back to her previous 2 hours playgroup now. She is much happier there. Have personally \"experienced\" their day to day activities. Felt my kid's time will be wasted if she continues there. Rather send her to 2 hours and supplement with enrichment classes. Actual learning (if there is at all!) is less than an hour. The teachers are mostly pre-occupied with serving the kids meals, cleaning them up etc. Seems short-handed.
Regarding the colouring part, its true its the lazy way out for the teachers. One colouring was held during the english time slot and another colouring held during chinese time slot. Plus the teachers just dump the papers and crayons to the kids and let them colour by themselves without much explaining what is the meaning of the picture or the words that come with the colouring sheet. Then the teachers will be bz with more cleaning up again.
Wonder if i am expecting too much or if this is the norm cos my nephew at another ccc also does a lot of colourings. -
dokomo:
Hi dokomo, 2 hour playgroup and enrichment sounds good. I would do something similar if I weren't working full time!Regarding the colouring part, its true its the lazy way out for the teachers. One colouring was held during the english time slot and another colouring held during chinese time slot. Plus the teachers just dump the papers and crayons to the kids and let them colour by themselves without much explaining what is the meaning of the picture or the words that come with the colouring sheet. Then the teachers will be bz with more cleaning up again.
Wonder if i am expecting too much or if this is the norm cos my nephew at another ccc also does a lot of colourings.
Regarding twice a day colouring, I definitely don't think you're expecting too much! My boy attends childcare and they hardly do colouring. I have a few friends who are in the childcare industry and I've seen their weekly timetables and asked them about their daily activities (when I was researching for childcare for my son). Never seen colouring twice a day!
But it's true that quite alot of the time in childcare centres is spent on sleeping, eating, bathing. After all, the kids are there for the whole day, so no choice.
The actual amount of time spent on lessons is similar to half day childcare or kindergarten - about 3 hours. For me, it's important to find out what the kids do in the afternoons. They shouldn't be just watching tv or colouring. And many centres actually have quite good afternoon programmes, like art and craft, music, gardening, etc. They're fun activities but also allow the kids to learn something.
I would much prefer to send my boy to kindy and plan activities for him in the afternoon or send him for enrichment. But unfortunately I don't have much choice. For now. I'm exploring options to work part time, as we're now trying for number 2. Hope it works out! -
I ever feedback to principal at child-care to voice out my concern that the children have not been exposing to lots of story books. Since they are attending full day, so i suggested to the child-care to look into daily reading aloud. The principal answered me that the CC is busy and always rushing, do not have enough time to expose kids for reading program. They will do it whenever they can but not regular basis. Hmmm, what a dissapointment!
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Charmaine_chong:
I ever feedback to principal at child-care to voice out my concern that the children have not been exposing to lots of story books. Since they are attending full day, so i suggested to the child-care to look into daily reading aloud. The principal answered me that the CC is busy and always rushing, do not have enough time to expose kids for reading program. They will do it whenever they can but not regular basis. Hmmm, what a dissapointment!
Hi Charmaine I agree with you. It's true that the childcare schedule can be busy, especially if they plan activities in the afternoons. But I find it hard to understand why there's not enough time to do some reading - if not daily, then at least once in 2 days!
I try to borrow bks for my son from the library every week, as his CC doesn't have a big collection of books. But I've heard of some schools that have a good reading programme and they get the kids to read a few books a week and to share what they read about. My friend also told me that her daughter's centre has a tie-up with the national library and they bring in a whole range of books regularly for the centre.
So it can be done! It's whether the CC wants to or not. Maybe sometimes they don't have enough teachers or resources. I guess every CC has its own way of doing things. -
Dear Fuzz,
Thanks for your reply.
I just find that the principal's mindset must be right. They have to know well the objective.
My k1 child is in full day child care near east area. This k1 class is named as Leo Lionni. You may want to find out more about this author + illustrator and all his books by clicking the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_0?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aleo+lionni%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A4&bbn=1000&keywords=leo+lionni&ie=UTF8&qid=1302668020&rnid=1000#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aleo+lionni%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A4&bbn=1000&keywords=leo+lionni&ie=UTF8&qid=1302668063
I was excited and expected the child-care to do a lot of brainstorming activities relevant to the author with recommendation for some of his books. Otherwise, what is the purpose to gave such a beautiful name when kids no nothing at all about the author.
The teacher explained to me that it was only to named the k1 class. So far, teacher had read only one of his book namely Six Crow to k1 and she found that kids do not understand the moral behind it. She also commented that the books are too wordy and hard for 5 years old to understand. Nothing much had been done.
Teacher refused to reveal in details how many story books have been exposed to kids, how often and what kind of books. She simply advised that we read to them as and when we have time. We have library corner, drawing corner, block corner... so it depends on what books the kids pick.
When i queried further in average how many stories will be exposed. Then she answered 2 stories a week.
Teachers definitely have big influence over children especially when my kids are in full day child-care. I do hope they will be exposed to all kind of story books regularly or daily.
I told the principal it wont take you much time. 5,10,15 or 20 minutes a day is enough. She answered me they are rushing and always rushing. Therefore no time to do it.
The principal then advised me to do it at home. I told her i do. I spent one hour daily with my eldest reading aloud to him. Without the assistance of maid, it has been reduced to 15-20 minutes 3-5 days a week.
When i went to the school, i just find that kids have a lot of idle time. Sit down there day dreaming. Hmmm....
I have lots of books at home and we visit library once a month.
Fuzz, may i know which kindergarten has good reading programme? Can pm me.
May i know how old is your child? -
Hi Fuzz,
Was so glad i made that quick decision. :celebrate:
Heard from colleagues that usually there's 1 or 2 aunties helping out with the cleaning jobs or serving meals so that the teachers can be freed to teach. But apparently not for the ccc that my dd went. When the teacher brought a kid to the toilet or serving meals, the rest were just left there to do their own things. Its probably true about the saying.. \"pay peanuts get peanuts\"... -
Charmaine_chong:
I ever feedback to principal at child-care to voice out my concern that the children have not been exposing to lots of story books. Since they are attending full day, so i suggested to the child-care to look into daily reading aloud. The principal answered me that the CC is busy and always rushing, do not have enough time to expose kids for reading program. They will do it whenever they can but not regular basis. Hmmm, what a dissapointment!
Hi Charmaine,
It is true the CC is always busy and always rushing. It is worse if the CC is shorthanded.
If possible, you try to drop by the CC and see what they do. You will be surprised they may not follow time-table at times. I personally recorded the full day activities and compared with the time-table. Gosh, so different from the time-table! -
Yap. I guess so.
That is why parents are usually not welcome to kindergarten or cc.
Becos when i was there i see a lot that i am not suppose to see. Taecher scolding a child who wet her shorts. Brought her to toilet and scolding non-stop.
I celebrated my child’s birthday in school. I see how young teacher handle kids. When kids requested something, the teacher was annoyed and answered" can you please don’t shout at me". When it is totally not.
A lot of stories.
But what to do, parents need to work. -
Charmaine_chong:
I would be quite annoyed if the teacher refuses to share such info openly! I understand if teachers don't always stick strictly to the class schedule, as it's not good to be too rigid with young children anyway. They should always be encouraged to explore, as that's the best way for them to learn. So sometimes a certain activity may run over time, etc. To me, that's ok.Teacher refused to reveal in details how many story books have been exposed to kids, how often and what kind of books. She simply advised that we read to them as and when we have time. We have library corner, drawing corner, block corner... so it depends on what books the kids pick.
When i queried further in average how many stories will be exposed. Then she answered 2 stories a week.
Fuzz, may i know which kindergarten has good reading programme? Can pm me.
May i know how old is your child?
But I feel it's important for teachers to be open about sharing what they do each day, about your child's progress, how he/she responds to different activities, etc.
Anyway I'll pm you in a minute. Oh my boy is now 4 and 1/2.
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