All About Preschool Enrichment

[ivylian]

Hi,


Any one can enlighten me as followed: my 3 yrs old daughter is attending 1 1/2 hr pre-nursery class every Mon-Fri now.

She will be going to PAP kindergarten next yr .

Currently, I’m thinking of enrolling her for the phonic class & Chinese enrichment programme .

Do you think will this be too stressful for her to handle ?


Thanks

[ChiefKiasu]

ivylian:

Hi,


Any one can enlighten me as followed: my 3 yrs old daughter is attending 1 1/2 hr pre-nursery class every Mon-Fri now.

She will be going to PAP kindergarten next yr .

Currently, I'm thinking of enrolling her for the phonic class & Chinese enrichment programme .

Do you think will this be too stressful for her to handle ?


Thanks

It all depends on your daughter. The only real limit to what you can expose your daughter to is your own time and resources, but that age, it is paramount that you do not FORCE her to do something she doesn't like. That may create a strong phobia in her that will be very hard to repair. So whatever you take up for it must be FUN, fun, and more fun to her. There are some courses which are highly recommended by other KiasuParents, like Berries and Yuquan for Chinese, and I Can Read for English. It is also good to send her to speech and drama classes at that age.

Also, don't neglect the physical side of things. Send her for swimming, ballet, and gym classes to build up her stamina and pick up new skills!

[simplyjo]

ivylian:

Hi,


Any one can enlighten me as followed: my 3 yrs old daughter is attending 1 1/2 hr pre-nursery class every Mon-Fri now.

She will be going to PAP kindergarten next yr .

Currently, I'm thinking of enrolling her for the phonic class & Chinese enrichment programme .

Do you think will this be too stressful for her to handle ?


Thanks

Hi ivylian,

I started my 2nd girl with phonics at 3.5yrs and that's the minimum age required by the enrichment centre - Just Education. My eldest girl took phonics classes for 2 years and I never realise there are so many things to learn in phonics! So it's really good to start children with phonics lessons once they are 3.5yrs old and they will have longer time to learn all the basics before K2.

[2galsmum]

Hi,


Started both my gals in GUG at united square since they were 14 months. Dun believe in PAP as I feel my elder quite stagnant for the entire nursery and half of K1…

Elder at His little kingdom with spelling, dictation, tingxie and hanyu pinyin once a week in K2… Will be putting the younger in His little kingdom next year as well. At first I find the homework quite extensive as there was no homework from PAP at all. Now its pretty managable.

Little one still at GUG but might switch to speech and drama class at Lornie Winston…Older one at Hua Language as her chinese not power enuf. Her phonics foundation is pretty fine (acceptable for us), we put her in Kentridge tutition centre (for a while) to master the usage of her phonics and she can read after tat. Used to only know the aaabbbccc sound but do not know how to apply.

They have swimming lessons as well…i wonder how some parents can switch from class to class for the entire sat and sun… we are quite worn out after those I have mentioned…leaving only some time for ourselves!

Are we kiasu enuf? Am I concentrating too much on academics…i tot of music as well but no time…

[meredith84]

Hi,


Agree, it depend on your child’s ability. I know it’s a late reply for your thread, but I just want to share the information whether there’s someone else want to know. I’ve heard a place called Jan Club, a place to get chinese enrichment for pre-nursery, nursery, and more in fun way. Will PM you for details whether you want to see or know more about it…

[petalfruit]

Hi there,


my kid is 2 and a half years old… i’m enrolling her for playgroup now… but can’t find one in amk… so enrolled her in an enrichment centre, WiggleLearners… your 2 cents worth on this? and what is good for kids tis age…

Thanks.

[wepl99]

My boy seems to be unable to grasp the alphabetical letters and numbers as compared to some of his peers in Pre-sch, wondering if there are any schools that are able to help with this. I’ve sent him to phonics classes when he was one and the half for 2 yrs thereafter I’ve stopped cos the school seems to teach the same things again and again. Pls advise anyone. Thanks.

[hquek]

Perhaps you can refer to the thread on phonics? http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=56769#56769


Kids learn through repetition. If you are concerned about reading, the best suggestion I can give is to read a lot to him - at least 5-10 min each day. Library has lots of materials you can borrow. Phonics, a child may not grasp. But read to him, you can expect wonders (although that will take a bit of time).

DS1 doesn't quite comprehend how to piece words together, but he can read stuff like enid blyton short stories, magic schoolbus books, and pretty much understand what he's reading.

[Charmaine_chong]

I agree with hquek.


Please starts reading aloud to your kids daily. Make it a daily activity and read widely. Reading isn't restricted to only books but labels, signs on the road, blocks, magazines, comics..... Please ensure books, papers, crayon, pencils are available all the time and easily accessed to encourage a child's curousity in the world of reading, writing and drawing. In fact, reading starts at home.

Aside reading, please do various activities with your child. Started to train his writing skills, listening, speaking, reading.....

For phonics, you may want to introduce Leapfrog Letter Factory to teach him lettersounds and lettername together. However, do not depend on the DVD itself, please read loads of ABC books and stories, and consider to play ABC cards, ABC puzzle, ABC writing books, ABC arts and craft......

Paste alphabet on the wall at his eye level. So that he always see it and teach according to his pace.

Child learns best through fun activities. Get him to listen, look, speak and hands on.

These links are terrific, hope it helps.

ABC Arts and Craft
http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Alphabet_and_Numbers/Alphabet_and_Numbers.html
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/letter-of-the-week/lowercase
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/abcs/

Printable Colourful Cards
http://www.childcareland.com/free.html
http://www.filefolderfun.com/KindergartenAlphabet.html

Coloring ABC
http://www.coloring.ws/alphabet.htm

Various activies at this site
http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/letter-a.html

[mummy of 2]

Thanks, Charamaine, for the wonderful list of websites for parents who are stuck for ideas.