All About Grooming & Encouraging Good Reading Habits

[jedamum]

i am looking for books (boy-themed preferably) that involves schoollife. i know girls have Malory Towers and such...how about boys?? my ds1 prefers schoollife funny stories like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Stink-Super-Incredible-Collection-Books-1-3/dp/0763639869/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261289096&sr=8-1

[cafelatte]

TAS

The price IS tempting. The site ships direct to Singapore, charging £40 for shipping then incremental shipping for more books. You can try to add to cart and fill up the delivery address to check the shipping. The first £40 covers almost 60-90 books as one friend told me. That's why some parents pool together to order the mega packs (max number of books for £40 shipping). There were some discussions in KSP previously :
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6574

I am tempted to pool order with my neighbour but the mega packs are not listed right now. I'll wait till after Christmas to see if there are other interesting packs and hopefully the 39 clues will still be on promotion price then.

Alternatively, the bookdepository which offers free shipping worldwide is retailing the books at US$8-10. However, the first few titles are OOS. I'll be watching that and if a discount code pops up, I may order from there instead.

Hope these helps.

Spiderwick Chronicles - yes, heard of the series and also flipped through the books in Borders. Haven't got my hands on them yet though, heard that there are good condition hardcopies available at NLB.

Simon Chapman's Explorers Wanted - never heard of but will keep in mind and check these out.

Blobbi
For Classics, surprising my son likes to read \"Little House in the Big Woods\"
http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Woods-Ingalls-Wilder/dp/0060581808/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261310891&sr=1-3

I talked to him about it and he says he likes to read about the family's meals and how they prepare it Ya..my son is a food-fan ie. foodie. Actually, the Amazon.com review also mentioned this seemingly \"girl\" book is actually adventure packed.

I was happy he read(and re-read) this book so I bought the next few books in the series but after \"Farmer's Boy\" he decided to re-read Harry Potter.

[cafelatte]

optimistforum,


Assessments books are generally challenging. The authors think that more parents will buy their books if they write difficult questions. It is difficult to find good Engish grammar or comprenhension assessment books in the market.

Perhaps you can print some actual school exam papers from the Singapore schools from here :
http://www.wendykoh.com/

I think those are better guage of what our children in Singapore are expected to do at the various level.

I have a boy too and boys generally struggle with the languages at P1/P2 unlike their female classmates. In a few years' time, your son could be well on his way to become a better reader and writer.

Lastly, pardon my curiosity, are you Singaporean living in the UK or British citizen interested in the Singapore education system ?

[Blobbi]

cafelatte:

Blobbi
For Classics, surprising my son likes to read \"Little House in the Big Woods\"
http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Woods-Ingalls-Wilder/dp/0060581808/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261310891&sr=1-3

I talked to him about it and he says he likes to read about the family's meals and how they prepare it Ya..my son is a food-fan ie. foodie. Actually, the Amazon.com review also mentioned this seemingly \"girl\" book is actually adventure packed.

I was happy he read(and re-read) this book so I bought the next few books in the series but after \"Farmer's Boy\" he decided to re-read Harry Potter.

Cafelatte, tks for pointing the site out. The prices are so tempting! And tks also for the the book rec. I've heard of the series but never checked it out because I thought they were more suitable for girls. My son is a foodie too, so it's likely to appeal. I tried Harry Potter on him but it was too difficult and he was also quite scared. Actually, I had to keep it out of sight because he's afraid of the cover. I'll take it out again within the next year or so to see if he bites.

I think what we mums/parents fear is the dry periods in-between when we can't find books they're interested in. So thank goodness for this site and all the contributors.


:thankyou:

[optimistforum]

Hi cafelatte

[quote]Lastly, pardon my curiosity, are you Singaporean living in the UK or British citizen interested in the Singapore education system ?[/quote]Thanks for the tips. I have already downloaded the KOH papers, and have been using them for a few months. As regards good books, I use Complete Practice in Comprehension, Vocab and Grammar by EPH. It is fantastic! The Junior English Books by Hadyn Richards are great too. If you wish I can supply ISBN's and scanned eg's of the Hadyn Richards books and email the eg's to you.

PS, I am a UK citizen who has a great reverence for the Singapore education system. I use P1 and P2 assessment books on my son.

[cafelatte]

optimistforum:

... PS, I am a UK citizen who has a great reverence for the Singapore education system. I use P1 and P2 assessment books on my son.

Thank you for your response. Admist the threads expressing grouse about our education system, I am happy and honoured to read this !

I think I have seen the EPH one in our local bookstores. I goggled around for Hadyn Richards. Looks interesting, I think they are published in UK. Good that you found something that works well for your child.

Off-topic but may I check with you: in UK primary schools, how do they teach English Grammar ? Do they teach rule-by-rule specifically ? Over here, the primary schools use thematic-based English textbooks. Grammar is not taught \"specificially\" but \"inferentially\" if you know what I am trying to say ?

[optimistforum]

Hi Cafelatte


DS1, who is in Y2 (same as your P1) has been taught rule-by-rule, by me, in grammar. DS1 does exercises in a book called \"100 Exercises in English Usage - age 8-9\" (this title is published by the company who produce First Aid in English). It is a very old and traditional text book (some may say, it's out-of-date), and it reinforces the grammar rules from first principles. I also use the P1 Complete Practice in Vocab, Comp and Grammar as a diagnostic tool to identify DS1's weakneses.

As I write this, at 8am, first day of the school holidays, DS1 advises me that he is not taught grammar formally; pupils are advised how to use grammar for the purpose of composition-writing. He attends an \"Out-standing! accredited state school, however, our national curriculum has been dumbed-down over the last two decades - hence why I refer to the MOE Eng and Maths syllabi for weekend work.

They do not use text-books in class - God knows what they use!!!

After he finishes breakfast, he will write his tables and do some verbal reasoning - to make sure his brain-cells are stil being used over the holidays. :lol:

[cafelatte]

optimistforum, thanks again ! Looks like we have similar problems here regarding English Grammar and I must say I am impressed with your efforts ! "First Aid in English" is required textbook for ds this year but the teacher did not cover much (insufficient time maybe?).

[optimistforum]

I would stick with Complete Practice in Vocab, Grammar and Comp. It is as good a book as I have ever seen. I would have like to seen the MCQ element taken out of the grammar and vocab sections and repaced by open-ended questions - thats my only reservation about it.


Re First Aid in English, is that required reading in P1 to P6? The 100 Exercises in English Usage - age 8-9, 9-10, 10-11 and 11-12 are essentially books that need to make reference to First Aid in English.

I spent 5 months working the answers to the 100 Exercises in English Usage books, and getting them proof-read by a very good English teacher friend, who now will be tutoring DS1.

[The Alternative Story]

Hi Blobbi,


I found this series that is quite good. It is non-fantasy. It does not involve a mischievious boy who gets into trouble though. It is about 2 children who come upon problems that are linked to natural disasters. Their dad is a scientist who is a little wacky and they try to find a way to beat the disasters. An example of 2 disasters would be ‘The ferocious forest fire mystery’ and ‘The tornado mystery’.

Throughout the books, they would learn about forest fires and what the animals do to survive and how natural fires are sometimes good for the whole ecosystem. It is inserted in a natural manner into the story so the child learns about these facts as they read the story.

The author is Carole Marsh and it is part of a ‘Masters of Disasters’ series.

You can get it from most bookstores:)

Another book about how science gets people into trouble would be one where this boy has to rescue his dad as his dad got lost in time as he misused his own time-machine.

It is "The book of time" and the author is Guillaume Prevost.

This book is good also because you can extract out phrases to teach your child how to stretch the tension in a composition.

TAS (The Alternative Story)