Pat's Schoolhouse
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empressplace:
surely there would be mistakes made during the course of learning... but its thru these mistakes that the impression is deep for the kid? If every word the kid uses rote learning, then the kid would be very taxing in the long term. My no2 boy goes to a montessori CC now, they also encourage phonics spelling and no spelling list. (old pats closed down thus change cc)applemum:
The teachers taught my girl the way to spell using phonics, which I thought was good. Infact, she did better than those kids who were given weekly spelling list because she was taught the tool to spell instead of how to spell a few hundred words bef P1. The list of words keeps expanding now but she just could do it without much effort. Looking back, I was glad I was not given spelling list to monitor and teach. She had a lot of playtime at home last time.
My child's English spelling is not too good. He is taught to spell using the phonics method but I think this method is not sufficient for good spelling although it is effective for reading as it helps the child to guess the word. There is some memory work involved to ensure good spelling. For example, I heard from someone that her daughter spelled \"taxi\" as \"teksi\". It is correct from phonics' perspective but it is still wrong English spelling. This is the Malay spelling. Also, I can't imagine a child writing out the word very quickly if she constantly needs to break down the sound before spelling. Hence while I am no expert, I think memory work should not be completely disregarded. I am pretty baffled by this emphasis on spelling through phonics. Even adults would not be able to spell certain words just by phonics alone.
memory work will comes in naturally when the kids are expose to more words and more varied phonics rules. like sight words - due to high frequency, the kid do not need to use any mtd and will be able to spell them out.
I agree with applemum - besides memorise spelling words.. read n read n read is more impt. if the kid only rems that 100words from the spelling list, how wld the kid be able to write simple sentences / compo? -
mtdt:
surely there would be mistakes made during the course of learning... but its thru these mistakes that the impression is deep for the kid? If every word the kid uses rote learning, then the kid would be very taxing in the long term. My no2 boy goes to a montessori CC now, they also encourage phonics spelling and no spelling list. (old pats closed down thus change cc)
Not sure why my original concerns are now interpreted as an issue of rote learning of spelling vs phonics method of spelling. I am not encouraging rote learning as the only method. I disagree with solely using phonics to spell in school with no home reinforcement from parents. My main focus is really parental reinforcement, not on rote learning or phonics.mtdt:
Frequent contact/ reading is indeed necessary. However, there is nothing wrong with doing some simple stress free reinforcement at home. Even other well known childcare in the same price range has some form of home reinforcement in spelling. So I do not think home reinforcement coupled with phonics driven spelling is not good for the kids or is unorthodox in any way.memory work will comes in naturally when the kids are expose to more words and more varied phonics rules. like sight words - due to high frequency, the kid do not need to use any mtd and will be able to spell them out.
mtdt:
If we must engage in a rote learning debate, I agree that reading is more important. I disagree that some amount of rote learning is not important. My main point, however, is that I cannot see how this method of zero parental involvement in school spelling is superior. At the very least, even if spelling does not speed up, parents are alerted early to any potential problems such as dyslexia e.g.like how Jazreel Low discovered her daughter had dyslexia.I agree with applemum - besides memorise spelling words.. read n read n read is more impt. if the kid only rems that 100words from the spelling list, how wld the kid be able to write simple sentences / compo?
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Maybe I am a lazy parent. So I was happy I did not need to reinforce anything at home. The teachers did alert me immediately when there were other problems.
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That’s good. It means that you have strong faith and confidence in your child’s teachers.
However, a good working system should not be dependent on individuals. -
applemum:
Maybe I am a lazy parent. So I was happy I did not need to reinforce anything at home. The teachers did alert me immediately when there were other problems.
haha... think we are the same pattern.
Guess boils down to the communication between the parents/trs.
Another good pt I can get is the kid is more independent. I do not need to sit down with the kid every week now to go thru his spellings...
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empressplace:
At first when I transfered my girl to Pat's, I was not used to it. I asked the teachers if they need me to do anything. They said leave the teaching to them. If there is any issue, they will highlight to me. We did work hand in hand to help my girl to improve. However, most of the issues were behavioural in nature, e.g. she did not know how to share with friends, eating problem etc. For academic devt, there was nothing to follow up.That's good. It means that you have strong faith and confidence in your child's teachers.
However, a good working system should not be dependent on individuals.
I believe in \"employing the right people and trust that they will do the right job\". I went through 3 other schools before Pat's. My girl's Pat's teachers were so professional that I really trusted them. I did not ask them to show me worksheets, spelling booklets etc. It was just genuine trust. My girl is still doing very well in Pri sch. I am glad I choose the right pre school with very passionate teachers. I am not sure if the sch standard is still the same, especially now that Mrs Koh has left Pat's. But back then, my girl really had good teachers from Pat's Jubilee Park. -
I kind of agree with empressplace. Would prefer to be in the loop on what is being taught and tested.
I guess both applemum and mtdt are lucky to have good and devoted teachers.
Sometimes it’s also important to have a class of well behave children who listen to teachers. The teachers will then have more time to teach the kids instead of discipling the children.
There are teachers who are very "on" who provide feedback via watsapp at least once a week, with photos too.
There are also teachers who u will hear from them only during PTM.
It’s really a draw of luck. -
I just remembered that I used to receive weekly update (via a piece of A4 size printed paper) on what was taught. The teacher even provided tips to parents on what to follow up to enhance the learning for the week. But I did not bother to do anything though. Is it still in practice?
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applemum:
I just remembered that I used to receive weekly update (via a piece of A4 size printed paper) on what was taught. The teacher even provided tips to parents on what to follow up to enhance the learning for the week. But I did not bother to do anything though. Is it still in practice?
Yes, it is. At one point it was uploaded on the parents' portal but it was not timely. Now we seem to be back to the paper updates. The update is so brief that it is pretty useless in my opinion. -
applemum:
I believe in \"employing the right people and trust that they will do the right job\". I went through 3 other schools before Pat's. My girl's Pat's teachers were so professional that I really trusted them. I did not ask them to show me worksheets, spelling booklets etc. It was just genuine trust. My girl is still doing very well in Pri sch. I am glad I choose the right pre school with very passionate teachers. I am not sure if the sch standard is still the same, especially now that Mrs Koh has left Pat's. But back then, my girl really had good teachers from Pat's Jubilee Park.
If I have the same level of trust as you, I would not be asking so many questions.
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