Creative O

[munchkukie]

Hi dadelina,


Yes. It's a 24 hr camp. I think my girl will have to plan how to go from place to place in Singapore at night. Heard that they will not be sleeping :roll:

[Bear Ho]

Hello,


My daughter also wants to follow…think it is a very good experience for them. Remember to pack a raincoat for her just in case.

[sgwave]

Hi,


It seems that kids are always playing in school. Are the children adequately prepared for P1? Would appreciate comments from any parents who have children from the school and is attending primary school. Many thanks!

[dpdavidpeng.015549yahoo.015549com.015549sg]

Hi Sgwave,


Yes, I feel that the children from Creative O are adequately prepared for P1.

My older son is now primary 3 and he has no major problems coping in primary 1. Actually, a lot depends your definition of ‘adequate’. For me, it means that he is able to take care of himself in school, make friends and participate in class.

The textbook learning part is a lifelong process, and for me, that begins at primary 1. No need to start earlier and also cannot start later. We do keep an eye when my son was in P1 to make sure he knows what he needs to know but there’s nothing so difficult that one needs to learn in kindergarten prior to going primary 1.

My wife and I jokingly defines one benchmark of how my son is doing in school as whether he gets any invitations. Say if one classmate is organzing a birthday party, he/she normally invites 8-10 classmates (out of 30). This could be due to different cliques in the class (which i think is normal). My son’s class was unchanged for P1-P2. We attended the first party at end of P1, which gives us assurance that he found himself good friends. We subsequently attended 4-5 gatherings in P2 and find that its always the same 8 to 10 kids. So for us, these parties allows us to know who are his friends in school which in turns gives us a gauge if he is ok in school.

My younger son is now K2 in Creative O and in fact, I hope he has lots of playtime because it’s going to be a lot less playtime once he goes to primary school. I have no worries whether he can cope with Pri 1 next year.

Cheers,
DP

[Bear Ho]

I agree with dp, whose youngest son is in the same class as my daughter. My son is in P3 this year and Creative O had instilled independence, teamwork, sociablity among others in him.


If you read from the previous posts, you will realised that Creative O emphasized more on hands on skills (motor skills) activities and projects. These actitivties and projects will provide for the necessary skills for P1 and beyond.

For example, they will start a project like setting up a food stall. The children would then sit down, plan and discussed (teamwork) how to go about doing it. From there they will write down the things they need (writing skills), things to buy, the price (maths) and location etc. Teachers provide only little supervision (independance) till the final day the stall is setup.

My boy was well prepared for P1, he socialised very well and paticipated actively in the school and class activites.

The only setback was his Chinese as we speak English most of the time. So now, my daughter is fairly well versed in her mother tongue.

Anyway, being a Kaisu parent both of children have attended phonics and chinese classes. They enjoyed the lessons as it is also play and learn (same as Creative O)…

Hope this help a bit…

[Han Seo]

Hi,


As a preschool educator, let me chime in. Project work (such as the one mentioned in setting up a food stall) is great for:

1. application of academic skills e.g. children have to give a name to their stall and write it down. They also have to come up with the menu. In the process, they are learning how to spell, perhaps using their skills on phonics or sight words. They learn that reading and writing has a purpose in life (for communication) and in the process, develop a positive attitude towards reading and writing.

2. instilling a positive attitude towards learning : In the course of setting up the food stall, they may encounter problems (intellectual as well as social) which they will have to solve. This teaches them perseverance and asking the right questions to solve real life problems.

As Lilian Katz, a well known educator said, a good curriculum should develop children’s knowledge, skills, dispositions and feelings. Project work, if carried out well, achieves all of the above. These will serve the children well beyond just primary school.

By the way, I have no vested interest in the school.

[sgwave]

Hi dp, bear Ho, Han Seo,


Thank you for sharing your views. I was quite worried as my girl who just started k1 keep telling me abt playing in school and having no lesson. No doubt she is enjoying herself in school. But, having read the various discussions on what kids need to know before p1, I feel so stress as she has yet started to read.

[dpdavidpeng.015549yahoo.015549com.015549sg]

Hi Sgwave,


Just to share that my wife reads to both our sons before bedtime and we visit the library to borrow many books at one time. I find that my elder P3 son seems to be more willing to try to read by himself at a younger age. My younger K2 boy can recognise some words but not very willing to read. He prefers to pass a book to mummy and then enjoy mummy reading the story to him. As long as he is willing to pick a book for mummy to read, we figure that one day he will eventually read by himself.

So different kids will learn things at different pace and we are quite relax at kindergarten level. But once in primary school, we had to push our P3 son a bit harder (than he prefers) to make sure he keeps up with the pace stipulated by the school syllabus. Not much choice there.

The only thing we probably would prepare my K2 boy for P1 is han-yu-pin-ying (hypy). The primary school covers this part quite quickly, like within first 6 months in P1. We might enrol our K2 son in the 2nd half this year to give him a bit of introduction for 3-4mths before school opens. We feel that the learning pace for P1 in the Chinese subject is faster compared to English and Math. I would prefer P1 Chinese to be slower and focus on recognising simple words and proper writing strokes first. Then introduce hypy in P2 for more difficult words.

Notwithstanding the above, we may eventually decide not to enrol because the emphasis is not longer on hypy by middle of P2 and also due to time constraint. On top of the martial art and chinese dance lessons he has in Creative O, we recently added badminton, swimming and abacus lessons for our K2 boy because he wants to join his P3 brother’s activities.

Lastly, I do not know which K1 class is your girl in but i feel that your girl is in good hands as this year’s teacher combinations for all 3 K1 classes are very good. My older boy was taught by Teacher Linda and she is absolutely fantastic.

As long as your child is happy, she will be learning.

dp

[Go to school]

HI DP, It’s nice to read so much comments here about Creative O. I couldn’t agree with you more!

My girl last year transfered to Creative O and now in K2 Starfish, I am happy with her progress in school.
My son is in Nursery Cheerful class, he is also doing very well…

[Sophieng]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone had an introverted child who blossomed at Creative O? My little girl joined the school this Jan and her teachers have commented that she is not joining in class activities. She is a little timid by nature, and not very ‘athletically’-inclined. Her previous teacher at another play group she attended mentioned that she is rather self-contained and will do well in a Montessori. While I would like my little girl to grow up confident and outspoken, I am starting to wonder if Creative O is a good fit for her, given its emphasis on outdoor play. She has been very upset everyday when I send her to school. Would love to hear your advise if you have been through a similar experience. Many thanks!