孩子自主的生日聚会 Child Directed Party

我自己不喜欢过生日,以前也没有特意为孩子办过生日聚会,最多是把蛋糕带去幼儿园进行简单的吹蜡烛切蛋糕仪式。刚进小学一年级的儿子今年提出要请朋友过生日。

跟儿子沟通了需求后,我跟太太开始物色合适的地点。大部分的地方都是至少20位起,而儿子的聚会规模可能也就6到8位。在上网搜索的过程中,我发现有专门租帐篷到家里的服务。那些帐篷看起来非常小,于是有了自己买大点的帐篷在家过生日的想法。儿子也赞成这个主意。

在家过生日的好处之一是无需提前很久来计划与预定。临时在网络上订了超级英雄的披风和气球,而帐篷是随时可以去体育用品店买的。邀请卡是提前十天发出的。

儿子只邀请了他的同学,所以我们在跟家长沟通时鼓励他们无需陪伴、只需送接。

聚会前一天的下午,我跟儿子把帐篷搭了起来,也准备了一些游戏。23日,聚会到了。孩子们相当兴奋,从上午10点多一直玩到傍晚6点多。

主要物料:

  • 帐篷:S$140 from Decathlon
  • 氦气桶:S$50 from Spotlight

How we learn maths 我们如何学数学

Numeral Systems: Binary, Decimal & Hexadecimal

Why?

In Singapore, mathematics syllabus for P1 (primary one) includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students work with decimal numbers. Learning about other numeral systems than decimal, they will understand: how a numeral system work in general; why decimal is the default choice.

How?

Scope: learning how binary (base 2), decimal (base 10) and hexadecimal (base 16) systems work starting from 0 to 26; then +5, +10, etc.

Materials: 1) A3 sized paper; 2) snap cubes: 3 colors for each student; 100 pieces per color.

Increment by 1: walking through the number increment procedure with students:

  1. add one piece to the rightmost ‘ones’ column of a number system;
  2. carry over if the total units exceed the current place value – start from the ‘ones’ column till to the right:
    • snap the all the units of the current column in a straight line and now they form one unit in the preceding column;

Add more than 1: ask students to add 5 or 10 directly:

  1. Snap the cubes to be added and fill the largest place value first – for example, to add 5, one can simply put 4 into the ‘four’ column and 1 into the ‘ones’ column in the base 2 board;
  2. Carry over if necessary from the right-most.

Learned on: Feb 14, 2019

Reference: Paul A. Calter and Michael A. Calter. “Binary, Hexadecimal, Octal, and BCD Numbers”

Acronyms Used in Primary Schools 缩略词释义

Acronyms are invented and used intensively in almost all organizations. Singapore primary schools are no exception. Below are search results of acronyms on my son’s P1 time-table. 新加坡小学使用的缩略词释义。

AcronymsDefinitionRemarks
CCA Co-Curricular Activities 课外活动
CCE Character & Citizenship Education
品格与公民教育
CL Chinese Language
华文
EL English Language
FTGP Form Teacher Guidance Period
🎦 → SEL
HCL Higher Chinese Language
高级华文
HTM Higher Mother Tongue
HE Health Education
MA Mathematics
MU Music
PAL Programme for Active Learning
sports & outdoor
PE Physical Education
体育
SC ScienceScience as an inquiry
SEL Social and Emotional Learning
社交与情感
SS Social Studies
self, env., history & world