Let us make our very own Brainy Kids Schoolhouse pastries!

Children are having a wonderful time making their own pastries. They are pretending to be bakers and giving names to their own creations. 

We used flour, baking powder, salt, water and food dye to create the dough. The children participated so they have a better understanding and another round of hands-on experience on how dough is formed.

Chrishaun: Look the glove is so big. My hand is so small. (He laughs)

Chrishaun is trying to flatten the dough with all his might.

Time to put on our thinking hat! Hmmm... What shall we use to decorate our pastries?

Yee Ann: See... You roll the play dough like this!

Children are working independently and you can see how focus they are from their expressions!

Let's roll the dough smaller.

Jing Xuan moves around freely to look for the ingredients and decorations needed.

Jing Xuan: I can make doughnuts too!

Chloe is equally focus and rolling her dough in her palms.

Chrishaun and Kai Le are determined to create the most yummy doughnut!

Sharing time!

Ellcus is proud with his presentation.

They all had a sense of achievement as they created 'pastries' for themselves!

Baker for a Day

We were learning about what is around our community. This time, we learnt about bakery. What is a bakery, and what do they sell. Children learnt that bakers work in the bakery, and they sell their baked cakes and breads.

Its dough day!! Children pretended to be baker of the day. Children were given home-made dough to manipulate. Children pretended to make their own cakes and bread. They seemed to be having a lot of fun kneading and rolling the dough.  

Look at us! We are going to bake :)

"This is my Christmas tree." said Hong June as she smiles at the camera.

"I'm making roti prata, Ms Aainaa." said Janelle.

"Press the dough like this?" asked Hayden.

  "Burger," said Nuryi.

*Hehehe* Laughed Adidev as he saw the camera.

"I'm making cake, Ms Aainaa." said Keira.

"Roti prata," said Yue Chen.

"Ms Aainaa, this one is like a volcano...." said Raphael.

This activity allowed children to have the hands-on experience to learn kneading, pressing, pinching and rolling the dough. 

With their imagination, children pretended to make different types of breads as well as cakes. Good job, children! 

Parents, you may also create home-made dough together with your child and continue as an extension activity baking different types of pastries. Have fun! 

Frogs, Frogs, Frogs!

Nursery Rhyme: Five Little Speckled Frogs

Five Little Speckled Frogs (Hold five fingers (frogs) on top of your
other arm (log)
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool (jump a finger off the log into the pool)
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are Four green speckled frogs (Hold up four fingers)

Four Little Speckled Frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are Three green speckled frogs

Three little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are Two green speckled frogs

Two little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there is one green speckled frog

One little speckled frog
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
It jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there is no more speckled frogs

Before teacher taught the Kindergarten children details of a frog, they sang along to the song above. Teacher then get the Kindergarten to do actions while singing to the song so that it helps it reinforcing the Math concept of 'Subtraction' and movement of the frog.

We had 2 groups of '5 little speckled frogs'  

As each speckled frog jumped into the pool, they had to go to the back of the line and allow other 'frogs' a chance to be at the front line and jumped into the pool. 

Once done with the action song, teacher showed and explained the details about frogs to children. Some of the children were then given pictures of body parts of a frog. They lined the pictures on the mat. 

While some will read the labels and matched it to the pictures. 

Teacher went through the pictures and labels on the mat with the children. Then they are paired with a partner to read an informative booklet about body parts of a frog. Children who are fluent in reading read to friends who needed guidance. 

The pair of children also worked with the puzzle of a frog.

It is through the matching of labels, to the informative booklet and lastly a puzzle of the frog that they get more knowledge about it. They also shared about their experience, however, not many have much contact with real frogs. 

Much to our surprise, some could recall the pet shop that we visited, and we have seen many smaller frogs in a plastic bag. They could also share how the frog died in school as we tried taking care of it. They have seen the transformation of how a tadpole turning into a froglet and then into a young frog when we have it as a pet.

You may bring your child to the library to find out more information about the amphibian, Frog. Your child may do craft on Frogs and write details about what they have learnt. Your child may also have a 'Show and Tell' with your family members at home!

The artist who painted a horse blue

Every child has an artist inside them, and this vibrant picture book, The Artist Who Painted a Horse Blue from Eric Carle will help let it out. The artist in this book paints the world as he sees it, just like a child. There's a red crocodile, an orange elephant, a purple fox and a polka-dotted donkey. More than anything, there's imagination. Filled with some of the most magnificently colorful animals of Eric Carle's career, this tribute to the creative life celebrates the power of art.

As an extended activity of the storybook, the Kindergarten did a sequencing exercise. 

As seen in the pictures, children flipped through the storybook again to know the sequence of the animals.

Once the Kindergarten children flipped through the storybook, they started to cut the pictures of animals. They have to remember the sequence before pasting.

After cutting the pictures of animals, children were seen pasting the pictures in sequence. 

Below are a few completed sequencing activity done by the children. 

You may read any storybooks to your child and allow your child to do sequencing activity at home too! You may visit this website for suggestions of sequencing activities to conducted with your child.

http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/167%20Sequencing.pdf