kindergarten 1:
Innovation
term 1:
healthy
living
In Term 1, Teacher Laura shared the importance of healthy living with the Kindergarten 1 children. During one of the lesson discussions, Bea said "I know! We can be healthy by running and cycling!" The teacher further expanded on the children's understanding of healthy living by explaining what it means to eat healthily via a video which explains the different types of food and nutrients they consist of. In addition, the children created their own healthy plates using art materials and were very proud of their own art work.
​During the term, the children also visited the Health Promotion Board as part of their learning journey to have a better grasp of "healthy living". Officers from the Singapore Health Promotion Board came down to our school to speak to the children about healthy living and practicing good dental care as well.
term 2:
Recycling
In term 2, the teacher focused on the topic of "recycling and waste in Singapore". We set-up a recycling corner with different containers labelled "plastic" or "paper" put in place to encourage children to recycle used materials. Ian said excitedly, "There is a recycling bin downstairs my house also! Sometimes I help to throw things inside to recycle." When he saw the recycling corner being set up. This topic was sparked off by some of the children's interest in finding out "where does waste go to in Singapore?". Over the course of the term, children were tasked to bring unwanted recyclable materials from home whenever they had any and sort them out into the respective recycling bins at school. Keep up the good effort K1s!
term 3:
marine animals
This term, Teacher Laura will be touching on "Marine Animals". The children will embark on a learning journey to the S.E.A. (South East Asia) Aquarium to learn about the aquatic creatures. Children will also be unearthing more about marine animals - such as what they eat, where they live and how they look like over the next 4 weeks. In the first week, they will do an arts and craft titled "Marine Animals". Children get to unleash their creativity as they create fishes of various colours and sizes. In addition, they learn to identify the different body parts of the animals, therein adding onto their understanding of marine life.
The K1 children were amazed by plethora of marine life in the aquarium and were very excited to see them up close.
The children listened attentively as the tour guide explained to them what kinds of marine animals could be found at the S.E.A Aquarium.
Children were given each given a card and they had to complete the activity on it by circling the marine animals spotted at the aquarium.
The K1 children were amazed by plethora of marine life in the aquarium and were very excited to see them up close.
term 3, week 1: "what do you sea?"
Theme: Types of animals
​Topic: Marine animals
​
Learning area(s)
-
Arts and Creative Expression
-
Discovery of the World
​Learning objective(s)
Children will be able to...
-
recall what are some examples of marine animals
-
identify the different parts of a marine animal
-
express their feelings freely through the use of different colours
Teaching technique
Scaffolding and Questioning
​
teaching techniques
Scaffolding describes the process of providing temporary guidance both verbally and non-verbally to support children moving from one stage of competence to another (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). Teachers scaffold children to enhance their mastery in various areas of development and to encourage their discovery of new knowledge and skills. Some examples of scaffolding include questioning, modelling and giving hints. In this video, Teacher Laura scaffolded the children by explicitly demonstrating to them what they are supposed to do and provided additional guidance before letting them do it independenly. Teachers also have to be aware of the children's individual abilities and decide on when the child is ready to move to the next stage of competency by noting the child's social, cognitive development and communication competency (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009).
​
Questioning can be used as a closed and open-ended teaching technique. Closed ended questions are usually used to get the children to recall what they have learnt previously. Teachers mostly ask such questions with an expected response in mind (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). However, closed-ended questions do not largely influence children's learning as the answers provided are very restricted. Conversely, open-ended questions encourage children to explore, predict outcomes of certain matters and critically think about the world around them (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). Teacher Laura asked both closed and open ended questions during the lesson which encouraged a range of responses. Teachers are also better able to understand children's thinking when they talk about their thoughts and feelings.