Volume I, January 2011 Halifax Montessori Monthly Newsletter

Up-Coming Events

14 Feb, 2011 (Mon) : Parent Involvement Program - Cupcake Pop Making/ Cookie-decoration
The mothers of Emily Kam (Watermelon Class) and Lim Kyi En (Tangerine Class) will be conducting a "Cupcake Pop Making" session with the Kindergarten Class children on the morning of 14 Feb, 2011 (Mon). Lin-Min (Emily's mum) and Li Leng (Kyi En's mum) are both working mothers but love to bake during their spare time. They have attended a number of baking classes and would like to share their passion with the children as February is our Parent Involvement month and our curriculum of "People Around Me" includes hobbies and activities which people do for leisure.

The baking session will start at 10am. The Kindergarten children will be involved in melting chocolates, stirring in the colouring, cookie crushing, stirring cream, moulding, and dipping/decorating.

The Apple and Tangerine children will be involved in decorating heart shaped cookies as this activity is more appropriate for their age and abilities. Being St. Valentine's Day, it will also be a very appropriate activity.

24 Feb, 2011 (Thu) : Scrapbook Making
Helen, Tegan's mummy, loves to create scrapbooks in her free time, remembering memorable events in a creative manner. On 24 Feb (Thu) at 9.00am, Helen will be showing the Apple class children some of her personal scrapbooks and explaining what scrapbooks are for and how to make them. Thereafter, the children will also get to make a page on their favourite weekend or family activities. Apple Class children are encouraged to bring in one or two photos of what they do on weekends or family activities for their personal scrapbook page.

25 Feb, 2011 (Fri) : Parent Performance
On the 25 Feb, 2011 (Fri) from 9.00am - 10.00am, there will be a 'mini-concert' where a few participating parent spends 5-10 minutes showcasing the children what they do for hobbies and leisure. This event needs more support from parents as we only managed to gather the following 'brave' parents. We thank these parents for agreeing to participate.

1) Audrey Lim's mum, Phua Hwee, will play a few favourite tunes on the keyboard accompanied by Audrey on percussions.

2) Jun Yu's mum, Leng Leng, will be telling Chinese stories with props.

3) A parent who can play guitar (Pending)

So far, many parents who were approached said they are too shy or amateur but you don't have to worry or be a professional as the children will appreciate your time and just being there to share what you do and know. Hence, once again, we ask that parents please come forward to share and make this event meaningful and interesting for the children. Some ideas for the 'performance' are as follows:


Please do not limit yourself to our suggestions; if you have an item out of the ordinary or interest, please do come forward. If you prefer a longer and/or solo session at a time of your convenience like the up-coming baking session and a sketch-drawing session in the process of being finalised, please let us know and we will be glad to accommodate.

Belly Dancing
Jolyn, Ethan Lim's mummy, who has learned Belly Dancing for a few years will be telling the children about the dance, show them some props that are used in the dance like the veil, cymbals etc and perform the dance for them. The children will also get an opportunity to do a few moves with Jolyn. The date of this activity will be confirmed as soon as Jolyn finalises her travelling schedule for work. We will keep you updated and will involve all levels of children.

Cartoon Drawing
Alicia's mummy, Li Fang, will show the Apple class children about Cartoon-drawing which she loves doing. She will start of by showing the children how she draws 'Doraemon' a popular Japanese cartoon character. The children will then get to colour some cartoon print-outs. The date of this activity will be confirmed pending Li Fang's travelling schedule. We will keep you posted.

We greatly appreciate all parents for taking the time and effort to be involved in these activities. The children will learn more about the community and what people do for leisure through your sharing. We know that many other parents are keen to be involved as well but due to time and other factors were not able to participate this time and we appreciate your thoughts as well.

2 March 2011 (Wed) : Storytelling session
There will be a 25-minutes story telling session by The Asian Storytelling Network (ASN) in our school premise on 2 Mar, 2011 (Wed) at 11.0am. This session is sponsored by MCYS (Ministry for Community Development, Youth & Sports) and also fits into our March curriculum theme of literature.

18 March 2011 (Fri) : Excursion - Ugly Duckling
The Little Company is staging Hans Christian Anderson's 'The Ugly Duckling', the classic story about a little duckling who looks different. It is an inspirational story about being the odd one out. We will be taking the children to this show on 18 March 2011 Friday 9.00am – 11.30am, which is our scheduled excursion in March. The performance will be held at DBS Art Centre – Home of SRT. Cost for this trip is $20 per child (including admission, SISTIC charge and transportation). If you have not returned the consent form for your child to take part in this excursion, please click here Ugly Duckling.