2019 Summer Slam - Week 3 - Day 3

Hello Parents, A good evening to you. It is always a pleasure to see happy and eager faces in the morning and it is never a dull moment. We are periodically asked "What are learning today?",  "Are we cooking anything new, Ms Suanne?", and, of course, our response is - "Every day is a surprise, just you wait for it!" We are pleased to share with you all the activities that kept us busy through the day!  Team SS'19 @ Broadrick Cookery: Today, our cookery project was baking cakes!  We have two members of staff that are celebrating their birthdays and it is usually a tradition at SS to celebrate their birthdays as they always fall in the month of August. So, we are baking cakes for our friend Geethan, an alumnus, who is always around to give us a helping hand and also, for Aunty May!  So we really are doing this 'hands-on' and as you may imagine, gearing up for the celebrations!  We are fast becoming pros at measuring the ingredients, mixing, kneading and even decorating confectionaries. Pictures of the process and end-products are assured. Gymnastics:  Coach Annie had planned a surprise for us this morning, she used the 'parachute' to do a warm-up exercise and then re-used it as a tunnel to conduct the planned exercises.  Then it was hoops to cross over to the 'river stone'.  Wow! that was imaginative and loads of fun!  We continued to work on our cartwheels and we are getting to see Coach Annie beam more, at our progress! Experiment: Balloon 'Hovercraft' Today we made a balloon-powered toy using common household materials and it was a ton of fun to send it zooming around! We had so much fun moving the hovercraft across a long table. A light push sends it gliding along, almost in a straight path. And, the balloon had enough air in it for more than a few pushes. We kept blowing the balloon up for more and more trips! This activity was a great way for children to learn about the force of friction and its relation to power/velocity.  As long as the balloon is still filled with air, the hovercraft glides across a smooth tabletop. But as soon as the air runs out, and the power drops, the 'boat' slows down, and eventually comes to a stop. Material needed: An old CD, bottle cap, balloon and glue. Inventors: We are continuing to work on our boats as they do need some touch-ups. They are still at the 'paint-shop' and with some adding on a few parts and glueing some too.  Snack: Today, for snacks, we made our own 'Sweet Potato Breakfast Cups'.  Sweet potato is featured quite a bit in South American cuisine.  So we decided to go ahead to use the humble sweet potatoes and convert it into a delicious snack!  Here's how we made it: Step 1: Peel the Sweet Potato Step 2: Slice the Sweet potato Step 3: Arrange it on to your muffin tray in the shape of a bowl Step 4: Add the beaten-up egg and your vegetables Step 5: for the topping sprinkle cheese Step 6: off into the Oven And we waited for it to be baked and gobbled it all up! Coding: We continued to work on 'Scratch Jr (R)'. The children are really getting good at this and it is nice to see them having fun while learning something, at the same time. We have posted a few video clips of the work that was accomplished throughout the coding sessions. We hope you like it as much as we did, creating them. Sport - Volleyball: We learnt a few more skills and were introduced to the game on how it is played. We also played a practise game. Uncles Dennis and Sathish want us all prepared for the game on Friday!  Geography:  Today, we added more pictures to our project by drawing pictures of trees and flowers found around Singapore.

Summer Slam 2019 - Week 3 - Day 2

Hello Parents, A good evening to you all. There has been quite a buzz about plans for Friday!  Wonder why? Please take note of the field trip planned for the 2nd of August from 9.15 am - 12.15 pm. We shall be back at school for lunch. The logistics for the outing will be sent out to you, later.  Please be reminded to attend to the consent forms that were sent to you in yesterday’s post. Thank you and we shall be back with more, tomorrow! Please see the activities done today in the video above and posts below. Bye for now, Team SS'19 @ Broadrick Brainstorming with Maitri: Teddy Bears'! Making them! Yes, we are - using soft, manageable material. The children loved the activity and were quite absorbed in the process. This project is in line with the upcoming field trip. The idea behind making a 'teddy bear' is to accessorise it using recycled materials, at Playuem (when we visit on Friday). Inventors: So, we have started building our boat! We had to follow instructions and it was fun alright!  The children were thrilled to see the end product. Now for the paint job and voila! we have a beautiful toy boat. Will it sail? Where will it sail to? As time unfolds, we shall keep you informed. Sport - Volleyball: The girls and boys are latching on to the essential skills and making a game plan. The skill level has been appreciating in just 2 days and we are sure to see a thrilling practise match and then, of course, the finals. Our Finals are to be held on Friday, 2nd August followed by a party in the afternoon.  We are inviting volunteers to commentate on the game. Anyone? Entertainment:  We took a particular liking to a 'Cher' song the 'Shoop shoop song' as it played had us dancing to it too! The girls, in particular, are a 'head over heels' with Cher! They love her moves her style and we even heard them commenting on her unique voice! Some even went as far s to say; "we want long hair like Cher! " The boys are not saying much right now! Hmmm... Snack and Lunch : Today our special snack for the day was 'goldfish' and the 'rainbow-coloured fish' This came as a nice surprise to our little ones and they enjoyed it very much! Lunch Time:  Happy Lunchtime with friends followed by a game of charades couldn’t have been more fun! Geography:  Going with our home country, we looked at its attractions, special features and uniqueness in comparison to larger countries, to work on our project. With all the information given by our little ones, we were able to start putting the design together. We can't say much as that would be a spoiler alert.   Dance with Uncle Suhairi: Explosive Suhairi and his boundless energy saw us into 'Zumba' to music by who else but the diva, 'Cher'! ' Strong enough' and 'Do you believe', were the catchy tunes that had us on the floor!.

Summer Slam 2019 - Week 3 - Day 1

Hello Parents, Good evening and welcome to our final week of Summer Slam 2019!  We hope that you had a decent day, regardless of what you did Gymnastics:  Coach Annie started off the week, with our younger friends doing warm-up drills before they worked on the forward roll, the L shaped handstand and the baby cartwheel.  The more experienced children who had attended sessions, performed the baby cartwheel, cartwheels and the kick-handstand. Please see the video for more.  Cookery: Our focus on cookery moved from Asia to North America over the past two weeks and this week, we are taking a culinary trip to South America. So it was Brazil that we picked and the children made and enjoyed Brazilian cheese croquettes completely from scratch. Now, this was no easy task. Here’s how it was done, and yum: Step 1- we first got our hands messy making the dough Step 2 - kneading what we made, we cut out circles of the dough Step 3-  we stuffed the circles with mozzarella cheese Step 4 - tucked in the edges and sealed the croquette well so the cheese wouldn’t run away! Step 5 - dipped the croquettes in a beaten egg mix Step 6 - coated the egg coated croquettes with bread crumbs Step 7 - (adult work) we fried the croquettes until golden brown Step 8 - said 'Yum' and tucked into this delicious snack! Photos say the rest! Brazilian Chicken Croquettes (Coxinha) Lunch: Children were shown to set the table and then we sang grace and relished the meal. It was sweet to see children bobbing their heads to the music playing in the background as they ate. Experiment: 'spy stuff'! Today we wrote secret messages to our friends using ‘invisible ink’. Oh, it was thrilling and chilling as the letters became visible. This is how it was done ... 'Invisible Ink the Baking Soda Way': 1. Mix about 1/4 cup (60 ml) of baking soda and 1/4 cup (60 ml) of water 2. Using a Q-tip, toothpick or brush the solution on a piece of paper with desired writing 3. Let dry completely To read the secret message, apply grape juice concentrate across the paper with a paintbrush or a sponge. Don't forget - grape juice stains Inventors: So we spoke about the Helicopter, the electric fan and this week we are talking about the ‘boat’. We spoke about 'what is a boat?', 'the types of boats', 'why they are essential to us' and 'who invented the first motorboat'. We have a related craft planned that the children will bring home. Craft: We got our hands dirty today by using a mud/clay-like texture to do our artwork. Wow they turned out really well, have a look the pictures tell you how they all turned out. Entertainment: This week it's all about Cher. This flamboyant artist who has been performing for over 50 years, we thought, would fit well with Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. We are wondering how the boys will be part of the music haha Cher is an American singer and actress, who got started off with her partner, Sonny, in the act called Sonny and Cher in the 1960s. She has since amassed international fame with an array of Top 10 hits and screen roles, even winning an Oscar. The children were eager to find out about who they were. They were impressed with Cher's signature hairstyles (well wigs too!).  The girls, especially liked how she dressed up and thought she was very fashionable! More of Cher as we go along and 'Turn back time'! Sport - Volleyball: The Uncles, Dennis and Sathish are back, introducing, Volleyball. We began with the history of this popular game and discussed the rules. FYI, there are 6 Basic Skills in Volleyball - passing, setting, spiking, blocking, digging, and serving. Passing is often thought of as the essential skill in volleyball. Details of the 'finals' will be announced soon! Geography:  The focus this week will be on Singapore and how it looks like from our perspective. First, we brainstormed and worked on a mind map - what we can find in Singapore that helps us in our day to day lives. More as we go along. We have a project planned … you'll have to wait and see!

Summer Slam 2019 - Week 2 - Day 5

Hello Parents, A very good evening to you and we hope that this update finds you well. We had an awesome day starting with our ‘Beach Clean Up’ outing. Thank you, again, to all our parent volunteers for taking the time to participate in this project, you were most helpful. The clean-up, that began last year, is our own little way “to save the sea’. The bus ride to and fro was so much fun! We sang some songs and more than that we were just thrilled to ride on a big bus, together! When we got to the beach we reminded ourselves of some very important rules about staying with the group, sticking with our 'assigned buddy' and observing the perimeter. The clean up began and there was a lot to clean!  We filled several bags of garbage. Going to the beach should also include playtime and we had our share, playing in the sand for a bit. After all that fun we cooled ourselves down with some much-appreciated ice cream. In all this has been an amazing week of Summer School and we have one more week to go!  Have you signed up your child for week 3?  Here's the QR code for registration, if you are interested. Please scroll down to read about the day's happenings. Have a lovely weekend! Team SS'19 Lunch: Lunch was, as usual, a social event and a bit of wind-down after our time spent at the beach. A little respite before the game! Movie Time:  We opted for Lilo and Stitch with popcorn as a treat, and the choice to go with this movie was based on the songs from Elvis, featured in this movie.  Entertainment:  To give our awesome sparkly guitars a-go we mimicked the moves and danced away; to the king’s music. Elvis really did catch on with the children. Imagine that!  50 years and counting, the music lives on as appealing as it was back when it was first released. Long live the king! Basketball: Woot woot … and the game begins. The teams:  Team ‘Avengers’ and Team 'Transformers', were all charged up and ready. Here's the lineup - Avengers - Benji, Myrah, Aria, Siara, Reyansh, Hemish, Ayla,  Amaaya, Rian,Evana,Eka. Transformers - Shiv, Orit, Liora, Emma, Anishka. Zoe, Kaashvi, Ryne,Damien, Ira. A glimpse of the game with commentary! We are delighted with the number of skills that the children picked up and hopefully, what was experienced will awaken an interest in the game beyond summer slam! Next week, we shall learn volleyball.