Another good read

Aidan wouldn't mind reading book when he has too (that is when mama said 'read the book'). Aimar is a different case. He has difficulty reading even one page of book, and the only way to 'force' him to read is to sit next to him and listen to his reading.

I never gave up looking for books that might attracts him to read, voluntarily. Books on facts,imaginary stuff, malay simple fiction book, and lots of types and genres. And finally, I got this one book. The riddles book. Bought it two weeks ago. And he on his way of completing it and asking for more!!!! O, what a music to my ear!

 He enjoyed it very much that he brought it to the school and read it. 

I saw lots of improvement in his reading attitudes, vocabulary and understanding of the logic. 

1. He enjoyed giving riddles that he understood. 

2. He asked and looked for answers that he didn't understand on the riddles itself.

3. He learned lots of new words and ideas. 

4. He loved it as it made him feel smarter when he threw riddles to his friends and they couldn't get it and when he told the answer they got it and laugh.

5. He read without me asking. 

ooo... I'm so looking forward to buying him more riddles books.. perhaps, this time I'd search for science riddles, maybe!

Try it, moms!

Science project: The volcano experiment

It's the science month at the school and Aidan told me he wanted to participate in the volcano science project. I thought it will be difficult, until I saw the instruction list given by his teacher and was looking forward to do it with the kids right away. The kids had fun while experimenting and exploring the 'volcanoes' of their own last weekend, before the science project. Even mama got overly excited and impressed. It was a good activity to work with the kids. 

The instruction is pretty straight forward. 
I googled it and this how it should be:

1. Build the volcano model. We made the volcano model using used bottle and shape it into a volcano mountain using the cheap plasticine.

2. Add water, vinegar, dish detergent and red food coloring in the bottle.

3. Add the baking soda when you are ready for an eruption.

A very good introduction to chemistry. 
I told them briefly in the simplest word of what really happened. 

It's the reaction between the vinegar which is acidic and baking soda which is a base that produced gas. Different form of chemicals has its own properties when mixed together and produced another different form of byproducts with different properties. For this case, I told them the byproducts is the carbon dioxide gas. I related to how human got allergic reactions and rashes all over due to do reaction on foreign things to our body. 

Aidan was quick and asked me why are not producing any bubble when we exhale carbon dioxide. I told him it's the detergent and colouring used in the experiment made it gas visible as we couldn't see the gas with our naked eyes. The detergent and food colouring are used to manipulate the observation in the experiment. 

It's a great time well-spent. Plus, they love cleaning the mess too... anything to do with bubbles and water..

Aidan is showing this in the science project in his school today. I hope it turned out well. Good luck, abang.

Science Yr 4 - Proses Hidup Manusia

Aidan learned the basic of human system, though the syllabus doesn't really introduce the human anatomy in general. The idea is to introduce the system that related to the human anatomy and to understand the effect of certain process and behaviours. 

Maths Yr 2 - Roundup / Pembundaran

There's a lot of method trying to teach lower primary children with rounding up numbers. 
The basic that I went thru with Aimar was:

1. Pastikan faham tentang digit dan nilai rumah setiap digit i.e. rumah ratus, puluh, & sa
2. Belajar untuk mencerakinkan nombor i.e. 678 = 600+70+8

To complete the round up, it's all about plus one or not to plus anything. 

Science Yr 4 - Kemahiran saintifik

The sports' day are over and just as the boys wanted to have a break, mama is already in panicked mode. Exam is coming in two weeks time and they must be prepared!

Completed chapter 1 of Aidan's science subject. Gosh, I still insisted in having science in english medium. Not that I don't love my own mother tounge, but, it's easier to explain the terms in english rather than malay. 

Anyway, we tried. 

The idea is to make the students understand what science is all about and what does it do. It is important for them to understand what scientist does in order for them to understand the methods and experiments terms and definitions. 

Aidan does understand the word 'experiment'..whenever we mentioned it, he will get overexcited and all he wanted to ensure is the outcome as expected. Interestingly, he's quite confused when we asked him to 'map' out what is the input, procedures and outcomes will be in performing any experiment. He's clueless.. I hope this helps. 

On a side note, we went through series of exercises from the book. I still believe the syllabus should link on other related subjects, especially maths. There were few examples discussing about averages and so forth while the students are not being introduced these theories in maths.. hmmmm... is not sync!

English Yr 2 - Preposition

Aimar was not sure of the opposite word for above and top. He got a little confused and guess it's a good time to start introducing him the basic of preposition words as we move along. 

1. Preposition is relationship words that we use to show location & direction, describe movement, time and space.

2. Preposition always followed by a noun, never a verb. If we want to follow with a verb, we must use the "-ing"

3. Preposition of time:

• at is for PRECISE time e.g. at 4:30am, at noon
• in is for MONTHS, YEARS, and LONG PERIODS e.g. in March, in 1977
• on is fr DAYS and DATES e.g. on Monday, on 22 Dec, on your birthday

Maths Yr 4 - Adding Fraction

It took hours for my hubby to teach Aidan about adding fraction. If it were me, I would just give him the answer to the homework and deal with his understanding later. But Thank God for having my hubby around to tutor his son.

So, Aidan learned about adding fraction. My hubby did run through the steps with him the morning after, but I just put it in the flow chart below, so that he could get the picture and remember.

Senang je nak buat campur atau tolak pecahan ni. 

Tiga basic steps:
Step 1. Dapat je soalan, check penyebut (nombor kat bawah tu). Kalau sama je semua, so, pergi step Kalau tak sama:

• Periksakalau penyebut yang nak dicampurkan atau ditolak ada persamaan (we called it least common denominator) ke tak. Sifir kene hafal! Kalau ada persamaan, pilih nombor yang kecil antara penyebut, dan sama kan penyebut yang lain. Contohnya: kalau 1/3 +1/6.. ingat sifir 3 dan 6. 6 adalah nombor terkecil yang sama di dalam kedua-dua sifir 3 dan 6, maka, jadikan 1/3 kepada nombor yang mempunyai penyebutnya 6 iaitu 1/3 = (1x2)/(3x2)=2/6.
• Jika penyebut yang hendak ditambah atau ditolak tidak mempunyai nombor gandaan terkecil yang sama, darabkan kedua-dua nombor itu. Contohnya 1/3 = (1x6)/(3x6)=6/18 dan 1/6=(1x3)/(6x3)=3/18
• INGAT! apa-apa cara pun, pastikan nombor atas (pengangka) dan bawah (penyebut) di darabkan dengan nombor yang sama untuk mengekalkan nilai pecahan itu (refer not equivalent fraction).

Step 2. Bila dah dapat penyebut yang sama, tambah kan pecahan-pecahan tersebut. 

Step 3. Jawapan yang didapati mungkin jawapan terkecil yang kita perolehi, atau mungkin juga boleh dipermudahkan jika perlu. Permudahkan jika boleh. 

To be an 'expert' in adding and subtracting fractions, these might helps:

1. Remember your multiplications table
2. Understand equivalent fraction and its concept. 
3. Always remember to multiply top and bottom with the same number to keep the value of the fraction equivalent. 
4. Add or subtract as usual (from left to right, whichever comes first)