The Nura & J Workshop

Quiz question: What do you see in the picture above?

Answer: A learning opportunity.

Now that Nyla is happily monitressing (read: kaypohing) in her school, it has been a constant challenge for me as a parent to keep that curious spark in her alive. As the engine of her journey of discovery starts, so does my engine of throwing away rusty, old school learning methods and learning innovative ways to teach like the picture of the car number plate above. Useful when you're stuck at traffic jams.

Look at the four numbers! Baby, which number is the greatest?

Which number is the smallest?

Ok now arrange the numbers in descending order!

Arrange the numbers in ascending order now darling!

Now add all the 4 numbers up!

WAY TO GO SWEETHEART!

And there you go, Mathematics lesson literally on the go. :)

During my P1 days, Maths was taught like this: Easy ok everybody. You all listen carefully ah. Adding means plus. So you see here. Put 1 there. See? Simple.”

No wonder my P1 face very stupiak kind. So poor thing.

Kids these days are wired differently.

The “cancel here, put there” method expired already.

Numbers don’t mean anything to them. Chocolates, pizzas, teddy bears, erasers, straws, basically anything masak-masak does.

Don’t get me wrong.

They think they are playing. We make sure they are learning.

That is why lower primary teachers use the latest pedagogical methods to teach through play. That is why we, as parents, have to teach through play, even before they start Primary One. One of my friends gave me an SOS call last week. Her son is in Primary Two and had difficulty doing subtraction.

His problem, I found out later, is not with P2 Mathematics. It is with number bonds - a P1 topic. So parents, make sure they get their Primary One foundation right, before it spirals out of control in primary 2, 3 or 4.

Jenn and I had a lot of fun sharing all these P1 and P2 concepts and games at the Bottoms Up Parents workshop last December, where we shared, how we can use UNO cards, amongst others, to play addition, subtraction, multiplication and division games while bonding with the family. Some of the mummies and daddies were so competitive we had to secretly nudge them to “give chance” to their little ones. you know who you are!

At the request of some of you who couldn’t make it last December, we have decided to hold another workshop this time.

We will be covering all the P1 and some P2 (more difficult topics like fractions, etc.) Mathematics topics.

On top of that, some of you have also requested that we cover some English language topics that are, quote unquote “enough to make an adult weep”, so we will be doing that as well.

Example: A tiger eats meat _______ (and/but) a cow does not.

This book is big ______ (and/but) that book is small.

What is the difference between the two examples given above? How do you explain to your kiddos why one answer is correct but the other is wrong? Please don’t say, “It just sounds better.”

The little ones deserve to know why.:)

As parents, it is necessary that we are well tuned to what our children are expected to learn and know at various levels of their Primary school lives.

Mummies and daddies, if you have pre-school children, this workshop will also shape your kiddo’s foundation to prepare him for P1.

Just as it’s never too late, it’s never too early to start.

Oh, and did I mention one of the mummy participants in the December workshop has not only successfully taught her daughter mathematics concepts during food preparation, she now has a junior chef in her kitchen?

Join us, on Saturday 24 March, 11 a.m to 1 p.m. at our Learning to Learn (English and Mathematics) Workshop.

We promise it’ll be worth your while, loads of fun and a brighter, happier kid in the making.

Do email me at nuraesman@gmail.com to register.

OH! You may bring along your children. Jenn and I wanna 'use' them as 'manipulatives' during the workshop. That being said, we will also include homemade materials which you can use to teach your children at home.

See you at my mailbox.