Past Event….. Chinese New Year Celebration~ 9 th February 2011)

1. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL: The first term of the new academic year has passed very quickly. Our children have had a very busy term indeed, making new friends and settling in a new classroom environment. Through various engaging activities and new learning experiences, the children explored on the themes “My First Day At School”, “Me and My Special Body” and “My Home & My Neighbourhood”. We are glad that the children are settling well and enjoying their pre school days at our centre. The best way for a child to learn is through exploration, discovery and meaningful play. Reading skills and Phonemic Awareness are also important for the 5 & 6 years old and teachers will be enhancing on these skills through our Rigby Rocket Reading Programme and activities during the English lessons. We hope to work hand in hand with parents in the next Term to bring out the best in your child. Do let us know if you have any feedback on our programme thus far. You may email your feedback to enquiry@merculearning.com Thank you. Ms Nihla Zakaria Principal Past Event….. Chinese New Year Celebration~ 9th February 2011) Despite the chickenpox outbreak, the celebration was joyously celebrated in individual classes that was filled with exciting games especially planned out for the children. Have a closer look at the next page! Upcoming Events!!!! Project Approach~ Commencing in the month of June! Superkinder Camp ~ 3rd & 4th June 2011 Yes! Yes! Superkinder Camp is back! It specially caters to the kindergarteners! A lot of excitement and interesting activities awaits in the camp. Mathematical skills are being enhanced and further challenged. Don’t miss it! Parenting Workshop – 4th June 2011 Under the Parent Education in the school programme (PEPS), we will be organizing the next Parenting Workshop on 4th of June. More details coming your way FREE for parents whose child attends the camp. PTC – 7yh to 10th June 2011 Contents: Page 1 – Principal’s Message Past & Upcoming Events and Important Dates Page 2 – Chinese New Year Celebration Page 3 – K1’s Activities Show & Tell and Our Neighbourhood Page 4 – K2’s Activities Paste Words on my Face and Body Outline Page 5 – Activities to do at home Page 6 & 7 – Kidz Fun Time Page 8 - What’s New?, Art Corner and Take Home Activities. • Term 2 Important Dates!!! • Public Holiday / Centre Closure: • Good Friday (22/04/11) • In lieu of Labour Day (02/05/11) • Vesak Day (17/05/11) • Teachers’ Training (10/06/11 &11/06/11) Page 1

2. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter CNY Celebration Stories….. We started the celebration with a storytelling entitled, “How Chinese Years were named” and “Chinese Zodiac”.. K1 did a Craft activity on Chinese Zodiac Wheel while K2 had a race..! Weeee!!! Fine Motor Skills were being challenged as the Orange Peeling Competition and Chopsticks Game begun!! Peel, peel as fast as you can!!! Pick, pick the treats with the sticks! Run with it to the other side and come back to pick more!! Some of the K1s were very good in peeling the oranges while some were experiencing their first peeling adventure.. As for the K2s, they had difficulty to grasp the treats using the chopsticks but…..Most importantly, all of them enjoyed their oranges and treats! Ready, Go, Go, Go! K1 did Chinese Scroll, while the K2 did calligraphy! They had fun writing their New Year wishes either with the brush or their finger. Scrolls and paintings are brought home to be put up as decoration in their homes. Calligraphy & Chinese Scroll Page 2

3. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter Class Activities This year, the K1 children experience a lot of new things for them to learn and explore such as Spelling and Show & Tell. Not only that, teamwork is also one of the social skills that will be encouraged throughout the year. Hopefully, they will not only soar in academic but also be instilled with moral values and important life skills. Show & Tell~ My Weekend Mini Project Given the weekend project to complete at home, children shared their impressive project with their classmates.During the activity, they not only share their work but also the experiences they had doing the project with their family. The weekend project seems to have a good impact on the children as they learnt the similarities and differences they have with one another. They also showed improvement in their writing skills and their confidence level in sharing their work individually.. GREAT WORK K1s!!!Most importantly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents for their positive encouragement and involvement in the weekend project! Teamwork activities~ Our Neighbourhood This year, children will have many opportunities to engage in teamwork activities. This encourages children to work closely with their peers and it also teaches them to be patient with one another. Sharing and guiding each other along the way using their strength and building up on their weaknesses is part of the learning process. Although sometimes they tend to argue with their ideas, it helps them instill problem solving techniques as they think of solutions to best suite all of them.Keep up the good work..!!! Page 3

4. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter One of the K2’s development areas that has been focused on in the term is their Language Development.To achieve better results, our parents have been actively involved to expand children’s vocabulary. A lot of fun and engaging home activities have been created, such as “Word Bank”, where children find words or prints in any environment and record them in a notebook, so as to read them to Teacher Ju every Monday! Not only that, they are also encouraged to prepare their own speech for “Public Speaking Session”. With great appreciation, “Thank you parents for your immense participation!” This term’s newsletter, let’s take a look at some of the class activities on WORDS! WORDS! WORDS! PASTE THOSE WORDS ON MY FACE! Children were given sets of facial parts words to paste on their friends’ face.. Certainly it created lots of laughter in the class as they laughed ateach other’s faces that were full ofwords! BODY OUTLINE Slowly and carefully, they traced their partners’ body on a mah-jong paper. They enjoyed seeing different kinds of outline that have been traced by different groups! As per saying, “2 brains are better than one”, they worked in pairs to match the words from an envelope to the body parts traced on the mah-jong paper. Awesome to the cooperation skills and perseverance displayed to complete the task correctly. Page 4

5. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter • Activities to do at Home! • Based on research, quality time spent with children at home will reap big benefits in their development. Not only it will enhance their academic achievement, it will also increase their self-esteem, self-confidence and other moral values. • Below, we have suggested some beneficial activities that you can spend at home with your child! • Here are two fun ways to introduce our new subject, that is the, ‘ENVIROMENTAL • AWARENESS!’ There are so many ways to userecyclable materials and produce • something magnificent! Do try them at home! • Eco-Mobile • What you'll need: • Recycled styrofoam trays, Scissors, Hole punch, Old magazines , Glue, Ribbon, string, or yarn, Wire coat hanger • How to make it: • After thoroughly washing the trays, cut out shapes such as birds, • butterflies, sun shapes, fish, and so on. • Glue magazine pictures (nature scenes) onto the trays and let dry. • Punch a hole in the top of each shape. • Place a length of string or yarn through each hole, knot it, and attach these to a wire coat hanger. Vary the lengths of each picture. • Hang this mobile in your favorite place for the family to see and enjoy. • Fruit and Nut Coleslaw • Ingredients • 1 (8 ounce) can sliced pineapple, drained with juice reserved • 2 tablespoons lemon juice • 1 banana, peeled and sliced • 3 cups shredded cabbage • 1 cup diagonally sliced celery • 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts • 1/4 cup raisins • 1 (8 ounce) container orange flavored yogurt • 1/2 teaspoon salt • Cooking Instructions • Drain pineapple, reserving 2 tablespoons juice. Cut pineapple into thin strips, and place in a large bowl. • In a medium bowl, combine reserved pineapple juice and lemon juice. Toss with banana, and add to pineapple. Add cabbage, celery, mandarin oranges, walnuts and raisins; toss to combine. • Blend yogurt and salt together, and add to cabbage mixture; toss lightly. Cover, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Page 5

6. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter Kidz Fun Time! Page 6

7. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter Puzzle Master! A. Month of the year (5) A. World's largest continent (4) B. Public transport (3) C. Automobile (3) C. Part of a dollar (4) C. Board game (5) C. Spun by spiders (7) C. Young bear (3) E. Bird of prey (5) E. Direction (4) E. Number (5) E. Part of the arm (5) G. Fuel (3) R. Uncooked (3) S. Cutting tool (3) S. Female relatives (7) T. Cloth for drying (5) T. Large woody plant (4) Answer: Page 7

8. K1 & K2, Term 1, 2011 Newsletter What’s New? Scoops on the new activities for this year We hope that you had enjoyed yourself by reading and be aware of the happenings in the centre through this newsletter. Stay tune for the next term’s newsletter as we will bring in much more happenings, exciting activities and photos to share with you, our precious parents! Thank you for your time! Young Artist Corner! Prepared By: Jurianna (K2 Teacher) Amaninah (K1 Teacher) Children LOVE expressing their creativity through means of arts.. Our Centres: Kidz Meadow Kindergarten @Pasir Ris 6583 3522 Kidz Meadow Childcare @Buangkok 6498 8670 Kidz Meadow Childcare @Woodlands 6368 9634 Kidz Meadow Childcare @Yishun 6759 5117 Page 8