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Nania News
No.38 December 2004Dear parents,
Christmas is around the corner. The children are already getting into a festive mood. They are busy practicing songs and poems. On the display table there is a “Star Windows calendar” placed in the center. Each day before lunch, three children will come to the display table. One child will open one of the star windows of the calendar and the other two children will place handmade animals or gnomes on the display table with caring thoughts. Every child will have a turn to perform this ceremony until all the windows are open and we celebrate Christmas festival together.
For this festival we work on sharing and giving with the children. Christmas is not just about receiving presents. It is also about giving. There are many unfortunate people in the world. Some are sick and some are hungry. As part of the ceremony, the children are asked to think about someone who needs help and send out good thoughts and love to them.
For the festival craftwork, children made Paper Christmas Socks. They will bring home their beautiful paintings and drawings in their Paper Christmas Socks. Browsing through their drawings, one can see how the children have developed over the year.
It has been a challenging and wonderful 9 months for me. I am glad to meet all the children at Taska Nania. For me, seeing the world through their eyes is a wonderful daily experience. I look forward to see you at the Christmas festival and to have all of the children again next year.
Teacher Thian
Christmas Festival Programme
9.00 am Star Making
9.30 am Setting up for snack
9.45 am Presentation
- Greetings
- Christmas poems and songs
- Handing out end of year cards
10.15 am Snack (having children’s handmade cookies)
10.35 am ‘Making a wish’
10.50 am Puppet show
Goodbye song
Christmas presents
11.15 am Departure
No.37 November 2004Dear parents,
It was nice to meet everyone again during our Harvest Festival. The children enjoyed making bread for snack and doing their presentation. I hope you enjoyed their presentation and the puppet show.
We had Sara and Stefan’s graduation just before Deepavali & Hari Raya. They began preparing for their graduation a month earlier. Their presentation on that day was great. They were confident and performed very well together. Well done, Sara and Stefan! Seeing them sitting next to each other and doing so well together, a class child asked if they were getting married. Like the child, I was truly touched by Sara and Stefan during their graduation ceremony.
From the end of October, the display corner was transformed into a colourful joint display for Deepavali & Hari Raya. We had gold embroidered saris, a Rangoli (coloured rice motif), colour wax lamps and green display ‘ketupats’. On 10th November, Teacher Chithra told the children a Deepavali story and we had Indian kuih after the story for morning snack. Later for lunch we had satay with ketupat (traditional Malay food) and the children sang the Hari Raya song.
We are now preparing for Christmas. Enclosed are songs for the Christmas Festival.
Teacher Thian
Christmas Festival/End of Year Festival (14rd December 2004)
Parents and siblings are invited to join the festival from 9 am. We will have children’s presentation and a puppet show. Children will go home early with their parents after the festival at about 11.15 am. More details of the programme will be provided later.
School Holidays
School holidays start from 15th December 2004 (Wednesday) till 2nd January 2005 (Sunday). School will reopen on 3rd January 2005.
Attach with this article is the handout about the literacy development aspect of Nania’s curriculum.
No.E36 October 2004
Dear parents,
We truly enjoyed our lunch box day on 23rd September (Tuesday). The children were so excited with making money and buying their own lunch box from Aunty Janet’s restaurant. We were lucky to have nice weather for a picnic on that day.
You may have noticed the hall display was decorated with colourful lanterns for the moon cake festival. The children voices sounded so lovely when they sang the Moon Cake Festival songs. I hope you enjoyed the vegetarian moon cake the children brought back home.
Harvest Festival is around the corner. We have changed the hall display theme accordingly. Green and Brown colours now set an earthy background tone. Children are excited as we place different fruits and vegetables on the display table from day to day. They like to touch the fruits and vegetables and find out their names.
For the Harvest Festival, we want the children to experience the importance of food. We are working with the children to be grateful to the sun, the rain, the wind, and the farmers for our food. The songs, poems and puppet story are chosen with that in mind.
We are practicing songs and poems in Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, Hokkien and English. The children enjoy them very much! They are looking forward to the Harvest Festival and the puppet show.
Enclosed with this month’s newsletter are the songs that we are practicing for the Harvest Festival and the festival programme during that day. Also find our new menu. We have made some minor changes.
Teacher Thian
Photos from the Lunch Box Day
Harvest Festival programmeDate: 15th October 2004
Venue: Taska Nania
Schedule:
09:00 - 09:30 bread making (for snack） &freeplay
09:30 - 09:45 setting up tables for snack/toilet
09:45 - 10:15 presentation
10:15 - 10:25 toilet
10:25 -10:40 snack
10:50 - 11:05 puppet show
11:10 goodbye song & present (flower)11:15 going homeEvents
Play dough (28th October 2004)
The children will bring home their class play dough on that day.
Painting Bag (29th October 2004)
Children will make their painting bag and colour it. The bags will be used to keep their paintings and drawings other than the ones used for presents they have done during this two months and taken home.
English Class Graduation
Sara is going to Class 1 next year. Her graduation will be on the 5th November 2004 (Friday). Sara is moving to Sungai Petani after the graduation. Deepavali and Hari Raya Celebration (10 November 2004) We will decorate the hall display based on the theme of Deepavali and Hari Raya. On that day, before the holidays, children will have Muruku (Indian Snack) for snack time and Ketupat (Malay Traditional Food) for lunch. Chithra (Administrator) will tell a Deepavali story to the children.Holidays
1st November 2004 (Monday) will be replacement holiday for Al-Quran Day that falls on 31st October 2004 (Sunday).
Deepavali and Hari Raya holiday will be from 11th November (Thursday) until 16th November (Tuesday).
No.E35 September 2004
Dear parents,
Moon Cake Festival is just around the corner. Colour lanterns (tang lung) are strung up in shops and shopping malls. For those who are not Chinese, the Moon Cake Festival, a Mid-Autumn Festival (Chung Chiu), is the third major festival of the Chinese calendar. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month. It is also known as the Moon Cake Festival because a special kind of sweet cake (yueh ping) prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a traditional Chung Chiu delicacy.
This festival brings lots of sweet memories for me. When I was in primary school, my father helped me to make a fish shape lantern. It was fun to walk with that lantern. I felt proud of my own work. At Nania, we celebrated our lantern festival earlier in July. We will never the less have a class Moon Cake celebration and children will bring back a vegetarian moon cake on that day.
Next month we will celebrate our Harvest Festival. For this festival, we will focus the children to appreciate all the important things and aspects related to food. Mothers will be invited to join us on that day. You may have already noticed at home that the children have started to practice songs and poems for presentation on that day. You will be informed of details in the next newsletter.
Teacher Tian
Parents evening
We had an evening meeting with parents last April to share about life at Nania and address queries from parents. It was a nice evening. We got to know more about each other. Parents enjoyed the opportunity to ask some of the questions they never got around to asking as well as meet other parents. It was proposed that such an evening gathering is held from time to time to maintain good contact between parents and staff as well as between parents.
We would like to invite you all parents to another Parents’ Evening Meeting (parents only) at 7.30 pm on 24th September 2004 (Friday). To enable discussion we recommend parents not to bring their children to the meeting. The meeting is not expected to go beyond 9.00 pm. Kindly inform us whether you can or cannot attend the meeting.
No. E33 4th Jul. 2004
Dear parents,
Lantern Festival is around the corner. The children are busy making lanterns and preparing for the festival. Lantern Festival is one of the big festivals we celebrate with parents at Nania. The Nania Lantern Festival brings together elements from the Chinese Moon Cake Festival and the Japanese Summer Bon Festival. The festival is celebrated in the evening.
On the festival day, children will make dango (rice dumpling) in the morning for the evening festival snack. They will enjoy the evening with songs, dance and the snack they made themselves. They will do a lantern walk with their handmade lanterns.
At Nania we use candles for story time, birthdays and farewells. Candles as light on the earth are used to relate the children to the lights in the Heavens in our cultural life activity. As the sight of Mr Sun, Mr Moon and Mr Star fill the children with wonder and inspire us in our life, Mr Candle and it’s light brings a sense of dignity to the children as it grace their activity. The lantern walk during the festival offers a moment of communion in the children’s hearts between the light on earth and the lights in the heavens.
Teacher Thian
Nania Lantern Festival
Date: 16th July 04 (Friday)
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: Taska Nania (garden) / raining (indoor)
Programme
(Morning) 9.00 am ~ 9.20 am Morning Tea
9.30 am ~ 10.00 am Dango making
(snack for the evening)
10.00 am ~ 10.15 am clearing up
10.15 am ~ 11.15 am creative play
11.15 am ~ 11.30 am clearing up / toilet
11.30 am ~ 12.00 pm lunch
12.15 pm going home
(Evening) 6.30pm ~ 6.50 pm Children’s presentation
(greeting, poems, songs)
6.50 pm ~7.00 pm Hokkien poem by staff
Bon dance
7.00 pm ~ 7.30 pm light snack
Mothers are kindly requested to help bring refreshments for their children after the Bon dance
7.30 pm ~ 7.45 pm Lantern walk
7.45 pm Goodbye song
Notes regarding the Lantern Festival
- Please note that school will begin at 9am and finish at 12.15pm on 16th July 04 (Friday). Children will have lunch in the school. Children will come back again at 6.30 pm (after dinner) with their parents. Please be on time.
- We have made parking arrangements for the festival with the Che Hoon Moral Uplifting Society, across the road from Nania. Please park your car at the car park opposite the school.
- There will be quite many people during the Lantern Festival. Please look after the safety of your child.
- Some Japanese children will wear their traditional costume for the evening. English class children are most welcome to wear their traditional clothes as well.
*Bon is one of Japan’s summer festivals and is a time when people make offerings of food and other things to their ancestors and pray for the happiness of their ancestor’s souls in the next world. It takes place from the 13th to 15th of August, and during this time the folk dance known as Bon Odori can be seen in cities, towns and villages all over Japan.
*Moon Cake Festival: A Mid-Autumn Festival, the third major festival of the Chinese calendar, is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month. This festival is also known as the Moon Cake Festival because a special kind of sweet cake prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a delicacy.
Lantern Walk Song
I go with my bright little lantern
My lantern is going with me
In heaven the stars are shining
On Earth shines my lantern for me
The Light grows dim as we go in
la bimba la bamba la bin
The Light grows dim as we go in
la bimba la bamba la bin
No.E32 4th Jun. 2004
Dear parents,
How was the school holiday for you? I trust you had some great time together with the children. I had fun doing counseling sessions at holiday camps for teenagers.
Teacher Tan and I were back at Nania one week earlier to clean up the classroom. We wash all the curtains, the hanging cloths, the floor rugs, tables and chairs. We put out the class play material (stones, nuts, logs and toys) under the sun. We were lucky to have sunny days during our cleaning days. It was quiet. We missed the children during our cleaning and preparation workdays.
Last month, just before the school holidays, we celebrated Mia and Samantha’s birthdays. And whilst collecting and arranging the children’s drawing and paintings for them to take back home I was taken by the beauty of their work. They show how well the children learn and develop themselves. I had the feeling of wanting to keep some of the drawings and paintings.
Just before the holidays, we also bid farewell to Xuan Le. Her father, mother and brother joined us for her farewell. We wish her all the best where she is going.
I have started preparatory literacy sessions with the five years old from this month. The children were busy preparing flowers and cards for Father’s Day. I hope fathers, you enjoyed your child’s present.
Enclosed with this month’s newsletter is the updated parents’ contact list including the new children who have recently joined Nania. I was happy to hear from some parents that they used the list to arrange for their children to meet and have fun together. We also enclose Nania’s 2nd half year calendar for your convenience to plan your holidays. For your information, you can contact with us during the school holidays if it is a staff working day.
Teacher Thian
Birthdays
Tatiana will be 6 on 1st Jul. We will celebrate her birthday on that day.
Naomi will be 3 on 21st Jul. She will be in holiday during that month. We will celebrate her birthday when she is back.
Tara will be 4 on 22nd Jul. We will celebrate her birthday on that day.
Dragon Boat Festival/Duan Wu Jie (Tuesday 22nd June 2004)
We celebrate this festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Duan Wu Jie is a day to commemorate the Chinese Patriot and poet, Qu Yuan. On this day, we will eat vegetarian Bak Chang (Chinese rice dumpling).
Tanabata Celebration (Wednesday 7th July 2004)
This is the day of the year, according to a Chinese and Japanese folktale, the Weaver Princess and the Cowherder can cross the Milky Way that separates them and renew their love for each other. Children will make Tanzaku for this class celebration. Tanzaku is a special strip of paper on which wishes are written. Tanzaku and other ornaments are hung on a bamboo branch during tanabata and placed in the house as a way of entreating for better things to come.
Lantern Festival Celebration (Friday 16th July 2004)
This family celebration brings together elements from the Chinese Moon Cake Festival and the Japanese Summer Bon Festival. It is held in the evening, in Nania’s garden. The children will each make their own lantern and prepare dango (sweet rice dumpling). Parents and sibling will be invited to join the Lantern Festival. On that day, children will be going home early (after lunch at 12:15 pm) and coming back to Nania for the Lantern festival with parents and siblings after dinner at 6.30 pm. Details will be distributed closer to the date.
Note: Please encourage your child not to bring her/his own toys to Nania. Without their own toys, they engage easier in group creative play. If your child really needs her/his own toy, encourage her/him to keep it at our specially prepared basket during the time at Nania.
No.E31 4th May 2004
Dear parents,
It has been a time of learning and getting to know the children. I now feel I know them well. Last week, when one of the small boys was crying a girl came to him and settled him on a stool. She then pat his back and served him a cup of water. The boy, whilst still upset, soon stopped crying. It was a touching and beautiful moment for me.
We have a few children coming and going. With the new children, we now have three small ones, two boys and a girl in the class. The big boys have more opportunities to play the role of Big Brother to the younger ones. They are becoming more calm and helpful.
I started afternoon literacy development lessons with Sara and Tatiana. Sometimes Chloe (big) joins us when she does not have homework from her morning kindergarten. It is fun to learn together. Often some of the other children will come sit beside us and observe quietly. It is wonderful to see that the children are interested to learn new things. I plan to start introductory literacy sessions in the afternoon with the five years old children after the June school break.
There were a number of staff changes at Nania over April and May. The new team is working well. We have been having lots of sharing and laughter during our after class tea break. The new members include Mrs Ong, assisting Junko in the Japanese Class; Joyce, assisting Aunty Janet in the kitchen and housekeeping; Chithra in the office, who comes to watch over the English Class as they change after outside play. Ms Tan is the new Assistant Teacher in the English Class. She is a gentle and steady lady who also loves to sing. The children are already taken by her calm presence and melodious voice.
Ms Chen, the housekeeper’s last work day was Friday 13th May. She knitted a small purse for every child as a going away present. The children love the present. Chen helped me a lot while we are looking for a new assistant teacher. I wish her all the best with her work at Taska Lin. Ms Fion, Assistant Teacher of the Japanese class will leave Nania at the end of May to be a stewardess. She has been selected to join the Malaysian Airline. You may run into her when you travel in the near future. Nania will be looking for a new assistant teacher.
Presently the children just mix in their used clothes with all other things (clean clothes, towel, etc) in their bag after changing. We discussed this at our faculty meeting and would like to use the opportunity for the children to learn to fold and pack their own clothes after changing themselves. To do this it would greatly help us if parents pack a set of their child’s clean clothes in a plastic bag. After the children change themselves, we will encourage them to fold their used clothes and pack them in the plastic bag which they took the clean clothes out off.
●● School holiday is just around the corner. We wish all the children happy holidays. See you again on the 14th of June.
Teacher Thian
Birthdays
Marcella turns five on 26th June. We will celebrate her birthday on 25th June.
Father’s Day Celebration (18th June 2004)
Children will make a present and bring it home for their father on that day.
No.E25 8th Jan. 2004
Dear Parents,
New year greeting from Nania. Now that the holidays are over we are looking forward to the 2004 school year. The new comers are still in the process to settling into the class while the other children are happy to see and play with their friends again. It is so nice the garden is filled with laughter and to have the children running around after the long break.
Chinese New Year is coming soon. In Nania the children start to practice drumming, singing and dancing. When the children sing the Chinese New Year songs the whole school becomes lively with New Year mood. Decoration has been set up as well. Chinese New Year is the time where everyone comes together as family to prepare and celebrate a new year wishing for health, happiness and good luck.
Best wishes to you all and may we have a wonderful year together.
Gong Xi Fa Chai.
< Chinese New Year Festival Programme on 20th Jan 2004 >
09.00- Free play/ setting up for snack
09.25- cleaning up
09.30- toilet
09.45- children's presentation
10.15- snack
10.40- staff's presentation/ puppet show
11.10- goodbye song
11.15- receiving ang pow/ departure
Children's activities
Before we were away for holidays last year a pair sunbirds made a nest near the English class. The children had seen how the nest has been made. There are 2 baby sunbirds in the nest now. The children are very excited to see mummy sunbird and daddy sunbird bring food for the baby birds. It is such a wonderful experience for the children. Do drop by one day and visit the sunbirds.
A baby tortoise was injured one day. I told the children that I was going to send the tortoise to the hospital. A little girl come to me and said: " Teacher Lin, my father is a doctor. He can look after the tortoise."Later, most of the children said that their fathers were doctors too.
Events in February
Holidays
Hari Raya Haji- 2nd Feb 04
Thaipusam- 5th Feb 04
Awal Muharam- 23rd Feb 04
No.E2 28. Feb. 2002
Dear parents,
I wonder if your chile starts to tell story at home. I found it really enjoyable when children joined in the story telling espcially the rhythmic parts i.e. "stop little pot, stop!" , " No, I won't open the door, not with my chinnie, chin, chin."
It was the first time that I told the same story for 2 weeks and I found that they carried the story better this time. And on the last day of the second week we acted out the story. One day your child might tell you a bed time story !
<Ring a Ring O' Roses>
Ring a ring a roses
A pocket full of posses
A-ti-sho A-ti-sho
We all fall down.
#Joining hands ansd forming a ring, any number of children dance round and round singing. At the words "We all fall down" let go of hands and fall on the floor. Then, rising, the game begins again.
<Finger play>
Five Little Mice on the Pantry Floor,
Hold up fingers of right hand
Seeking for bread-crumbs or something more;
Five little mice on the shelf up high,
Walk fingers of right hand over backs of lefthand fingers
Feasting so daintly on a pie -
Make "O" touching fingers and thumbs of both hands for pie
But the big round eyes of the wise old cat
Touch fingers and thumbs of each hand separately
See what the five little mice are at;
Quickly she jumps ! -
Lower left hand suddenly
but the mice run away,
Right hand disappears behind back
And hide in their snug little holes all day
" Feasting in pantries may be very nice;
But home is the best ! " say the five little mice.
Home: Hands folded before you, right in left
<Cherry Pip>
I found a little cherry pip !
I put it in the ground.
And then when I came back again
A little shoot I found
And the shoot became a branch
And the branch became a tree
And now I pick the cherres for tea
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