Its been a long time ....
Lucius is currently with Growing Up Gifted (GUG), United Square branch and I have submitted the non-renewal form last Sunday, his last day with GUG will be on the 17 June. Prior to that, I have also submitted the registration form for Julia Gabriel bilingual classes in July, 9am slot and today, Lucius spot at JG bilingual class is confirmed, starting this July 1st :)
The reason I wanted to start Lucius with GUG is because of their zoo phonics, this gave me a chance to learn too so that I can do it myself at home :) I did not attend to GUG trial classes and decided to went registration.
Lucius had his 1st lesson on the 29 April, zoo phonics for today - "Q". Their procedure on the check on children health is;
1) 2 GUG staff will be at the door, with a infrared - thermometer on hand to check the children temperature, if the children temperature is fine, they will paste a little round sticker on their clothing.
2) Once you step in to the classroom, the teacher will be there getting ready to physical check on the student hands and feet.
After that, free-play for 15 minutes. GUG toys are very limited, period.
There are a total of 8 toddlers in the class (12 - 18 months), with 2 teachers. Lucius is the only one behaving like a terrorist, oh my... He simply wants to dance (even without any music and while teacher Evelyn is talking) and moves around the classroom. Perhaps because its a new environment to him hence he's checking out...
After playtime, the teacher and parent will sing "It's time to keep your toy away" followed by the "Good morning" song then to greeting in different languages (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French...) In my opinion, The teacher in GUG lacks the passion, the feeling they gave me is "they are just doing their job, it's a procedure" Doing for the sake of doing it.
Teacher Evelyn will greet the SELECTED people in the class (helpers, mummy or daddy) and greet all the children and guess what, they skipped Lucius as they forgot his name and I gotten tell them again, big sigh. Anyway, lesson continue with zoo-phonics then to matching of zoo phonics puzzle then to story-telling... (their story book is smaller than a A4 size, seriously... how do you expect the children to see?)
Now, here come every toddlers favourite... Snack time! Another disappointment here! They do not provide any snack in the class!!! It's time they should update their parent's guide book?! Luckily I have some bread in my bag, golly, this is a disaster. The parent are free to choose where they want their kids to be seated at, GUG have a total of 4 tables in the class. I don't like this setting, snack time is more on social gathering for all our children, whats the point of snack time then?
Now, here come every toddlers favourite... Snack time! Another disappointment here! They do not provide any snack in the class!!! It's time they should update their parent's guide book?! Luckily I have some bread in my bag, golly, this is a disaster. The parent are free to choose where they want their kids to be seated at, GUG have a total of 4 tables in the class. I don't like this setting, snack time is more on social gathering for all our children, whats the point of snack time then?
Art time on a A5 size colour paper, again, its free sitting so you can see 1 children + parent at 1 table. Material given;
1) Glitter glue with paint brush
2) Plastic wrap
First, our little one have to use the brush and dipped it into the glitter glue then apply it onto the A5 paper then they can do whatever they want with he plastic wrap and paste it onto the paper. I was quite shocked as they do not provide any apron and so, I decided to bring the existing one that Lucius had at home to the 2nd lesson. The moment I brought it out during art lesson on the 2nd lesson, all the parent goes "wow, this is a good idea!". Teacher Evelyn commented it was cute, lol. For the 3rd class lesson, Teacher Evelyn asked the parent to wait while she go to the next room to take the apron for the children to put it on. So... do they provide apron or not?
Cleaning time at the washroom and then to music class! This is the BEST part of the program so far and Lucius enjoyed to the max.Music lesson lasted about 15 minutes. Back to the classroom for the goodbye song.
Now, here's my review for JG - Awesome-ness and bravo!
We attended the trial class for playnest on the 5 April, 9am session at Forum.
Class Size: Max. 12 and we have 12 that day
Teacher: 3 pax
Same thing, JG will do a check on the children hand and feet to make sure they are safe from HFMD. After that, the teacher will asked for our name and they really remember by heart.
Free play 15 minutes and during this time, the teachers will go around to mingle around with the children, play and talk to them... Personally, I like this. JG playarea is way bigger and spacious and of course, they have more toys for the children to play with. Lucius was really excited and all smiles on his face, you can see that happiness is stated all over his face and he goes around hugging people... haha.
The curriculum is about the same, just that JG does not have zoo phonics. JG focus on speech and drama and they have their own library where children can go in to borrow books! I love that idea :)
The teachers at JG is bubbly, happy and they are really passion about what they are doing, I enjoy the class myself too. Snacks are provided in a bowl (Healthy times biscuit), they will give 1 biscuit at a time, if you want more just ask for it. Seating arrangement for snacks and art time is arranged by the teacher.
Outdoor play includes sand play... which Lucius hates sand, lol. Anyway, they have other toys like slides, mini houses, few types of transportation for them to sit / ride on, etc. Story-telling time with lots of action and most importantly, the pictures is big enough for our child to see (size - A1).
Class end with a few songs and one of the teacher will use the bubbles-gun and filled the room with bubbles, the kids really enjoy it! Lucius KO in less than 5 minutes in the car... Zzzzzzzzz
Now, I'm looking forward to their holiday program and playclub in July ^^
Now, here's my review for JG - Awesome-ness and bravo!
We attended the trial class for playnest on the 5 April, 9am session at Forum.
Class Size: Max. 12 and we have 12 that day
Teacher: 3 pax
Same thing, JG will do a check on the children hand and feet to make sure they are safe from HFMD. After that, the teacher will asked for our name and they really remember by heart.
Free play 15 minutes and during this time, the teachers will go around to mingle around with the children, play and talk to them... Personally, I like this. JG playarea is way bigger and spacious and of course, they have more toys for the children to play with. Lucius was really excited and all smiles on his face, you can see that happiness is stated all over his face and he goes around hugging people... haha.
The curriculum is about the same, just that JG does not have zoo phonics. JG focus on speech and drama and they have their own library where children can go in to borrow books! I love that idea :)
The teachers at JG is bubbly, happy and they are really passion about what they are doing, I enjoy the class myself too. Snacks are provided in a bowl (Healthy times biscuit), they will give 1 biscuit at a time, if you want more just ask for it. Seating arrangement for snacks and art time is arranged by the teacher.
Outdoor play includes sand play... which Lucius hates sand, lol. Anyway, they have other toys like slides, mini houses, few types of transportation for them to sit / ride on, etc. Story-telling time with lots of action and most importantly, the pictures is big enough for our child to see (size - A1).
Class end with a few songs and one of the teacher will use the bubbles-gun and filled the room with bubbles, the kids really enjoy it! Lucius KO in less than 5 minutes in the car... Zzzzzzzzz
Now, I'm looking forward to their holiday program and playclub in July ^^
