Reflections

So what should we teach in Kindergarten?
Day 3 (3th April 2013)

After 2 days of class. learning about what we shouldn't be teaching in Kindergarten, I wonder what should we really teach? Have we been really over teaching the children?

According to Dr Yeap, as teachers, what should be teaching children to prepare them for the future.
We should teach children to: -
1. visualization - experience with concrete materials
2. fine motor skills
3. physical development  
    - fine motor skills and physical development    
       includes cutting, folding, tearing
4. comprehension - teaching children to
    understand what is asked and how to answer









Problem solving 
Day 4 (4th April 2013)

Today we learnt how to problem solve a question in fraction form. OMG! I cant seem to remember how to do it. How am I to do it? I can imagine the feeling when children are given a problem and not know what to do. But what I learn was that it is ok to not know how to do the problem, in fact, it is ok if I did it wrongly as that all in the process of learning.

In fact, when teaching children all about fractions, it's good to make use of real concrete materials so that children can see what is happening. Only when given concrete materials would children be about to better 'visualize' what the problem is all about.

As teachers, we need to remember that we should not explain to children everything crystal clear. This would result in children not being able to handle situation that are conflicting. We need to instead, encourage children to solve problems, especially when not told how to do it.



Choosing Materials 
Day 5 (5th April 2013)

Dr Yeap spoke about the importance of  choosing materials when teaching children. We need to consider what is important when teaching children math concept. For example, when we are counting, we should just concentrate counting and not any other things. To teach children counting, this may be a possible lesson plan:-

Lesson plan 1 - teaching counting with same coloured concrete materials
Lesson plan 2 - teaching counting by introducing different coloured of concrete materials
Lesson plan 3 - teaching counting by introducing different shapes of concrete materials



This way of teaching is allowing children to concrete on the counting and that when counting sometimes we can also be counting different objects.










Last day of class
Day 6 (6th April 2013)

Today we learnt the importance of planning for lessons.
* What do you want students to learnt?
* How do I know?
* What if they cannot?
* What if they can?

We need to remember there are many ways to solve a problem, and we should encourage children to find different ways to solve a problem. However, when we realize that children are not able to solve a problem by themselves we need to consider which teaching strategy to go back to.

Teaching strategies
1. model
2. scaffold
3. children do the work themselves
4. provide enrichment

Today was the last day of class, and even though I may have felt a bit upset to learn that there are many things I should not be teaching to the children, Dr Yeap has also make me think of the different ways I can teach children using the same concept.

A big thanks to Dr Yeap and see you in the next module. Hope you like the cookies we gave you :)