Themes For Term Four

Dear Parents,


Our Theme for Term 4 is

"Let's Enjoy Nature".

We will cover topics like Plants, Paper, Water & Sand, Underground, Out In Space, Weather, Time, Light and Shadow.

Here are some ideas* that you can foster the concepts of these units at home :

Plants & Paper:

• At mealtimes, identify various parts of plants that are eaten. For example, we eat the leaves of lettuce, the stem of celery, the root of a carrot, and so on.
• Take a walk with your child and observe how many plants you can find that are cared for by people and how they are cared for.
• Make origami with your child using old magazines.
• Ask your child to name things that are made of paper at home (poster, calendars etc.)
• Collect some empty tissue boxes or used toilet rolls and let your child build castle with them.
• Choose some simple words and let your child select letters from newspapers to form target words.

Water & Sand :

• Finding out about evaporation with your child by setting out a shallow pan of water and marking the water level each day.
• Bubbles made with an eggbeater in a container of soapy water are fun for children of all ages.
• Bring your child to an outing at the beach and have sand play.
• If you have some marbles or stones at home, count the number of marbles or stones with your child. Let your child observe and talk about them.
• Look for items that are made from rocks or stones at home with your child (e.g. granite flooring; vase and so on).
• Show some real jewellery that you have to your child and talk about what they are made of.

Underground and Out In Space :

• Observe any ant near your house. Trace and talk about its nest with your child.
• Have your child talk about the feelings when you travel with him/her through MRT tunnels or journey in a car through a long tunnel.
• Take turns to name the objects which you can find underground with your child (e.g. gas pipes, electrical wires, train, rabbit etc..)
• Look at the sky in the night time and let your child name the things that he/she can see (moon, star, clouds, lightning, aeroplanes, birds etc.)
• Look at the moon at various days of a month and talk about the different phases of the moon (from crescent moon to full moon).

Time, Light & Shadow

• Plan a simple daily timetable with your child and share it with your child your daily timetable at work.
• Recite the time at every meals that you have with your child.
• Make shadows with your hands in your child's bedroom before bedtime and ask him/her to guess what you have made.
• Play a blindfold game with your child and let him/her talk about the things that frighten him/her in the dark.

Have fun !

*Some of the ideas above are extracted from Reference Book : Creative resources for the early childhood classroom by Judy Herr & Yvonne Libby.