See you next week !

We wanted to spend a longer time at the animal farm but unfortunately, it started to drizzle.
We had no choice but to leave without feeding all the animals. As all the children want to come back again, I made a pact with Leo. If he gets a band one in Science for CA1 next year, I will bring everyone back to the farm. We shook hands and it was a deal.. See you next week !

It likes me !

Everyone loves this white and black rabbit.
Leo insists that this rabbit can recgonize him as he has been here before.
Linus loves it as it responds eagerly whenever the children go near it.
The rest of the rabbits were lying down while eating but this one stands on its hind legs like a little dog ! So cute indeed...
Can I bring it home, please ?

Feeding the animals

No outing to an animal farm is complete without feeding the animals.
Ever wondered why children loves feeding animals than feeding themselves ?
Yes, the rabbits and hamsters are so cute and adorable, no one is tempted by the sweets and biscuits on display, they only focused on the animal feed ! Each of them bought rabbit food as they are the most adorable among the lot !
Drinks anyone ? Obviously not..

Outdoor Classroom @Animal Resort

Yes, this is the outing that everyone has been looking forward to !
After two days of learning about animals and plants' life cycles, it is time now to go outdoors and see "the real stuff" for themselves ! Here, Linus, Marcus and Leo are drawing life cycles of all the animals they can see at  Animal Resort.
The Outdoor Classroom concept aims to reinforce what they have learnt !

How do you measure mass and volume ?

Measuring mass seems straight forward. You just put the object on a weighing scale and you have it ! How about measuring volume ? First, you put an amount of water into a measuring cylinder. Next, you put in the object which you want to measure. The increase in water level is the volume of the object. As both solids and liquids cannot be compressed, the water displaced by the object is the volume !

What is matter ?

Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space.

What is mass ? Mass is a measure of the amount of substance an object has.
What is weight ? Weight is a measure of the force pulling an object downwards.
What is volume ? Volume is a measure of the amount of space an object occupies.

Time for rest and recreation

After a whole day of seeds, seedlings and plants, its time for the buys to relax and have some fun before heading home. Today, we managed to book the table tennis room. The boys took turns to play table tennis and badminton orderly. No one tried to hog their favourite game ! I think they have got used to the idea that they are a team now and no one gets left out !

Germination of a seed II

Linus is showing off his seeds which he can't wait for them to germinate. First, the roots will grow so that the young seedling can get water from the soil. Next, the shoot will grow from the seed. As the young seedling is not able to make food yet, it gets its food from the seed leaves. As the seedling grows bigger and starts to make food on its own, the seed leaves will shrivel and drop off. Isn't nature clever ?

How does a seed germinate ?

Here, the children are learning how to germinate a seed. Each of them picked 4 seeds of their favourite flowers and pushed them into a pot of soil, about 2cm below the surface of the soil. After that, they cover up the seeds and add a little water to the soil. For a seed to germinate, it needs water, warmth and air. Does it need sunlight ? No, it does not as the seed cannot make food at this stage yet.

Life cycle of a plant

Today, the children learnt that there are also female and male parts of a flower. As flowers cannot move, how do they get fertilized ? They need the help of bees ! The bees will fly from one flower to another, moving pollen from the male part (stamen) of one flower to the female part (pistil) of another flower. The flowers get fertilized and bears fruits ! This is why bees are so important ! Remember the Bee Movie ?

Life Cycle of a frog

The children are watching a video clip on the life cycle of a frog. Frogs do not fertilize their eggs internally like chicken. They fertilize them externally. First, the female frog will lay her eggs in a corner of the pond, among the stones. The male frog will find them and fertlize all the eggs together. The eggs are protected by a layer of jelly like substance and left on their own ! Hopefully, some of them survive...

Life Cycle of a Chicken II

Egg -> Chick -> Adult Chicken and the cycle repeats itself..
Egg -> Chick -> Adult Chicken -> Roast Chicken ???

What will happen to the chicken ?
If we eat all the chicken in the world, the life cycle of the chicken will be broken and the chicken will become extinct !

Life Cycle of a Chicken

Leo, Linus and Marcus are watching a video clip on the "Life cycle of a chicken".

Ever wondered why we have never cracked an egg and find a chick inside ? The farmers do not want to give you the shock of your life. They keep the roosters away from the hens so that the eggs laid are not fertilized. Therefore, there is no embryo growing in the eggs which you buy from the market.

How does a chick breathe ?

Ever wondered how does a chick breathe in the egg ?

A chick can breathe in an egg because the egg shell is porous. This means that exchanges of gases can take place through the egg shell.
There is also a tiny air pocket inside the egg to provide oxygen to the chick.
The children are shaking the egg to feel the air pocket inside.

P4 Headstart Science Camp Dec 2010

Today is the first day of our P4 Headstart Science Camp. Boys love science and everyone has been looking forward to this. The topic today is "Cycles".
What are cycles ? Cycles are series of events which repeat themselves over and over again. Examples are the Day-Night and Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter seasonal cycles.

All good things come to an end

In the blink of an eye, we have come to the end of our P4 Headstart Math Camp.
Here are the boys smiling from ear to ear, showing off their "loot".
I think they looked as if Christmas has been brought forward !

Yes, this is the true spirit of ClubNAKO, where only fun matters...

Outdoor Classroom @Fairprice

The boys were extremely focused on their mission. They will be able to bring home everything they would like to buy if they get all the sums correct. There will be no chance given. They took it very seriously and you could see the agonising looks on their faces at the cashier. When the total amount flashed before their eyes and they got it right, the smiles on their faces were worth a million dollars !

Outdoor Classroom @Fairprice Finest

As usual, our camps always end with an Outdoor Classroom session.
This time, the children were given a challenge to apply what they have learnt in a real life situation. If a sum of money is to be shared between 3 children, there will be $2 left. If shared between 4 children, there will be $1 short. What is the sum of money ? The boys worked together and got it right !

Leo the Teacher

Leo was very excited to teach Marcus how to do a 2-digit division. He was so full of confidence and immediately wrote "Leo Cheong - Teacher" on the white board.
Beaming from ear to ear, he carefully went through the steps of how to do a 2-digit division and Marcus understood at once !
That's a really good teacher !

Highest Common Factor : HCF

Today, the boys learnt factors, which is a totally new concept to them.
They both picked it up right away and were also more comfortable with the division ladder today. Linus finally joined us today, after a bolt of mysterious fever which disappeared as quickly as it came. He is picking up the More Than and Less Than Models, an essential basic concept even for P1 !

The great outdoors !

After a whole day of divisor, quotient, remainder, divisibility and LCM, the boys had a well deserved game of badminton before Leo heads  home. Both boys loved the game and they are actually quite good at it !
Leo wanted to play table tennis too but unfortunately, we had no green light from his mother...
Still, they had a great time outdoors and that is really important for children.

Its private...

What are they looking at ?
With internet access easily available these days, the boys are exposed to anything imaginable under the sun. They are a generation of internet savvy kids !
Even Linus is able to switch on the computer, log on and serve the internet on his own without any help at all !
Its a whole new world...

Lowest Common Multiple : LCM

What is the lower common multiple of 3, 8 and 7 ?
Do we have any common multiple yet ?
We need to find the lowest common multiple.
Are we there yet ?

This is going to take forever.
Is there an easier method than this ?
Yes, use the division ladder !

Divisibility

Quick rules to remember:

A number is divisible by 2 if the last digit is an even number.
It is divisible by 3 if the sum of all digits is divisible by 3.
It is divisible by 4 if the last 2 digits make an even number.
It is divisible by 5 if the last digit is 0 or 5.
It is divisible by 6 if it is divisible by 2 and 3.

What is rounding off ?

Today, the boys learnt a new concept of rounding off.
Numbers can be round off to the nearest 10, 100  or 1000 so that they can do mental calculations to check on their final answers.
Careless mistakes of addition instead of subtraction were immediately spoted when compared to the quick estimations.
Useful, isn't it ? Yes, we rock !

Numbers to 100 000

In P3, the boys have learnt numbers up to 10 000. Next year, they will be learning numbers up to 100 000. Yes, its only one more zero, no big deal, isn't it ? Everything else remains the same.

Concepts of places and values were reinforced and yes, that sounds familiar indeed, let's discuss, shall we ?

Metal Fight Beyblades !

Noticed the ignored football and snooker games which the boys once loved ?
They are now forgotten and left aside, at least for the moment..
Yes, the craze this time round is metal fight beyblades of course ! Both Marcus and Leo bought the rare designs from Japan and they have not forgotten their brothers too ! Sweet, isn't it ?

P4 Headstart Holiday Math Camp

Today is the start of our P4 Headstart Holiday Camp. After a long November holiday break during which some of the lucky boys went to Japan with their teachers for a holiday, it is now time to start a light regime of learning in preparation for P4 next year. Besides Leo and Marcus, Linus is also joining in the camp in preparation for P1 in Catholic High next year !

Freedom !

Yes, we have come to the end of our Math session today. Leo, Marcus and Linus were having a whale of a time playing in the pool. The smiles on the children's faces were simply priceless ! At ClubNAKO, we work hard and play hard too.. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and we will not have that, ... where only fun matters.

Its Children's Day !

Yes, today is children's day.
We have decided to give the children a special treat today.
Yes, we are going swimming in the pool, armed with water shooting claws !
Both Leo and Linus have redeemed shooting claws which they were looking forward to playing in the pool.
The children truly deserve a good break. For now, yes, ...where only fun matters.

Math - Mass

After teabreak, Leo joined Marcus to do the worksheets for Mass.
Mass is not a difficult topic as long as they get their kilograms and grams conversion done correctly. The rest of the story sums are all repeated from the More Than and Less Than Comparison Models that they have already learnt. From now on, it is only a matter of practise, practise, practise !

Teabreak

Leo was having a bowl of fishball noodle while Marcus was having his favourite chwee kueh.
Linus ditched his favourite chee cheong fun and had some noodles from Leo's bowl instead. The noodles were so delicious that in the end, all of them were fighting over it. This is simply the law of supply and demand. I am sure nobody will want them if we had bought 3 bowls of noodles !

Teabreak Time !

After an intensive morning of Math, the boys were given a break and had a game of snooker to relax their minds ! This is really important so that they do not get stressed out with too much work. The boys know by now that if they work hard, they will get time to play too ! Hence, they wasted no time mucking around during lesson time and focused on their worksheets. Great, isn't it ?

Math - Division and Mass

Today, we have Leo, Marcus and Linus with us doing Math.
Leo was concentrating more on Division, getting his quotients and remainders right.
Next year, the P4 children will learn the divisor as well, hence it is really important to get the basics right. Leo was also able to understand the concept of division and remainders from story sums and apply it correctly. Way to go, Leo !

Good bye and see you again !

And that marks the end of our session on Our Body Systems today. The boys are now able to rattle off the parts of our digestive system easily by looking at their own body. The digestive system starts from the mouth,  teeth, tongue, gullet,  stomach, small intestines, big intestines, rectum and anus ! Easy Peasy ! And no, you did not come out from your mummy's anus. We'll do the Productive System another time, ok ?

What is a ball and socket joint ?

Some of our bones are joined together with ball and socket joints so that we can rotate our arms and swing our legs. The boys were putting together a skeletal system using only ball and socket joints. They were able to feel and see how these type of joints can help us rotate our arms. Having done this, they will never forget what is a ball and socket joint. Great way to learn science !

Seeing is believing !

Yes, seeing is indeed believing.
With teaching aids, the boys were able to use their sense of sight and touch to appreciate our body systems as it unfolds layer by layer in front of their  eyes. It is pretty obvious now how the skeletal system protects the organs, how food passes from one part of the digestive system to another, what the circulatory system does, how the lungs really look like in 3-dimentional form and no, those were not boobs..

Can each system only perform one function ?

No ! This is not true ! The Skeletal System can perform 3 functions.

It supports the body and gives it shape.
It helps protect the organs.
It works together with the Muscular System to help the body move.
See ? Three functions, the answer is False !
Way to go, Leo !

Let's discuss !

After the lesson on Our Body Systems, the boys sat together to answer the questions in their worksheets designed to test their process skills. Yes, the windpipe leads to the lungs and the gullet leads to the stomach. This is why we sometimes chok on our food when it gets stuck in the windpipe. We have to get it out so that it does not block the air going into our lungs. How do we get it out ? Turn ourselves upside down ?

Leo and Marcus

Joining us today are Leo and Marcus.
After a quick shower to freshen up, both boys sat down to a delicious meal of oven roasted chicken wings on rice. The boys were really hungry as they spent most of their morning enjoying the children's day celebration in school. Food was not on top of their priority then. Leo was so hungry that he asked for second servings !

Our Body Systems

Today, we are looking at our body systems.
Our body consists of 5 main systems.
They are the Circulatory System, the Respiratory System, the Skeletal System, the Muscular System and the Digestive System. Each system is made up of several parts and serves specific purposes. Our body systems help us to grow, move around and repair the damaged parts of our body.

Time flies and aeroplanes too !

Yes, time flies ! Very soon, we have come to the end of our half-day Math camp on "Money" on 18th Sep.
Everyone obviously knows their dollars and cents well. The boys have enjoyed the camp and we hope to see them again soon. There is no better way to learn and enjoy it so much that you would like to come back again !
Bye, Royce and Max, see you next time !

Marcus' favourite task

Marcus' favourite task is to give out the rewards from the redemption basket to the boys.
Max chosed a pack of cards and Royce picked out an aeroplane, which is a really good choice.
These aeroplanes are pretty sturdy and they can fly over a decently long distance ! Hope Royce shares it with his brother..
Look at those smiles... where only fun matters.

Focused

Everyone was very focused on their work today. Great hair cut too !
They all had something in the redemption basket which they were eyeing for.
They have also picked up on speed and accuracy, which is really great !
To be fast and accurate is very difficult to train and these boys were doing really well.
Got to up the stakes next time !

Who was stealing the cheese ?

Money is a topic which the boys have to differentiate "Value" and "Number". For example, what is the value of 2 five-dollar notes ? The worksheets trained them to think in terms of different combination of money with the same value. The section on "Equal Concept-Internal Transfer" is a revision which they have learnt during the Math & Science Camp. Figured out who stole the cheese ?

To Arthur !

Yes, the world famous "To Arthur !" got stuck on them.
Got to get a carafe for them to do this all the time..
The boys were off to a great start on this beautiful Saturday morning.
Linus has been looking forward to Royce and Max coming in and he promised to do his work conscientiously, which he did ! Talk about good influence.. this is what is it all about.

Math Camp on "Money"

Today, we have Max and Royce come in for a half-day Math Camp on "Money".
Look who is there ?
Wedged between his new found friends is Linus, who is also doing a ClubNAKO P1 Math Worksheet on "Numbers to 10".
All the boys received new YYC cards today and were feeling pretty confident to get a redemption !

Time flies and aeroplanes too..

Very soon, we have come to the end of our afternoon with Leo.
It took only an afternoon for them to fill one YYC card, when previously they struggled for 2 days.
The boys have definitely picked up speed and accuracy as well. They were showing off their aeroplanes which they have redeemed today. Thank you for joining ClubNAKO's Math Camp. Bye Leo, we hope to see you again !

Leo's model ruler

Look what is on the table in front ot Leo ?
Yes ! His model ruler !!
Leo has refused to use his model ruler during the Math & Science camp. He likes to draw them freehand which resulted in unclear labelling and mistakes. Now that he is finally persuaded to use his model ruler, his models are now looking great and yes, no more careless mistakes !

Spidey

After working from 2.45pm to 4pm, the boys went for their well deserved fun break.
This time, the favourite game of the day turned out to be "Spidey".
They had the whale of a time  flinging spidey all over the room to see if it sticks.
Yes, it finally stuck, on the ceiling ! Help !!
Throwing pillows didn't work so well and finally, it was mummy to the rescue..

Today's Topic : Time

Both Leo and Marcus were able to read the clock pretty well. They have learnt that you cannot add and subtract time directly.
You have to convert minutes to hours if they are more than 60mins.
You have to borrow 60mins from hours if you want to subtract correctly.
After a while, both got the hang of it and breezed through !

An afternoon with Leo

Leo came in today in the afternoon directly from school.
After a quick shower to freshen up, both Leo and Marcus were starving !
They enjoyed the fried rice together and had endless topics to talk about..
Lunch was finished by 2.30pm ! Boy, they must be really hungry..

Time flies

Yes, time flies..
Before we know it, we have come to the end of ClubNAKO's 3-Day Math and Science Camp.
It has been a great 3 days of fun and learning. I hope the boys have learnt well and will remember these happy days of their lives. Thank you for participating in ClubNAKO's holiday programmes and we hope to see you again !

Dessert

As everyone has worked so hard and completed their "Multiplication" worksheet, they get to pick out a dessert of their choice from the freezer. Everyone picked ice-cream of course! Leo had a strawberry yogurt ice-cream, Max had a fruit ice, Marcus and Royce both had Magnums.
They were enjoying their dessert before lessons start again..

Lunch

Today's lunch was fried rice and everyone was looking forward to it since Max found the menu and announced it two days ago. Rice was fried with prawns, ham, eggs, garlic and onions. Simple but delicious ! Leo was popping into the kitchen every 2 minutes to check out the status as I said they could eat as soon as it was ready, regardless of whether they have completed their worksheet !

Leo and his models

Today, we brought the white board out to give everyone a revision on repeating models before we start working on the worksheets. Repeating models for multiplication are not quite the same as the simple models we learnt yesterday. After the lesson, the boys were teaching one another among themselves as they really want to have the reward they were eyeing on ! It was very heart-warming..

Teabreak

Teabreak was honey baked ham and cheese sandwhiches and the ever popular Ritz biscuits topped with ham and cheese. However, the ham was piling up on one sandwhich as Leo was stealing all the Ritz Biscuits out from the toppings ! He must love Ritz biscuits..
And of course not forgetting, "To Arthur " ! Why not to me ? Afterall, I made the sandwiches..

Multiplication

After the BBC documentary on "Plants", we started on "Multiplication" today.
As today is the last day of the camp, everyone was determined to claim another reward.
Hence, "Multiplication" was completed as well.
Everyone got better at their models, which showed that they have learnt well from yesterday's drill on models ! Its really not that difficult once you get the hang of it.

Day 3 of ClubNAKO's 3-Day Math & Science Camp

Day 3 started with the BBC Documentary "Plants".
This is complementary to the Learning Journey at the Botanical Gardens and the children had a chance to answer their worksheets with the information they have learnt from the programme.
Royce, Max, Marcus and Leo were holding on to their worksheets and listening intensively !

End of Day 2 of ClubNAKO 3-Day Math & Science Camp

That marks the end of day 2 with a Learning Journey to the Botanical Gardens.
Here, Max, Royce, Leo and Marcus learnt about "Plant System".
They learnt to name the various parts and functions of a leaf, how plants with red coloured leaves are also able to make food, what are variegated leaves and how they can make food etc..

Flowers

Why do flowers grow in clusters ?
Flowers grow in clusters because they are very small. They need to attract pollinators like bees and butterflies to pollinate them. Therefore, they grow in clusters so that they can be seen.
They are also brightly coloured so that they pollinators will be attracted to them.

Those are roots ?

Yes, those are roots !

Some roots are above the ground.
They do not stay only underground as we expected.
In swarms, roots under the water peak out to get some air.

Carrots, turnips and sweet potatoes are also underground storage roots.

Network or Parallel Leaf ?

Do you know how a network leaf and a parallel leaf look like ?

Leo is looking at a parallel leaf, whereby the veins of the leaf run parallel to the leaf stalk.
For a network leaf, the veins run away from the leaf stalk, as with most commonly seen leaves.
What are simply leaves and compound leaves ?
The answer is also here !

Plant System at Botanical Garden

Finally, its time to head to the Botanical Garden for an outdoor lesson on "Plant System".
Armed with sausage buns, the boys packed their bags and rewards quickly.
We brought the worksheets along as the answers to the worksheet can be found on site.
Sometimes, teaching need not be in an indoor classrom.
An outdoor class room can do a better job !

The redemption basket !

Guess what they were doing ?
Finally, this is the moment everyone has been waiting for.
Yes, everyone has completed their YYC Card and they were queuing up to pick their reward out of the redemption basket. Max and Royce picked Digimon cards and Leo picked a miniature scooter.
They have finally completed "Models" today !

To Arthur !

Yes, to Arthur !
Who is Arthur ?
Royce said he invented Guiness.
Amazing, the power of advertisement..
The boys got into the habit of cheering "To Arthur !" after every meal.
They were really very funny, look at those smiles on their faces..

Lunch Time

Lunch time was homemade Chicken Soup with Japanese Udon. Max has a very good sense of smell. He could smell the soup brewing in the kitchen before it was ready and he was really looking forward to it ! The chicken was slowly boiled with celery, carrot, onion, bacon, scallops, mushrooms and rosemary..

Simply heavenly !

All time favourite

The table football game is the all time favourite game of the camp.
Leo would scoot out immediately after teabreak or lunch to play it on his own before lessons start.

The other boys love it too, at least until Leo started stuffing the football into his..
Nobody wants to touch the football after that !

ClubNAKO YYC Card

The ClubNAKO YYC card serves to motivate the children to do their best.
They will eventually realize that speed is not everything and their effort does down the drain if the worksheets are done quickly but incorrectly. Max and Royce were pretty competitive with each other. They were trying to see who can get his reward today. Leo is very focused, he has his eye on the scooter !

Models !

Most of the boys have forgotten how to draw their models.
Models are really important because they help you to solve more complex problems which cannot be easily visualized mentally. The "More than" and "Less than" models may seem unneccessary but when it comes to equal concept and internal transfers, models come in really handy !

Day 2 of ClubNAKO Math & Science Camp

We started day 2 with a continuation of the BBC documentary "Mammals".
Today, we will be doing "Plant System" at the Botanical Gardens.
Leo was very excited about the trip. He asked me 3 times when we are leaving for the Botanical Gardens. Before that, we have to complete our models !

End of a great day !

Last but not least, the boys classified a bucket of animals which belonged to Linus according to mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, insects and crustaceans.

And that brings us to the end of day one of ClubNAKO's 3-Day Math & Science Camp.
Max, Royce, Leo amd Marcus have all worked truly hard today !

Feeling right at home..

The BBC Life series is an excellent documentary program on plants and animals.
Having completed the worksheet on "Diversity of Animals", it is now time to sit down and enjoy a documentary on "Mammals". The boys realized that Whales and Dolphins are mammals too !
Perhaps we could watch the entire documentary series sometime..

Science and Teabreak

By late afternoon, everyone had enough of math for the day and we switched to Science.
We were doing "Diversity of Animals" and having tea break at the same time.

Teabreak was an assortment of Ritz biscuits with ham and cheese toppings.
Max said the ham looked disgusting but tasted delicious !

Leo

Leo was working hard again after lunch.
He was eating apples at the same time, great multi-tasking !
Leo is a playful boy but he is very quick at his work.
He can grasp concepts immediately and was drawing great models in no time.

Way to go, Leo !

Lunch Time

Lunch was spaghetti with beef bolognaise.
Everybody loved it except Max.
Max said tomatoes are his lifelong enemies.
To my surprise, he finished it all !
That is something considering he hates tomatoes..

Leo was all smiles as he loves beef and spaghetti !

Royce

Royce is a very quick learner. He said he hates models in the beginning of the camp but at the end of it, he was producing such great models ! He is very accurate and careful in his work. He just needs to pick up some speed, but he is a very smart boy !

As with everyone, its all about practise..
Slow and steady wins the race !

Fun Break

Having the addition and subtraction worksheets, the boys went for their well-deserved fun break.
Max was challenging Marcus to a game of chess. Guess who won ?
Leo was playing table football with Royce.

It turned out that table football became Leo's favourite game for the rest of the camp.
He could even play it all by himself !

Max

This is Max working very hard. He is the most conscientious of the lot and he is also very fast in math !
He has no problem with Numbers to 10 000, Addition and Subtraction.
Very soon, he became the envy of the lot when his YYC card is filling up fast !
He was setting the pace for the whole group.

Teabreak

Very soon, it was time for tea break.
Everyone had home made freshly baked garlic & parsley bread.
The spread is made from garlic, parsley and butter.
It turned out a lovely green after mixing and the children loved it !

They were all gone in no time..

Settling down..

After an orientation, the boys were settling down to start on their worksheets.
We started with a simple game of "Where to place my digits" and "Writing cheques".
Some of the boys have forgotten about the basics and we went through them again together !
"Let's count together" drove everyone crazy ! With numbers to 10 000, everyone started collecting stickers.. whew !

The Redemption basket

Marcus is showing everyone the redemption basket, from which they can pick a reward of their choice once their YYC card is completely filled up. Everyone can paste a sticker on their YYC card for every page of their worksheets done correctly.
Its not only about speed, you have to do it corectly !
What does YYC stand for ?

ClubNAKO 3-Day Math & Science Camp

Welcome to ClubNAKO's 3-Day Math & Science Camp !
As the year end examination is coming soon, the objective of this 3-Day Math & Science Camp is to provide a revision of Math & Science topics taught in school during the first semester.
Joining us today are Leo, Max, Royce and Marcus.

All good things come to an end

And that marks the end of our Learning Journey to the IBN Open House.
I'm  sure the boys will remember the broken bones of the pig and rats which the scientist were trying to experiment growing them back, the tissue scaffolding which looks just like spinning a spider web and the drug delivery pin ball machine ! Thank you for joining our Learning Journey today and we hope to see you again !

Do I want to be a scientist ?

So, hands up anyone who wants to be a scientist ?
No hands ?
The tour guide who brought us around was really good.
He was very patient with the boys who need the toilet at the most inappropriate time.
Opps ! we forgot something again.. sorry..
No, he does not need to go now..

Inspired ?

The boys were visibly tired after almost 3 hours of lab tours.
We saw how tissues were built like a construction scaffolding, how artifical bones are grown to join broken bones back together, how drugs target diseased cells and organs demonstrated by a pin ball machine, whcih turned out to be the favourite, of course !
Were the boys inspired ? Who wants to be a scientist ?

Sorry, no photos allowed !

Due to confidentiality of the scientists' research, no photographs were allowed inside the labs.

We first stopped at Biosensors and Biodevices where we were shown how rapid disease diagnosis can be done at the flick of a switch. In this lab,  microfabricated platforms are used for high through-put biomarkers, drug screening and automated biologics synthesis.

Representing Catholic High

There were many primary schools here today with the auditorium almost filled to the brim.
They all came in big groups from ACS, St. Margaret's, Ru Lang, Bedok North etc..
Representing Catholic High were Max, Marcus and Joshua. They felt slightly intimidated by the large turnout of the other schools and were quite relief to find that that we will form a small group with a handful of other students.

Presentation and Lab Tours

Through presentation and exciting lab tours, students will be able to discover IBN's interdisciplinary research, which integrates science,  engineering and medicine to develop practical solutions for the delivery of drugs and genes, cell and tissue engineering, pharmaceuticals synthesis and green chemistry, as well as  bio-sensing and bio-devices ! After a brief presentation, we were divided into small groups and taken through the various labs.

Hurry up !

Joshua is having nuggets, Marcus is having his usual fish fillet and Max is having Mcwings.
Max said he can eat eight at a go ! Spicy, aren't they ?
As the tour starts at 2.30pm at Biopolis, they were trying to eat as fast as they can so that we can reach there in time.
These three kids were at the envy of many others today  as many kids came by to ask them where they are going today..

Learning Journey to the Institute of Bioengineering & Nanotechnology

Joining us today to the Open House at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology are Joshua, Marcus and Max.

The IBN open house aims to introduce young Singaporeans at the Primary level to scientific research, specifically at the interface of bioengineering and nanotechnology.

Royce and Linus

Linus: What is this ? Where is your NEWater bottle ?

Royce: Oh, my maid accidentally threw it away, luckily, I still have the strap..

Linus: I see, you are really lucky. Want to go again ?

Royce and Linus

See what I mean between Royce and Linus ?

Royce is such a sweet boy.
He has been taking care of Linus all night.
That includes tieing his shoe laces, checking out this transit link card, answering his never ending questions..

Really sweet..

Friday Kids Night Out @SAM

And that concludes our Friday Kids Night Out at the Singapore Art Museum.
I hope everyone had a good time and we hope to see you again.

We will come back to SAM again to visit the other galleries.
As for tonight, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite !

Max loves puzzles too !

Max is working on another puzzle.
They were racing each other to see who can complete the puzzle first.

Its two against one, so no prize in guessing who won ! Who won ?
Unfortunately, it was getting late and lights were being switched off around us, got to go !

Puzzles !

After our thoughts provocative visit to The Learning Gallery, we thanked our musuem guide and went on to the hands on exhibits.

Royce and Marcus were doing an art puzzle together.
Children love to work on puzzles !
Did they get it ?

Royce and Linus

If you had noticed, Linus has been around Royce all night.
These two have really taken an affinity to each other. Perhaps Royce finds him cute, especially with so many questions !

The Learning Gallery has indeed encouraged lively discussions and develop creative thinking among our children. We look forward to the new exihibits !

Questions !

Linus wants to know how the woman in the picture can be young and old at the same time.
Valid question..

Why is there a cake ? Is she celebrating her "young" birthday or "old" birthday ?
How can they exist at the same time ?

Yes, this is art !

The cycle of life

This is an artwork showing a young woman on the left and the same woman on the right who has grown old. It attempts to show us the cycle of life, from young to old and begins again.

Surprisingly, this painting triggered a lot of questions  from the children.
They may be too young to understand the cycle of life yet, but they are thinking...

The Banana

What does the banana remind you of ?
Yes, a smile ! The clowns on top of the banana are trying to remind you to smile.
You do not need gold and silver in order to smile. A simple object such as a banana is a reminder that it is the simple things that make us smile..

What does a papaya remind you of ?

Our Museum Guide

Our museum  guide is really good.

You can tell that she is really passionate about art and very eager to share it with the children.
She explained each artwork to us very patiently and answered all the children's questions professionally.
She did not dismiss any question, however cheeky or mischievous !

Benjamin looking at the Hybrid

Benjamin was still looking at the hybrid.
What was he thinking of ?

There are many hybrids around us in  everyday lives.
Recently, a "Liger" was born.
It is a hybrid between a tiger and a lion.
Is this right ? Very provocative !

The Hybrid

The next exhibit explained to the children is "The Hybrid".

"The hybrid" is a human body with a rabbit's head. This artwork provokes the children to ask many questions.
How can this be ? Why not ?
Many orchids which we are familiar with are also hybrids !

Royce

Listening to the museum guide, Royce seems to be in deep thoughts.
What is he thinking of ?

It turned out that "The Bird Cage" is everyone's favourite exhibit.
Perhaps this is because the children can identify with the family unit and the house we live in which is represented by the bird cage.

A family in a bird cage

This exhibit shows a family made from paper shreds caged in a bird cage. It encouraged the children to think if we are also living in a bird cage ourselves.

Do we know what is happening outside our bird cage in the world ? Are we so pre-occupied with things inside our homes that we have neglected what is happening outside ?

Listening attentively

This is a very good group of students from Catholic High.
You can see that they are listening attentively to the museum guide and thinking about what she was saying to them. No one's feeling bored or try to fool around.
I am really proud of everyone of them.
I think they were inspired...

Everyday objects

The current show is on "Everyday Objects".
It provokes the children to take a second look at the familiar things around them.

Through the eyes of artists from Singapore and Southeast Asia, everyday things we know and sometimes take for granted are portrayed in a different light, making us think twice about their function and their relation to other objects. The children were asked about their personal opinions of the artworks. While  explaining how everyday objects can be turned into art, the children were encouraged to look at them from a diferent pespective.

The Learning Gallery @SAM

This is the first time Bai Qi, Royce, Max & Benjamin are visiting the Singapore Art Museum. We started with The Learning Gallery as it is dedicated to presenting artworks from SAM's collection for the young visitor. Besides nurturing an appreciation for art, the works are  specially selected to encourage lively discussions and develop creative thinking among the children.

Exchanging phone numbers

Bai Qi appears to be the most popular boy in class as he has so many of his friends' telephone numbers. Marcus is trying to key them in as fast as he can, before we reach the Singapore Art Museum. The others are looking on with amazement.

Come on, hurry up !We are going to be there really soon. Nobody asked "Are we there yet ?"

Best friends already ?

Linus is joining out trip for the first time.
He has been looking forward to it as he is also going to Catholic High next year and he can't wait to mix with his brother's friends.

Linus became friends immediately with Max and Royce.
At the end of the trip, he claimed that Royce is now his "new" best friend !

On the way to SAM

Max and Royce checking out Marcus' new handphone on the way to the Singapore Art Museum.
Kids are very tech-savvy these days.
They figured out how to send each other applications, pictures, videos and games all by themselves. They do not need any operating manuals or adults intervention. The world is indeed different now..

Friday Kids Night Out

Joining us today on our Friday Kids' Night Out to the Singapore Art Museum are Bai Qi, Benjamin, Royce, Max, Marcus and Linus. We are taking the train from Marymount Station to Bras Basah station.

Bai Qi is reading "The Last Airbender" on the train. This is the "in thing" right now with kids, especially after the movie came out.