CONTENTS: 4th Storytelling Competition Enrichment Programme Junior Engineers @ Work (Robotics) Choral Beats Y Sport Carnival – Bubble Soccer Children’s Day
L – R: Jia Xiang and Yee Jye
Hawaiian Christmas Celebration
The 4th Storytelling Competition was held on Wednesday, 7 September 2016 at the YMCA Lee Kong
November–December School Holiday Programmes: Snow City Kidz Amaze Charlotte’s web Theatre Play Arty Oreo Bark In-House Workshop
Chian Auditorium. The theme for this year’s competition was “Peace – Let it begin with me”. The young storytellers from YMCA Student Care Centres had undergone preliminaries in the respective Centres for selection to the finals. This event helped to improve the students’ language skills, instilled in the students a love for reading and stirred their imagination. We are proud of our two finalists in the Upper level Categories: Ng Yee Jye, 2nd runner up and Sim Jia Xiang had a Special award.
Through
this
event
our
students
developed
confidence to speak in front of an audience and it also taught them to be creative.
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Junior Engineers @ Work (robotics) is a thematic programme to introduce young learners to the world of robotics through the use of Lego Education. It also incorporates lessons on science, engineering & language. The
students
enjoy
putting
their
models
together. Working in their groups, following the step by step instruction forged the students to work together and built teamwork. The students learnt to be creative thinkers, developed good teamwork, and improved their L – R: Dominic and Joash
communication skills as they built their models.
The enrichment programme for Term Four was Choral Beats. Children were introduced to the components of music such as beat, tempo, rhythm and sound, through Anna Kendrick’s Cup Song. Just by a single instrument - the cup, to produce the background beats for the song, the children were enthusiastic to learn and master the beats and sing along simultaneously. It was not as easy as it looked. The children fumbled along the way as learning the beats was not easy. We all started out slow, beginning with a basic hand action and slowly introducing the cups. Eventually, the children memorised the lyrics and sang along as they did the choral beats to the “Cup Practicing the Cup Song.
Song”
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After the game. See the smile on their faces. Y Sports Carnival – Bubble Soccer (4 November 2016) was held at Yio Chu Kang Primary School. Our students had the opportunity to experience Bubble Soccer, play their all-time favourite Captain’s Ball and learn some basic first aid! Before they played the games they were given instructions on how to put on and off the bubble soccer suits and the dos and don’ts of the game. They really enjoyed themselves as they learnt to work as a team. Let us hear from the children. Elizabeth “I really like the feeling when I am inside this bubble soccer suit and playing soccer in a different way. I had so much fun!” Yu Han “It was fun-filled learning as we had a chance to play and also learn how to use a bandage” The whole experience was indeed a meaningful event. Demonstrating How to put on the proper way of bandage 3
Children’s day 2016 at YMCA HGSCC was an unforgettable one for the children. They were treated to a special presentation about children around the world and how they celebrate this special day. Children were reminded that they were each a blessing to their families and that they brought happiness to their loved ones. Apart from the numerous gifts and goodie bags they received, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves Newspaper Dress-up contestant as they showcase their group outfit.
playing the games planned out for them such as the newspaper dress-up competition where children got
into groups and dressed up a student using newspaper and other scrap materials. Another game was the Oreo Face Mask where children had to move an Oreo cookie down to their mouths from their forehead using just their facial muscles. All this ended with a sumptuous lunch of extra goodies like cocktail sausages and fish balls, and a large cream cake to commemorate the occasion
The Hawaiian Christmas party was held on 23 December 2016. It began with an opening message by Mdm Selvi that Christmas was a season celebrated worldwide, a time to spend with family, eating good food and exchanging presents. It is an annual Christian festival, celebrating Christ's
birth,
which
brought
forgiveness and hope to all who believe in Him as Saviour. Children at Hougang Student Care Centre enjoyed interesting games organised by Ms Erika, such as musical chairs, newspaper standing and one-way communication. Attractive prizes were given to winners of the games. There were lucky draws as well as a� best dancer� award. Children also had the opportunity to exchange presents. The children enjoyed delicious food and drinks such as tuna sandwiches, fried bee hoon, chicken drumsticks, agar agar and Ribena. Towards the end of the day, the children went back rejoicing with different cartoon balloons! We are grateful to all parents, teachers and aunties for the preparation and contribution of food, games and balloons. 4
November–December School Holiday Programmes We offered exciting programmes and learning journeys to enhance our students’ holistic learning. Each week we had a different theme to cater to the needs and interests of our students.
Group photo outside the snow city while waiting for our turns.
On 22nd November the students had fun as they experienced snow and a cold climate in a fun, entertaining and educational way. The snow chamber provided the students with winter activities like snow tubing, skiing and snowboarding for children. Children had heaps of fun feeling snow and enjoying the cool wind on their faces.
On 1st December 2016, the children experienced
a
huge
indoor
playground at Kids Amaze at Toa Payoh SAFRA. It was a 2 hour play session and the students did not even take a minute to rest. There were many slides and other obstacles courses for the students to navigate through. The children were thrilled by the high slides, rope swings, bridges that they had to crawl through, bouncy
trampolines
and
an
interactive ball pit. The challenging and winding labyrinth of obstacle courses truly excited and encouraged the children to think out of the box for ways to get out and try a different route 5
The timeless tale of an unlikely friendship between Charlotte the spider and Wilbur the pig, comes to life in a delightful rendition of E.B White’s classic, Charlotte’s Web, on the 7th of December by the Singapore Repertory Theatre. It was truly a magical experience as it was a first for many, to watch a play performed on a stage. Apart from being hilarious and interactive, the set itself made us all feel like we were in an actual farm.
Charlotte’s Web... 123... smile
The children also had an excellent photo opportunity with the mini barn set up outside the theatre, and enjoyed interacting with the actors on stage after the show.
The Arty Oreo Bark workshop was conducted indoors on the 15th of December, and allowed children the chance to be artisan bakers for the day. They enjoyed playing the role, complete with aprons and chef hats! Children
were
introduced
to
baking
techniques such as folding in, creating crust and scooping butter to put into moulds. They had an enjoyable time smashing the Oreos into bits and melting down white All the students are eager to smash their own Oreo biscuits
chocolate to smooth, creamy, glorious goo.
All the children would agree that the best part was combining the melted chocolate with the Oreo dust and watching white and black combine to become a delectable treat. This workshop also gave children an opportunity to practice teamwork and tolerance for one another, as they each had to wait their turn and work together to produce a proper end product.
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Contact Details: YMCA Student Care Centre @ Hougang c/o Hougang Primary School, 1 Hougang Street 93, Singapore 534238 Contact Number: 6385 6928/ 8518 6946 Email: hgscc@ymca.edu.sg
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