YMCA STUDENT CARE CENTRE @ ST ANTHONY’S NEWSLETTER
In this issue
Hello there!
Happy Greetings from Ms Vaani. Half a year has gone by and we had a roller coaster ride, filled with fun activities and enrichment programmes for our students. The students had a lot of fun and they learnt a lot too. I really hope this learning journey continues for the better, towards a new year too. God bless all of us. YMCA Student Care Centre @ St. Anthony’s believes in the importance of regular communication between parents and mentors. We publish this newsletter to inform parents of the events and activities that we have organised and we will be doing so in the future too!
Happy Reading!
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Teachers’ Day and Children’s Day …. Pg 2
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Y Junior MasterChef and Story Telling Competition .. Pg 3
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Treasure Map and Rock Painting …. Pg 4
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Treasure Hunt and Bento Box …. Pg 5
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Edible Playdough and Gardens by the Bay... Pg 6
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Universal Children’s Day Celebration and Botanical Gardens …. Pg 7
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Christmas Celebration plus Potluck …. Pg 8
YMCA SCC @ ST ANTHONY’S 30 Bukit Batok Street 32, Singapore 659401, Tel: 6694 3289 Mobile: 8518 3281 Email: sascc@ymca.edu.sg Website: www.ymca.org.sg www.ymca.org.sg/cdcscc/ 1
TEACHERS’ DAY CELEBRATION
Mentors biennial Dinner.
gathered for our Teachers’ Day
Danish, our ex-student came back to visit us. It was a pleasant surprise.
Teachers’ Day is the day when students can show their appreciation to their mentors. On this very day, we received many gifts from our students. It was an amazing day and we realised how much our students appreciate the efforts we put in for them. Our previous students who were in YMCA came back to visit us this year. It was a day filled with heartfelt messages, tokens of appreciation and lots of love.
CHILDREN’S DAY CELEBRATION
Ms Ho giving her students their gifts.
Ms Nisa giving Isaac Yuan (P2) his gift.
Ms Sonaal giving Magdalene (P3) her gift.
Children's Day is here once again which means it is time for children to enjoy their day. We planned activities to keep the students entertained for the whole day. We started off by having lunch consisting of burger and ice-cream. Once the students were full and contented, we started giving out the gifts that we had prepared for them. The students were very eager to receive their gifts. We were happy that the students were elated with the gifts they received not only from YMCA, but also from their level mentors. After the gifts were given out, we played some simple games with the students. It was one of those days where the students were pampered by their mentors.
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Y JUNIOR MASTERCHEF
The students and Ms Sonaal making Potato Egg Salad.
The students’ first attempt in making Fairy Sprinkles.
Cooking with students is wonderfully fun and rewarding whether you bake desserts, whip up a fun snack or collaborate on dinner. Most young students love to measure and mix, pour and decorate. Yes, it can be messy sometimes and the finished item may not always look quite as you would have prepared it yourself but you are building memories alongside skills. And that is always worth it!
ANNUAL STORY TELLING COMPETITION Storytelling is a great skill to teach students. It helps to improve their language skills, instils a love for reading and stirs their imagination. Teaching children the art of storytelling includes building their confidence and improving their confidence and improving their writing skills. The finals of the storytelling competition was held on 6 September 2017 at the YMCA Headquarters. The theme of the competition was “Kindness”.
Magdalene Lee (P3) was selected for the finals for the competition.
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TREASURE MAP
Jasper Lim from P3 happy with his treasure map.
The students concentration.
in
deep
During one of the art lessons during the December holidays, the students were taught how to make a treasure map. It was a way to unlock the students’ imagination by creating their own treasure map. To give the map an antique look, rustic brownish colour was painted on the drawing paper, and then details were added to the map. It was a fun and creative lesson for the students.
ROCK PAINTING The students were taught to paint the rocks with pictures of fruits, vegetables or any food. The students enjoyed the activity. They took the art pieces home and some students used them as paper weights.
Rayden (P1) painting his rock.
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TREASURE HUNT
Solving the puzzle.
Still thinking...
Finally they figured it out! !
For this activity, there were stations all over the school and the students were split up into groups. In their groups, they were required to solve puzzles at each stage in order gain clues to proceed on to the next station. For this activity, the students had to put on their thinking caps to solve their puzzles. It was also a test of their teamwork to see if they were able to get along well despite their differences.
BENTO BOX
Jing Yuan (P3) proudly showing off the egg he had cut into half.
All happy and contented with their bento box!
In this activity, students were taught how to make some cute and delicious Bento, which is a Japanese rice box. Students were taught to mix the rice with egg and to mould them into shapes. Using the provided ingredients, they created “minions�, characters they were familiar with. With such a fun-filled and hands-on activity, the students enjoyed themselves thoroughly and best of all, they brought home their very own handmade Bento Box!
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EDIBLE PLAYDOUGH
Let us start off by mixing the ingredients together!
Checking the consistency of the play dough making sure it is soft enough.
Edible play dough is so much fun! It is made up of simple ingredients and it consists of only flour, water and a little bit of food colouring. These play dough recipes are perfect for students to learn through multiple senses such as the sense of touch, smell, taste and sight all at the same time.
GARDENS BY THE BAY OUTING
Students posing for the camera.
Glynnis, Danielle and Yong Jun having fun playing at the water park.
During the December holidays, we organised a trip for the students to have an outing to Gardens by the Bay. As they walked into the water park, they were all excited. Without delay, they got changed and were all ready for the water play. Although the students were from different levels, they bonded together and even played together very well.
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UNIVERSAL CHILDREN’S DAY CELEBRATION
William-Sonoma Singapore Pte Ltd invited our centre to participate in the Universal Children’s Day Celebration in November. This event promotes international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide and improving children’s welfare.
Students having celebrations.
fun
attending
the
BOTANICAL GARDENS Our visit to the Botanical Gardens with our students strengthened our bonds. The garden is a clean, safe and comfortable place for students to explore and learn about different varieties of tropical plants.
Students had a chance to go on an exploration at the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden. After the tour, we tested our student’s memory by asking them to draw some of the plants they saw earlier! It was sure an awesome fun-filled trip! Mentors and students having fun bonding with each other at the picnic.
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CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION PLUS POTLUCK
It's the time of the year again where we come together to eat, drink, be merry and have fun! Everyone brought some snacks, finger food and drinks for a joyous potluck. After lunch, we had our gift exchange where many students brought a gift to exchange with each other. We could see all their faces brimming with smiles while opening their presents. Lastly, we ended the day with some fun-filled games where everybody participated actively.
COMING UP IN 2018 The coming new year 2018 is surely going to be an exciting new year ahead. For the first and second terms, we have: 1. YMCA Sport Stacking – preparing our students to participate in cup stacking competition held at our HQ annually. 2. YMCA Junior Entrepreneurship Programme (YJEP) – building up the student’s entrepreneurship skills and emphasising on helping the needy. 3. Imagination gone Wild (Basic & Advance) – creative art lessons which includes colouring and painting. Activities are to help students to open up their imaginary world filled with colours and ideas of their own.
Have a blessed New Year Ahead!
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