More educational treasures for you in this Part 2 of Kiddy123’s report on Bandar Puteri...
Read more about other selected preschools in Bandar Puteri Puchong: "Selected Preschools in Bandar Puteri, Puchong (Part 1)"
Note: The preschools below are listed in alphabetical order.
Brain Dance (Tadika Sri Megah)
Ms Heng, principal of Brain Dance, is very proud of her holistic programme, and rightly so. While we were waiting for her inside the kindergarten, a number of her 4-year old students walked up to us to offer a smile and called us “Auntie” – demonstrating clearly that they were confident young people with social skills!
Ms Heng started the kindergarten five years ago and has since then been using the Brain Dance programme designed by her friend and mentor, Dr Connie, a psychologist. Extraordinary improvement in her students and positive feedback from their parents have further motivated Ms Heng to use the programme, which is not only effective in helping children with their academic subjects but also in their personality development, such as thinking and problem-solving skills, social and interpersonal skills, self-management and self-confidence.
Brain Dance's language programme is unique. Starting with phonetic awareness, the programme gradually adds in sight words, and synthetic and analytical phonetic skills through interesting stories, games and a systematic guided reading series. The children can read most story books confidently by the time they graduate from the kindergarten.
The programme focuses on three important concepts: Myself (self-image/EQ), Others (empathy/social skills) and the World (general knowledge), while their cross-curriculum and interactive lessons allow children to absorb information through various pathways, resulting in learning that is faster and more integrated than traditional learning methods.
Ms Heng said, “Children obtain information through all the senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, balance, temperature, movement and direction, etc. Preschool education should build a foundation for children to 'learn to learn', giving them the lifetime benefit of further learning. Learning languages enables them to obtain knowledge from written materials. Providing them a good methodology and environment builds a positive attitude in them. They are curious about what is happening around them, discriminatory about information, observant of their surroundings, know how to ask questions and where to find answers, how to describe and express their thoughts. All these qualities are equally, if not more important than the ABCs."
We asked how she does all these in her kindergarten classroom. "In traditional classrooms, the teacher points to pictures of apples and strawberries and the children learn the shape and colour of the fruits. But here, we offer the children real apples and strawberries to explore. Then we ask: What colour is it? How does it smell like? What is the colour of the skin? What about the inside? How does it feel when you squeeze it? Where are the seeds? Which seeds are bigger? Which one is easier to cut? How does it taste? While the children answer these questions, they observe and differentiate using all their senses, language and knowledge," Ms Heng said enthusiastically. No wonder the children are so cheerful and proactive!
Ms Heng went on further, "We don't believe that tons of homework can make children smarter. It is all about methodologies. At Brain Dance, we take every activity as a valuable learning experience. For e.g. for our farm trip, we do more than the usual 'Line up, get on the bus and follow the flag' tour. Dr Connie will personally visit the farm, take pictures, plan age-appropriate routes, gather information and design worksheets and flashcards to share with the children weeks ahead so that they have a basic knowledge of what they will be seeing, e.g. names of the animals, what they eat, what can they do, etc. During the trip, the children apply their knowledge and verify the information with real life experience. After that, the children will do an individual report on their experiences and what they learn. That's what we call a productive field trip with learning objectives!"
Such admirable painstaking work! No wonder Ms Heng is proud of her Brain Dance programme.
For Ms Michelle, the principal of Pink Tower Childcare Centre, two things are in her Very Important list: every child must receive proper care and attention, and her staff must not be overburdened so that they can provide quality care to the children. As such, she is very particular about her teacher to student ratios, which are indeed very low. “Our costs of course go up, but I feel this is one thing that cannot be compromised if we sincerely want to provide an educational environment that is developmentally appropriate for each child,” said Ms Michelle.
The quality of her staff is also important to her. At present, 98% of her teachers have a diploma in early childhood care and education, which is way above the norm in this country. She herself has a degree in ECCE plus an International Dip. in Montessori Pedagogy. Her stand is that her teaching staff must have enough knowledge and experience to support their students' learning at every stage.
With such well-trained and qualified personnel at Pink Tower, each child is able to enjoy an almost individualised programme. The teacher observes the child, plans for his or her individual needs, then structures the curriculum to meet these needs, whether they be in skill development, socialising, sharing, or learning. Besides this, every child is encouraged to be independent so as to build their confidence and self-esteem. Ms Michelle is also very particular about the verbal delivery to the children. Verbal abuse and threats are strictly prohibited at Pink Tower.
“Besides our teaching staff, other important areas we look into is rest and nutrition. Every child needs rest as well as stimulated activity to support their development. As for nutrition, almost everything served to our children is freshly made by us – bread, muffins, buns, salads. Out of 15 meals per week, biscuits are served only for two meals,” said Ms Michelle.
She is also very excited about a purpose-built programme to recognise Chinese characters, called Hanz Education, that Pink Tower has tested and found to be very effective. According to reports, children can learn about 100 words within 3 months using this programme, which combines games, story-telling, and reading. This seems like an answer to the prayers of parents with children entering Chinese primary schools.
Wisdom Kids (Tadika Sinaran Manja)
Wisdom Kids is a busy kindergarten. The children are busy, the teachers are busy, even the kitchen staff is busy. You have that feeling that everyone is working very hard in this place.
Mervin Tan and his wife Irene are the owners of this kindergarten. Smiling at our observations, Mervin said, “We are very committed to our students and the parents who have entrusted their children to us. We want to give our students the best education. In doing so, we have to provide them the relevant knowledge, develop their thinking skills, and cultivate their right attitude towards learning during the core learning ages from 3 to 6. If we don’t do that, it would very, very challenging for the children when they start formal education in primary school. But if we succeed in building a strong foundation, it becomes a springboard for them to effortlessly want to learn more and to improve themselves.”
Regarding the teaching method that Wisdom Kids uses, Mervin explained, “We found that LPC Thinker achieves the best results for our students. Our aims for our children are: to be able to learn, i.e. acquire knowledge, and to be able to share, i.e. acquire wisdom (thus, the name Wisdom Kids). If you have knowledge but cannot share that knowledge effectively, it does not benefit your future employer. The children are also taught how to think using thinking tools, diagrams and maps so that they will be ready for the higher order thinking skills (HOTS) required in KSSR, the new primary school curriculum.”
To show us how effective their teaching methods are, Mervin took hold of a big card printed with a table containing pictures numbered 1 to 50, and asked a little boy to tell us (including spelling) what the 50 pictures show. To our surprise, the child responded with the correct words (we could view the words behind the pictures) and spelling – all 50 words! According to Mervin, by the time the children are 6, they can spell up to 650 words.
Said Mervin, “In fact, some of the 5-year olds attending our enrichment class, the Young Learners Cambridge English, have sat for the external Cambridge English Starters Level exam and excelled, while almost all our 6-year olds are capable of taking the exam and doing well. By the time our students reach 7, most of them can take the next level, i.e. the Movers Level exam.
“In the beginning, all these may be hard work for the children but the results will soon speak for themselves. That is where we need the trust and cooperation of our parents. When we achieve what we set out to do, parents can be assured that when their child enters primary school, he or she only needs to concentrate on the new school environment, new teachers, and new friends. Parents have nothing to worry where their child’s school work is concerned. Academically, their child is more than well-prepared for Primary One.”
Read more about other selected preschools in Bandar Puteri Puchong: "Selected Preschools in Bandar Puteri, Puchong (Part 1)"
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