GALT workbooks

Grr..don’t know where my post went. Still haven’t worked out how to back up onto harddisk, and possibly edit offline to boot, oh well, history, shall not! repeat itself.

So I’m still smitten with the GALT workbooks,but they’ve gone over the RM10 price I’m used to getting them for. Last time I saw them was at ELC, the Curve (what was ELC) on sale for RM15, and I didn’t buy them, thinking I’ll get them from mytoysandbooks, alas they don’t carry ‘em no more.

So I’m still hesitating and went off on a workbook spree buying here and there and STILL not as satisfied with all of them as I am with GALT,so I might just fork out the extra money and get them from the UK. So now, I should sell off the said workbooks I’m not happy with.

Oh, I should mention that one can get a few of the workbooks from bookdepository.com which I have done, but I still want to get the other ones! (especially First Writing). Come to think of it, there is another workbook M worked on that I thought was OK, on multiplication, by ladybird if I’m not mistaken.

 

Books this month (*th July 2011, due 11th August) – TTDI Library

TTDI Library

1. Factfinders Junior Atlas
2. Gunung Berapi dan Gempa Bumi oleh Terry Jennings – it’s in Malay, so I thought it would appeal to M more, I like the science projects realted to volcanoes and geology/minerology in general. Havent’t done any, and boooks are due!
3. Restless Earth by Terry Jennings – big, clear fonts, good diagrams and pics, covers a whole lot on volcanoes, types galore.
4. Our Planet: Earth (Belitha Press) – I like the step-by-step  illustration on how Earth was formed
5. Marvellous Maths – Multiplication (Cherrytree Books)
6. Ginger by Charlotte Voake – kids are into cats now, but there’s a phrase in this book: “Naughty cat!”, H2 took a liking to saying it these days, esp. when he sees a cat! Oh well.

Book Review: Groovy Geometry..and other book ramblings :-)

I actually wrote, rather rambled on about books, and the browser crashed. This is not the first time, either! I’m wishing I had my own site on my harddrive and uploaded like in the good old days, I haven’t even worked out how to back up this wp site/log, so uninformed and unprepared, shd do summit bout it. SO I thought I lost my post, and her I am amalgamating two posts into one.

So, I splurged and bought all of Lynette Long’s Magical Math Series, one of them is  Groovy Geometry by Lynette Long. I love it, I think I’m really visual/spatial dominant, so books that have readable fonts, well laid out with activities starting on a new page, diagrams,pictures,tables galore, those are MY type of books. I don’t read Tolkien or Shakespeare, and that extends to text books with NO pictures/diagrams, just words! I just can’t turn the page.

Lynette Long’s Math Magic is simply laid out, easy to read/to refer to, no sieving through jungles of text (uggh!) to get it, simple like another of my favorites of readable books: Hainstock’s Montessori, I like it!

It’s also excellent in content, we’ve already played one game: the right angle scavenger hunt, which is even suitable and playable by H, who’s only 4 going on 5 this year. That’s saying a lot, as I’ve been sitting on a few of those ‘jungle’ books. I should list them to sell ASAP for more ‘readable’ books..aha! :-p

Books this month, 2nd visit (June 2011) – National Science Centre Library

PSN/NSC Library

1. Time to get up by Susan Hellard
• a simple but excellent rhyming book, my kids  have basically memorised the whole book, I don’t talk to them in English, so that’s saying something..I think this and the Freddie toddler books have improved H’s English reading (she’s 4), interestingly the sheep illustration reminds me of the book ‘Sheep in a Shop‘, which we have (somewhere..*sigh*)
2. Freddie Learns to Swim by Nicola Smee – H2, my boy, loves the whole Freddie series, that said I’ve only read to him the simpler of the lot, Freddie gets dressed (his fav), and freddie goes to the beach (our current read).
3. Space and Planets (Time-Life’s Illustrated World of Science) – I didn’t notice M read this much, if at all.
4. Maria’s Comet by Deborah Hopkinson & Deborah Lanino – I love this book for several reasons, the illustration, the fact it’s based on a real person,
5. Math Magic: The Human Calculator Shows How to Master Everyday Math Problems in Seconds by Scott Flansburg – I had this book when I was in secondary and only got through the addition lessons before the book was put away while I went to boarding school, tak tau mana dah buku tu..sungguh happee to see it in the NSC library, M at 8 can do them, still we haven’t got through the book
6. Birds,Birds,Birds (Natural Wildlife Federation)
7. Astronomy Adventures (Natural Wildlife Federation)
8. 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Raise a Child Who Loves Science & Nature (50 Simple Things Series) by Marion Brisk
• liked it, good ideas, readable, easy reference, but still didn’t get me off the comp to do them..ha..except for egg floating, then I think I was only motivated when I saw pics in a blog about it, maybe I should just refer to that blog every week..
9. Belair Active Science 5  by Patricia Young
• said to be for ages 9-10, but with minor mod can be suitable for younger ages too. I like it as it has diagrams, readable, don’t have to refer other books to get started like one other book i just bought…
10. rocket book
11. dad’s Discovering geometry by Serra – quite good, but exercises are advanced,maybe some intermediate, and sporadic primary
12. 5 equations that changed the world

Books this month (June 2011) – TTDI Library

TTDI Library

1. Multiplying and Dividing – Maths Magic by Clemson & Clemson
•  some ok activities, good for a library shelf, wouldn’t buy myself
2. A Child’s Introduction to the Night Sky: The Story of the Stars, Planets, and Constellations–and How You Can Find Them in the Sky by Michael Driscoll, Meredith Hamilton (Illustrator)
• the star map is for the northern hemisphere and is cellotaped in between the flap and front cover anyway, so no exploring the chart..haven’t see M reading it yet..
3. Mengenali Planet by Jacqueline Mitton, Terjemahan Zubaidah Abdul Rahman
•  just to expose to the Arabic naes of planets and for an easier read for M, some of the English books on this subject is a put off for her.
4. Imran Kawanku by Ghazali Ngah Azia
•  M read this and enjoyed it, a good book by a familiar author, I think I’ve read his books as a child, good for my 8 yo, not too many unknown words, just enough to increase her vocab.It’salso written in very good standard even classical Malay, a classic, not like most Malay novels currently spewed out, although good but still not A. Samad Said’s standard kwim?
5. Peristiwa di Langkawi by Mohd. Tajuddin Hj. Abdul Rahman
• meant for H to read, but really not enganging enough for a beginner reader
6. Ancaman Bawah Tanah by Suriana Syazleen
• two in one story and facts book in Malay about Earth Geology, good exposure to M for better understanding of the earth structure, volcanoes, earthquakes, rock types and earth’s position in the solar system. Note that  pluto is still a planetin this book!

So, I gave M a notebook for writing out the book title, author and to list new vocabulary to look up in the dictionary. No summarising or questions yet. She goes to school for most of the day, ,so not much time for exploring much.

Birds in Our Garden

So, M wants to do something on birds in our garden. I’ve managed to capture 3 species on camera within our house compound.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Passer montanus
Ciak Eurasia/Pipit rumah

The Encyclopedia of Malaysia Vol. 3, Prof. Dr.Yong Hoi Sen, pg. 99
 Mari Mengenal Nama Burung, FEP International Sdn.Bhd. (pipit), pg.27

Olive-backed Sunbird / Yellow-breasted Sunbird
Nectarinia jugularis
Kelichap Bukit

The Encyclopedia of Malaysia Vol. 3, Prof. Dr.Yong Hoi Sen, pg.8
 Mari Mengenal Nama Burung, FEP International Sdn.Bhd.only has kelicap pisang, pg.22

*pic to upload*

The third species is peaceful dove

Geopelia striata

(merbuk)
 The Encyclopedia of Malaysia Vol. 3, Prof. Dr.Yong Hoi Sen,pg.53

Initially I thought of a nature journal, but it was hot and the birds would not get close enough for us to have a good look. Anyway, my mum kept this book, a book I had as a child. It’s published in 1980 and there’s a whole series, of which I can only see ‘Mari Mengenal Alat Musik’ on the book shelf. Both are really good, and I have not been able to find anything similar on common Malaysian birds for kids except for a MNS publication, also an old book I used to check out from PJ Playcentre.

So M drew a pipit from the book,and I drew for H with lines pointing to various parts for her to label in Malay. M labeled hers in English based on this and this. But now I’ve come across this, which looks better:

I feel guilty not including H2 in the activity, he could have done mock feather cutting or something. He just watched in earnest as the sisters drew on.

So later, if M is up to it maybe more info collecting:

http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Science/BirdInfoLabels.pdf
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Nectarina_jugularis.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/apr/16/1

I’ll probably dictate notable facts of the birds and have her write them down.

Then we’ll probably discuss characteristics of a bird, pre-classification. MontessoriMaterials have some freebies for studying birds. The 6-9 yo printout includes listing the bird families. We haven’t started animal classification formally yet, and will probably skip that until later.

Update: we did some eggsperiments floating eggs in salt the next day (today). Then H asked if it would work with sugar.Thankfully I obliged, and guess what, the egg floats! What’s funny is when I asked where the sugar/salt went, H said it went up, like turned into air (gas)..he..I thought that was cute. Some more prompts and simple explanations. I refrained from saying the egg floated because the water is heavier, yes it’s heavier now within the same volume, i.e it’s denser. I just said there’s so much ‘stuff’, i.e salt/sugar dissolved in the water that it now can support the egg, making it float.

For more ideas on birds/eggsperiments: http://thehomeschoolden.blogspot.com/search/label/Bird%20Unit

3-6yo:

http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Science/BirdOutline-Primary.pdf

http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/Parts-of-a-Bird-Nomenclature-Cards_p_171.html
http://thehomeschoolden.blogspot.com/2010/08/bird-unit-activities.html

6-9:

http://www.montessorimaterials.org/Science/BirdOutline.pdf

Bird Song:
Pipit
Kelicap Bukit
a list of bird songs recorded in Malaysia

Pictures of Malaysian birds:
more Malaysian bird pics online here (not my pics): http://www.flickr.com/photos/cepiau/sets/72157624758152732/

Although I’m no adventis, but these Youth Honours (Birds) info available online are impressive, similar in concept to earning scout badges I think:http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Adventist_Youth_Honors_Answer_Book/Nature/Birds

Classification of Birds is discussed, as is parts of the birds are detailed in the Advanced Honours. I think they provide a good basis to work on. So all I need to do now is to put more Malaysian birds in, and put in Qur’an verses.

Al-Mulk (Dominion)

(أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ فَوْقَهُمْ صَافَّاتٍ وَيَقْبِضْنَ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحْمَنُ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ بَصِيرٌ (67:19

# 67:19 (Asad) Have they, then, never beheld the birds above them, spreading their wings and drawing them in? None but the Most Gracious upholds them: for, verily, He keeps all things in His sight.

I think Syed Qutb intrepreted the longer (mad) in صَافَّاتٍ  to represent the way a bird spends more time spreading their wings and the وَيَقْبِضْنَ read shorter to represent the shorter flap of the wings while drawing them in. Have to check that, but I don’t have tafsir Syed Qutb on hand atm. Wallahua’lam.

Stories on birds in the Qur’an (put bird in Qur’an search):

Fellow prisoner of Prophet Yusuf a.s. pecked by a bird
Birds singing praise (tasbeeh) with Prophet Daud a.s.
Prophet Ibrahim putting bird parts on 4 hills, and Allah putting them together again into a bird.
Prophet Sulaiman and Hud-hud
Ababil in Surah Al-Fiil
Raven ( غُرَابًا) which scratched the Earth showing Qabil to bury Habil. Al-Ma’idah:31

Finally I’d recommend this Book of Life we have, I’ll come back with details. It’s really thorough starting with Prehistoric Animals, then covering Birds, Insect, Reptiles, Mammals, the Human Body..

Fellow prisoner of Prophet Yusuf a.s. pecked by a bird
Birds singing praise (tasbeeh) with Prophet Daud a.s.
Prophet Ibrahim putting bird parts on 4 hills, and Allah putting them together again into a bird.
Prophet Sulaiman and Hud-hud
Ababil in Surah Al-Fiil
Raven غُرَابًاin the story of Habil and Qabil 5:31

MEP maths & Astronomy

I set up this site as a record for all the library books borrowed, sort of a homeschooling diary too, with book reviews/ site reviews as such, also other thoughts on education..anyway, the library visits have been scarce lately..anyway here’s a start on recording what I’ve done so far, and hopefully sort of a plan to start cosmic edu (Montessori idea), my style..

For maths, I’ve started to use the Mathematics Enhancement Programme (Primary Extension)

It’s really good in the sense that it’s complete for primary, I see secondary up to A-Levels math lessons, complete with tests for each stage. This program is based on the hungarian syllabus but is made to fit the UK curicullum at each stage, it’s free and schools have even adopted this program in the UK and around the world including Alice Smith, how about that? And it’s free

a wealth of math resources in the parent page, math application, misconceptions, puzzles, you have to browse to find those that are suitable for your child’s age. I especially like this for shape definitions.

Astronomy sites:
Coloring :nice b/w seas of the moon here
Sky MapsThis is a really good site with free monthly star charts for us earthlings living near the equator. Usually you get maps for the northern hemisphere, lucky to get southern, and now equatorial courtesy of this site, and an extra page to help real amateurs locate interesting bodies up there..

Books:
Zoo in the sky This is a really good book, to introduce the constellations to your child, nice illustrations and storyline.

Crazy book browsing

I have this bad habit of internet browsing using tabs and seeing things I’m interested in which is almost everything, well I’m exaggerating. Anyway, the result is I seem to know a lot about everything but nothing of anything. See, just a dip in here a dip in there, no in-depth knowledge at all. When will this end? I need to focus on something! One surely can’t know everything. I seem to have a jumble of info in my head, unorganised and potentially useful, but not used to the max.

Anyway, here are some of what I’ve been browsing thru, in no particular order!:

1) The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think And How Schools Should Teach (Paperback)
~ Howard E. Gardner

“Since I also am in favor of apprenticeships for students (matching their skills w/ jobs) and taking risks, this book appealed to my own philosophies.” -a reviewer from Amazon.com

2)Teaching Montessori in the Home : The Pre-School Years

OK, bought this at kino, kicking myself for not discovering this book sooner. I need a book that I can skim through for the Montessori philosophy and activities with pics too, yeah I’m a kid at heart This book delivers man, so thin but have seen use within the first day, oh why don’t others keep it simple!

3) Between Parent and Child: The Bestselling Cla… (Paperback)
by Dr. Haim G. Ginott, Alice Ginott

definitely in my to buy list! I need a damn good library to satiate my book craving ha..ha wah only RM56.68 at kino! so tempting, next trip, need to get a good library or somehow make money for books man books are breaking my bank.

4)Teaching Montessori in the home
borrowed this at the Playcentre, not available at Kino, might make them order, since it’s really good (I actually can make myself to open and skim through the book ha..ha..only Roald Dahl has the cunning ability to keep me glued onto a book from cover to cover, maybe c.s.lewis too, but this book, for a non-fiction is very good in that sense, no small print and activities start on a new page, very easy read!). Just that I’m soo lazy at making the materials.

OK, see how my brain works, here’s a slant off at another site:

http://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/my_montessori_journey/2010/01/earth-moon-sun-song.html

did this activity with maryam, and our heads got spinning..hi..hi..

back to books..

5) Child’s Play by Leslie Hamilton

This book is a very easy read, in the same category as hainstock’s books. Activities don’t all start on a new page, but are well divided from each other to be an easy read. And the crafts are short easy to make, usually available at home materials, and are divided into 3 stages of difficulty, very useful for quick selection!
Definitely in my wish list, not available at mph or kino, just amazon, but shipping is horrendously high! so tempted to photocopy, but may just ask kino or mph to order.

6) Child’s Play (6-12): 160 Instant Activities, Crafts, and Science Projects for Grade Schoolers

stumbled upon in amazon, similar to the previous book, only better i guess to include science for older 6-12 yo children.

7)Draw Write Now series

8) The Well Trained Mind, so expensive at Kino RM 162.36!! ok, cheaper at mph for RM135 but have to order.

9)The Story of the World, History for the Classical Child and Ancient Times : from the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, cheaper at mph for RM65 but have to order meh..

10) so found these at mph pulak..
Writing With Ease for RM110, checking up the review..

ok..i have loads more, but can browse my amazon wish list, have a glimpse at my craziness…he…he…my book addiction!

More Books

Our current books from the library, I think we missed listing a few of our previous trips, oh well, here’s the current one:

1. Patterns by David Kirby (heinemann)
Recognising patterns is a fundamental mathematical skill I think one could start introducing at an early age. This book is set for kids ages 9+ but my M (6 yrs) have been working on the exercises with interest although some parts are quite hard, like the pascal’s triangle, all in all a good book!
2. In my Bag (froebel-kan co. ltd)
A board book introducing simple shapes, and engages readers to participate by identifying shapes in the room the characters are currently in.
3.Superstars by Jill Carter and Judy Ling
4.Little Fish goes exploring (illustrated by Gary Haines, Sandcastle books) – A touch and feel board book
5.Giant Treasury of Breer Rabbit (Derrydale Books)
I don’t care much for the breer rabbit series but my dad seems to have a soft spot for them.
6.Christmas time (Ladybird) – I don’t know why dad brought this book home, since we’re not Christians and don’t celebrate Christmas, and there’s already an overload of Christmas ‘happenings’ and advertisements in this country. I don’t feel the same when CNY comes, I don’t mind a bit of “kong si kong si” here and there and don’t feel like CNY is shoved down my throat. I seriously feel there’s a major overload of Christmas here when there are only about 9% christians, giving that hindus make up about 6% and the subdued deepavali adverts and celebrations do not compare at all to Christmas. Just give the celebrations its due ‘percentage’, I say.

Books

Dad returned our books while we were away, can’t remember what they were! Some were:

- a science experiments book
- a montessory play book
- The Tree house by ??

When we got back from our hols, there was a pile of new books dad brought back:

1. Man Explores the Sea by Malcolm E. Weiss
2. The Magical Tree House by Douglas Hill
3. The Usborne Books of Science Activities (Usborne)
4. Agaton Sax and the Bank Robbers by Nils-Olof Franzen (Delta Readers 1200 Word Level)
The level of this book is a bit high for M, so I ended up reading the book, and it’s quite ok, being an investigative story, I enjoyed reading it. I think it’s too complicated for a 6 yo tho.
5. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Delta Readers 1200 Word Level)
M (6 yrs) can read and explain what she understands although her explanations are in Malay, but I think it takes some effort for her to understand and appreciate this story. As it is, it’s return day and she still has not finished the book after a month. It’s Ramadhan though I guess, and we get quite tied up with other activities this month understandably. I’ll definitely give this boook another try. Definitely exercises M’s grey matter.
6. Jason and the golden fleece.
This is a classic, originally a Greek poem, retold as a short story. I read this and translated into Malay to my nearly 3 yo, and she liked the story. Though I admit I didn’t tell her about all the Goddess Jason and Medea consulted, I didn’t want her to be confused as she hasn’t a clear concept of what God is.

Books this month

3rd? visit, maybe 21st April 2009.

1. Malaysian Birds (MNS)

Excellent introduction to Malaysian Birds. Not comprehensive, but a good colourful and informative introduction for both adults and children alike. Now to get one!

2. From head to toe

Now I thought Eric Carle wrote this one, but it seems he’s ‘only’ the illustrator! Pardon me artists, Eric Carle’s drawings at first glance to me, are too contemporary for children to appreciate. I held back from buying any of his books, except the the very hungry caterpillar, but a library does mean that I can just pick one up without buyers remorse. After actually taking one up to read to my two year old..oh my, now I know why his books are classics. The story, the words, are all very well thought out, and make parents and their children turn their heads, kick their legs, lift their shoulders, just like many of the animals funnily illustrated (at least I think that contemporary = funny). Eric Carle’s paintings are colourful and the large book is a great plus, but really what captivates and holds my two year old’s attention is the story. The book cleverly introduces different parts of the body and helps the child remember by showing how different animals move. Excellently written by Dr. who(?), sorry Dr. Bill Martin Jr., your written words are captivating Dr., but Eric Carle’s name just seem stick in my head better. Definitely 5 stars.

3. Little Cloud

Another Eric Carle book, with very nice illustrations about a little cloud that finally brings rain. 3 stars.

4. Visit to the pet

A visit to the pet is a really funny book, I wish it were the size of Eric Carle’s big books. It rhymes, it’s funny, easy enough for my two going on three year old and engaging enough for my six year old. A near 4 stars!