SVPS CCM Program

That's the Conversational Chinese & Malay Program,where non-Chinese students learn to speak Mandarin while Chinese students learn Malay.

Yesterday B1 brought our family photo to her CCM class.At night, she recited what she learnt in class...introducing her family members in Malay!

I think they should keep such classes going, not just for a few days for the P3 pupils only. The best is they just kept to only conversational lessons, with no exams! So learning is fun & no stress!

Last day of Term 2

Today is the last day of Term 2 and B1's going to get her report book today.

Tomorrow is Meet-Parent Session.Not supposed to bring B1, but we have to cos we need to bring B2 along, and leave B2 with B1 outside the classroom when we are talking to teacher.

GSS starts today at Taka..but I have no plan to go down...nothing in mind to buy and need to save $$$!

Levi's Jeans Promotions

Levi's Strauss - any 2 jeans for $99.90.

Normal Levi's Stores- Buy a pair of jeans and you get $100 voucher for next purchase.It's for regular-priced items, valid till 31 July 2009, and for use in the store where the voucher is issued. So if you get a pair of jeans at $159.90, the actual cost is only $59.90. Citibank credit cards get addtional 5% off.

Being "tailed" at FairPrice Yew Tee Point-Shoplifting?

I am sure other mothers could shop with baby in a stroller and yet can still hold a basket...but it's challenging for me, so I prefer to hang a foldable tote behind the stroller and put the stuff in,then take out everything at the cashier.

Today, for the first time, I experienced being followed by a male FairPrice staff. He ran after me after picking up the water bottle that my baby threw on the floor, but strangely I found that he seemed to be tailing me even after handling over the bottle to me. Somehow he seems to be standing diagonally across me and not far from me all the time.

When I was paying at the cashier, he also suddenly appeared, walking freely and empty-handed passed me. At that moment, then I realised that he could be following me for quite some time and suspecting that I am shoplifting.

Though my conscience is clear,I still felt very offended. Do I look like a shoplifter? What an insult!

I am not sure if a see-through tote would help in situtations like this? Anyway I couldn't find any transparent/see-through foldable tote so far.

SVPS CL Multiage Program

B1 managed to study Higher Chinese in P3 even though her P2's Chinese overall mark of 91% is below the required entry marks. I am not sure if this is good for her? Is it too stressful for her?
But when I heard of how her cousin (Hb's younger brother's daughter) got pulled out from Higher Chinese in P6, and her mum tried very hard to appeal to get her daughter back into Higher Chinese class, I guess there must be something good about taking Higher Chinese? Her cousin studies in Pei Hwa, and the students take Higher Chinese since P1.
B1 is one of the 3 students in her class selected for her schools' CL Multiage program.
P3 and P4 students who are weak in Chinese are grouped together in this program.They aim to improve the student's language proficiency and interest in Chinese through riddles,story telling, games,creative writing etc.
Students are expected to go for 1 hour lesson per week, on Monday mornings.This is in addition to her Tuesday morning supplementary classes.
SVPS started this pilot program in 2000.I believe there must be enough statistics to show that it is effective for them to continue with this program?
Anyway, I just hope that she won't come home with more homework from this program.Just learn and do whatever they need to during the lessons! She's already loaded with lots of homework daily from her form teacher and Chinese teacher.
One of her classmates,who's staying in the same estate is also selected.His mother has already asked whether her son could take a lift from us on this day.
Working couples who have no additional supoort will face more problems when their school -going children start supplementary lessons and CCA in school, and have to worry about transport arrangement.

Berenice broke her 3 front teeth...

It's 2 Apr 2009.

Hb went for business trip in KL, will be back only tomorrow midnight.

Today's is B1's second ballet lesson since she switched to a new class.She's supposed to leave her house at 7.30am and usually back from school by school bus at about 6.55pm.

Got her ballet attire and dinner ready but at 6.40pm, got a call from her form teacher.She said that Berenice has tripped and hurt herself in school.It's "nothing serious",but bleeding,so she didn't want to send Ber home on school bus, asked if I could go pick her up.

Luckily I have just finished feeding B2 dinner, so I left her at my neighbour's place, then quickly drove to B1's school.

I was shocked when I see that her two front teeth were chipped off (later then I realised it's actually 3 teeth).1 about quarter gone, and another almost half gone!

The teacher advised me to take her to the dentist immediately. The discipline master ran up to us when we were walking towards our car.He checked her teeth and told us to submit the receipt for insurance claims.

My cousin also advised me via sms,to take B1 to dentist immediately.As she has seen a boy who fell and got his loosen front teeth "glued" back.

I called the Greenlife at Yew Tee.Was told that I may have to wait for 45min without appointment . And I have to be there to wait, to see if anyone didn't turn up for appointment. We hurriedly take our dinner, though B1 actually can't eat but could only drink some milo,and rushed to the dentist, as most of their dentists are leaving at 8pm.

I decided to drop B1 off at the taxi stand, asked her to go and register at the clinic ALONE, while I park my car. It's a distance from the car park to the dental clicnic, traffic's quite bad as there's pasar malam in Yew Tee, and "unloading" B2's car seat and stroller takes time.

When I reached the clicnic, B1's already inside, taken X-ray of her teeth. Luckily no major fracture or nerves problem. She would need fillings for her chip-off parts,and need to monitor closely for the next few months, to be sure that the roots don't "die off".

The fillings cost $150.The whole process took about an hour, including the waiting in between 2 sessions while the dentist attended to her patient with appointment. I also asked the dentist to write a letter, so that we could pass it to the school's dentist for record.Afterall it's much easier and convenient for B1 to go to school's dentist than make appointment to seeeprivate dentist.

B2 was getting a bit impatient by then, probably because she's already hungry.
The receptionist praised B1 for being able to walk-in and register at the counter herself. She said some 10 or 11 year old children don't even dare to speak up. The dentist praised her for being a brave girl and rewarded her with stickers. I didn't accompany her during treatment as I needed to attend to B2 outside the treatment room.

Hb & I did try to persuade her to come back for filling few days later, but she insisted that she wanted to do it today,probably because she didn't want her friends to see her broken teeth tomorrow.