Upgraded to a school going mum

Yes, my status has been upgraded since Tuesday, 21 Dec, 2010!

Harvynna attended her Primary One Orientation at her big school in her new uniform. Initially, I was quite afraid as everything will be in BM and I dont know how she will be able to adapt to the switch. But, I dont think it will be a problem after I saw how she blended in during the orientation.

About a week before, she was already getting excited and asked me, 'Do i have to speak in Malay? Will everyone be speaking in Malay?' I told her that the teachers will probably speak in Malay but I am sure all the kids will be speaking in English as most of the children from that school come from English speaking homes.

When we reached the school, many parents and students were already there, some in the canteen, some in the Primary One classrooms. We went to the row of classes and saw that she had been placed in 1 Dinamik. We were also glad to see that another boy from her kindergarten was also placed there. That made her really happy too as they were chummy since kindergarten.

Once we were in the hall, the Principal requested that all the children be sent to the classrooms as they had to sit for a test!! I was a bit annoyed that we were not informed of the test. But, I knew Harvynna was quite well prepared for PRimary One.

From 2011 onwards, all students entering PRimary One will be following the KSSR syllabus. There have been some changes to the curriculum where a more holistic approach will be adopted. At stage One, there will be less emphasis on exams. Students will also be graded based on their involvement in co-curricular activities. So far so good........

Students will stay back once a week to do either CHinese, Arabic or Tamil.

Core subjects are English, Malay, Maths, music, Seni Visual. I did not see any Science but books on Science and Technology were included in the booklist.  The subjects will be taught in a thematic method. They claim that the teaching and learning methodologies will be more interactive and interesting. We will have to wait and see!

Since this school works very closely with the PIBG, the PIBG also arranges various other activities (at a cost, of course) to provide a more well rounded education.  The Principal mentioned that this school scored the second highest best results in the recent UPSR exam in klang Valley and many students have represented the country in various arenas. As one of the 'Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi', the school has the autonomy to do additional programmes, if necesssary.
So , I hope everything works out well for her as we moved house just to be near this school.

The test was a Ujian Linus to test children's basic skills in literacy and numeracy. 2 papers were tested - Bahasa Malaysia and Mathematics. Harvynna and her friend found the paper easy peasy. (It was kindergarten level) The test is to identify these students and place them in a Linus class. The Linus class will help these students achieve the basic skills before they move on. This system would be very good in the rural schools, I guess. The other students will be placed in the normal stream class and there will be no streaming throughout. Students will be placed based on gender and race.(to have a good balance)

This weekend, my task is to wrap all her books (yawn!!) and get her ready for her big day.

Concert & Graduation 2010

                        Harvynna's graduation ceremony

                            Rowena's monkey dance

                          Harvynna's Tiki Tiki Dance

                            With my celebrities

Moving on....

Can't believe that my little girl has 'graduated' from preschool and is now moving on to Primary school. This is a big step for all of us as it affects our whole routine. Waking up at six to ensure she gets to school on time. Its different with kindergarten where everyone is late.

Harvynna will be attending her Primary school orientation on Dec 21, where she gets to wear her new uniform. She is very excited. My journey has only just begun.

Dug up some old pics of Harvynna at kindergarten.

                               5 year old

                               6 year old

                                      Now a senior at school - introducing Rowena to everyone

                        Last day of preschool with her dearest principal - all grown up, confident and ready to    
                       take on Primary school (November 30th, 2010)

Year End 2010

Its been a while. Making it a point to put something down as it is almost the end of the year and Harvynna starts a brand new era next year. What has been happenning since the last post?

 - family holiday to Cherating. We went on a short getaway to Cherating during the long Merdeka break. It was the first holiday in 2010. Pathetic, but somehow we managed to do it. The girls had a whale of a time swimming, lazing, eating and just spending time with us. Rowena was quite sick before we went. But once we reached Cherating, she immediately got well. The last day of our trip was cut short, as Rowena was summoned back to KL for a TVC shoot.

School Year End Concert & Graduation

The girl's had their annual concert at the end of October. The theme for this year was 'The Jungle Comes Alive'. Rowena's class performed a Monkey Coconut Dance and Harvynna's class performed the 'Tiki Tiki Dance'. Harvynna performed really well and was very confident. Guess her musical Theatre classes paid off. Rowena on the other hand, looked a little lost and looked like she was waiting for her performance to be over. It's her first performance on stage in front of a big audience. It was also Harvynna's graduation. This is her last year at her school and next year she will be moving to Primary One. My little girl is growing up too fast. I must say, her kindergarten has done well for her and she will definitely miss the school.

We moved....

We moved to our new place, finally. We moved because we wanted a bigger place, plus I wanted to live nearer to Harvynna's school. We now live 5 minutes away from her school and 15 minutes away from my work, which would save a lot of time next year. I can only imagine next year would be 100 times more hectic than this year with Harvynna in Primary school. I must say I am definitely a Supermum managing a full time job, 2 hyper active and demanding kids with NO maid.

Rowena's debut on tv!

Rowena's appearance in the Fernleaf ad recently.

Whats been happenning?

I hardly ever update this blog now that I can see cobwebs beginning to appear. Think am losing my mojo for updating the blog since the girls are much bigger now and I am so busy trying to keep up with life's routines!

What's been happenning so far with the girls?

1. Rowena started ballet lessons at school and she totally loves it. She actually talks about it all the time so I can tell that she really enjoys it. I made her pay for her own costume (terrible mummy). She used the money she earned from her shoot for that! My reason, is I had my doubts that she would pursue it further but she insisted that she would!!
2. Harvynna started musical theatre lessons. The teacher is good, but she was kind of put-off as the first song she learnt was 'Hello Dolly' and not some latest Jason Bieber or Kelly Clarkson hit. Lets see how that goes. She actually signed up as she aspires to be like Rachel from "Glee'. Next on the list, is vocal lessons which is due to start in August.
3. The girls did another small shoot for Colgate. Well, actually Rowena was selected, but Harvynna managed to slot herself somewhere at the back!
4. Harvynna's other front tooth is shaking - which means she would be able to sing 'All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth' pretty soon. Poor gal - she had to forgo a few casting offers due to that!
5. Both girls are sleeping in their own room now
6. Rowena is able to read and write a few words now. Quite average for her age group, nevertheless I am still very proud of her
7. FIFA World Cup - Rowena was a SPAIN supporter while Harvynna was an Argentina supporter, then Germany, then Netherlands, then Spain supporter. Basically, she does not stick to one team - she changes as the teams progress and looks most likely to win!!!

2nd Parent Teacher Meeting

The girls gave me the notice from the school that the Mid Year PTM was on. I felt like I had just attended the last one and here it is again. This year has just swooshed by - 7 more months and Harvynna starts Primary school and I havent even decided where to send her. We have done all the necessary registrations, but there are lots of things to consider. From Primary 1, 2011, all schools will have to revert to teaching Maths & Science in BM. Initially, I thought Harvynna would be safe as they were supposed to start it only in 2012, but alas, they now have decided for 2011.

Back to the PTM, it was a real long wait. I thought I will beat the queue by going there early, but there were many other earlier birds.Plus, i have to see 2 class teachers this time, so that would take even longer. I started with the BM teacher (who by the way, is an excellent BM teacher)

Well, as expected, she mentioned that Harvynna is a very good girl and catches up very fast. (yawn...)
She is advanced in her reading and writing and takes the iniative to do things and also speaks to her in BM. She has no issues with her and in fact she encouraged me to start giving her simple essays to write in BM. Looks like i will have to practice my BM too.

Then, the teacher says, 'Do you mind if we discuss Rowena no?' Then she starts off with 'Rowena is totally different from Harvynna. All the teachers here say the same thing.' Then I knew where she was heading!!
She says Rowena has a mind of her own but is very entertaining. She talks to everyone and is very friendly. Her attention span for her work is quite short so she gets bored fast. She does not seem to like BM much' - so she keeps volunteering to send things to the office so she can miss the class.
But I told her that its ok since Rowena is only 4. Then again, she says 'but when Harvynna was 4, dia sangat cepat dan verrrry interested in her work'.

Then when I went to see Harvynna's class teacher, it was the same story - Harvynna is doing very well and is a very helpful girl. I did ask her about 2 girls, that Harvynna really dislikes and the teacher said that those girls are very loud and quite rebellious - so harvynna finds them annoying. The girls are also quite intelligent so she probably feels the competition. So young - and so competitive.

Then I went to see Rowena's class teacher - she started with Rowena being very friendly and kind. She is loved by all the teachers and students and is everyone's friend.And she related a few stories about Rowena, which was quite funny yet sweet. And that was it. i looked at her and asked 'What about her work?' Then she paused for few seconds and said, that her work has improved a lot from when she first came and showed me her work - looked ok. How much can you expect from a 4 year old?. She mentioned that Rowena loves to sing and dance like she did at the last school assembly.And that was it???

These teachers must have been trained to focus only on the positive things!

It's hard to imagine how different these 2 girls are. But I would rather have them this way, then to have 2 exact characters - definitely spices up everyone's life!!