Sports Day at Sporty's Joe

Angeline decided to try something new for Sports Day this year. Instead of the regular routine of getting young children to experience different outdoor stations, Angeline brought this bunch of toddlers to Sporty's Joe at Turf City. Well, it was definitely worth the price that Angeline was quoted by Joe, who was one of the gym instructors. Oh ya, any smart ass would also have guess correctly that Sporty's Joe is owned by JOE himself. Therefore, no prizes for those got it right. However, if you got it wrong, Angeline is wondering why?

Upon arrival, the children were asked to start with the warming-up exercise. They were quickly joined by other children from the same age group. Nonetheless, they were not shy and were keen to participate in the exercises with their new found friends. All the children were seated in a circle before Joe began to direct them to do their shaking, bending and jumping.

Joe was leading the children in their warm-up exercises.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h

Alvin was trying to touch his toes.

Nikkie and Kylene were trying to stretch their hands.

Jump! Jump! Jump!

After warming up, the children were guided through the obstacle course where different shapes and sizes of soft foams were wating for them. At this station, they got the opportunity to climb, jump, crawl, roll and flip. Some of them got tired and decided to use the soft foam as a chair for them to take a rest. They were indeed belong to the new generation.

Kylene was trying to jump over the hoops.

Alvin was trying to do a somersault, of course Joe was there to help.

Alvin and Nikki were trying to overcome the soft foam in the shape of the waves.

Rui Kang and Royce were trying to crawl through the tiny tunnels.

Here was Caden stealing a rest!

Royce was unaware that Alvin was trying to crawl through the tunnel.

Nikki was trying to crawl down the slope.

Kylene did her best to over the waves!

Rui Kang gave up crawling through the tunnel.

After 15 minutes of the obstacle course, Joe challenged the children to the swing bar, where they have to grap hold of the bar and swing to and fro. It was indeed a tough test of their arm strength and co-ordination to latch on the bars. Well, nothing is really too tough for this bunch of energetic toddlers!

Royce was trying to latch on the swing bar.

Kylene managed to latch on at her first attempt! Way to go, girl!

Caden tried to latch on with Joe's help.

Alvin enjoyed the swing bar immensely.

What's next? All the children were still full of excitment when Joe announced that balancing beam was the next station. There were 2 balancing beam at the station. One is just for the children to practice walking to get a feel of it, thus it is rather low. The next one is almost reaching Angeline's waist, so it should be at least 1 metre off the ground. But the children were not intimidated by the height and they were rather keen to jump off when they reach the end. Bravo!

Royce's first attempt at the lower balancing beam.

The twins took a quick and steady walk on the balancing beam.

Royce's first attempt at the higher balancing beam.

Kylene was slow but steady at the balancing beam.

Now that the children have all warmed up with Joe and their new friends, they were ready for MORE actions at the trampoline, where they can jump and jump and JUMP! Joe was even complimenting that these children could jump as well as the Kangaroos from Australia. WOW! Imagine that?

Kylene was first to start!

Alvin tried to jump on it with Joe's help.

Kylene loved it so much that she wanted to try again and this time she tried it together with Royce.

Caden looked happier jumping at the other trampoline with the girls.

Nikki in action!

That was a lot of hard work from everyone. Angeline got tired just looking at all the bouncy pouncy troucy Kangaroos jumping up and down and the trampoline. It suited Angeline perfectly when Joe annouced that it was time for the next station, the swing hoops, where children have to grap hold to the 2 hoops and use their arm strength to swing to and fro. Although this station was similar to the swing bar, Angeline thought it was more challenging, as it wasn't as easy as it seem to grap hold of the 2 hoops at one attempt for the young children. All the best!

Royce did it at his first attempt.

Kylene needed some help from Joe.

Alvin was in love with the swing hoops, he just love to swing to and fro.

Caden tried and didn't make it. He must be still trying to recover from his flu bug.

Finally, the children were gathered on the soft carpet for cooling down exercises. Honestly, Angeline thought they were more excited than before when they saw the parachute that Joe brought with him. What's more exciting for them when they could go on top and beneath the BIG and COLOURFUL parachute?

Everyone was shaking the parachute with great force.

Now, LIFT the parachute up!

Everyone, go on the parachute!!

And under the parachute!!

Last but not least, the gym session ended with a song entitled "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". This was the children's favourite song in school when they did body parts as January's theme. They were so familiar with the song and had no problem catching up with Joe at all. Well done!

"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

Alvin tried to touch his toes.

Rui Kang tried to follow the actions in his own way.

After all the hard work, Joe rewarded everyone with a sticker!

Angeline was very glad that she has brought the children to Sporty's Joe. Not only it was fun and exhilarating, it also helped to promote children's gross motor skills spontaneously. Angeline made a wise choice. Indeed, indeed.

Education Initiatives Seminar with Oh-Tai

As a principal of a childcare centre, Angeline is required to attend the seminars and workshops organized by various government bodies, such as Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Ministry of Education (MOE). Being Angeline's best ally, Oh-Tai attended all these educational sessions with her religiously. Why? Oh! That is because both Angeline and Oh-Tai love the refreshment provided by the Ministries.

A few months back, MCYS and MOE organized a seminar to introduce new education initiatives about Early Childhood Education at Sun Tec City Conference Hall. As usual, they were looking forward to the refreshment. However, they were taken aback with a pathetic variety of either chicken pies or eclairs to choose from. Angeline is beginning to wonder where have all the tax money gone.

Not-so-big Chicken Pies

Devilish Eclairs

Coffee with Milk

Oh-Tai was adding milk to her coffee.

Oh-Tai tried to act pleased with the variety of refreshment.

After the refreshment, everyone walked into the conference hall where the seminar was held. Angeline then whispered to Oh-Tai, "Should have taken lunch before we come." Oh well!

Before the start of the seminar, Angeline flashed her camera and invited Oh-Tai to cam-whore with her. Without a second doubt, Oh-Tai moved nearer and striked a pose with Angeline. Despite the pair was sitting at the first few rows, they acutally managed to stuck out their tongue in front of the camera. Thus, this implied that they have completely ignored the rest of the audience and the speaker on the stage. They soon got tired and were beginning to drift off to their La La Land.

Angeline and Oh-Tai at the seminar

Angeline and Oh-Tai being funny

As mentioned, anyone would have expect the pair to fall asleep at the semniar once again. WRONG! In the end, Angeline and Oh-Tai didn't fall asleep because the presentation by the representative from MOE was intriguing and it only lasted for about 20 minutes. The rest of the hour was allocated for Questions and Answers (Q & A), where many participated enthusiastically. This managed to keep both Angeline and Oh-Tai awake because the main focus of the Q & A was early childhood educators' salaries. To their utter disappointment, both Ministries did not comment much about any sign of salary increment.

After the semniar, Angeline is beginning to wonder if there is any job available for her in other professions. Angeline really can't survive very long in Early Childhood with that kind of miserable salary.

For more information about new education initiatives, please click http://www.moe.edu.sg/media/press/2008/03/improving-the-quality-of-presc.php. Thank you.

Food for thought by Angeline:

How can both Ministries expect Early Childhood educators to be better qualified without even increasing their basic salary first? Firstly, the educators won't be motivated to upgrade themselves if they don't see an increase in salary after they have obtained a higher level of qualification. Secondly, Angeline can bet that no one will ever be interested to join this profession by looking at the salary package. Thirdly, Angeline is asking both Ministries not to preach that this profession is all about caring and educating and the focus should not be on the salary. Angeline knew about this the moment she entered the profession. All she is asking is for the starting salary to be at least on par with other professions. It doesn't make sense for a Diploma graduate working in banking sector drawing a high salary of S$2300 as a start whereas a Diploma graduate from Early Childhood has to make to do with the merge pay of S$1600 (which is the HIGHEST in the field already). If Early Childhood educators are doing more than just educating or teaching the future generation, should we recieve more than the rest? Angeline strongly believe all Early Childhood educators deserve more than what they are getting at the moment. It is definitely time to re-consider again.

My Heritage Collage

Angeline went to work on 16 April 2008 and surfed the Internet aimlessly. Please don't be mistaken. Angeline has FINSIHED her work before she began surfing. Thus, it implies that Angeline is an efficient worker. Woohoo!

Angeline came across an interesting website that helps people to create a collage that shows their very own celebrity matches. Being the vainpot, Angeline decided to give it a try and she was totally disappointed with the results. Baa!

Take a look for yourself. If you are just as efficient as Angeline, try it to see your celebrity matches. Cheers!

Angeline & her Rendenzvous with Azabu Sabo

After missing in action for a period of time, Angeline finally resumed her blogging self again. The long break was not meant for Angeline to rejuvenate, more like Angeline was too busy with her final research paper. Now that it is ALL completed, she is free to continue blogging. In fact, today is the day that she finished the report. It just proved that she is very responsible because she knew that she has many entries that have not been updated and her friends are wondering what has happened. OPPS!

Angeline went to Azabu Sabo at Marina Square with Ck (a couple of months ago = Angeline forgot). To be more honest, Ck didn't have much choice because Angeline watched "Sweets for my Sweet" on Channel 5 and she was attracted by the desserts that the restaurant promoted.

When Angeline and Ck reached Azabu Sabo, the almost real-like look-alike display of the food and desserst made the couple walked in without any doubt. This illustrated the power of desserts on Angeline and Ck. Ok. Just Angeline.

The menu at Azabu Sabo

Look at the variety of desserts!!!

More desserts on the next page!!!

Looking at the wide variety of desserts available, Angeline and Ck just could't decide on which one to order. In the end, they decided on Hokkaido Hotballs with Vanilla Ice-cream and Green Tea Ice-cream with Red Bean Paste. Angeline really couldn't wait while Ck was more contentend playing with her hair. Angeline decided to teach him a lesson by showing evidence here that he is always bullying her ALL THE TIME. =(

Angeline & Ck were waiting for their desserts.

He started his stunts again.

Angeline was let off the hook, as she gave Ck the job of taking photos for her.

Hokkaido Hotballs with Vanilla Ice-cream

Green Tea Ice-cream with Red Bean Paste

Ck wanted to show off his HUGE mouth.

He couldn't resist the temptation for too long.

Angeline ignored him and digged in long time ago.

ALL gone in less than 5 mins!

Angeline and Ck left Azabu Sabo happily. Ok! Just Angeline! Ck was still recovering from the shock when he recieved the bill. Hee! If anyone ask Angeline to recommend yummy desserts, where's else but Azabu Sabo!