Sunday, April 3, 2011

Session 3: Teamwork, 2 Apr 2011

We're almost halfway through our sessions now, and the kids are getting more and more comfortable around the place (:

We started this week's session with a little problem: Mr Wolf was the facilitator for the day, so he needed a double! True to the week's theme of teamwork, Jiawei agreed to take over as Mr Wolf (we found out later that he wasn't feeling well that day, so we really have to thank him again!)

Getting ready for the day..

Station games had been planned for the day too, so there was a fair bit of setting up to do. The children would have to build houses out of paper cards, wooden blocks and lego bricks. The card houses took forever to build!

Here, Teacher Dequan attempts to use his psychic powers to prevent the house from collapsing

While Hong Seng pouts and demands ""Jing Rong why did u BAMM!! my cards?"
(Jing Rong trying to pout back)

D and H arrived early, so they had a bit of practise with the cards and blocks (:

Once everyone arrived, the story-telling began! Today, the classic tale of the Three Little Pigs was retold.

Out comes Mr Wolf to huff, puff and blow the houses away! The kids were really terrified of the howling.

They then had the chance to build their own houses. However, Mr Wolf would come around to blow down their houses, so they had to work with their friends to defend their houses!

"We're ready Big Bad Wolf!"

Reading was up next, and the grammar task for the day was on adjectives (:

We noticed that A has a signature pose for the camera

Very very engrossed in the book

Teamwork = unity = being engrossed in reading together :D

~YRS Comm :D~ 1:23 AM

Welcome!

About YRS

Yishun Reading Stars (Social-skills Training And Reading for Students) (YRS) is a program which aims to enhance every child's social and reading skills. The children are aged between 8-11 years old and are referred by the Educational Psychologists from the Student Centre. Some of them have limited exposure to English in their home environment, while others may have learning difficulties. YRS hopes to equip the children with some basic strategies to help them deal with their emotional needs. More importantly, we want the children to realise that they are SPECIAL in their own ways!

*Do note that we have blurred the children's faces to protect their privacy. However, we still hope that our entries will give you a good idea of what we do!

Activities

YRS usually carries out 12 sessions every academic semester. Each session is tailored to themes with a primary focus on promoting social interaction.

We devote half of every 90 minute session to Guided Reading, where volunteers attach themselves to a child and read a story to, or if possible, along with the kid. The focus is on helping the kid to improve his/her oral and reading comprehension of the story, so that the ultimate goal of independent learning through a love for reading may be achieved!

Besides the regular sessions, we organise camps and outings for the children too! :)

Quotable Quotes

"As we lead the children through the Guided Reading session, it really touches the heart to see them improving bit by bit, especially when they remember words that were taught the previous session" - Laura Lye

"Yishuners are really a team that cares about helping these kids and no matter how much time we put into volunteering for Yishun Student Care Service, it’s all worth it." - Tay Ming Hui

Volunteering

Our current season will be running from 25 February 2011 to June, with a 3-week break in between from 19 April to 6 May due to exams.

The satisfaction from being able to mould and shape a kid's future is priceless, and only when you personally experience it can you then understand it, so come on down to YRS to shape a child's future today!