Flame Test Science with Sam Gibbs

One of the topics under Forensic Science (what we're doing at Co-op) is Flame Test. We thought it'd be better to find a teacher to teach this rather then messing with fire ourselves. We were fortunate that Mr. Sam Gibbs was in town and he agreed to come do the class for us. Boy was it a fun, crazy, fiery class. This is the second time we've attended his class. The first was during the aerospace workshop in TUDM with him last year, kids loved it so much! Well, needless to say, they stayed tuned during his whole session, had lots of laughs, and learnt lots!!

Spectrography

Learning about atoms, photons, energy and elements.

Flame test...guess, which element in here?

Children having a go at flame testing

(@ All photos above taken by Lena Q)

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 WE've also covered topics such as Chromatography, Soil Analysis, blood typing, hair analysis, analysis of teeth and footprints,
                             

 Crime Scene analysis

 Finger prints

and DNA

Too many details, so this summary will suffice. Basically, kids love the hands on learning, especially when it involves experiments, and solving crime!

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014

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A Walk in FRIM with Prof Ille Gebeshuber

Well, we were supposed to head to the canopy, but alas, we found out that FRIM's canopy closes at 2:30pm, and we arrived at 2:30pm, too late. :(  In the end, FRIM was nice, in that they allowed us to book a nature guide on the spot. Cost was RM120.

So off we went to the jungle....oh such a lovely break to be in the cool jungle after being stuck at home  for days with no water (water rationing) and horrid haze on the outside. The best part of it all, was barely 10 minutes into our walk, it began drizzling, then pouring like crazy!!! Oh...the children gleefully jumped through puddles, collected large leaves to use as umbrellas, laugh, observe, play...twas so much fun.

I told my kids, that was the best fun I've had in ages, the rain sure melted away the grouchiness that I've accumulated from being stuck indoors.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014

Muzium Negara- Orang Perak

Our Science Coop has been studying Forensic Science for the past few months. The wonderful thing about forensic science is that it introduces lots of sciences to the children, from the study of human anatomy to flame tests in chemistry to calculation of density etc.. A topic we'll be covering soon will be the study of bones in forensic science. So in relation to this topic we decided to visit the National Museum for a class session on the Orang Perak. You can find out more about their classes on their website.  The best thing is that, the session is entirely free, and you gain free entrance to the museum too.

They provided three activities which were cave painting, making accessories with ancient shells (which were found buried with the orang perak), and excavation as well as information about the orang perak.

Jewelery making, taking about accessories used in ancient times.

Cave painting, with charcoal. Reminded me of a session I did with my kids a long time back, where we painted with real soil

Learning about Perak Man and excavation, which was an interesting talk.

The children really enjoyed this field trip!

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014


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Kuda Kepang

Feb 16th  -Publika Black Box

I've always wanted to watch a Kuda Kepang show, to find out more about this particular form of dance. So when we found out that a Kuda Kepang troupe from Johor was gonna perform at Publika, we went. Well, I won't describe in detail what my children thought of the show, but basically, they preferred the Wayang Kulit outdoor show that we attended at Rimbun Dahan last year.
 I guess, burning of incense and smoking among performers indoors made the Kuda Kepang show a little unbearable. I found the show intriguing but a lil "chaotic" three quarters through when the performers began going into trances. Anyway, a few photos from the show.

Kuda Kepang

Sharing a cigarette before the show

Holding a coconut, and eventually biting husks off as performer gets into a trance.

Female performer in a trance

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014

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Art- Sculpting horse with Paper clay

Happy Cap Goh Mei, and Happy Valentines Day!!

We spent our morning creating fun art which the children really enjoyed. When the kids begged to do art, I thought, it'd be nice to do something about horses, since according to the Lunar Calendar, it is the year of the Horse!

Well upon googling, I stumbled upon the works of Deborah Butterfield, who is famous for her sculptures of horses made out of wood and metal. Since that might prove a little too difficult for us, I thought paper marche and twigs would be nice.

So we googled for a recipe, and found a really great recipe for Paper marche clay meant for sculpting here.  (I'd advice adult supervision if younger children are making the clay as it has contents like wall filler/ putty, and PVA glue, and make sure to wear gloves when making it.)

Based on the recipe, we made our own clay out of tissue paper, wall putty, PVA glue, flour and oil. To add texture, we added sand, twigs, dried grass etc to into our homemade clay.

Our clay all ready!

The children then drew a picture of a horse on their paper, painted the background, then began filling up the horse area with clay.

Nel sculpted her clay with her hand and the back of a brush.

My work in progress

Jo just couldn't work with gloves and decided to work with both hands. She used the blade on a pair scissors to help her get fine lines. (I made sure she washed her hands thoroughly after!)

To finish of the art, we gathered more dried stuff from the garden and decorated the background/horse with it. Our final product.

My completed work.

Nel's. Simple and beautiful..gives me the feeling of a horse on a hill on a windy day.

 Jo's (pic a little blur.)....a flying unicorn of course! :)

 Happy Year of the Horse and may the year be a great one for you!

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014

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I'm proud of my girls who rescued these abandoned babies...4 of them, from skinny scrawny (almost drowned) creatures, to these beautiful four kittens. They did well...stuck to their responsibility of feeding and cleaning regularly. Today, somebody came and adopted all four. It was with heavy heart we let them go. The older one cried all night, but was happy we found them a good home, and is joyful now, knowing we can still visit them. The little one is upset....but we knew it was best they went together so they'd grow up together. I'd say, animal rescue has taught my girls a lot of things, especially compassion, kindness and responsibility.

 @poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014

Exploring with dear friends from the USA

On the 26th of Dec, some very close family friends arrived from Michigan. We spent 2 weeks with them exploring our country and city. Needless to say, it was wonderful reunion time and we do miss them very much now!

Just some highlights in simple photos now. (I've been spending very lil  time on the computer and plan to keep it that way. So not much photo editing.)

 Pulau Ketam

It was a rainy day when we got there.

A friend on the island showing us how dried shrimp is made.

Mini Road Trip to Melaka and Port Dickson

Nothing melts the stress away like a few days by the beach. Here's my sandman.

At play while the sunsets.

Melaka Unesco site.

Of course we all had to ride on the beca (pronounced bay-cha). Only now they come with LOUD booming music!!

Spent a whole day shopping at Jonker Street, and all the girls bought lovely patchwork skirts which we wore together.

At the famous A'Famosa Fort.

To cool the day off, we boarded the boat for a river cruise. Enjoyed the lovely graffiti here.

Visit to Royal Press Melaka.

Our very knowledgeable tour guide

First thing that captivated me were the old beautiful air wells and windows.

The longest serving worker there, showing us how printing was  done long time ago. She told us that to print a page of paper could take as long as 2 days to prepare.

Batu Caves

yup we managed to climb the steps, all 272 of it.

Saw this couple carrying her baby up in a yellow cloth, tied to sugar cane. They say this is to give thanks for answered prayers for a child.

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Till we meet again dear friends.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2013

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013 was eventful. After spending 3 weeks in December taking turns falling sick with a horrid flue virus and high fever, we eventually recovered on time  for Christmas. We had some lovely friends and family over for a simple dinner.


On the menu was Cheese and Crackers, recipe gotten from an American friend whom we visited during Christmas as well. Well, their cheese looked like a snowman. I attempted doing one as well, and I don't know why mine turned out looking like a bird!
Anyway...what I put in it.....
   ~ 2 packs of Cream cheese
   ~Cajun seasoning
  ~ chopped Pecans
  ~ bacon (stirfried and chopped up)
  ~Garlic powder
  ~Dill
 ~Walnuts

Kids decorated the house before guests arrived and made this sign.

After a wonderful time catching up, I decided to bring out some gingerbread cookies for the children to decorate. It was well....interesting watching the difference between how a 2 year old and an 18 year old decorate. I'm sure you can tell which age decorated the cookie below. I kinda call it "The death of the ginger bread man." hehe....

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Nel and Jo were both involved in the performing arts for Christmas.
Proud to say that Nel danced well, despite the nervousness she felt. After the third performance she even smiled while dancing, which is a great achivement for the introvert that she is.
 And Jo enjoyed being part of the choir so much.
@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014

What matters most..

After a long day with my kids
I sat alone and pondered
About how the day had gone.
So much accomplished,
that my heart is still palpitating from stress..
I feel quite burnt out, and so do my kids..
But yeah, I'm proud of all things achieved today...
Or so I think.. coz my heart feels differently.

Off the top of my head today
We got to ballet at 9am sharp,
Phew, we're getting better at getting up on  time.
I  managed to get my child to understand
what 15 out of 1,555 means in terms of percentage.
I got her to understand, the difference between
a clause and a phrase, the different types of adverbs.
I got the kids to unpack and repack their entire messy drawers.
We worked on geography and history
I got them to focus and insisted that no matter what
Today's work is today's, so no matter what,
 It HAD to be done....Discipline.
I stood my ground and said,
"Work not finished, no going out."
So true to my word, at 6pm when all the kids were out
I made my kids sit down to continue with work
coz they daydreamed and played parts of the day.

Finally by nightfall, my kids finished it all,
I gave them a pat on the back and said "Well done!"
So much accomplised today, wonderful.
I gave myself a pat too.
I thought, surely, I know what's best for my kid
I'll push them in everything, coz they have potential!
A weak parent is a weak child!
Discipline is important. Never give in, push push PUSH!
One day they'll achieve great things because of me!
But again, my heart thought differently.


After all,
How had I managed to help them
achieve all these "great" things?
I used praise, bribes, rewards, stickers.
I used nagging, sometimes even shouting.
I prodded them out of daydreams,
Scolded them for slow work, pushed them because
I knew, If they could be pushed to excel
always academically, in arts and in sports;
They would surely conquer the world.
But again, my heart thought differently.

Why my heart? Why do you not agree with my thoughts?

To listen to my heart
I knew, I had to listen to my children.
So I asked them...
"What do you think will help you achieve great things?
What helps you feel like you can do anything you set your heart to?
And achieve and conquer it all?"
Their answers confirmed what I felt in my heart
and Not in my head.


My kids replied,
"I feel on  top of the world, like I can achieve ALL things...
Because
I have a mummy who loves me the way I am.
I have the greatest daddy in the world who tells me stories.
I feel loved because you cooked my favourite spaghetti, the best in the whole world!
You gave me a hug today.
I feel important when you take time to sit with me on a sofa, snuggled, reading a favourite book.

I love it, when we get to go out for walks and look at interesting plants and bugs.
I feel loved when you play pretend with me, pirates, mermaids and all the things we could be!
I feel important, because you're here for me.
I enjoy learning because you take time to explain things I just cannot understand
and you make it fun too.
I feel loved now because you stopped to ask me how I feel,
You understand my feelings more than anyone does.
And because of all this, I feel I am important,
I feel positively happy, on  top of the world
and  I know I can accomplish ALL things because of you Mum."

Tears welled up in my eyes..
Because of your honesty child,
Because of the way you overlook all my faults
and even the way I've been grumpy.
You forgive so easily.
Surely the way I've nagged and pushed have done little
to help you feel great. In fact, I think, often it's pulled you down.
I'm thankful that despite all my faults and failures
You still love me, and think I'm the best mum in the world.
Your graciousness and forgiveness inspires me
Inspires me to improve and to be a better person.

And now I know, that to help you face that wide world one day
is not by pushing you academically/in sports or arts at the expense of US...You and I,
But instead to spend time with you, child,
in conversation
in hugs
in quality time
in understanding
in doing things together
in kind words
in kind deeds....

And all this will create a complete YOU
Who'll feel like you can achieve ALL things
and even the moon
because you feel Loved,
you feel Important.

A beautiful song: In my Daughter's Eyes.


@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2013
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