K2 Graduation Camp in Pulau Ubin

28 – 30 Aug 2001 (Tue – Thur)

Teacher-in-charge : Tan Beng Luan, Meera, Li Li

Objective

In order to strengthen the social skills of these children as part of our Preparation Programme for them to get ready for their forthcoming study life in primary school, we planned the camp project of which children were given opportunities to:

Learning Aspects

The Ubin Camp contents include the learning of languages, maths, science and social skills. For instance, in the lesson of setting up camp rules, children learnt to discuss and understand their preferred rules, and later worked on the exact vocabularies. In the lesson of purchasing items for the camp, children learnt about sharing duties with partners, and checking the validity dates of food items.

We engaged children in a situation, that is `going to camp’ where they were motivated to learn. During the preparation period, from late June to end August, the learning capacity of these children was great and most encouraging. The camp provided a real situation for the children to apply their knowledge and practice coping with new environment and working with friends.

Venue

Civil Service Club Lodge, Pulau Ubin

The lodge is located 5 minutes from the jetty, on the right hand side of it as one enters the main entrance of the island. A Police Station is situated next to the lodge. The lodge is in a fenced-up compound. All are air-con rooms with bedding facilities. There are 4 units of toilet/shower. Nearby, there are two pavilions in the field for outdoor activities and barbecue pits outside the lodge.

The Team

There were 18 children (6 years old), 4 teachers, 4 helpers, 1 video-cam person and 1 photographer.

Programmes

28 Aug

12.15 noon bus leave for Changi Jetty
Arrive and settle in Ubin Lodge
Visit the town centre
Purchase items needed (by the children)
Free play/Shower
Dinner
Night walk to village headman's house
9.30 pm bed time

29 Aug

6.30 am Breakfast (made by the children)
Tidy the camp (by the children)
Birds/plants watching (led by a member of the Nature Society)
Lunch
Cycling
Free play/Shower
Wash clothes (by the children)
Prepare the BBQ (by the children)
Entertainment
9.30 pm bed time
30 Aug 6.30 am Breakfast (made by the children)
Tidy up the camp (by the children)
Visit a wild boar, a quarry, an English cottage, and a rubber plantation in rented vans
Pack up
11.30 am boat leave for Changi Jetty
12.30 pm back in Creative O

 

Class Work

After coming back from the camp, children shared their experiences in Ubin and were asked to work on an Ubin island model which showed the position/direction of places they had visited, focusing on route from where they stayed (Ubin Lodge) to the town centre.

Presentation

Children were invited to share their Ubin experiences with their parents in two ways, firstly, a parental involvement project on My Ubin’s Diary. It was to get children to use photographs that they took and with their parents’ assistance, they were to compile a diary for all to view and share in the class. Secondly, children were divided into 4 groups, with each group to sort out photographs that were taken by the teacher, according to the time sequel. They then discussed about the format of the presentation. Two groups came out with 2-D style respectively and each was somewhat different. The other two groups were challenged further by not using 2-D format. The children then came out with two different 3-D formats. These works were presented by them at the Ubin Parents Briefing on 20 Sep 2001.

Through this exercise, children continue to practice how to discuss and cooperate as a team. They did problem solving together as well.

Lessons Summary
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