More drawings of the Giant’s Garden came in:
The Giant and birds in his garden – by Arassi
The Giant’s garden with a cave, bananas, a big tree and many happy children – by Arassi
A Giant Flower in the Giant’s garden – by Ali
May Sim holding her drawing. May has been back in our drama class since the beginning of June. Previously, she had stopped coming for about three years and it was a most lovely surprise when one day, she walked into our studio as though she had never left before…
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Two Tuesdays ago, we did an exercise called “Magic Wand”. We worked in pairs, one was the “charmer” with the magic wand and the other the “charmed”. The charmer led the charmed around the room with the wand and the latter had to follow as closely as possible. We explored directions and heights; we focused as hard as possible and stretched our bodies as much as we could while following the wand.
May every encounter be a magical one…
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A Doggy with a Bone
(Tune of: If you’re happy and you know it)
Oh I wish I was a doggy with a bone.
Oh I wish I was a doggy with a bone.
Oh wouldn’t I delight, I would howl day and night.
Oh I wish I was a doggy with a bone.
Oh I wish I was a kitty with a fish.
Oh I wish I was a kitty with a fish.
Oh wouldn’t I delight, I would meow day and night.
Oh I wish I was a kitty with a fish.
Oh I wish I was a donkey with some hay.
Oh I wish I was a donkey with some hay.
Oh wouldn’t I delight, I would bray day and night.
Oh I wish I was a donkey with some hay. Hee Haw!!
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We finally completed the last part of our script: Jack and the Beanstalk. When the Giant discovered that Jack had stolen his treasures, he gave chase. He followed Jack down the beanstalk but before he could reach the ground, Jack managed to get his mother to chop the beanstalk down causing the Giant to come crashing down. And as in all fairy tales, Jack and his mother lived happily ever after.
So let’s take a look at the scenes.
"Wait till I get my hands on you!" bellows David the Giant!
"No worries, Mother will take care of it." Says Mother (Sze Chyi) to Jack (Sandra) as she chops the beanstalk with an axe (clothes hanger).
"AHHHHhhhhh...." screams the giant as he comes crashing down. WATCH OUT!!!
"Now I'm really going to be late for supper and the Missus sure isn't going to be pleased." Mumbles the giant as he looks up to the sky. - the things the books never told us.
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Judith is back!! She has been absent since the beginning of this year due a leg injury. She’s fully recovered now and back in drama class! We are simply overjoyed because we’ve missed her so much.
Judith
Judith and Arassi – they attend the same school and Arassi has been asking her in school all this while when she was coming back to drama classes!
Last Tuesday, we did some stretching exercises using scarves
Gabby drew a picture of the Giant’s garden (picture above) as she imagined it to be. Gabby is a wonderful artist, so independently and wildly imaginative. She likes to use very rich and bold colours. Don’t you just love it?
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Last Saturday, the group 2 class celebrated with Anna her 11th birthday during our break.
The Birthday Girl posing with her cake.
Everyone posing for a photo.
After the song, making a wish.
Blowing the candles!
So here’s to Anna… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
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For some weeks now, we’ve been working on the story of “Jack & The Beanstalk” with the Saturday Group 2 class.
After listening to the story, we did several activities related to the story such as rhymes with actions, rearranging the jumbled up sequence of the story and looking at different types of beans, including Jelly beans which all ended up in our tummy.
In the last 3 weeks, we started with the script and acting it out. We’ve progressed to the part where little Jack has found his way into the Giant’s castle, where he met the Giantess.
The Giantess (Shu Yao), Jack (Sandra) and the Giant (Reuben) getting ready to start.
Audience waiting for the play to start.
Jack climbing up the beanstalk
Jack enters the Giant's castle and meets the Giantess.
Jack (Lynette) hiding in the cupboard when the Giant returns home
Giant (Jun Wei) eats his meal while the Giantess (Sarah) looks on.
What better way to pass time then checking your golden eggs!
Jack climbing down the beanstalk with his treasures
The giant wakes up!
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We did more musical jamming in class yesterday. Kai Li’s little sister (above, in velvet dress) joined us briefly. Not long ago, she was only a tiny baby, often sleeping in her pram parked outside the DSA office while Kai Li attended drama classes. Now, she’s running around, making sure Kai Li stays in the room and follows instructions, and even coming into class occasionally to join in the fun. How she’s blossomed!
We always try to encourage sibling participation and involvement in the lives of our students with Down Syndrome. The siblings learn to be empathetic, open-minded, patient and embracing; they learn to care and look out for their brothers and sisters with Down Syndrome; they go home and repeat some of the activities we do in class together hence reinforcing the learning; they grow together with understanding, love and stronger mutual bonding. Family involvement in this process is extremely important.
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Wearing masks because of Swine Flu? NO!!! Hahahaha! We’re all just rats in the story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin!
With surgical masks and crayons, we coloured in our own whiskers with the help of Uncle Julius and Auntie Jean. Some of us couldn’t resist making other designs too! It was so fun! Squeak Squeak!!
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Hello everyone!
It has been some time, hasn’t it? Months!
Aunty Jean mentioned about the Tuesday’s class doing a new story: “The Selfish Giant” and here are some clips.
As you can see, we are exploring plastic bags! They can be so interesting when you toss them around and try to keep them in the air. You may use your hands or kick them. It’s a good workout. Next, you try to juggle them. Definitely try-able at home.
BUT please, never put them over your head! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
We are still continuing with the work, so look out for more pics and clips.
Roar! Here comes the Giant! Run!!!
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June won a medal at her Bowling Competition yesterday! Well done June, we’re so proud of you! We are ABLED citizens of Singapore!
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We started a new story with the 2.30pm class yesterday – “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”. Uncle Julius told the story and we played it out with Uncle Julius as the “handsome” Pied Piper and the rest as rats following through make-believe mountains, bridges, tunnels and finally, into the “sea”! We also played with all types of wind instruments including flutes, “bird-callers”, and the recorder. Can you hear the beautiful music we’re making?
This is the book that Uncle Julius read to us…
This is Uncle Julius (with blond hair!!) acting as the Pied Piper and Jia Kai as a “rat” following him!
Si Hui (above) and Jia Kai (below) both tried on the blond wig and played the recorder
Our Jamming session…
Sweet Kai Li loved the book so much she didn’t want to let go of it… 
And we always learn some new words…
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Yesterday, Uncle Julius got the two classes to play with objects. We learnt to slide the frisbees, throw them, swing them; we partnered up, we varied the distances between partners; we learnt to focus on our targets, to estimate the distance, to aim towards the right direction and have fun without hurting anyone!
We also played with plastic bags – keeping them in the air with our hands and feet. It was quite challenging, because plastic bags are light and they sometimes cling to our fingers or feet. We needed to use both our brains and bodies! But look at the happy faces in the photos, we enjoyed it so much!
And we also did some movement and imagination exercises. Look at Uncle Julius doing a bird!
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Hello everyone! Sorry we haven’t been updating this blog. Jean and Julius had been incredibly busy these past few months! But we’re back! Look! We’re still monkeying around!!
And here are some photos of a recent class…
The Tuesday class is busy working on the play “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde and the Saturday group is re-enacting an all-time children’s favourite “Jack and the Beanstalk”. We’re having lots of fun as usual, learning lots of new things, welcoming new friends to different classes, sharing lots of love and friendship like we always do!
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Recently, Uncle Julius has been working with the students with “stilts” made of low, inversed tubs. These are aimed to train their physical strength, co-ordination and sense of balance. They are encouraged to stand tall (keeping the spine as straight as they can manage instead of bending forward), look forward and be confident. Everyone had a go, even if it was just standing still for a few seconds on the tubs then coming down again. Some who could manage the full length of the studio did so back and forth and some others even took on the challenge of going through a small obstacle. That’s right folks, keep walking tall, strong, balanced, confident and happy!
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