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This year Special Treats not only brought discounts and promotions to teachers but also provided educators with a chance to preview learning journeys destinations. Here’s a review of the educator’s preview conducted:
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Musuem
On the 29th of September 2017, a group of preschool educators attended an insightful and informative guided tour at the NUS Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. Spanning over 2 storeys, the museum is filled with many unique real specimens and artefacts featuring the biodiversity and highlighting environmental issues in Southeast Asia. From giant flowers like Rafflesia, to the tiniest crab, the educators were constantly marveled by the rich biodiversity in the region and beyond.
What is a natural history museum without dinosaurs? Children will be fascinated by the 3 huge real dinosaurs fossils on display. They are so big that they are best photographed from the second storey! Children will even have a chance to touch a real dinosaur fossil and try lifting a human palm-sized meteorite.
Besides dinosaurs, children will get to see a crocodile skeleton, elephant skull and a sperm whale skeleton that was defleshed and preserved by staff of NUS LKC NHM themselves. The team spent about 3 months working on the project and visitors can view the video on the process on the 2nd storey.
Each exhibit has clear legends and also signages on which ones are for touching and which are not. However, nothing beats having a knowledgeable guide pointing out nuggets of information like differences between venomous and poisonous, how to differentiate alligators and crocodiles, intelligence of octopuses and many more.
If you would like to learn more about natural history, do join our last Educator's Preview for the year at Lee Kong Chian Natural History Musuem on 24 November. Sign up now: https://goo.gl/forms/WEqD3ZpRZ9sMKxeq1
Wildlife Reserves Singapore - Reptopia
2 groups of educators went on a cosy and informative session at Reptopia – a relatively new exhibit at the Singapore Zoological Gardens. It was a visual treat at Reptopia – from beautiful brightly coloured chameleons to well-camouflaged lizards and majestic pythons. There is bound to be something that will intrigue the little ones. Teachers were greeted by a friendly education officer who led us to a very knowledgeable zookeeper. There are also many interesting nuggets of information around the exhibition zone and the experienced zookeeper pointed out what would interest the children.
Most reptiles are quiet and good at camouflage, thus the exhibition area is designed to help the animals feel safe but also allow visitors to spot them easily. Each habitat area is also designed with more than one species to stimulate a more realistic natural living condition. Snakes are kept in a double-glassed cave, where they feel enclosed but yet in plain view together with lizards. There are also viewing domes where visitors can come face to face with a reptile yet maintain a safe distance.
Most of the exhibit is indoors so it is great for all weather. There is also a newly renovated area where children can get up close and personal with their favourite reptile in a comfortable manner.
Mount Faber and Behind the scenes with Cable Car
Cable cars rides are always a treat for children and a group of educators were very privileged to join an exclusive Singapore Cable Car Learning Journey and Back-of-House Tour kindly organised by One Faber Group.
Not only did teachers get to enjoy the superb view and learn about the workings of the cable car, they also got to go on a short 10mins hike to Faber Peak. Along the way, participants learnt more about the history of Singapore through 16 different murals. This special journey also presented a chance to visit 2 out of 7 Merlion statues in Singapore, one at Faber Peak and another at Sentosa Merlion Plaza.
At Mount Faber Station, participants got to review how cable cars evolved over the years. Currently, Singapore is using our 4th generation cable cars. However, there is a 3rd generation cable car on display where participants could see that it had a glass bottom cable car cabin, back to back seating and automatic doors etc.
The maintenance area at both Mount Faber and Sentosa station is an eye-opener where the guide showed how cable cars are monitored, maintained and regulated day to day. From there, we also learnt that cable cars actually stay stationary along the cables and it is the ropes used to transport the cable cars that moved instead!
This learning journey is not only relaxing but also highly educational for children to learn about the heritage and history of Singapore.
We wish to hear from you! Let us know your views on educational previews. This survey will only take 5mins. https://goo.gl/forms/Ml7hM4YbIFTl3H3g2. We might just make it happen in 2018!
Year End Treats: Special Screening for Chicken Little on 22 Nov
Singapore Repertory’s Theatre’s Chicken Little is opening Wednesday 25 October. This well-loved tale on adventures of a chicken who thought the sky was falling and his loyal friends presents opportunities for children to discuss about their fears and how to overcome them.
Preschool Educators can also enjoy a free show on 22 Nov 2pm. Limited seating available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Email james@srt.com.sg to reserve your tickets now. Educators can also purchase discounted tickets for Category 1 and 2 tickets on 25 Oct, 4 Nov, 11 Nov and 18 Nov 2017. More information at http://www.preschoolmarket.com/specialtreats17_srt.html.