校长说|自我管理， 学校教育的日常“作业”|Principal Writes

Self-confidence is based on one’s capability. The more skills the child acquires, the stronger their self-confidence is. The first step taken, the first word uttered, the first time dressing themselves: every time they learn a new skill, the feeling of accomplishment they experience is unparalleled. In this special prolonged holiday, we hope that parents can use the excess time to give their children the opportunity to learn social and survival skills. As long as they are capable, the students should be allowed to take care of themselves. As you can see in the video, the G1 students carefully washed the dishes, cleaned their room，all of then are smiling happily and overflowing with confidence.

Today, more and more parents become aware of the importance of STEAM courses, an interdisciplinary approach to learning through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. The essence of STEAM is to encourage students to tackle problems in real life with the problem-solving methods learned in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, and develop their systematic logical thinking.

Talking about STEAM, the first reactions would probably be robots, Lego, 3D printers, and so on. It is actually oblivion to many that in housework we can find the best STEAM training materials.

For example, a G1 student made dumplings. It is art to make dumplings aesthetically good-looking. It is technique to make them intact. If the father asks the child to observe how the raw dumplings sunk in the water float to the surface when they are cooked, and continue to inquire into the phenomenon, science and mathematics knowledge would come into play. Finally, if the father talks with the child about the entire process, his language expression is also trained.

A G1 student made colorful dumplings that are a treat to both the eyes and the mouth. It is art coupled with technology. The round dumplings represent part of the geometric knowledge taught in the first grade - spheres. If the mother takes a step further and make all dumpling the same size, we can weigh them and do some calculation. Then mathematics is also involved. See, in these little activities, you have involved a lot of G1 maths knowledge such as weight, unit, and geometry.

The fruit cake made by our student is a work of artistic beauty. The weighing of ingredients and figuring out the nutrients of the cake are perfect STEAM learning opportunities. More importantly, the happiness of creation from the eyes of the child is a great comfort to the parents.

You can literally smell the fragrance of the ham pizza out of the screen. What is the diameter of the pizza? At what temperature was this pizza baked? what is the weight of the pizza? How long did it take to make it? Why are pizzas round? Study together and it would be another STEAM learning experience.

When the parents make use of the familiar living space and the everyday materials at hand, the child would be more interested. Repeated problem-solving is not the only way to gain knowledge. Try to use every means possible.

When my daughter came back from the United States, I asked her what she considered the most important lesson she learned from studying abroad. She said that it is to find ways to survive in any environment. When she was 18, she rented her house and learned to cook. She went to the bank and paid her tuition fees ... These are the basic survival skills for all children studying abroad. Our students can cook noodles, fry rice with eggs, cook vegetables, make cakes ... With these skills, they will be able to feed themselves with the local ingredients.