The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is a government body that "ensures a resilient supply of safe food, to safeguard the health of animals and plants and facilitate agri-trade for the well-being of the nation". In short, AVA helps to ensure the safety of the food we eat in singapore.

How the website is applicable to HE


The main AVA page serves as an update page for highlighting the most recent food-safety-related happenings in Singapore, as well as other parts of the world. Taking for example, an outbreak caused by contaminated deli meats in Canada earlier this month. The main page of AVA is updated at once with the warning message from the Canadian food authority and continues with the reassurance that Singapore is free from such imports at present. In a way, National Education can be promoted to the students with the aid of this website as this is a demonstration of national security and is in line with the following 2 NE messages:

• We must ourselves defend Singapore.
  We are proud to defend Singapore ourselves, no one else is responsible for our security and well-being.
  
  
• We have confidence in our future.
  United, determined and well-prepared, we have what it takes to build a bright future for ourselves, and to progress together as one nation.

AVA and Food Safety Education
There is a section in the AVA website that is dedicated to educating the public on the safety of food. The Food Safety Education page carries useful information on what food safety is all about, the factors that endangers the food we eat, as well as tips on how we can prevent the food contamination. Tips on how to ensure food safety in school are also available and this can be beneficial information for the students. The information is presented in a table format and reasons why these practices have to be carried out are listed alongside, so students viewing the website will have a clear idea of the impact of their daily hygiene habits on their well-beings.

AVA and Food Labelling requirements
Under the Food Labelling section of AVA, students can find out the mandatory features of food product labels, as well as the restrictions that are imposed on food labelling. The explanations are explicit and suitable for use together with the assigned HE text/workbooks as instructional materials. Students can then observe and understand the practicality and applicability of textbook information in real life and learn about the importance of it.

Personal comments
I like the clean interface of the AVA website, because it allows for easy reading, especially since it is loaded with information that are relevant to the topics covered in HE and F&N. This is also a good website that can be recommended to the students as it's a platform for them to see how food safety is correlated to national security and we can easily incorporate NE into the lessons!

Labels: AVA, NE messages, QCX521, Review

by Ms Lim HM @ 11:46 AM - 0 comments





Teachnology is an online teaching resource for teachers. One of the main focus of this website is that it endeavours to provide teachers with the option of incorporating technology in teaching and learning easily. As such, it provides professional development consultation services for schools with the intention of developing customised IT-integrated programmes, original software products for teachers to create instructional teaching materials as well as original publications by experienced educators for teachers.

At present, Teachnology is a web portal that offers a wide range of free resources and more (if one signs up for any of their membership programmes). Of the free resources available, lesson plans and worksheets are available for downloading and they can then be adapted or modified for use in the classroom.

On top of that, other useful functions include "Teaching Tips" and "Teacher Tools", the latter of which is extremely interesting and you can actually create endless possibilities with the tools. The Crossword Puzzle Maker, for instance, helps in the creation of crossword puzzles which can then be used as a classroom activity in the reinforcement of the information learned under the topics in home economics. There is the Classroom Materials page as well, from which useful forms for administrative and instructional purposes can be created easily to save time. As we know, teaching often includes the administrative side of things and worksheets have to be crafted as well. If things like a Parent-Teacher-Meeting form or rubrics for a TLLM lesson can be created with the help of a webtool, it will save us a lot of time and effort which can then be better used on other areas of education.


Lesson plans, worksheets and such are categorised under the following subjects and themes. This makes it easier for one in carrying out a search for the relevant information. Besides the already-crafted resources, there are also message boards in place for teachers from all around the world to exchange ideas and interact with each other, adding on to the functionality of Teachnology.

All in all, Teachnology is an extremely useful teaching resource for us educators as it can help us to generate more ideas for use in the classroom!

Labels: QCX521, Review, Teachers' Resource

by Ms Lim HM @ 1:17 PM - 0 comments





1. Sewing At About

Sewing At About falls under one of the many subsidiary sites at About.comthat cater to a wide range of interests and hobbies, such as gardening, travel, electronics and so on. With the slogan "Guidance, Not Guesswork", you definitely need little help in guessing the purpose it serves.

At Sewing@About, it's all about sewing!

The resident guide is Debbie Colgrove who has won awards in many sewing competitions and has more than 30 years of experience in sewing. She has had 2 publications on sewing and believes in the use of visual cues to help beginners in the learning of sewing. Naturally, you can expect an extremely guided and comprehensive learning journey over at Sewing@About if you are interested in picking it up as a hobby.

How it is applicable to HE lessons

As our students are namely noobs when it comes to sewing, they will need to learn and understand the basics before they can even start on any sewing project. Over at the LearnToSew page, it is divided into 4 main categories - Sewing Terms, Basic Sewing Techniques, Sewing Machine Techniques and Beginner Projects & Patterns. Each section is then further broken down into sub topics and comes with illustrated diagrams such that the student will find the information easier to digest. Sewing@About can serve as a useful revision site for students whereby they can refresh their memory on the sewing relevant information and at the same time, pick up extra knowledge on topics that are not covered in class.

For sewing lessons in class, the activities often include sewing projects in which the student may be required to brainstorm on little items that they can construct. The teacher can also gather ideas on what is appropriate to be taught in class for sewing projects. As such, Sewing@About offers some simple projects which come with step-by-step guided instructions. Of these sewing projects, a number of them e.g. hair scrunchies, tote bag, pillow covers, are things that the students may be interested in making. At the Project Index, the projects are classified under different skill levels, which makes it easier for the students to sieve out projects that are suitable for themselves.

Is that all to Sewing@About? Of course not!

Sewing basics form just one of the many subtopics at Sewing@About. On the main page, one can find hyperlinks to other areas such as Home Decorating, Sewing Fabric, Costumes, so on and so forth. Under Holidays And Occasions, especially, the students are likely to be very interested in the different valentine's day projects that are available. Information on the applicability of various fabrics and the comparisons between each are also given. Thus, if a student is required to work on a fabric-related project for lower sec coursework (for example), this website can be a good guide for them at the research stage. A simple ICT/TLLM lesson can be constructed and students can explore the various avenues in sewing.

Besides, Debbie Colgrove blogs regularly at Sewing@About where she will post her most recent seasonal sewing projects and ideas, so it is interesting to take a look at how one can constantly come up with new ideas on what can be done. Readers can exchange ideas with Debbie by leaving comments in her blog. A sewing forum is also in place, so students can make use of this platform to inquire more about the topics or clarify their doubts with the sewing experts out there, outside of the classroom. Sewing enthusiasts from all around the world will upload their completed projects from time to time and most of them are very functional items. Therefore, students can get a good insight on how textiles and sewing is relevant in our daily lives.

(picture credits: sewing at about)

Labels: QCX521, Review

by Ms Lim HM @ 7:27 AM - 0 comments





BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/get_cooking/ and http://www.allreceipes.com/

Labels: QCX521, Review

by Pei Yun @ 11:14 PM - 0 comments





Childhood is an exciting phase and a stage of discovery as the child embarks on the journey of life. Let's focus is on kids between age 3 to 14 years old - where kids get curious and begin to constantly ask questions and seek truths in their doubts and prepare themselves to be teens. Along with them, parents and teachers will be their essential scaffold to support and guide them.

Many times, adults may not be able to understand how kids' problem mainly because the childhood period in the past is different from the problems face by kids presently. A recent news article on TODAY newspaper on a Primary 5 (P5) student getting help from counsellor after suffering from severe academic pressure from parents. As an alarming increased number of students are seeking helpline for emotional support and therefore, it is important for us to address this issue.

There are many websites available on kids health nowadays that can easily access to read on information and tips to keep them healthy and happy. I mention happy because I think that mood is part of health development. Their health is view from a holistic point and can be categorized into three main sections:

1) Physical fitness - Exercise

2) Balanced healthy diet

3) Mental well being - feelings

Good physical fitness can be achieve through the first two sections, exercising and eating right. In this way, food and nutrition can be taught through first the importance and effect nutrition requirement, where good calories and bad calories present in heart and junk food. Teachers can also introduce simple recipes for them to make healthy breakfast for school (Like Leonard, my nephew) and teach them to make the right food choice!

Like the Primary 5 student mentioned above, we might not notice that their stress can come from facing bullies in schools and academic pressure from parents and peers etc. Thus, I feel that the best solution is to either advise them or let them experience themselves but teach them the right or best way to handle the matter positively.

In my perceptive, a suggested simple sample lesson plan for kids health will start by bringing the focus of the lesson on them and adopting the MOE initatives, Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM) model:

Anticipated question from the teacher, "Hey, kids today's lesson will be just about you because you are our future tomorrow. Take a look at the cartoon below and think... Is the boy doing the right thing handling stress this way? What would be the right way of relieving any form of stress? " We, as teachers will provided a guided worksheet with questions to help them discover more about their personality, character and current lifestyle to instill some thinking skills in our students.

Use of ICT (MOE initatives) by introducing them to the sources where they can seek help with sensitive topics, ask questions and play games while learning in the following websites. They will get to know more about the benefits of exercising, keeping themselves healthy and happy. Try this! They are fun and pretty easy to access:


For kids and parents, click http://kidshealth.org/ and
http://www.cyh.com/SubDefault.aspx?p=255

For educators, click here for free resources http://classroom.kidshealth.org/


Finally, the teacher could sum up the lesson with the brainstormed ideas suggested by the students.

As adults or educators can share our personal experiences for their reference and be a good listening ear and advisor to them. Hope this helps and bring smiles to the kids and your life. Smiles :D

Labels: Kids' health, Nutrition, QCX521, Review, Teachers' Resource

by Pei Yun @ 9:48 PM - 0 comments

Jacqueline
Peiyun
Huimin

• Miss Chin
  
• Wendy Liyun Joanna Madeline
  
• Clarissa Kamisah Salwa
  
• Nufail Nuradila Fadzila
  
• Janet Michel Louisa Lydia
  
• Shuli Yili Germaine Felicia
  

• Health Promotion Board (SG)
  
• Ministry of Education
  
• The Straits Times : Mind Your Body
  
• All Recipes
  
• Epicurious (recipes)
  
• SustainAbility
  
• MOE National Education
  
• Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore
  

August 2008 September 2008 October 2008

Images: GettyImages