The brain is divided into two hemispheres – the logical left brain and the creative right brain. The right brain is in charge of creativity, social, visual skills and intuition. The left brain, on the other hand, looks after sequencing, language, math, and rational thought. From birth to the first six years, children’s right brain cells grow and multiply at a tremendous speed, which explains why children have such active imaginations and they soak up information like sponges.
However educational programs today focus primarily on the logical left brain, leaving the right brain behind. As a result, children struggled to develop the skills the right brain provides. With more emphasis being placed on whole brain learning in recent years, enrichment centers like CanRidge Right Brain Development were started to help children access the powers of both sides of their brains to bring out their full potential.
CanRidge was founded in 2013 by a group of young professionals from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia who are passionate with early childhood education. They collaborated with an Institute of Early Childhood that had over 20 years of experience, and a handful of dedicated music and art educators to design and create the programs of CanRidge encompassing music, art, flashcards and gym. Adopting the “Child-Centered Approach”, the programs were created to be different from the conventional methodology of rote learning, their mission was to provide a safe and happy learning environment to cultivate creativity, holistic thinking, rhythm, and coordination of young children. CanRidge first started in Johor Bahru and has expanded to Puchong now.
CanRidge Playgym
The director of CanRidge Puchong, Ms. Jaslyn, explained that one of the uniqueness of CanRidge is its Playgym, held in a comfortable and spacious room equipped with top quality gymnastic equipments imported from Europe that meets international safety standards. Playgym emphasizes on age-appropriate balancing, tumbling and agility skills. The gym blocks are detachable and every week there would be different arrangements for children to explore and overcome the obstacles under the guidance of parents and experienced course facilitators. This activity would last for about 30 minutes and it helps children with their eye-hand coordination and gross motor skills while also stimulates their brain cells. Besides that, it creates a bonding session between parents and children as parents are required to accompany their child for infant and toddler classes; through this parents would be able to witness the progress and development of their children.
Art & Music Laboratory
The art and music classes are geared towards igniting children’s interest in music and art, while developing their senses and fine motor skills through hands on creative art & craft activities. Every week there would be a different theme for the activities. For art & craft activities, teachers would use materials readily available around them, such as leaves, toothbrush, buttons. For music class, many interactive songs, dances, puppet shows and little games are incorporated to train children’s listening and encourage them to speak and sing along. Movements through music also teach them to count and develop self-discipline by following the instructions of the music teacher. Both art and music classes instill teamwork as children would be working together to complete an art piece or play a song with different instruments. This provides them the opportunity to interact with other children and build their social skills.
Triple-H Flash Card Methodology
Triple H stands for:
- Huge size flashcard
- High speed
- Happy Environment
During intervals of music, art and gym classes, flashcards would be incorporated to boost the children’s high speed processing ability, speed reading power, concentration and memory power. Teachers would flash the cards and read aloud to children, aiming to train their listening skills as well. The flashcards consist of English words, Chinese characters and also number dots, all printed in a font size and color that is comfortable yet eye-catching to young children. According to Ms. Jaslyn, parents have provided feedback of the effectiveness of the flashcards in improving attention span; children were observed to have longer attention span, improved memory and were able to grasp new concepts quickly.
The ambience at CanRidge is generally cheerful and relaxing, which allow children and parents to immerse themselves in that joyful environment and enjoy the activities and games and at the end of it they would look forward to their next class at CanRidge. With CanRidge’s teaching methodology, children would develop a positive attitude towards learning, and they would excel not only in academics, but in various aspects of life as well. With the cooperation of parents, every child’s genius potential can be unleashed in CanRidge with its proven and effective programs.
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