30 September 14 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

I am sure all of you enjoyed the party today! Thanks to many of your parents who put in the time, money and effort to organise the party for us, we got to celebrate Dawn's birthday as well as Children's Day. Here are some photographs taken by Ashley's father:

For more photographs, click on this Dropbox link: 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ute9lur8exjqpxn/AAC6YMUGW0s_Z-ExRrCIfqsza?dl=0

After the feast, you sat for a Math Examination Practice. I'm looking forward to marking your papers in a while so that I will know how well you did! 

For English, we spent time discussing some vocabulary in "The Growl" and worked on a crossword puzzle involving the meanings of those words.

These are today's reminders:

1) Prepare your spelling book for tomorrow so that you can start the spelling immediately without delay. Your corrections should have been completed and your contents page updated. Your parent should have looked at your previous spelling and signed it too.

2) I have uploaded some videos and more photographs of yesterday's Malay Culture Learning Journey onto Dropbox. If you are interested, you can click on this link to go to the Dropbox folder containing them: 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pmojanv0d2dpr6k/AAAUxVTetXStr8VcL1bcx2bSa?dl=0

3) You will have a Health Education test next Tuesday (7 October) at 3.30 p.m.. Mr Noh has briefed you on the details in the hall this afternoon.

See you tomorrow for another day of learning! :)

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Update on Math Examination Practice:

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29 September 14 (Monday)

Dear children,

I hope you had some fun learning about the Malay culture during our Learning Journey at Tampines West Community Centre this morning. Here are some photographs taken by your parents who came along.

There are a few videos and some more pictures which will take some time to upload. I will share them tomorrow.

During English lesson today, we went through the Listening Comprehension Practice Test you did last week before trying another Practice Test. We also read our final Big Book for this year - "The Growl".

You did some independent revision during math lesson and worked on some past AskNLearn quizzes and KooBits practices. As always, I am sure you enjoyed your computer time. ;)

These are the announcements and reminders for today:

1) Show your parents your Listening Comprehension Practice Test paper. Ask for a signature. Bring it back tomorrow for me to check.

2) There will be no art lesson tomorrow. Your Math Practice Examination tomorrow will be held from 3 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.. You will have an early recess at 2.15 p.m.. I hope you will give your best for this Practice Examination. I look forward to awarding 9 or 10 ice-cream sticks to you! :)

3) In case you have forgotten about it, your next spelling is on this Wednesday. Like for the previous spelling, I will be awarding 3 ice-cream sticks to each Super Speller and 4 bonus ice-cream sticks to a group which has 4 Super Spellers. Work hard! :)

4) In November, our school's Boys' Brigade Company will be distributing donated items to some less fortunate citizens living in the Kampong Glam area. This is a chance for us to care for the poor in Singapore. They are asking for the following items:

-Cup noodles

-Instant noodles

-Packs of beverage sachets (e.g. cereals, tea, coffee, milo, etc.)

-Small boxes of detergent

-Canned lettuce or peanuts

-Japanese plaster (e.g. Salonpas)

-Small tins of sardines

-Bath soap

-Biscuits (No cream crackers, please)

-Face towels

If you and your family would like to show care for the poor in this way, simply bring one or more of the above items to school from now till end October. I will show you where to place them.

5) Do you remember the seeds which were given out as prizes to a few of you in May? Jonathan's seeds have grown well for the past 5 months and germinated into a young plant! Here are two pictures of him and his plant:

If your seeds have grown too, send me a picture so I can share with the class.

I am sure you are exhausted after a whole day of fun-filled learning. Have a restful evening with your family. See you tomorrow! :)

Some Math Solutions

Some solutions to Geometry Part A (Blue) Booklet:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4txthvea6tuki26/SolutionsForGeometryPartABooklet.pdf?dl=0


Some solutions to Geometry Part B (Green) Booklet:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/buma1mrl77roj8l/SolutionsForGeometryPartBBooklet.pdf?dl=0


Some solutions to Geometry Part C (Yellow) Booklet:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ck4j5p88ln1mh2/SolutionsForGeometryPartCBooklet.pdf?dl=0

Some solutions to Money Part A (Blue) Booklet:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7fwzw7n84ro5qx9/SolutionsForMoneyPartABooklet.pdf?dl=0

26 September 14 (Friday)

Dear children,

During English lesson today, we had some practice on using direct speech to start compositions before we discussed and worked on a composition about a group of boys who went catching fish in a canal. We also looked at what Luke and Raeann wrote for the previous composition about the lost kitten and discussed their stories so that we could learn from the strengths and weaknesses of their writing. 

During math lesson, we went through some corrections and you worked on correcting your mistakes in your Money booklets and Geometry booklets. 

We have got twenty Super Spellers for today's spelling! They are:

Amelie, Lea and Seth from Slugterra

Brian and Dawn from Amazon

Janine and Zhi Zong from Minecraft

Luke, Risa and Shineta from Universe

Ashley from Jewel

Ezra, Raeann, Richelle and Wei Xiang from Cloudburst

Thaneeisha and Zane from Diamond

Joel, Natalie and Sheena from Autumn

Each of these children earned 3 ice-cream sticks for his or her group. In addition, because all 4 members of Cloudburst are Super Spellers, I have awarded 4 bonus ice-cream sticks to Cloudburst. The ice-cream sticks update for this week is shown below.

Universe is leading so far! Will Universe still lead after the Math Practice Examination on Tuesday? Or will another group work very hard over the next few days to surpass them and clinch the Group of September award? You will decide! :)

These are the reminders for today:

1) Most of you would have received your marked composition. Submit your corrections next Wednesday. I suggest working on your composition corrections only on next Tuesday. Use this weekend to focus on math revision; there are a lot of topics to review. Plan carefully how you would want to spend the little time that you have.

2) Lea, Zane, Isaac, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Zhi Zong and Ashley, your compositions are still with me. I will be meeting you individually on Monday or Tuesday to discuss your writing with you so that you can improve.

3) You will be going on the Malay Cultural Learning Journey on Monday. Please take note of the following details which I have told you:

Meeting Time: 8.30 a.m. 

Meeting Place: Tampines West Community Centre Hall (2nd floor)

Attire: PE Attire

Things to bring: Pencil case and colour pencils in your school bag (Your bags will be placed in a room at Tampines West CC for safekeeping as you participate in the Learning Journey.)

Refreshments will be provided by Tampines West Community Centre during the Learning Journey. You may bring your own food if you think the refreshments provided may not be suitable for you.

If your parents and/or siblings are coming along for the Learning Journey too, they will have to bid you goodbye at the end of the Learning Journey at about 12 noon. You will then hop onto a school bus that will take you back to school for a quick lunch before you go for lessons.

4) Do you still have corrections, re-corrections or incomplete work for the following booklets that you need to work on and submit on Monday?

-Geometry Part A (Blue)

-Geometry Part B (Green)

-Geometry Part C (Yellow)

-Money Part A (Blue)

If you do, visit this blog after 7 p.m. on Saturday to look at some of my solutions. I will be putting them up here. This is to help you with your revision over this weekend so that you can be ready for Tuesday's Math Practice Examination.

Have a fruitful weekend. I hope to be well enough on Monday to go with you on your Learning Journey. If you believe in God, please pray for Him to help me recover from my sickness soon so that I can be with you on Monday. Thank you.

See you soon. :)

25 September 14 (Thursday)

Dear children,

We spent some time today learning to copy figures on dot grid paper and square grid paper. Most of you were able to copy the figures accurately and neatly, but a few of you made some careless mistakes when it came to copying on the square grid paper. Remember to use the square-counting method I taught you; you will not go wrong using that.

We also had some practice on identifying 3D shapes by watching a video of three 3D geometric figures performing a ballet dance. I am glad you enjoyed it. Here's the video, in case you would like to watch it again:

Then, we spent time learning to form patterns using 2D and 3D shapes by changing the orientation, size, colour and shapes in the pattern. We had so much practice with the PowerPoint slides that you could not wait to start work on your Booklets B and C! Test yourself again here:

With the topic of geometry completed, we are now ready to revise the year's math! You will receive all your remaining math booklets tomorrow so that you can revise them over this weekend.

These are today's reminders:

1) There is spelling tomorrow. Your spelling book is with me.

2) Pass the information sheet regarding financial assistance to your parents.

3) You will be having a Math Practice Examination next Tuesday. Over the next few days, revise as much math as you can. Review all your math booklets and math test papers again. Try some of the past math quizzes on AskNLearn too. Be ready by Tuesday. I will mark your papers on Tuesday itself so that we will know who are the ones that score 90 marks and above before September ends. If you score 90 to 99.5 marks for this Practice, you will earn 9 ice-cream sticks for your group. If you score full marks, you will earn 10 ice-cream sticks for your group. Will you help your group win this month? :)

See you tomorrow for another fruitful day of learning!

24 September 14 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

You spent some time today cutting out some tangram pieces and combining them to make squares, triangles and rectangles. Some of you were not able to finish making all 6 shapes. If you are one of these children, please complete your shapes at home. If you have carelessly lost a few of your tangram pieces, click on this link to download a page with tangram pieces:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/id1aetrills2zfq/Tangram.pdf?dl=0

Ask your parents for help to print the page so that you can finish up your work on your own. Submit it tomorrow.

If you find it difficult to make certain shapes, try making them on the virtual tangram website I gave you first. That should help.

To help you prepare for your upcoming Listening Comprehension Examination, we completed a Listening Comprehension Practice Test today too. You will get back your practice test paper next Monday. Then, you will have one more Practice Test next week.

Here's the ice-cream stick update for this month:

Minecraft, Universe and Cloudburst are leading so far. We have 4 more days together before the end of September arrives.

Remember to prepare for Friday's spelling. For this spelling, each Super Speller will earn 3 ice-cream sticks for the group. I will also hand out 4 bonus ice-cream sticks to those groups with 4 Super Spellers. Won't that be a great chance for you to help your group? Do your part and work hard!

See you tomorrow for a fruitful time of learning! :)

23 September 14 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

During art lesson today, you learnt to sketch and shade an egg with a pencil using 9 different shading techniques. We discussed how the direction of the light shining on the egg would affect how close our pencil lines and dots have to be. We also talked about how the different shading techniques created different textures for each egg. Some of you have not done a lot of shading before, so you were complaining that shading was tiring for your hands while others enjoyed themselves trying out the different shading techniques. I am glad all of you persevered and completed your artwork whether you enjoyed shading or not. Some of you even produced impressive artwork! :)

During your computer lesson with Mr Edwin, most of you finished up your hybrid creature illustrations from last term. 

If you are one of the five children who have not completed your hybrid creature and uploaded it onto AskNLearn, please do so at home by Saturday night. I can't wait to put together our class e-book! :)

During math lesson, you cut out different 2D shapes and created your own "shape monster". Then, you traced the outline of your "shape monster" and listed the shapes that made up the monster by observing its outline. This simple activity should have helped you to pick up the skill of guessing the shapes that make up a figure just by looking at the figure's outline.

These are today's reminders and announcements:

1) Pass to your parents the note regarding your arrival time for the period when the PSLE is being conducted. On those days, you should arrive after 12.15 p.m. and be in the hall before 12.30 p.m..

2) The Administrative Information for October has been sent out via SNAC and uploaded onto the school website. Inform your parents so that they will read it.

3) Continue to bring your scissors and glue tomorrow.

4) You would have received your Volume Part B and Volume Part C booklets. If all your corrections in those two booklets have been marked and your parent's signatures have been checked by me, you may keep those booklets at home for revision. Otherwise, bring it back to me tomorrow. 

5) Please start revising for your examinations if you have not. In case you have forgotten, these are your examination dates:

-9 October (Week 4, Thursday): Listening Comprehension (English Language & Mother Tongue)

-20 October (Week 6, Monday): English Language

-24 October (Week 6, Friday): Mathematics

-27 October (Week 7, Monday): Mother Tongue

We will be working on a Listening Comprehension practice this week and a Math Exam Practice Paper next week. You should start revising your math topics. Some of you have forgotten your times tables and cannot do multiplication and division questions anymore. Start perfecting your times tables again! 

We have done very well as a class for the past 9 months, and we will not stop doing well until we have given our very best till the very end. Work hard, 2/2!

Have a restful evening. See you tomorrow! :)

22 September 14 (Monday)

Dear children,

We started on the topic of geometry today for math. Through watching two videos, you learnt about the different 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) shapes. You did some cutting and pasting as you decided whether the cylinder, the circle, the square, the cube, the triangle, the cone, the sphere and the rectangle were 2D shapes or 3D shapes.

You also worked with your partner to handle a set of solid objects and tried to discover the number of flat faces each of the objects had. Then, you tried to identify the shapes that made up the flat faces. Here are two questions to test a little of your understanding: 

1) How many flat faces does a square-based pyramid have? 

2) What shapes make up its flat faces?

After that, we investigated how a semicircle and a quarter circle are related to a circle through an activity that involved cutting.

During English lesson, we went through some adjectives to describe the characters found in "The Fisherman and His Wife". We also went through a grammar cloze that focused on the use of adjectives.

These are today's announcements:

1) Please bring a pair of scissors and glue tomorrow. Tomorrow's math lesson will involve more cutting and pasting, so it will be good for you to have your own set.

2) For homework, please go to this website and play with the virtual tangram: http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/tangram.html

Use your mouse to drag the different coloured pieces around and make different figures with them. You can even spin a shape by clicking on the coloured circles at the bottom of the screen. Try making the following:

-A square using 2 pieces

-A square using 3 pieces

-A triangle using 2 pieces

-A triangle using 3 pieces

-A rectangle using 3 pieces

-A rectangle using 4 pieces

3) For art lesson, bring along a 2B pencil and a piece of drawing paper.

See you tomorrow! :)

19 September 14 (Friday)

Dear children,

We applauded Ashley and Elizabeth today when they received their HARP badges and prizes in the hall for reading their 100th book and for being the class champions for last term. Great job, girls! :)

Although there is no HARP for this term, I would like all of you to continue with the good habit of reading on your own. Good writers are born out of diligent readers.

We spent time today discussing the different verbs we could use instead of "said". If somebody were very angry, what verbs would you use to describe the way that person spoke? What if that somebody was in pain? What verb would you use? What if he was in fear?

Those verbs can definitely help to make your stories more interesting, so think about how you would like to use them in the next piece of writing we will be doing next week.

We also discussed some adjectives such as "popular', "annoyed", "lonely", and "tight". Do you remember the difference between "small" and "tight"? How would you use them differently?

You worked on a comprehension exercise too. The faster and more focused children would have completed both comprehension exercises in the book. 

These are today's reminders:

1) Pass the Term 4 newsletter to your parents after you have corrected Zane's class in the newsletter from "2/4" to "2/2". He is part of us, and we should be proud of him!

2) Pass the 2015 Information Booklet to your parents. There is important information in it regarding our school's shift back to Tampines that they would need to know.

3) Pass the leaflet regarding the book fair to your parents. They might want to donate some old books and get some new ones for you at a 50-cent discounted price.

4) Pass the double-sided letter regarding the Lower Primary Sports Day to your parents. They will need to know the details regarding 2 October. Hopefully, some of your parents can join us at the Parents' Game segment too! :)

5) Pass the consent form for the Malay Cultural Learning Journey to your parents. Unless you are involved in a CCA on the morning of 29 September, you are strongly encouraged to participate in the Learning Journey. Submit it on Monday to me after your parent has filled it in. You have to submit the form even if you are not able to participate due to your CCA involvement.

6) There will be a formal attire check in the hall next Tuesday. By now, you should already be very clear of the requirements. Be ready.

7) If there are corrections that you need to work on in your Volume Part B and Volume Part C booklets, complete them. If you have not completed the first page of Volume Booklet C, please complete it. Show the booklets to your parents after that and ask for a signature on each of them. Submit both booklets to me on Monday. 

We will start on our final math topic for this year - Geometry - on Monday. Look forward!

Have a restful weekend. See you on Monday! :)

17 September 14 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

I hope you enjoyed our "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: P1-P2 Math Challenge" in the hall today. You should have been able to answer all the questions correctly. I have uploaded the question slides on Dropbox. Click on this Dropbox link to look at them again and try the last 2 questions which we did not have time to complete: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9noo9frl962l988/Who%20Wants%20to%20be%20Millionaire_TheP1P2MathChallenge_Uploaded.pdf?dl=0

We read "The Fisherman and His Wife" together today and discussed the rhyming words in the book. We also learnt that we should not be greedy like the fisherman's wife, who kept asking for more and more and was never satisfied. In the end, the two of them lost even the reward that they first got.

We also talked about the meanings of some vocabulary used in the book, such as "riches", "greed", "mansion", "request", "throne", "palace", "stitch", "emperor", "jewels" and "thundered". Then, we went through two vocabulary cloze passages so that you know how to use those words correctly.

You took a Moral Education test on loyalty too. I'm looking forward to marking your papers to see what you've learnt about loyalty in Term 3. :)

These are today's reminders:

1) If there are corrections or re-corrections that you have to work on in your Volume Part A booklet, complete them. Show your booklet to your parent and ask for a signature. Bring it back tomorrow for me to mark and check.

2) Check through your red Composition File. If there are re-corrections for your compositions in Term 3 that have not been submitted for marking, submit them tomorrow. I am still waiting for a few of you.

Have a restful evening. See you tomorrow! :)

15 September 14 (Monday)

Dear children,

We gave out the Hildan MOST Awards for last term today. These are the winners:

Sincere Hildan: Elizabeth

Responsible Hildan: Isaac

Humble Hildan: Brian

Wise Hildan: Luke

Inquiring Hildan: Zhi Zong

Congratulations to the winners! :)

Let's take these five children as good examples. May we continue to work towards being sincere, responsible, humble, and wise, and may we never stop learning!

We regrouped today and appointed our class leaders for Term 4 by applauding them as they put on their tags. Let's support them as they lead the class, just like you did for the leaders last term. :)

This is the new seating arrangement and the list of leaders for this term: 

This is the cleanliness duty schedule for our last 9 weeks together.

With your new groups in place, we are now ready to begin the competition for September! Over the next two and a half weeks, let's see which group will emerge as the Group of September. My prizes and certificates are waiting for you! :)

If you do not see your name in the list of winning groups above, it is time to work even harder with your new group members. Don't give up! The same applies to those who are looking to move on to your next prize level.

You received your LEAP Handbook during English lesson and we spent some time going through the different kinds of nouns, collective nouns, and similes in it. Keep this handbook at home for self-study; you do not need to bring it to school. Make sure you are familiar with all the items in it.

We also spent some time editing the information texts written by Genius and Nameless and looking out for the adjectives they used.

During math lesson, we started on a new topic - Volume. You learnt that the volume of a container refers to the amount of liquid it can hold. Through observing the pouring of water from one container to another and taking note of the height of the water in each of them, you learnt how different containers can contain the same amount of water. You also learnt to compare volumes of water.

This topic is a short and simple one, so we will try to conquer it as quickly as we can. After that, we will move on to our last math topic for this year - Geometry - before we begin with revision. Look forward! :)

These are today's reminders:

1) Your English and Mother Tongue Oral Examination will be held in the hall tomorrow from 1.30 p.m. onwards. The timetable will be frozen for the whole day, thus there will be no art lesson.

2) I will not be with you in the classroom tomorrow. If time allows and there are enough laptops to go around, I might request for the relief teachers to let you use a laptop in class for math after you have been tested for your Oral Examination. Bring your own headphone or earpiece if you have one.

3) Show your parents the note given to you regarding your arrival time on Friday.

4) I was very disappointed with those of you who did not hand up what you were supposed to hand up today. If there is any item you still owe me, please submit it tomorrow. Be a responsible child.

5) There is a close-up video of Natalie's guzheng performance that I have not shared. If you are interested to watch it, click here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s56yu2c7jre6e89/Guzheng1.mov?dl=0

6) Have a good rest tonight so that you will have a clear and alert mind for tomorrow's examination. Remember to say as much as you can during the SBC; don't forget your personal responses!

See you tomorrow! :)