13 November 14 (Thursday)

Beloved children,

The Prize Giving Ceremony was held today in the hall. Here are some photographs of our prize winners which Mr Cornelius Loh helped to take:

Do congratulate Janine, Wei Xiang, Luke, Seth and Zane when you see them! :)

There was a video shown during the ceremony with Ezra in it. It is about the learning experiences of students and the events our school had while we're at the Bedok campus. I'm sharing the video with you here:

I was glad to see many of you today at the Parent-Teacher Meeting and the Prize Giving Ceremony for one last time before you move on to your P3 classes next year. We have walked this joyous journey together as P2/2 JOY, and you and your parents have been a blessing to my life this year. I truly thank God for all of you. 

There will not be another P2/2 JOY 2014 again. 

Treasure the friends you have made in the past two years and keep in touch with them. Although many of you will not be in the same class for the next two years, that does not mean you cannot spend time together during recess or out of school. Even as you go about making new friends in your new classes (yes you should!), don't forget your friends from P2/2 JOY. We have had wonderful memories together, and some of them are captured in this blog. This blog is for you. You can come back to it years down the road, and it will still be yours.

I am confident that along this journey of life, all of you are going to have fantastic teachers to teach, love, and care for you in the years to come. You will also have awesome new friends to love you, care for you, and have fun with as you learn. Wherever God has sent you to, there He will be with you. Enjoy the good plans that He has for you, and have great fun learning in your new classes! :)

These are your new classes:

P3/2:

Cullen, Joshua, Vanessa and Sheena

P3/3:

Amelie, Dawn, Dylan, Elijah, Elizabeth, Qistina and Phoebe

P3/4:

Lea and Wei Xiang

P3/5:

Jonathan, Isaac, Christian, Richelle, Shineta and Thaneeisha

P3/6:

Ashley, Brian, Ezra, Janine, Joel, Raeann and Zhi Zong

P3/7:

Zane, David, Risa, Seth, Natalie and Luke

Here are my final announcements and reminders to you:

1) If you have not completed the AskNLearn survey titled "3 Questions - Student Needs 2014", do so by tomorrow. The survey will take you just 1 minute to complete.

2) I still have 16 Music Books with me. If you did not collect your Music Book from me today when you came to collect your Progress Report, please do so by Monday. The school will be shifting back to Tampines from Monday onwards, so your Music Book cannot be kept there any longer. If your parents do not want to collect it by Monday and would prefer that I throw it away for them, please ask them to let me know before Monday. These are the 16 pupils I need to get a reply from:

David, Dawn, Wei Xiang, Zhi Zong, Amelie, Dylan, Christian, Elijah, Seth, Luke, Qistina, Vanessa, Phoebe, Richelle, and Cullen.

3) Here are our class e-books. Click on them to enjoy!

See you in school next year! :)


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"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow." (1Corinthians 3:6)

12 November 14 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

Today marks the last day of service for the faithful and responsible leaders of P2/2 JOY. They have served the class well for the past 3 months and truly deserve the certificates of recognition given to them today.

We also gave out special certificates and prizes to the 8 children who achieved the best overall results for English and Maths. These are the 8 children, in no particular order:

Janine

David

Ashley

Raeann

Natalie

Zane

Luke

Seth

Jonathan was awarded a "trophy", a foldable fork-and-spoon set and an inflatable camping pillow for being the Grand Winner of the Group of the Month Challenge. He was the only one to have won the Level 5 prizes from me.

Congratulations to all prize winners! :)

These are today's reminders and announcements:

1) Please remind your parent(s) to collect your Music Book too when they collect your Progress Reports from me tomorrow. I was informed that they were still in the Music Room. I will bring them to the 2/2 classroom tomorrow.

2) Please log on to AskNLearn and complete the survey titled "3 Questions - Student Needs 2014". Complete this by tomorrow (Thursday). The survey will take you just 1 minute to complete.

3) School reopens on 5 January 2015 for you at the Tampines campus. All you need to bring along on that day are rags, a storybook, your waterbottle and food or money for recess. Your new teacher will lead you to clean your new classroom.

Although it is our last day together today, I will only write my last post on this blog tomorrow as I will still be seeing some of you tomorrow for the Prize Giving Ceremony and the Parent-Teacher Meeting. Tomorrow's post will also include the 2 class e-books that we have put together. Keep a lookout.

See you tomorrow if you're coming! :)

11 November 14 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

I hope you enjoyed watching "Mulan" today. This movie was first screened in 1998 when I was in Primary Five, and today, I still think it's a good movie!

My favourite part of the movie is the scene where Mulan's father said this:

"My, what beautiful blossoms we have this year. But look, this one's late. But I'll bet that when it blooms, it will be the most beautiful of all."

I'm not sure if all of you understood what Mulan's father meant, but I'm going to tell you what I think he was referring to. 

Mulan's father was referring not just to flowers blossoming, but also to Mulan growing up. Although Mulan was not like the other girls her age at the beginning of the movie, Mulan's father was confident that one day, Mulan would become outstanding too, perhaps even more outstanding than the other girls.

There's an important lesson for us to learn here: We might not always blossom at the same time as others.

If you think you are not yet as good as your friends in some areas, don't lose hope. There will come a time when you will blossom. Keep going!

If you think you are way better than your friends in some areas, don't be proud. There will come a time when your friends will blossom too. Help them along!

Like Mulan's father, I am confident that when you blossom, you - every single one of you - will be really beautiful.

Which is your favourite part of the movie? Write a comment below to share with me.

I'm sure you had some fun playing the board game "Kindness Treetop Rescue" with your friends before we continued with the next movie "How to Train Your Dragon". 

Here are today's reminders and announcements:

1) You would have received your Math SA2 paper back today with your corrections marked. Please keep them in your portfolio. You do not need to bring them back to school anymore. 

2) Mr Lee will not be around during the last two periods tomorrow, so he will have his final PE lesson with you during the first two periods from 1.15 to 2.15 p.m. instead. I will see you during the last two periods.

3) It's our last day together as a class tomorrow. If you have a note or a card you would like to pass to your friend, bring it tomorrow.

See you tomorrow.

10 November 14 (Monday)

Dear children,

I'm sure you enjoyed watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2" today. What did you learn about friendship and greed from the movie? Write a comment below to share with me. :)

We gave out the Champion Class KooBits Badges today. After working very hard at solving problem sums from 24th March to 30th May, our class emerged the Champion P2 Class in Singapore on KooBits for the Champion Class Challenge! Well done, children! :) These are the 20 KooBits subscribers who contributed to our achievement and scored at least 100 Challenge Points to qualify for the Champion Class Badge:

Brian (1667 points)

Ezra (1268 points)

Seth (1243 points)

Natalie (1181 points)

Isaac (922 points)

Jenna (804 points)

Janine (781 points)

Elijah (774 points)

Zhi Zong (718 points)

Elizabeth (350 points)

Risa (324 points)

Shineta (230 points)

David (193 points)

Lea (188 points)

Cullen (154 points)

Zane (150 points)

Luke (148 points)

Wei Xiang (102 points)

Joshua (101 points)

Raeann (100 points)

These are today's reminders and announcements:

1) I am still waiting for the poem slides of 3 pupils. If you are one of them, please submit your slides as soon as you can. The class is waiting for you.

2) You would have received your English SA2 paper back today with your corrections marked. Please keep them in your portfolio. You do not need to bring them back to school anymore.

3) If you are a boy, do consider joining Boys Brigade as your CCA next year. We have lots of fun and meaningful learning activities such as archery, tchoukball, field-cooking, first-aid, footdrill, and helping the less fortunate. Let me know tomorrow if you are interested to join me next year.

4) You would have received your rubric for Art Assessment 2. Visit this DropBox link to download your digital artwork: 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z1g6bp2f1jto0wf/AAA-X04_zPdS8SH6xZTO1Y4Ma?dl=0

Complete the right half of your rubric and show it to your parents. You may keep it at home after that. 

5) If you had ordered a copy of the school magazine, it would have been given to you today. Share it with your family! :)

6) You would have received leaflets about the book fair and the science fair that would be held on Thursday (13 Nov). Let your parents know about the fairs. They might be interested to buy you something useful.

7) Those of you who went for the class gathering at The Polliwogs last Saturday must have enjoyed yourselves! Mrs Wong and I enjoyed ourselves too. Here are some photographs taken that day by Ashley's father. For more photographs, click on this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k71ks7bfdur2wsv/AADQXeKSo3hdwKzcChjH-2fpa?dl=0

See you tomorrow! :)

6 November 14 (Thursday)

Dear children,

We watched the last part of "Facing the Giants" today and saw Coach Taylor's Shiloh Eagles finally facing the Richland Giants at the State Championship Games. The Giants had almost three times as many players as the Eagles had - 85 versus 32. They were fast and strong and were known to be undefeated too.

After a tough battle, the Eagles won - surprisingly -  with the reserve kicker, David, scoring the final goal. If you remember, this David had a few conversations with his handicapped father earlier on in the movie:

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DAVID'S FATHER: Did you do your best, son?
DAVID: I knew I was going to miss it before I kicked it.
DAVID'S FATHER: Your actions will always follow your beliefs, David.
DAVID: Dad, I can't even kick it straight.
DAVID'S FATHER: And I can't walk. Should I just stay at home and pout about it? If you accept defeat, David, then that's what you'll get.
************************************************
DAVID: Why would God make me so small and weak?
DAVID'S FATHER:  To show how mighty He is.
************************************************

Here are two questions for you to think about:

1) David was a reserve kicker. He joined the game halfway because Joshua, the main kicker, was injured during the game. If David had thought that he was just a reserve player and not trained hard during the training sessions, would he have been able to help the Eagles win the game?

2) The furthest distance that David had ever kicked the ball before he played against the Giants was 39 yards. However, in order to win the game for the Eagles in the last two seconds, David had to score from 51 yards away. Who made it possible for him to score that last goal and help the Eagles defeat the proud Giants? (Hint: There are three answers to this question.)

Write a comment below if you have answers to the two questions above. :)

We gave out the KooBits Badges for this semester today. These are the children who worked exceptionally hard to earn the Genius Badge and the Mathematician Badge:

Genius Badge
Ezra, Janine, Elizabeth, Dawn and Joel

Mathematician Badge
Ezra, Janine, Elijah, Natalie and Zhi Zong

Brian earned the Top Brain Badge by achieving the most Challenge Points in a season in our class. He also earned the Boys Team Badge by being one of the top 50 members of the Boys Team which won the Boys-Vs-Girls Challenge during the June holidays.

Congratulations to all of you who earned your badges through hard work and determination! I hope to hear news of many more of you earning the P3 KooBits badges next year. Write a comment here when you earn them. I will rejoice with you! :)

These are today's reminders:

1) You do not have to report to school tomorrow because it will be School Administration Day. The teachers will be busy with processing your results for the year.

2) I have received the poem slides from Ashley, Janine, Ezra, Isaac, Raeann, Phoebe, Lea, Seth, Risa, Sheena, Richelle, David, Elijah, Cullen and Christian. If you have not submitted yours, do so by 12 noon tomorrow. Play your part in this class compilation!

3) Zane, Janine, Wei Xiang, Seth and Luke, please pass the letter regarding the Prize Giving Ceremony to your parents. I will need the reply slip back on Monday.

4) You would have received your artwork, quiz and rubrics for Art Assessment 1 and Art Assessment 3 today. Show them to your parents. You may keep them at home after that. I will be returning more  of your artwork to you next Monday.

Have an enjoyable weekend with your family. See you on Monday! :)

5 November 14 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

As we continued to watch "Facing the Giants" today, we saw how a rebellious player from Coach Taylor's team, Matt, decided to apologise to his father for not being respectful to him. It took Matt a while, but he eventually learnt that to respect his parents was a part of respecting God. 

My favourite scene today was the scene where Coach Taylor taught his team about the importance of teamwork when defending against their opponents. He said:

"In the Old Testament, Nehemiah had the task of building a stone wall around his city for protection. But he didn't have enough people or resources or time. But because each person worked on the stone wall that was in front of their house, they got it done in record time. That's what you’re going to do. On defence, you have to resolve nothing gets by you as an individual. Nothing gets by us as a team. I need you to build me a stone wall." 

The stone wall around Nehemiah's city was built successfully because everyone worked on the stone wall in front of his own house. Coach Taylor's team had good defence because everyone in the team played their part in defending. What about the groups that you belong to? Are you willing to play your part no matter what groups you will be in next time? :)

If you have a favourite scene in the movie, write a comment below to share with the class.

In the evening, we practised some multiplication, addition, subtraction and division while playing a game of "Dog and Bone" at Pavilion 1. I hope you enjoyed it! If we do get a chance to play it again, I will make sure that the sums are harder and the distance further. ;) 

Here's today's reminder:

1) You would have received your Poetry Package from me today. Your last piece of homework for this year is to create PowerPoint slides for your haiku, cinquain and limerick. Decorate those slides with pictures too. Then, submit them to me using one of the two methods below:

(a) E-mail the file to me at wong_beng_yu@moe.edu.sg.

OR

(b) Submit the file through the AskNLearn Assignment titled "P2/2 Haikus, Cinquains and Limericks".

I will put together all your masterpieces and make them into an e-book to share with the world. Play your part! :)

See you tomorrow! :)

4 November 14 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

I hope you enjoyed watching the first half of the movie "Facing the Giants". If you had attentively watched this movie about American football, you would have learnt quite a few lessons from that hour or so.

My favourite part of the movie was when Coach Taylor had the following conversation with his team:

________________________________________________________________

COACH TAYLOR: Winning football games is too small a thing to live for. And I love football as much as anybody. But even championship trophies will collect dust and one day be forgotten. It's just that so far this has all been about us - how we can look good, how we can get the glory. The more I read this book, the more I realise that life is not about us. We're not here to get glory, make money, and die. The Bible says that God put us here for Him, to honour Him. Jesus said that the most important thing you can do with your life is to love God with everything you are, to love others and yourself. So if we win every game and we miss that, we've done nothing. Football then means nothing. So I'm here to present you a new team philosophy. I think that football is just one of the tools we use to honour God.

TEAM PLAYER: So you think that God does care about football?

COACH TAYLOR: I think He cares about your faith. He cares about where your heart is. And if you can live your faith out on the football field, then yes, God cares about football because He cares about you. He sent His son Jesus to die for us so we could live for Him. That's why we're here. But see, it's not just on the football field; we've got to honour Him in our relationships, our respect for authority, in the classroom, and when you're at home alone surfing the internet. 

I want God to bless this team so much that people talk about what He did. But it means we've got to give Him our best in every area. If we win, we praise Him. And if we lose, we praise Him. Either way, we honour Him with our actions and our attitudes. So I'm asking you: what are you living for? I've resolved to give God everything I've got. Then I'll leave the results up to Him. I want to know if you'll join me.

________________________________________________________________

Which is your favourite part? Let me know by writing a comment below.

I know that for some of you, it was the scene about the Death Crawl that was most interesting. What did you learn from that scene? Write a comment below. :)

After the movie, we played Captain's Ball together. Although for many of you it was your first time playing the game, I saw some who were not only good at throws and passes, but were also careful to include your teammates in the game. Captain's Ball is a game that requires a lot of team work. I am glad some of you showed good team work. If you did not, you'll have more chances to do so over the next few days.


Here's today's reminder:

1) You would have received the list of books and stationery that you have to buy for next year. Pass the list to your parents.

See you tomorrow for more fun and learning together! :)