I think I need to highlight the Conjunction 'so'. The children have learnt to use the word 'so' to join 2 sentences. For example,
The cat was angry. It scratched the little boy.
The cat was angry so it scratched the little boy.
I know that in some of the dictionaries, the examples they have given for 'so' usually comes with a comma (The cat was angry, so it scratched the little boy). However, in the school, we do not require the children to add a comma before 'so'. Please take note of this point. I have also alerted the children about this.
On the other hand, if the children write a comma before the 'so', we will not penalise them too because it is not wrong.
Should you have any enquries about the Grammar items or the SA1, please feel free to clarify with me. I'll try to answer you as clearly as I can. :)
Monday, May 4, 2009
Closer and closer
We're moving very close to our SA1 ! 7 May is the date of the English paper. Are we prepared yet? On the school's part, we ARE very busy in equipping the children with the necessary skills. A lot of worksheets and practice papers are done. The children are beginning to feel the heat. However, I hope the parents and children will not be overly anxious about it. Relax and let the children enjoy themselves amist the preparation.
To back track, we celebrated Rachael's 7th birthday. She got Oreo and Chupa chups lollipops for the little children. It was great! Little treats like these always get our little ones crazy and they will be especially well-behaved just to receive their treats! :) Thanks Rachael! Have a BLESSED 7th birthday :)
To back track, we celebrated Rachael's 7th birthday. She got Oreo and Chupa chups lollipops for the little children. It was great! Little treats like these always get our little ones crazy and they will be especially well-behaved just to receive their treats! :) Thanks Rachael! Have a BLESSED 7th birthday :)
You can see that there are less updates in the 1G blog. It's not that there isn't any happenings in the class. It's just that the children are spending their time preparing for SA 1. After the exams, we'll do more fun activities in class. I'll add more entries in their blog too so keep this page bookmarked! :)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Moving Towards SA1
Yesterday, I've returned the children their Term 1 Worksheets. Please do not throw the worksheets away. Use them for revision for the upcoming SA1. The SA 1 Spelling list has also been given about two-three days ago. I'll help the children in their Spelling revision. I hope all the children learn their spelling well because it is one of the easiest component to gain marks!
I've told the children that we'll make sandwiches in class after our SA 1. The children were very excited. They wish that the SA 1 will come quickly so that they can make their sandwiches in class. Me too! There are so many fun and meaningful activities that we can do in class but the exams are coming. We have to press on! Work hard, everyone!! :) After exam, we'll play and play and play!! :)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
SA 1 Anxiety-Free Information
I have received an email and some notes from parents enquirng about the upcoming SA 1 examination.
I know that these terms sounded very profound and difficult. However, I can ensure you that they are not at all foreign to or difficult for the children. In fact, the Listening Comprehension is one of the components that most the children will do well in. Let me explain these terms in detail.
Sound discrimination refers to phonics. Here're some examples to further explain.
Example 1, the teacher will say, "Which word begins with the /gr/ sound?"
1. brush 2. grass 3. dress
The answer is 2. GRass.
Example 2, the teacher will say, "Which word ends with a /t/ sound?"
1. kick 2. doll 3. bat
The answer is 3. baT.
In picture-matching, the children need to listen to the teacher and match the sentence that the teacher has said to the correct picture in the paper.
For example, there are three pictures portraying :
1. Two boys flying kites.
2. A girl flying a kite.
3. A family flying kites.
The teacher says, "Peter and Ali are flying their kites in the park. Put a tick at the correct picture."
The correct answer would be, 1 because picture 1 matches with what the teacher has just read,
For Recalling details & making inferences, the teacher will read a short passage. The children must listen attentively as the passage is not printed on their exam papers.
For example, the teacher will read, "Last Wednesday, Mary and Jane went to the school library to borrow books. They borrowed fours books althogether. Two of the books are Chinese comics."
On the children's exam papers, only the questions are printed. After listening to the passage, the children will answer the questions based on what they have heard and remembered.
1. Where did Mary and Jane go on last Wednesday? They went to the ____________.
a. swimming pool
b. library
c. bookshop ( )
2. How many Chinese books did the two girls borrow? They borrowed _______ books.
a. two
b. four
3. six ( )
For Spelling, it will be in the same sentence format as their weekly spelling practice. The children will be given a list of 30 words but only 15 will be tested. There will not be any dictation for SA1.
The children has purchased a Listening Comprehension book in the beginning of the year. They have been getting their listening comprehension practices. Hence, the components such as picture matching, sound discrimination are familiar to them, even though they may not know the actual terms.
Prior to the SA1 examination, the children will also be given a mock SA1 main paper and Listening Comprehension so as to let the children and parents have a glimpse of the format in the actual SA1 examination. We will prepare the children. Nothing will be a shock to them when they sit for the papers on the examination days.
I can truly understand the parents' concern and anxiety because, afterall, this may be the first time the parents are dealing with children sitting for the Primary 1 SA1. I can ensure you that I will try my utmost best to prepare all the children for the paper. Thank you very much for all your enquiry regarding the SA1. Please allow me to use this platform to address some of the parents' enquiry regarding the SA 1.
1) When would all the English worksheets be returned for revision?
I will be returning the children all their English Worksheets done in Term 1 by next week. Please ensure that the worksheets are well kept at home so that the children can revise their work before their examination. The rest of the worksheets done in Term 2 are filed in their English files and will be returned to the children about 1.5 weeks prior to the English examination. The children's Term 1 worksheets were actually filed inside their English files too and I was actually quite hesitant to allow the children to take them out from their files and bring them home because I was afraid that some of the children will lose the worksheets or their maids or parents might throw them away, thinking that the Term 1 worksheets are not needed anymore. Such incidents did happen in the past. To prevent such matter from happening, I will write a note for the parents to inform them not to discard the worksheets.
2) How should the parents prepare their children for their composition writing. Will you be able to share with us the SA1 requirements?
Till now, the class has done three pieces of compositions - My Favourite Farm Animal, My Favourite Vehicle, At the Canteen and At the Zoo. The children will be doing 1 more piece of writing before their Paper 1 (Composition component). For composition, the children are given a picture with some helping words and they are supposed to write about the picture. I have taught the children to write using past tense. They did their previous composition pretty well. The children will bring their compositions home next week too, to let the parents have an idea of what is required in their composition examination.
1) When would all the English worksheets be returned for revision?
I will be returning the children all their English Worksheets done in Term 1 by next week. Please ensure that the worksheets are well kept at home so that the children can revise their work before their examination. The rest of the worksheets done in Term 2 are filed in their English files and will be returned to the children about 1.5 weeks prior to the English examination. The children's Term 1 worksheets were actually filed inside their English files too and I was actually quite hesitant to allow the children to take them out from their files and bring them home because I was afraid that some of the children will lose the worksheets or their maids or parents might throw them away, thinking that the Term 1 worksheets are not needed anymore. Such incidents did happen in the past. To prevent such matter from happening, I will write a note for the parents to inform them not to discard the worksheets.
2) How should the parents prepare their children for their composition writing. Will you be able to share with us the SA1 requirements?
Till now, the class has done three pieces of compositions - My Favourite Farm Animal, My Favourite Vehicle, At the Canteen and At the Zoo. The children will be doing 1 more piece of writing before their Paper 1 (Composition component). For composition, the children are given a picture with some helping words and they are supposed to write about the picture. I have taught the children to write using past tense. They did their previous composition pretty well. The children will bring their compositions home next week too, to let the parents have an idea of what is required in their composition examination.
Here's a sample of their last composition, 'At the Canteen'.
Ring! It was recess time. The children went to the canteen to buy their food. They queued up in an orderly manner. Tom wanted to buy his favourite chicken rice. I bought a bowl of noodles for myself. After eating, we put our plates and bowls into the pail. We helped to keep our canteen clean.
3) How should the parents guide their children in grammar as there is no specific structure or textbook under the STELLAR programme. Will it be sufficient to base on the blue coloured STELLAR scope & sequence?
The STELLAR scope and sequence is a good guide for parents to know what are the grammar items the children will learn or have learnt in their English lessons. We follow the STELLAR scope and sequence strictly. Past tense is one of the grammar items that the children have learnt. The children have quite a good amount of grammar practice in their STELLAR worksheets. The examination questions are set based on the scope and sequence.
In their daily practice, I have taught the children to use their colour pencils to mark out the clues / key words which can help them to derive the correct answer.
For example,
Yesterday, my parents and I ___________ to the market to buy some fish.
1. go
2. goes
3. went
4. are going ( )
The correct answer is (3)went. If the children have marked out the clue/key word 'yesterday', they will know that the sentence is in past tense, hence they would have gotten the correct answer.
They children have been marking out the clue/keywords conscientiously in their worksheet practices. I hope that they will do likewise during their examinations.
4) For SA1 spelling, when will the list of words be given? Also, is the pupil expected to know all the spelling words from the beginning of the year until now?
The list of words will most likely be given out 2-3 weeks before the examination. Right now, the list is still under vetting. Our school will usually vet through the examination papers for a few rounds before they are being finalised. This is to ensure that the exam questions given to the children are fair, valid and reliable. We also hope to achieve zero human / typo error through various rounds of vetting. For the SA1 spelling, the children are given a list of 30 familiar words, out of which, only 15 words will be tested. Though it is not an absolute requirement, it will be to the advantage of the child if he/she knows all the spelling words from the beginning of the year until now. There will not be any dictation for SA1.
5) For sound discrimination, picture-matching, recalling details & making inferences and spelling, may we know definition and scope for these? Are there any reference materials or classwork we can refer to?
Ring! It was recess time. The children went to the canteen to buy their food. They queued up in an orderly manner. Tom wanted to buy his favourite chicken rice. I bought a bowl of noodles for myself. After eating, we put our plates and bowls into the pail. We helped to keep our canteen clean.
3) How should the parents guide their children in grammar as there is no specific structure or textbook under the STELLAR programme. Will it be sufficient to base on the blue coloured STELLAR scope & sequence?
The STELLAR scope and sequence is a good guide for parents to know what are the grammar items the children will learn or have learnt in their English lessons. We follow the STELLAR scope and sequence strictly. Past tense is one of the grammar items that the children have learnt. The children have quite a good amount of grammar practice in their STELLAR worksheets. The examination questions are set based on the scope and sequence.
In their daily practice, I have taught the children to use their colour pencils to mark out the clues / key words which can help them to derive the correct answer.
For example,
Yesterday, my parents and I ___________ to the market to buy some fish.
1. go
2. goes
3. went
4. are going ( )
The correct answer is (3)went. If the children have marked out the clue/key word 'yesterday', they will know that the sentence is in past tense, hence they would have gotten the correct answer.
They children have been marking out the clue/keywords conscientiously in their worksheet practices. I hope that they will do likewise during their examinations.
4) For SA1 spelling, when will the list of words be given? Also, is the pupil expected to know all the spelling words from the beginning of the year until now?
The list of words will most likely be given out 2-3 weeks before the examination. Right now, the list is still under vetting. Our school will usually vet through the examination papers for a few rounds before they are being finalised. This is to ensure that the exam questions given to the children are fair, valid and reliable. We also hope to achieve zero human / typo error through various rounds of vetting. For the SA1 spelling, the children are given a list of 30 familiar words, out of which, only 15 words will be tested. Though it is not an absolute requirement, it will be to the advantage of the child if he/she knows all the spelling words from the beginning of the year until now. There will not be any dictation for SA1.
5) For sound discrimination, picture-matching, recalling details & making inferences and spelling, may we know definition and scope for these? Are there any reference materials or classwork we can refer to?
I know that these terms sounded very profound and difficult. However, I can ensure you that they are not at all foreign to or difficult for the children. In fact, the Listening Comprehension is one of the components that most the children will do well in. Let me explain these terms in detail.
Sound discrimination refers to phonics. Here're some examples to further explain.
Example 1, the teacher will say, "Which word begins with the /gr/ sound?"
1. brush 2. grass 3. dress
The answer is 2. GRass.
Example 2, the teacher will say, "Which word ends with a /t/ sound?"
1. kick 2. doll 3. bat
The answer is 3. baT.
In picture-matching, the children need to listen to the teacher and match the sentence that the teacher has said to the correct picture in the paper.
For example, there are three pictures portraying :
1. Two boys flying kites.
2. A girl flying a kite.
3. A family flying kites.
The teacher says, "Peter and Ali are flying their kites in the park. Put a tick at the correct picture."
The correct answer would be, 1 because picture 1 matches with what the teacher has just read,
For Recalling details & making inferences, the teacher will read a short passage. The children must listen attentively as the passage is not printed on their exam papers.
For example, the teacher will read, "Last Wednesday, Mary and Jane went to the school library to borrow books. They borrowed fours books althogether. Two of the books are Chinese comics."
On the children's exam papers, only the questions are printed. After listening to the passage, the children will answer the questions based on what they have heard and remembered.
1. Where did Mary and Jane go on last Wednesday? They went to the ____________.
a. swimming pool
b. library
c. bookshop ( )
2. How many Chinese books did the two girls borrow? They borrowed _______ books.
a. two
b. four
3. six ( )
For Spelling, it will be in the same sentence format as their weekly spelling practice. The children will be given a list of 30 words but only 15 will be tested. There will not be any dictation for SA1.
The children has purchased a Listening Comprehension book in the beginning of the year. They have been getting their listening comprehension practices. Hence, the components such as picture matching, sound discrimination are familiar to them, even though they may not know the actual terms.
Prior to the SA1 examination, the children will also be given a mock SA1 main paper and Listening Comprehension so as to let the children and parents have a glimpse of the format in the actual SA1 examination. We will prepare the children. Nothing will be a shock to them when they sit for the papers on the examination days.
Should you have anymore enquries, please feel free to email me or write me a note in your child's handbook.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Happy Birthday Anthea
Anthea celebrated her 7th birthday with the class on the first week of Term 2. She bought Disney lollipops from Japan and gave them to all her friends. Everyone was delighted to have a cute cartoon character lollipop. Thank you Anthea and have a sweet 7th birthday! :)
Pair Work
We started Term 2 with a new story "Smarty Pants" by Joy Cowley. I thought the children should be able to manage a pair work activity since they have made some good friends amongst themselves. I paired the children up and got them to label themselves 'A' and 'B'. They are supposed to listen for my instruction and complete the drawing of a clown with their partner. For example, I would say,
"Pupil A, draw the face of a clown." (Pupil A will do as instructed)
"Pupil B, draw a pair of eyes for the clown." (Pupil B will do as instructed)
"Back to Pupil A again, draw a funny nose on your clown."
"Pupil B, draw a wig/hair for the clown."
"Pupil A, draw a mouth."
"Pupil B, draw the eyes"
...
It was a good activity because the children learnt :
1) the meaning of turn taking. They had to wait patiently for they friend.
2) listening etiquette. They have to listen attentively for the instructions. No noise should be made or nothing can be heard and nothing can be drawn.
3) to respect. Respect what their friends have drawn, even if they do not really like what their friends have drawn, they do not make a fuss out of it.
4) to be creative. Children are free to draw their clowns in whatever way they like
5) how to listen for instructions. This is part of the Listening Comprehension component in the mid-year exam.
6) to cooperate in a teamwork. They need to play their part well to complete the big picture.
7) to share. They combined their resources - markers, colour pencils and drawing paper to create the beautiful pictures.
8) negotiation skills. The children had to negotiate with their partners for the names of their clowns. They also had to discussed the adjectives they want to use to describe their clowns.
9) Adjectives. They learnt about words used to describe their clowns. The words are, fuzzy hair, curly hair, funny nose, crescent eyes, silly, funny etc.
10) Sentence structure. They learnt how to fit in 2 adjectives in a sentence to describe their clowns.
The children enjoyed themselves during the pair work session. There were no squabbling. Everyone work harmoniously together. There were a lot of laughter and interaction amongst the children. I displayed all their work and the children were very proud of themselves. They gathered around to view their own work, as well as their friends'. With the success of this session, I would conduct more pair work sessions with 1G whenever possible.
Like all proud parents, I took lots of pictures of the children working on their task. Enjoy the pictures! :)
"Pupil A, draw the face of a clown." (Pupil A will do as instructed)
"Pupil B, draw a pair of eyes for the clown." (Pupil B will do as instructed)
"Back to Pupil A again, draw a funny nose on your clown."
"Pupil B, draw a wig/hair for the clown."
"Pupil A, draw a mouth."
"Pupil B, draw the eyes"
...
It was a good activity because the children learnt :
1) the meaning of turn taking. They had to wait patiently for they friend.
2) listening etiquette. They have to listen attentively for the instructions. No noise should be made or nothing can be heard and nothing can be drawn.
3) to respect. Respect what their friends have drawn, even if they do not really like what their friends have drawn, they do not make a fuss out of it.
4) to be creative. Children are free to draw their clowns in whatever way they like
5) how to listen for instructions. This is part of the Listening Comprehension component in the mid-year exam.
6) to cooperate in a teamwork. They need to play their part well to complete the big picture.
7) to share. They combined their resources - markers, colour pencils and drawing paper to create the beautiful pictures.
8) negotiation skills. The children had to negotiate with their partners for the names of their clowns. They also had to discussed the adjectives they want to use to describe their clowns.
9) Adjectives. They learnt about words used to describe their clowns. The words are, fuzzy hair, curly hair, funny nose, crescent eyes, silly, funny etc.
10) Sentence structure. They learnt how to fit in 2 adjectives in a sentence to describe their clowns.
The children enjoyed themselves during the pair work session. There were no squabbling. Everyone work harmoniously together. There were a lot of laughter and interaction amongst the children. I displayed all their work and the children were very proud of themselves. They gathered around to view their own work, as well as their friends'. With the success of this session, I would conduct more pair work sessions with 1G whenever possible.
Like all proud parents, I took lots of pictures of the children working on their task. Enjoy the pictures! :)
The children's work on display
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Poetry Appreciation
We have almost come to the end of our Unit 4 for English. The story for Unit 4 is "The Red Rose". I chanced upon a poem entitled "One Little Sparrow". It has a similar chain effect as the story "The Red Rose" whereby one event leads to another. I thought it would be good to expose the children to as many genre as possible. Hence, I introduced this poem to the children and taught them to do actions which will enhance comprehension. When children had fun with the poem, they will learn to appreciate the beauty of poetry. My hands and legs were involved in the actions. Thus, I was unable to take video of them reciting and acting. Next time, maybe! :)
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