My Class Of Gems

SO

2009-05-04T00:48:00.004+08:00

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. :)

Closer and closer

2009-05-04T00:31:00.004+08:00

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 :)

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! :)

Moving Towards SA1

2009-04-18T02:05:00.003+08:00

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!! :)

SA 1 Anxiety-Free Information

2009-04-12T16:39:00.007+08:00

I have received an email and some notes from parents enquirng about the upcoming SA 1 examination.

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.

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?

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.

Happy Birthday Anthea

2009-04-07T10:13:00.012+08:00

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

2009-04-07T08:16:00.024+08:00

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! :)

The children's work on display

Poetry Appreciation

2009-03-07T01:02:00.005+08:00

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! :)

Emerging Victors

2009-03-07T00:20:00.015+08:00

On Thursday, the 1G children had their health check up. They had to be dressed in their PE attire. The nurses checked their eyes, physical growth and gave them their immunisation. I bought the children sweets just to reward them for not crying. The nurses were very professional. They knew their job well. They must have given injection to tens of children every day because they were very swift and precise when administering the jabs. I was very impressed with the children in 1G. No matter how fearful they were, all of them broke into smiles once the painful process was over. After resting for a few minutes, all of them were up on their feet again, skipping around in the library. In my previous years teaching in primary one, some of the children were sobbing and some of them became sick the next day after their immunisation. But this 1G class is indeed special. They're emerging heros, strong fighters and motivated learners. All of them turned up for school the next day. None were absent. I am very proud of my little victors! :)

Health Check Up

2009-03-03T14:52:00.002+08:00

The children will be having their health check up on Thursday, 5 March 2009. They have to wear their PE attire on that day even though they do not have PE on Thursdays.

Updated Videos of 1G's performance

2009-02-22T00:32:00.003+08:00

I've finally had the chance to upload the full video of the children performing "Walking Through The Jungle"! Each group presented their parts. They were pretty good. If you want to know the full story, please watch the video clips.

Click on this book for the link.

Our School Library

2009-02-21T23:21:00.009+08:00

The highlight for this week was the visit to our school library. The children cheered when they found out that they would be going to the school library. Many of them asked if they could borrow books. Unfortunately, the school library cards were still in the midst of processing. Hence the children were unable to do their borrowing.

We spent about an hour in the library reading. The children were given copies of the Berenstein Bears story books to read. I personally like the Berenstein Bears story books because I feel that they are suitable for the children in the Primary 1 level. In addition, the stories touched on moral values and issues that may be related and familiar to the children. Hence, good morale values are being imparted to the children through the stories.

1G was very quiet when they were in the library. All of them were engaged in reading. They exchanged their story books with their friends once they were done reading their own books. Before going back to class, I verbally asked the children if they had enjoyed reading the titles. Almost all of the children raised their hands. I told the children that for the next library visit, they will carry on with the Berenstein Bears series. For the subsequence visits, they will be introduced to other titles suitable for their level.

Happy Birthday to Ryen

2009-02-21T23:03:00.004+08:00

This week, Ryen celebrated his 7th birthday. The class sang the birthday boy a song. Afterwhich, Ryen gave his friends a box of Glico Pocky Stick. The children were very thrilled. We wish Ryen a happy and fruitful 7th birthday and may all his wishes come true this year! :)

Health Examination by MOH

2009-02-13T01:39:00.002+08:00

The nurses from MOH (Ministry of Health) will be coming to our school to examine the children. As such, every child in the school have to submit their health booklets to their form teachers. I will be collecting 1G's health booklets from Friday, 13 Feb onwards. Please help your children to pack their health booklets into their bags. Thank you :)

The Apple Ipod Touch

2009-02-13T01:27:00.011+08:00

Yesterday, the children had a hands on experience learning how to use the Apple Ipod Touch. Each of them were given a set to explore. It's an interesting gadget that allows the children to watch video, listen to music and view pictures and photographs. The children were trained how to go about navigating the device. They were very excited and attentive throughout the ICT (Infocomm Technology) lesson. We're thinking of engaging the children in a project using the Apple Ipod Touch to enhance their learning in school.

Walking Through the Jungle

2009-02-13T00:06:00.016+08:00

"Walking Through the Jungle" by Julie Lacome is a story about a boy's adventure to the jungle. The words are simple and repetitive. Children are able to recognise the words in the book through repetitive reading. The main learning points in the story are the animals found in the jungle, the sound made by these animals and the actions of the animals. Hence, children will encounter words such as leaping, wading, swinging etc.

I read the story once to the children using the big book and my own personal collection of finger puppets and a stuffed toy baby boy. The sight of the finger puppets and baby thrilled the children! They love them. Along the way, I asked the children to predict the next animal that the character/boy will encounter. As children participate in active reading, they will enjoy and understand the story better.

I want to help the children to internalise the learning points. Hence, as a follow up activity, I got the children to recite and dramatise the story. Each group will take on one part of the story. In this way, learning is made fun for the children. They get to express themselves in front of their friends. This helps to boost their confidence and self esteem. In addition, children will learn the pronunciation as they recite. They have also put learning into action as they acted out the action words.

Walking through the jungle,
What do you see?
Can you hear a noise?
What could it be?
Sssss...
Over there!
A snake
Looking for his tea.

Creeping through the jungle,
What do you see?
Can you hear a noise?
What could it be?
Grrr...
Over there!
A tiger
Looking for his tea.

Leaping through the jungle,
What do you see?
Can you hear a noise?
What could it be?
Roar...
Over there!
A lion
Looking for his tea.

Running through the jungle,
What do you see?
Can you hear a noise?
What could it be?
Trump... trump...
Over there!
An elephant
Looking for his tea.

Wadding through the jungle,
What do you see?
Can you hear a noise?
What could it be?
Snap... snap...
Over there!
A crocodile
Looking for his tea.

Hope it isn't me!

The End Of Mrs Wishy Washy

2009-02-12T09:32:00.009+08:00

These are two more of the Mrs. Wishy Washy books. The children enjoyed the Mrs. Wishy Washy stories. She's a very funny character but she has imparted the children two important values and they are, to keep themselves clean at all times and to be grateful to their caregivers. You can find Mrs. Wishy Washy books from the National Libraries.

This week, we have also started a new story "Walking Through the Jungle" by Julie Lacome. The children recited the story and acted out the parts. I have taken video of them dramatising. I will post the video clips up as soon as possible.

Label Our Thermometers

2009-02-05T09:15:00.004+08:00

On Tuesday, 3 February, the children had a temperature-taking exercise. Each of them were given an ODT for free. They learnt how to use an ODT (Oral Digital Thermometer) to measure their temperature. They were also taught how to wash their ODT after using them. It was the first time for some of the children. All of them were excited and eager to pop the ODT under their tongues. It is important to conduct the temperature-taking exercise so that, in the event of an emergency or crisis such as SARS, the children will be equipped with the tool and the skill to take care of themselves. In the second semester, the children will need to use their ODT again for another round of temperature-taking exercise. Hence, they will need to bring their ODT to school again. I hope that the parents will be able to help the children to label their ODT (including the transparent casing) and keep the ODT in a proper place at home. When we need the ODT in Semester 2, the children will have no problem looking for their ODT at home. Thank you :)

Mrs. Wishy-Washy

2009-01-30T16:13:00.008+08:00

The children were introduced to the book "Mrs. Wishy-Washy" by Joy Cowley. It was a rather simple story but we were able to draw out quite a few learning points from the story. I have found a video clip of the story Mrs. Wishy Washy. If you want to have a glimpse of the story, you can take a look at the clip. For the whole of next week, we will be learning from Mrs. Wishy Washy. Some of the learning points are - Pronoun (He and She), Phonics (/w/ sound), Action verbs (paddled, rolled, jumped etc) and Punctuation (opened and closed inverted commas)

Take note of the words in the story. Can your child pronounce them? Does your child know these words ? Parents may want to revise the words with the children at home (^_^)b

In addition, one of the teachers also borrowed another Mrs. Wishy-Washy book for the children. "Mrs. Wishy Washy's Christmas". I read it to 1G. They love the story! To test your child's comprehension skill, you can get your child to summarise the story to you.

The children will also get to dramatise the story next week. This will help them in brushing up their public speaking skills. There are lots of things we can do with this story! Let's hope the children will be as excited as I am! (^_^)

Happy Birthday Jun Wei

2009-01-30T15:47:00.007+08:00

Today is Jun Wei's birthday. The class sang a birthday song to him in English and Mandarin. Jun Wei gave all his friends a box of cereal each. It was very kind of him. The children were very happy. They shook hands with Jun Wei and wished him a happy birthday personally.

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, JUN WEI!

Happy Lunar New Year

2009-01-29T09:49:00.003+08:00

Happy Lunar New Year to all of you. May you be blessed with good health and lots of wealth this year

Little Writers

2009-01-29T09:14:00.010+08:00

The children were immersed in stories and facts about farm animals. They had heard stories and done worksheets regarding the topic. It was time for them to write about what they had learnt. They had to bring a picture of their favourite farm animal. There were dogs, goats, sheep, cats, chickens, pigs etc.

Before writing, I demonstrated a piece of writing for the children because after all, it was their first time writing in class. The children were attentive and they were eager to express themselves. Everyone was on task. I wrote some questions to guide them in their writing and these busy bees started their writing. I've anticipated that spelling would be one of the possible challenges that the children might face. Hence, I wrote some of the helping words on the board to guide them. To encourage the weaker children to write, I gave them a template so that they would not have mental block.

It was a tedious process but I was very happy that at the end of the whole session, every single child was able to write something about their farm animals. It was very fulfilling! I selected some of the writings and got the children themselves to read to the class. I'm very proud of them. (^_^)

The children presenting their stories.

The Farm Concert

2009-01-25T01:51:00.006+08:00

We have been immersed in the whole of farm animals for the past two weeks. The children read the story "The Farm Concert"by Joy Cowley. I told the children to bring storybooks related to farm animals and all the children were able to bring their storybooks. I was very impressed that some of them even went to the National Library to borrow. I am touched that our parents are very involved in helping the children to learn. Their partnership with me is very much needed and appreciated! Because of everyone's effort, the children were blessed with many books. I was able to read to them everyday. They have learnt a lot about farm animals - the sound they made (such as sheep bleats, turkey gobbles), the things that farm animals provide (eggs, wool and leather...), their gender (bull vs cow, nanny goat vs billy goat...) and their young (duckling, kid, lamb...). Everyone was excited and they wanted me to read their storybooks. I always feel that reading is the basis to learning English and expanding their knowledge. In order to write well, a child must be an avid reader. Equipped with their new knowledge, the children were able to write a short story about their favourite farm animals. I will publish some of their writings soon! (^_^)

Here're some of the book titles. I put the children's story books in a box and will draw out 1-2 books each day to read to them. Everyone wants me to read his/her book! :)

Children love stories. They are getting ready for story time!

Class Seating Arrangement

2009-01-25T01:42:00.004+08:00

Trust me, I have tried to arrange the seating positions of the children several times, to the best interest of each individual child. Everytime when I change the seats of the children, I felt as if I am playing a game of chess, making sure that every child is strategically placed. Their seating position is more or less fixed now, unless any child displays any sign of excessive chatting or lost of concentration. You can take a look at them in class.

Our Little Helpers

2009-01-25T01:27:00.004+08:00

Our class has chosen their little helpers. It is important to teach children responsibility and helpfulness. They must learn how to take care of themselves and each other. What better way to enable them to learn these important social skills than to allow them to assume these roles! Though they may be little, our helpers have proven themselves worthy to be praised for their helpfulness and initiative!

Our Class Monitors

Our Group Leaders

Our PE Monitors

A Blog For My Gems!

2009-01-25T00:01:00.000+08:00

Hello my dear 1Gs! This blog is for all of you. Every single one is special and unique to me. I hope that we will spend one marvellous year together! Check out this blog for more entries.

Love,
Mrs. Annie Ong (^_^)