28 August 2015 (Friday)

Dear children,

Did you find the GEP Screening Tests today challenging? 

I saw how most of you persevered till time was up even though the questions were much more difficult than what you are used to. I like how most of you did not give up when facing difficulties and kept going. If you are one of these people, I must really say to you, "Great job!" :)

As mentioned in class, the results of the tests are confidential and will not be released.

The term is coming to an end soon. Any work you owe me must be completed, submitted, and marked by me before the holidays arrive. If you see your register number in any of the lists below, do what you have to do by next Monday. Otherwise, I will keep you after school on Monday to work on them. These are long overdue.

"Life Cycles of Animals" Topical Paper

-Parent's signature not checked: (35)

"Life Cycles of Plants" Topical Paper

-Re-corrections not submitted: (27)

-Parent's signature not checked: (35)

Science Topical Test Practice 2015

-Re-corrections to be checked: (10), (26)

-Parent's signature not checked: (9)

English Practice Paper

-Not submitted for checking: (22), (37)

-Re-corrections to be checked: (9), (13)

-Parent's signature not checked: (35)

Maths CA Practice Paper 1

-Re-corrections to be checked: (2), (3), (8), (10), (12), (13), (16), (17), (22), (35), (38)

-Parent's signature not checked: (21), (26)

Maths CA Practice Paper 2

-Re-corrections to be checked: (8), (10), (12), (15), (17), (21), (24), (26), (35)

-Parent's signature not checked: (2), (16), (19), (35)

Time (Green) Booklet

-Not submitted: (35)

E-Learning Tasks -- Day 1

-EL: (3), (9), (13)

-Math: (9), (13)

-Science: (13)

E-Learning Tasks -- Day 2

-EL: (13), (17)

-Science: (13)

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have noted down.

Please be informed that on next Thursday, school will end at 1 p.m. because of Teachers' Day celebration activities in the afternoon. 

Have a great weekend with your family! See you on Monday! :)

27 August 2015 (Thursday)

Dear children, 

Today, we started on the second last topic of Maths for this year -- Area and Perimeter. You learnt what "area" and "perimeter" in Maths refer to. By looking at figures drawn on 1-cm grid squares, you learnt to find the area of different figures in square centimetres as well as their perimeter in centimetres. You also learnt how to draw a figure given a certain area. 

Test yourself with these questions: 

1) If you were asked what "area" and "perimeter" refer to, how would you answer? How are the two different?

2) How do you write "square centimetres"?

Here are some reminders for today: 

1) You would have brought back home your Science Test paper for your parents to look at. Remember to ask for a signature from your parents when they have viewed the paper. It should be returned to me on next Monday.

2) The GEP Screening Tests will be held tomorrow. As mentioned in class, you do not have to worry if you find yourself struggling during tomorrow's tests. The questions for such tests are usually designed to be more difficult than our usual tests. Give your best shot and check your work carefully before submitting. As always, do your best. 

3) Don't forget to be prepared for your swimming lesson tomorrow.

4) If your white Oral/Listening booklet is not yet in class, please remember to bring it. We will be using it soon to prepare you for your Oral Examination in Week 2 of next term.

5) Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down today.

Have a restful evening with your family. :)

26 August 2015 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

We started the day by finishing up the short topic of Time. You learnt to solve some word problems involving time by drawing timelines. In each of those word problems, you were asked to find 1 of 3 things: starting time, ending time, or time interval (i.e. how long something/someone took). I am glad to note that all of you have shown good mastery of the skills to solve those word problems. I hope you can apply the skills well in the 3 questions assigned to you for homework today.

In case some of you are interested, here is the Time Monsters website that we visited earlier this week: http://timemonsters.com/

Later in the day, we continued going through the Science paper. 

Then, you received your Maths Test. 

The highest score in our class is 40 out of 40 marks. 

The class average score is 33 marks. 

The lowest score is 22 marks.

These are the 18 children who earned ice-cream sticks for their groups for their good performance in the Maths Test:

10 sticks

Ranjiv (40 marks) from Detectives

Shaan (40 marks) from Robotics

9 sticks

Avery (39 marks) and Rowena (39 marks) from Kindness

Kaedee (39 marks) from Stars

Christian (39 marks) from Robotics

Marc (39 marks) from Stampy

8 sticks

Sujith (38 marks) from Kindness

Lai Ye (38 marks) from Wise 

Richelle (37 marks) from Growtopia

Matthew (37 marks) from Robotics
Alden (37 marks) from Lego

Isaac (37 marks) from Minions

7 sticks

Ethan (36 marks) from Minions

Thaneeisha (36 marks) from Stampy

Chloe Lee (35 marks) from Stars

Jing Min (35 marks) and Chufang (35 marks) from Detectives

I am very proud of these children who worked very hard and checked their work carefully to make sure they did the best they could.

From the list above, I was extremely impressed by Ranjiv and Shaan, who achieved perfect scores, as well as Lai Ye, Christian, Rowena and Thaneeisha. The 4 of them from the Maths remedial/enrichment class have proven with their tremendous improvement that with hard work, a lot is possible! :)

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have noted down. I hope by now, this has become a habit for you. This habit will serve you well for life.

You would know that I am not feeling well today. I hope to get better by tomorrow so that I can be in school and go through your English paper with you. If I do not turn up tomorrow, we might only be able to do so next Monday (Friday will have to be spent on your GEP Screening Tests). Please pray for me if you believe in God. Thank you. :)

Have a restful evening with your family.

25 August 2015 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

As mentioned in class yesterday, I will be away for my reservist duties in the Air Force next term for two weeks from 12th to 23rd October. Before I leave you, I want to be sure that you have a strong foundation in the Maths skills to be learnt in the next 4 units. We will thus be focusing more on Maths over this week and the next.

Today, we continued with the Maths topic we started yesterday -- Time. By now, you would have learnt to:

-Tell time to the minute

-Write time to the minute

-Use "past" and "to" when telling time

-Convert time from hours and minutes to minutes only

-Convert time from minutes to hours and minutes

-Add time given in minutes

-Add time given in hours and minutes

-Subtract time given in minutes

-Subtract time given in hours and minutes

-Find the duration of a time interval

Test yourself: How would you draw a timeline for the following question?

James went to watch a movie at 8.45 p.m.

It ended at 11.15 p.m.

How long was the movie?

You received your Science Test in the afternoon and we went through some questions in Section A of the paper.

These are the children who earned ice-cream sticks for their groups for their good performance in the Science Test:

8 ice-cream sticks

Theophilus (38.5 marks) from Growtopia

Avery (37.5 marks) from Kindness

Lai Ye (37 marks) from Wise

Shineta (37 marks) from Robotics

7 ice-cream sticks

Huda (36.5 marks) and Yuqi (36 marks) from Dreamers

Ethan (36.5 marks) from Minions

Ranjiv (36 marks) from Detectives

Rowena (36 marks) from Kindness

Hayley (36 marks) and Kaedee (36 marks) from Stars

Alden (35 marks) from Lego

These are the children who worked very hard during the revision period and checked their work carefully during the test.

I was especially impressed by Shineta, Huda, Yuqi, Rowena and Hayley. These 5 girls made it to the list above even though they were previously not doing as well and had to come for the Science remedial/enrichment class held on Tuesdays. Through this test, they have shown us that with hard work, a lot is possible.

The highest score in our class is 38.5 out of 40 marks. 
The class average score is 33 marks. 
The lowest score is 24.5 marks.

Whatever your score is, I would like you to ask yourself these three important questions: 

1) Did you pay your fullest attention in class?

2) Did you put in your best during revision?

3) Did you check your work carefully during the test?

If you answered "Yes" to all three questions, then I must say to you, "Great job!" 

We will continue going through the paper tomorrow. Have a pleasant evening. :)

24 August 2015 (Monday)

Dear children,

I will not be updating the blog today.

Remember to refer to your handbook as always.

Have a pleasant evening with your family. See you tomorrow.

19 August 2015 (Wednesday) - 21 August 2015 (Friday)

Dear children,

Here's the list of children who earned ice-cream sticks for their groups for their good performance in the Maths Practice Paper 2.

8 ice-cream sticks

Conan (37.5 marks) from Wise

Avery (37 marks) from Kindness

7 ice-cream sticks

Shaan (36.5 marks) from Robotics

Hoi Yung (36 marks) from Dreamers

Samir (35 marks) from Wise

Jing Min (35 marks) from Detectives

The class average score for this Practice Paper is 30.7 out of 40 marks. The highest score is 37.5 and the lowest score is 21.

Here is the list of AskNLearn tasks you will need to complete on each day (click on the picture to zoom in):

Please also complete the following items under "My Task":

1) Student Perception Survey 2015 for P3-6 students

2) Student Needs Survey 2015 for P1-5 students 

As promised, I am putting up here my working and answers to some of the questions in the Maths booklets to help you with your re-corrections and incomplete work.

"Unit 5: Angles" Green Booklet -- Problem Solving

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7elNzZF9mYkxNVEE/view?usp=sharing

"Unit 6: Parallel and Perpendicular Lines" Green Booklet -- Problem Solving

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7UnZuQ1ZPWFotdHc/view?usp=sharing

"Unit 7: Fractions" Green Booklet -- Problem Solving

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7VFItU3F1Z2VUQUE/view?usp=sharing

"Unit 8: Money" Green Booklet -- Problem Solving

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7UHF0QXNlZmxrdUk/view?usp=sharing

(The words in blue in the Guess-and-Check section should help those of you who still have problems with the Guess-and-Check method.)

*Update on Friday*

Please work hard in preparing for Monday's Maths test, which will cover content in the blue and green booklets of Units 5 to 8 (Angles, Parallel and Perpendicular Lines, Fractions, and Money). The test will begin at 7.45 a.m..

As you work on your English e-learning task today, you might want to refer to the newspaper article "Stop Food Waste" which you received recently. Although Mr Edwin has also uploaded a soft copy of that in his lesson package, you might find it easier to refer to the one you received instead of toggling between two different windows.

If you have a question about your e-learning tasks, you may post it here as a comment. I will reply comments on this post at two timeslots:

-11 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.

-2 p.m to 2.30 p.m. 

-7 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

Have a fruitful weekend. Make sure that you make time to rest as well. Health is important. See you on Monday! :)

18 August 2015 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

I'm busy with some personal matters this evening and will not be updating the blog.

Work hard for your Science Test tomorrow.

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down too.

Have a fruitful evening! I hope you will conquer tomorrow's test easily with your hard work today. :)

17 August 2015 (Monday)

Dear children,

You had some time for self-revision for English and Science today before we continued working on Guess-and-Check problem sums for Maths and finishing up corrections for some past Maths exercises.

I hope you conquered the English test today easily. Coming up next would be your Science test on Wednesday. Be prepared for it.

As promised last Friday, I am putting up here the register numbers of pupils who still owe me work: 

"Life Cycles of Animals" Topical Paper

-Not submitted for checking: No. 38

-No parent's signature: No. 35

"Life Cycles of Plants" Topical Paper

-Not submitted for checking: No. 27

-Re-re-corrections not submitted: No. 30 and 38

-No parent's signature: No. 2 and 35 

Science Topical Test Practice 2015

-Not submitted for checking: No. 4, 6, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 25, 31, 35, 38, 39, 40.

-Re-corrections left to complete: No. 10, 17, 26

-No parent's signature: No. 9

English Language Practice Paper

-Not submitted for checking: No. 22 and 37

-Re-re-corrections left to complete: No. 9, 13, 17, 29, 38

-No parent's signature: No. 12 and 35

If you see your register number in any of the lists above, submit your work tomorrow morning. I will collect them at the Art Room before your art lesson begins so that I can mark them during your art lesson.

Remember that your deadline for the Maths Practice Paper is tomorrow.

Don't forget to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down too. It is disappointing to note that in my past seven and a half months with you, I have not had a day when the entire class submits what has to be submitted.

See you tomorrow.

14 August 2015 (Friday)

Dear children,

These are the timings for your tests next week:

English on Monday: 12.15 p.m.

Science on Wednesday: 11.15 a.m.

You would already have all the necessary materials needed to prepare for your English Test and Science Test. Besides preparing for your English Test this weekend, I would advise you to revise for your Science Test too. 

Starting from Monday, we will be focusing fully on Maths during my periods with you in class to get us ready for the Maths Test on 24 August, Monday. Next week will be a short week of face-to-face lessons since next Thursday and Friday will be E-learning days for you.

Please focus on the following in your revision:

English

-"The Pelanduk" booklet

-"Life on the River" booklet

-Spelling words for Term 3

Science [Life Cycles of Plants & Life Cycles of Animals]

-"Cycles" Textbook and Activity Book

-Lesson notes for the two topics

-Notes on Life Cycles which I referred to in 23rd July's post as the "set of very precious Science notes on life cycles"

-Topical Papers: (1) Life Cycles of Plants (2) Life Cycles of Animals (3) Topical Test Practice 2015

Here are the Google Drive links to the Science slides I used in class when going through the topical papers:

"Life Cycles of Plants" Topical Paper (Same link as the one on 11 August's post)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwQurZ8oADp7TzFWZHBDOVhSVVk

"Life Cycles of Animals" Topical Paper (Same link as the one on 6 August's post)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7NmdkQm9YUWZwM0E/view?usp=sharing

Topical Test Practice 2015

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7c0NqbDNDTVpUNVk/view?usp=sharing

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down.

Hard work and determination lead to success. Have a fruitful weekend. :)

13 August 2015 (Thursday)

Dear children,

You received your EL Practice Paper this morning. Most of you did very well for the Grammar Cloze and the Editing SPG sections, but the Comprehension section proved to be a challenge for some of you, so we spent quite a bit of time this morning discussing your weaknesses and answering your questions. I hope it has been a fruitful time for those who paid attention.

The class average score for this Practice Paper is 13.6 out of 20 marks. The highest score is 16 and the lowest score is 9.

As promised, I have awarded ice-cream sticks to the following children:

8 ice-cream sticks

16 marks: Richelle, Shineta, Kaedee, Alden and Theophilus

7 ice-cream sticks

15.5 marks: Jia Ning and Keagan

15 marks: Marc, Matthew, Hayley and Olivia

During Maths lesson, we worked on some word problems on money which required us to use the Guess-and-Check method. One important point I want to emphasise again is that the Guess-and-Check method involves us guessing intelligently by looking for patterns. It is not just a method where you put in any random number and end up spending too much time guessing. By looking carefully for patterns, you should generally not need to make more than 5 guesses before arriving at the answer. 

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down. 

Don't forget to be prepared for your swimming lesson tomorrow too.

If you are one of the 14 children who have not participated in the "P3/5 Money Challenge", this is a reminder for you to do so by tomorrow (Friday). As mentioned before in class, participation is compulsory.

Have a pleasant evening with your family. See you tomorrow! :)

12 August 2015 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

We celebrated the birthdays of the July and August babies today and I am sure you enjoyed the party prepared specially for you by some of your parents. It takes effort, time and money to come up with a party. I hope you will appreciate what these parents have done for you! :)

Here are some photographs taken today:

  

  

For more photographs and a video, you can visit this Dropbox link: 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z53iz5kiditux2y/AAAjHAVztkFWQKUCgWLE5dYha?dl=0

During Maths lesson, we worked on some problem sums on money involving the concept of "as much as". Later in the day, you completed a 40-minute English Practice Paper as part of preparing yourself for next Monday's English CA2. You will receive your paper back tomorrow.

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down. Don't forget to participate in the "P3/5 Money Challenge" by this Friday too. The questions will never end, so you will decide when you want to stop. 

I have received submissions from 25 children so far:

Avery, Ranjiv, Chloe Chiang, Lai Ye, Jia Ning, Jing Min, Hayley, Shaan, Alvan, Dyrendo, Chufang, Yu Qi, Samir, Genevieve, Isaac, Rowena, Ethan, Joshua, Huda, Sarah, Thaneeisha, Kaedee, Christian, Alden, Chloe Pek

There is a set of scores without a name. If you have submitted your scores but do not see your name in the list above, that submission might be yours. Please submit again.

Have a restful evening with your family. See you tomorrow! :)

11 August 2015 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

These are the 6 Super Spellers who achieved full marks for today's spelling test:

Super Spellers
Hayley from Stars
Shineta from Robotics
Dyrendo and Marc from Stampy
Theophilus and Joshua from Growtopia

It was quite disappointing that many of you did not put in enough effort in your preparation although you were given much more time than usual to do so. Please look carefully at where you went wrong. As usual, work on your corrections and update your contents page before asking your parents for a signature.

Here are the Google Drive links for you to view (you cannot download them) the slides we went through in class today to prepare you for the upcoming Science CA2:

Life Cycles of Plants Topical Paper

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwQurZ8oADp7TzFWZHBDOVhSVVk

Life Cycles of Animals Topical Paper (same link as the one on 6 August's post)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7NmdkQm9YUWZwM0E/view?usp=sharing

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down.

You should at least be starting on your revision for English today. Do not forget to revise this term's Spelling List.

Have a fruitful evening. See you tomorrow! :)

6 August 2015 (Thursday) -- National Day Celebrations

Dear children,

I hope you enjoyed the National Day celebrations today as you played with your SG50 "Building My SG" Lego sets to build your Singapore and watched the concert specially put up for you. Here are some photographs that Mr Vai and I took:

More photographs can be found at this Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nd2tshb4tj5m4id/AAC4DFivZChyhAJWgqCW5wD8a?dl=0

If you would like to build something different and iconic with your SG50 "Building My SG" Lego Set, you can watch the following two videos and try out the Dragon Playground and the Singapore Flyer.

Dragon Playground

Singapore Flyer

As promised earlier this week, the "P3/5 Money Games Challenge" is now ready! 

Here is what you have to do:

1) Scroll down to look at the Challenge Scores Submission Form below. You will be playing 3 "puzzle types" in the Money Master game (http://www.mathsisfun.com/money/money-master.html).

2) The requirements for each game are stated in the form. For example, for Game 1, you will compete by using Singapore currency and playing the "A Few Coins (No Totals)" puzzle type.

3) For each puzzle type, you will need to note down your scores on paper first so that you can key them into the form later.

4) You can play the 3 puzzle types as many times as you like and improve your scores. Do your best! 

5) When you think you have achieved your best scores for all 3 puzzle types, enter your scores using the form truthfully. Then, click on the blue "Submit" button at the bottom of the form to send those information to me. Do not cheat. Show good sportsmanship in this challenge! :)

6) Participation is compulsory. I should receive 40 entries. The closing date for submission is 14 August 2015 (next Friday). 

As Week 6 comes to an end, I understand that some of you would want to spend part of this long weekend reviewing some of your work and preparing for the upcoming CA2, which would be held in Weeks 8 and 9. In case you do not remember, here are the dates for English, Science and Maths:

English: 17 August, Monday (Week 8)

Science: 19 August, Wednesday (Week 8)

Maths: 24 August, Monday (Week 9)

By now, you would have received the following items for English and Science which you can already use for revision this weekend if you want to:

English

"The Pelanduk" booklet 

"Life On The River" booklet

Science

Science Activity Book (Cycles)

"Life Cycles of Animals" Topical Paper

As mentioned in class, I have put up my notes and answers for "Life Cycles of Animals" Topical Paper. Click on this Google Drive link to view the file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7NmdkQm9YUWZwM0E/view?usp=sharing

We will be going through these slides in class next week.

Maths

Maths materials will be returned over next week as we complete the outstanding corrections as part of revision.

Remember to refer to your handbook and act on what you have taken down. Do not forget to prepare for your final spelling test for this term. 

Will you earn some ice-cream sticks for your group? :)

Have an enjoyable long weekend with your family celebrating SG50! See you on Tuesday! :)

5 August 2015 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

As mentioned in class, you are supposed to complete the following tasks by today:

1) Finish up your writing on "Life in St. Hilda's Primary School".

This is the link to the folder:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B-qYW4EazkJ8fldpNUxsSnpOWlVFeTFlN2lfRjFKMWlCajhUcnVZanktbmRCMmxIOGlna00

Note:

1) You have to log in to your SHPS e-mail account through AskNLearn before you can open your Google Doc.

2) Do not open another student's writing. Besides your own writing, the only other document you can open is mine. Everything done on the Google Site is tracked and I will be able to know what you have done.

3) Remember the scenario as you write: 
You are writing an article for the school's newsletter to introduce what life is like in SHPS. 

4) Remember to use similes, adjective-noun combinations, and simple present tense where necessary.

Some resources:
SHPS Website: http://shps.moe.edu.sg
SHPS CCA Website: http://shps-cca.blogspot.sg/
Link to examples of similes: http://examples.yourdictionary.com/simile-examples-for-kids.html


2)  Complete the survey here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hItyfsEtV5R6L5QQulVBnaOjYq8jCGvns-CX_PQ6LkE/viewform

I will not be updating this post later on.

Remember that school tomorrow will end at 10.30 a.m..

Have a fruitful day ahead. See you tomorrow for our National Day celebrations! :)