30 September 2015 (Wednesday)

Dear children, 

Please be informed of the following: 

1) Due to the haze situation, the swimming lesson this Friday will be cancelled. You will be dismissed at 1.30 p.m. on Friday. On a related note, since there will be no swimming this week, tomorrow's first two periods will be PE/HE, as per the normal non-swimming week timetable. You should wear PE attire.

2) I will not be updating the class blog for the next few days as I am swamped with work. Do continue to talk to your parents about your learning in school.

Don't forget to check your handbook every day and do the things you need to do.

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

29 September 2015 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

We started on the second last unit of English for this year today -- "Give Me That Wallet!" As we read the fictional newspaper article, we discussed some of your opinions on buying branded wallets. Many of you, including Conan, Hoi Yung, Enrui and Keagan, gave us some very good opinions. We also learnt some new vocabulary like "breeze", "chain", "branch", "sport", "gearing up", and "uncover". 

We got to go to an air-conditioned classroom in the afternoon during our last three periods. Because it was the first time we activated the Haze Classroom Rotation Plan due to the high PSI readings, it took us some time to move over to the classroom. Nevertheless, I was thankful that the move helped us all to avoid the haze and feel much better.

There, we continued with English and learnt to differentiate between "at least" and "exactly". We also learnt to expand sentences by adding examples and using the word "like" or "including". 

These are the 7 Super Spellers who achieved full marks for yesterday's spelling test:

Super Spellers
Jing Min from Eagle
Jonathan from Crystal
Ranjiv from Bugatti
Isaac from Friendship
Richelle and Shaan from Winners
Rowena from Interact

Each of them earned 2 ice-cream sticks for their groups.

As a class, we did not do too well this time. Take a look:

(Click to zoom in.)

Most of you who were close to having a perfect score (11 or 12 marks) either did not check your work properly or were not prepared well enough with the meanings of the words to handle Items 11 to 13. You need to put in more effort in those two areas.

Children who scored 6 marks and below are to prepare for a re-spelling test during Thursday's recess. These are your Register Numbers: 21, 27, 35, 40.

To spice up the competition for this short September, I have also awarded 1 ice-cream stick to each of the following children for their good efforts in properly finishing up the corrections in their Science Activity Books (Interaction) and obediently asking for signatures from their parents yesterday:

Huda from Elementine

Chufang, Jing Min and Alvan from Eagle

Hayley from Crystal

Christian and Sujith from Bugatti

Chloe Chiang from Friendship

Avery, Marc and Joshua from Pros

Samir from Masterchef

Alden, Shineta and Jia Ning from Cotton

Richelle, Shaan and Sarah from Winners

Conan, Lai Ye and Rowena from Interact

Check out the "Scores Update" section on the left to see how well your group is doing. Tomorrow will be the last day of the September competition. ;) 

See you tomorrow for another fruitful day of learning. As mentioned in class, we will be spending some time tomorrow writing the composition that we were intending to write last Friday when school closed. I hope to have you write another composition (the final one for this year) on Friday. If we cannot find the time to do that on Friday, we will do it next Monday. All these are to gear you up for your SA2 Composition Examination on the Monday of Week 5 (12 October 2015). 

Have a restful evening. :)

28 September 2015 (Monday)

Dear children,

I will not be writing an update today as I am busy with some matters. 

I will just be sharing here six photographs and two videos of today's September/October Birthday Party prepared with much love by some of your parents. They are taken by Ranjiv's mother, Rowena's mother, and Enrui's mother. If I receive more photographs later, I will put them up here too.

Enjoy! :)

As always, don't forget to refer to your handbook.

See you tomorrow! :)

23 September 2015 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

We did two little experiments today to see for ourselves what the resting position of a freely suspended bar magnet would be. With those done, our Science Activity Book (Interactions) can now be considered completed. :)

We moved on to go through the answers to the MCQ section of the Magnets Topical Paper. Isaac and Yuqi scored full marks for that section. For their good attempts, I will be awarding two ice-cream sticks to each of their groups. 

During Maths lesson, we did an exercise in the green Area & Perimeter booklet which required us to find the areas of rectangles and squares using the "Length X Breadth" formula you learnt. We then moved on to learn the problem-solving method called "Systematic Listing". That method helped us to:

1) Find possible lengths, breadths and perimeters of a rectangle, given its area

2) Find possible lengths, breadths and areas of a rectangle, given its perimeter  

I am glad that almost all of you were comfortable with using the method and showed much confidence in doing so! :)

Tomorrow is a public holiday because of Hari Raya Haji. When we return to school on Friday, we will start off with the term's first spelling test. Then, you will receive your previous composition and review it. With the comments received fresh in your mind, you will plan and write your next composition on the topic of litterbugs. The spelling words and phrases you learnt will be very helpful for that composition.

Here are some reminders:

1) If your Spelling Book is not yet in the classroom, bring it on Friday.

2) There is swimming lesson on Friday.

3) Friday is the last day that I will be holding on to the remaining nomination forms for Caring Teacher Award 2016. As mentioned in class, if you are interested to nominate a teacher/teachers, you will need to ask your parents for consent first. You can nominate teachers who taught you in the past too. I will give the form only to serious children whose parents have informed me about their consent. After Friday, I will pass our remaining forms, if any, to the other teachers so that the unused forms can be put to good use. If you or your parents are nominating a teacher, take note that the deadline for you to submit the form to the General Office is 12 October 2015, Monday.

4) We are left with just the open-ended questions for the Magnets Topical Paper before we fully complete the year's Science syllabus. Start reviewing your Science materials at home. A little revision a day will make a whole lot of difference in the end.

5) Refer to your handbook and do what you have to do.

Have a great holiday with your family tomorrow. 

Selamat Hari Raya Haji, Huda and Sarah! :)

See you on Friday!

22 September 2015 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

We spent today working on a series of experiments with magnets and completing more exercises in your Science Activity Book. 

  

Through the experiments, you saw for yourselves:

-How a magnet can be made by the stroke method and how the number of strokes can determine how strong the magnet becomes

-How a simple electromagnet can be made using a battery, a steel nail, sticky tape and insulated wire, and how the electromagnet can be made stronger in two ways

-How ring magnets on a stick interact with one another with their poles

-How the strength of a magnet does not depend on its size 

(Remember the big but weak U-shaped magnet and the small but strong horseshoe magnet?)

-How magnetic force can pass through non-magnetic materials but cannot pass through magnetic materials

(Remember how the paper clip attached to the base of the retort stand can 'magically' float, but drops when a sheet of iron is added to the setup?)

After today's lessons, we are left with just one short activity in your Activity Book before we complete it. We will then go through the topical papers which you have completed and finish up the topic on Magnets. Science lessons after that will then focus on revision. 

You should start revising Term 1 and 2's Science topics at your own time. There is quite a lot of Science content for you to review and master. Therefore, listen to Mrs Poh's advice given to you during your previous Moral Education lesson -- start early!

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

See you tomorrow for another day of learning! :)

21 September 2015 (Monday)

Dear children,

We went through a number of exercises on Magnets in your Science Activity Book today before spending some time on our last bit of oral examination preparation.

I hope you conquered the oral examination easily today! Your marks will not be revealed any time soon, but I can tell you that so far, I have heard positive comments from the other testers regarding our class's performance for the stimulus-based conversation. :)

Remember to complete your homework for today. Don't forget about the upcoming spelling test on Friday (and the 25 bonus ice-cream sticks for three-time Super Spellers) too! ;)

Tomorrow, we will spend a bit more time on Science. I will be bringing in some magnets for more experiments in the classroom. I hope to complete this last topic by this week so that we can move on to working on revision papers on Science soon. 

Time is running out. We must treasure every minute.

See you tomorrow.

17 September 2015 (Thursday)

Dear children,

We spent a little time today understanding how next Monday's SA2 Oral Examination would be conducted before we headed to the library to borrow books from NLB. Then, we finished up Oral Practice (6) with our class discussions and pair conversations. With Practice (6) now completed, you would have gone through at least one round of all the oral practices in the white booklet.

Do spend more time practising at home. The more you practise, the better you will get! You can do so with your parents, your relatives, your older siblings, your friends, or even by yourself in front of the mirror (I used to do that).

As you prepare yourself, remember to refer to the set of notes on the Arrow-in Approach given to you earlier in the year. This is what it looks like:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQurZ8oADp7V1N4LVlVOFYtME0/view?usp=sharing

Tomorrow will be an e-learning day for you because the Primary Six pupils will be having their Listening Comprehension Examination for PSLE in school. These are the items you will need to complete on the AskNLearn portal before Monday:

1) "P3 English Oral E-Learning (18 Sep 2015)" 

[Uploaded by me]

2) "Math Elearn 18 September 2015" 

[Uploaded by Mdm Diana]

Your blue Area & Perimeter booklet is with me. You do not have to do Activity 6 as mentioned in the video because we have already completed it in class.

3) "E-Learning (Revision of Diversity of Living & Non-Living Things)" 

[Uploaded by Ms Zahara]

Remember to ask your parent to complete the 5-minute survey on responsibility by Monday too:

4) "P3 Integrated (I2) Curriculum (for parents)" 

[Uploaded by Mdm Jasmin Soh]

Have a fruitful weekend preparing for your Oral Examination. You must remember to take time to rest well too. Drink more water and have enough sleep. See you on Monday! :)

16 September 2015 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

We started the day by experimenting with magnets at the Science Laboratory. Moving from station to station in your groups, you:

1) tried to find out which materials magnets would attract 

2) observed the interaction between different types of magnets, including the bar magnet, ring magnet, the U-shaped magnet and the horseshoe magnet 

3) identified the poles of a bar magnet

4) found out which part of a magnet has the strongest magnetic pull

5) tested whether an unknown object was a magnet

Later in the day, we had class discussions based on some prompts in your Oral Booklet. Needless to say, those who came prepared with their homework done and those who diligently took down ideas shared by others and points given by me would have learnt the most. You also did some quick write before you participated in pair conversations with your partners.

We will continue with preparation for your oral examination tomorrow using the time that we have together. More tips will be given to help you succeed. Pay attention.

Here are two reminders and two announcements:

1) The National Library Board (NLB) will be bringing to school some books for you to borrow tomorrow. We will look at their books from 12.15 to 12.45 p.m. I would strongly encourage you to bring your School Smart Card or your NLB Membership Card so that you can borrow books tomorrow.

2) I heard from a few of you that the survey on responsibility is not yet in your AskNLearn Task List. I have informed the teacher-in-charge about it. She will solve the technical problem tomorrow. I will let you know again once she has done so. In the meantime, wait patiently.

3) Check your handbook and act on what you have taken down if you have not done so.

4) Our classroom has been quite untidy for the past two days. Class Leaders, please lead your members to do something about it. Watch this video below too: 

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

15 September 2015 (Tuesday)

Dear children,

I will not be writing an update today as I am busy with some matters. 

Remember to refer to your handbook for your tasks. 

If you have time today, you might also want to start preparing for next Friday's spelling test too. Remember that September's competition is a two-and-a-half-week one, so the ice-cream sticks earned from spelling tests will be very significant. 

Keep in mind the 25 bonus ice-cream sticks you will earn for your group if you are a Super Speller for all 3 spelling tests in the term too.

Have a pleasant evening. See you tomorrow for a fruitful day of oral practice.

14 September 2015 (Monday)

Dear children,

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

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

(Click on the picture to zoom in.)

This is the cleanliness duty schedule for our last 10 weeks together as P3/5 TRUTH.

(Click on the picture to zoom in.)

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

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

We started the term with your individual presentations on the topic of responsibility. I was very impressed by the amount of effort that some of you put in when you prepared for your presentations. The best presentations were those which included

1) personal learning points and not just description of the activities 

2) pictures that serve to bring across messages and not just for decoration (or sometimes distraction)

I have uploaded the presentation slides of those who presented today on Dropbox. You can click on this link to view them again if you like: 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7nyd5vju8krlmi4/AADC_mbAqZlXOUE-1U5tTDhla?dl=0

Although we had 35 interesting presentations, it was disappointing that we also had children who did not come ready to present today despite having one whole week to prepare. Knowing your duty and doing your duty is definitely part of being responsible, as many of you pointed out today in your presentations. We will listen to the remaining five children tomorrow.

During Maths lesson, you worked with your new partner and practised more questions on drawing:

1) figures with the same areas but different perimeters

2) figures with the same perimeters but different areas

3) different figures with the same areas and perimeters

We will continue with this tomorrow.

Have a restful evening.

3 September 2015 (Thursday)

Beloved children,

[Click to zoom in and find yours! ;) ]

Thank you for the thoughtful Teachers' Day presents and cards that you gave me today. I have not had the time to carefully look at every single gift, card, and note that you prepared but I promise that I will do so over the next few days. I love all of them because I know each of you put in effort that came from the bottom of your heart. That is more than enough for me. :)

I enjoyed the concert that was put up today, and I hope you did too. All the performances were excellent, but I liked the song performance by Chloe Pek and Chloe Lee the most -- simply because they are from P3/5. :)

(To the two Chloes: Thank you very much, girls, for practising hard and putting up such a wonderful performance. I know it is not easy to stand on the stage in front of such a huge audience just by yourselves. Thank you for overcoming your fears. I know what motivated you to. :) )

Here are the three videos we watched while learning about magnets:

Today marks the last day of service for our faithful and responsible leaders for Term 3. Ranjiv, Huda, Richelle, Enrui, Christian, Chloe Pek, Hayley, Isaac, Dyrendo, Yu Zhi, Jing Min, Matthew, Conan, Jia Ning and Rowena have served the class well for the past 10 weeks. They truly deserve the certificates of recognition given out to them.

Here's your list of holiday homework (click on the pictures to zoom in):

Update to be noted: The Maths E-learning will only be uploaded by Mdm Diana on Monday.

For the list of owed items from my latest checking, please see the bottom of this post. 

As mentioned in class, these homework can be finished within a day if you are focused and disciplined. You need a good break before we begin Term 4 with refreshed minds and hearts, so I would strongly advise you to finish up your homework as soon as you can. Then, enjoy yourself in peace! :)

Have an enjoyable holiday with your family. See you again as we start our final term for this year on 14 September! :)

Owed Items

****************************************

English CA2 Test Paper

-Re-corrections: (5)

-Not signed: (35)

"Life Cycles of Animals" Topical Paper

-Parent's signature not checked: (35)

"Life Cycles of Plants" Topical Paper

-Parent's signature not checked: (27), (35)

Money (Blue) Booklet:

-Re-corrections: (1), (2), (3), (4), (8), (9), (15), (24), (26), (29), (38)

Fractions (Blue) Booklet:

-Not signed: (2)

-Re-corrections: (2), (10), (14), (17), (22), (38)

Fractions (Green) Booklet:

-Not signed: (26)

-Re-corrections: (7), (8), (10), (12), (14), (17), (26), (28) 

****************************************

2 September 2015 (Wednesday)

Dear children,

I am busy this evening with some personal matters and will not be able to write an update for today. Check out the pictures below! :)

Have a pleasant evening with your family.

"How Many Horses Can You Find?"

(Click on the picture to zoom in)

"I Have A Part to Play!"

 "Protect The Raw Egg!"

The 7 eggs that survived one day of protecting