Welcome to Term 2

Dear parents,

A warm welcome back to school, and we will embrace a fresh start in the new term!


Administrative Matters

1. This term, P3A will have their Math supplementary classes (opt-in) and English remedial (selected pupils) just like in Term 1. There is no Science remedial/supplementary. As for MT classes, please check with the respective MT teachers directly.

2.  I have requested all pupils to have a green pen ready as they will be doing their corrections in green. Work will still be done using a pencil.

3. As we close Term 1's work, I will be returning the pupils their files. Your signature as a sign of acknowledgement is required.

4. Please note that the EL SA1 Paper 1 will be conducted on 28 April instead of 20 April.


English

We will be starting on our new story "The Blink-Off" this term. In this term, my focus will be on writing and oral.

In the coming week, we will continue to work with '2 stars and a wish' for writing.


Thank you.


Sincerely,
Ms Cindy Chan

[T1W8] English Updates

Dear Parents/Guardians,

1. The class have done their group-constructed mindmaps and pupils have learnt to provide feedback using the strategy "2 stars and a wish".

In this strategy, they tell their peers two things they like about their work (2 stars) and one thing that their peers can work on improving (wish). An example for the 2 stars and a wish for the group mind-map looks like this:

• (STAR) Very detailed mind-map.
• (STAR) Very neat handwriting.
• (WISH) I wish you can write more examples.

To consolidate the pupils' learning, they are each tasked to do up their personal mind-map on parts of speech using an A4 sized paper. They have been given 2 weeks to work on it and it will be due on 1 March.


2. We have started on the next big book 'What's This', a non-fiction text where pupils learnt more about the different parts of a frog. There are many content-specific vocabulary words related to frogs, such as snout, webbed fingers, sticky discs etc.


3. Last week, we had a Learning Fest in school for English, Math and Science. The pupils had a talk conducted by the NLB, with the librarian sharing interesting facts about Roald Dahl. This year celebrates his 100th year anniversary as a children Literature author, and our pupils learnt more about his works like The Twits, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.

We were engaged in the class activities where the pupils watched excerpts of The BFG (the older animated movie, available on YouTube) as well as the trailer for the upcoming live movie of The BFG. Working with their clock buddies, they discussed to plot a nightmare that will be presented to the Queen of England to convince her of preventing the human-eating giants from entering their country,

Pupils also had an experience of designing a writing quote poster with the materials provided for them.


4. Pupils learnt more about words with suffix-y as having or being. Suffix -y usually changes a noun (thing) or verb (action) into an adjective (describing word). For example:

• cloud à cloudy
• dust à dusty
• jump à jumpy

5. The class was taught how to write a personal recount on the topic of Fear.

I shared with them my experience of fear and demonstrated how I plan for my story. The pupils were then given 15 minutes to list down their experience of fear in their class notebooks (free-writing). They wrote about why they experienced fear in these events.

Using a mentor text, I discussed the key features of a personal recount and how the writing plan translated into the actual writing.

Selecting one idea from their free-writing, pupils organized their thoughts using the personal recount plan. An additional vocabulary list on the varied degrees of fear was also given to pupils.

Pupils are then given three days to complete their personal recount (due 26 Feb).

In the coming week, pupils will be learning to do peer editing and feedback, and we will be using the strategy "2 stars and a wish".


Thank you.

Sincerely,
Ms Cindy Chan

T1W7 – Science Update

1) Diversity of Animals

Pupils have been introduced to 6 groups of animals - Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Insects, Mammals and Reptiles last week.

For this topic, pupils are expected to be able to state the characteristics that each group of animals have eg. amphibians have moist skin, birds lay eggs etc. and be able to apply that knowledge in answering questions, eg: in comparing the similarities and differences among the different animal groups.

Pupils were also taught how to draw concept cartoons in their Science Journals for this topic. Through their drawings, pupils are able to make their thinking visible. This also allows me to check on their understanding for the topic. Drawing a concept cartoon is a good way of getting pupils to revise on concepts covered previously.

2) Science Toy Project

Pupils were taught how to make an introductory toy boat in class last week. To promote the idea that toy-making is a continuous process of making and tinkering (to improve the toy), I have also introduced the CEDAR Idea Generator to pupils.

C – Combine : Eg. What ideas can I combine together to make my toy better?

E – Eliminate : Eg. What can I remove from my toy? Can I make my toy smaller / slower?

D – Displace : Eg. What parts can I substitute/replace in my toy to further improve on it?

A – Adapt : Eg. How can I improve on my toy so that it fits another context?

R – Reverse / Rearrange : Eg. How can I rearrange various parts of my toy to make it better? Can I do something to change the movement of my toy?

Points to note:

·         The actual Science toy should only be submitted after the March holidays, by 28^th March 2016 (Monday). Pupils should jot down their starting ideas on Milestone Check (1) and submit it to me by Thursday, 25^th February. Feedback will be provided to pupils.

·         Please remind your child/ward to refer to the rubrics (attached with the school letter given previously) when he/she is generating ideas for the project.

·         As the Science Toy project is a part of Science formative assessment, all pupils are expected to submit their milestone checks and toys by the given deadlines.

Ms Natalie Chan

[T1W6] English updates - Suffix (-ful) and Parts of Speech

Dear Parents,

A Happy Lunar New Year to all! Hope you had a great time spent with your loved ones over the long weekend.

As mentioned previously, below is the class compiled list of words that end with the suffix -ful.

Also available for downloading at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_DkAx8tuB7fMXhaVTV2N3FOV3M/view?usp=sharing



Before the Chinese New Year break, we learnt about the different parts of speech. The different parts of speech are the various word classes with different roles to play in sentences.

The pupils experienced how to take quick notes within a short amount of time that I have given them. They learnt not to take notes word-for-word, but the main points that help them understand concepts.

They also worked in groups of four with assigned roles to construct a mind-map on parts of speech collectively. I will post pictures of their mind-maps in the next post when they are done polishing up their work.

Below is my Powerpoint slides that I use to teach the class, for your child's revision at home:

Parts of Speech from Cindy Chan


Thank you!


Sincerely,
Ms Cindy Chan

[Song] Everything at once - Lenka

Dear Children,

This is the song we sang together in Music lesson.
You can learn up the song and the similes in it!



There are some grammatical errors in the video above.

Here's the lyrics for sing-along:

As sly as a fox, as strong as an ox
As fast as a hare, as brave as a bear
As free as a bird, as neat as a word
As quiet as a mouse, as big as a house

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As mean as a wolf, as sharp as a tooth
As deep as a bite, as dark as the night
As sweet as a song, as right as a wrong
As long as a road, as ugly as a toad

As pretty as a picture hanging from a fixture
Strong like a family, strong as I wanna be
Bright as day, as light as play
As hard as nails, as grand as a whale

All I wanna be, oh, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything, everything at once
Everything at once, oh, everything at once

As warm as the sun, as silly as fun
As cool as a tree, as scary as the sea
As hot as fire, cold as ice
Sweet as sugar and everything nice

As old as time, as straight as a line
As royal as a queen, as buzzed as a bee
As stealth as a tiger, smooth as a glider
Pure as a melody, pure as I wanna be

All I wanna be, oh, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything, everything at once

Have fun!

Cheers,
Ms Chan :D

T1W5 – Science Toy Project

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Pupils have been given a school letter today regarding the Science Performance Assessment Task – the “Science Toy” project (done by P3-P5 pupils in school every year). A timeline and a set of rubrics have been attached to the school letter for your reference.

The theme of the project is “Rise and Shine”. I’ve also shared with pupils some ideas on how to make toys rise and shine. Pupils will make an introductory toy in Week 7, and will also be taught the use of the CEDAR Idea Generator (a thinking tool, also covered in CIT lessons) and how it can be applied to the introductory toy. 

I will be guiding and supporting pupils through milestone checks (from Week 7 to Week 10) and having consultation/feedback sessions with pupils to see how they can improve on their toys. P3 pupils will be allowed to submit either a modified version of the introductory toy that was taught to them in class or a totally new toy that fits the theme of the project by 28^th March 2016.

Thank you. Do contact me if you have further queries on the Science toy project.

Regards,

Ms Natalie Chan

[T1W4] English

Dear parents,

Thank you to the parents who attended the briefing on Friday. I hope you have learnt more about the scope covered for each subject.

Like I have mentioned earlier in the year, my plans for P3A is to maximise their learning and to nurture them to be independent learners. As such, we have started the use of the "English Self-study notebook" where they can take down notes on their own for easy reference.

Updates for English:

1) STELLAR

We have started on the big book "The Wolf's Story" where the familiar story of the three little pigs is written in the perspective of the wolf. This book aims to teach pupils to look at things from different perspective, and demonstrates how misunderstanding can occur when different people interpret an event differently. It is a fun book where other characters gave their testimonies of what the wolf actually did!


2) Spelling / Dictation

A gentle reminder that spelling and dictation is conducted every Wednesday. In the event that your child is not around when spelling/dictation is conducted, I will do the make-up spelling/dictation during the Friday lesson.

Spelling feedback:

• Look carefully at the numbered boxes and write the words in the correct space provided.
• For the fill-in-the-blanks questions, pupils have to understand the meaning of each vocabulary word to select the right word. Also, read each question carefully to find clues in context.

Dictation feedback:

• The P3 English teachers have decided to do without a grade for dictation. We will be marking dictation based on the number of correct completed sentences.
• As long as there is one mistake (spelling/punctuation/grammar), your child would need to write out the full sentence as correction.
• Reminder to pupils to bring their foolscap paper for dictation, and to leave a line in between their writing so that they have sufficient space should they need to insert missing words.
• Several pupils got mixed up between the homonyms "when"(indicates time) and "went"(indicates action & past tense of 'go'). It is advisable that they should know the difference in its pronunciation and meaning.

3) Topical Test

Please note that your child will be having his/her English topical test on Tuesday, 2 Feb.

They will be tested on Tenses and Subject-Verb Agreement.

We have done revision for SVA in class using the Grammar Workout book. I will return the books to pupils for revision on Monday. Please remind your child to bring the book back for lesson on Wednesday.

Also, your child would have written their notes on SVA in their self-study notebook.

Below is taken from Qi Zhen's notebook (very neat work!):

4) Grammar

We have also discussed about demonstrative pronouns (This, These, Those, That) and their uses based on here or there, and singular or plural nouns.

The pupils also learnt about Affixes (Prefixes and suffixes) as parts added to a word to change its word class and/or meaning. They worked with their 3 o'clock buddies on Friday to look closely at the suffix -ful which gives the meaning of filled with or full of. After a 10 minutes working time, each pair shared a word with the class and we have compiled an incredible list of words!

You may like to continue this activity at home to encourage your child to include more words into his/her list.

I will be uploading more pictures of notes taken from the pupils' notebook this week, together with a few resources for your child to learn at home.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Ms Cindy Chan