Sony Creative Science Award

CONGRATULATIONS to Xiang Qi!

She is awarded the Second Prize (nation-wide) for Sony Creative Science Award 2009!

She was invited to attend the presentation ceremony on 22nd July.

Xiang Qi had won the Third Prize last year for the same event. Well done, Xiang Qi!

Xiang Qi with her 'Jumping Piano'

Xiang Qi with the other winners and their toys

Xiang Qi with Mdm Farina, Teacher-in-charge of the event in our school

Other toys showcased at the Science Centre

(Photographs: Courtesy of Xiang Qi's parents)

Paper Crane Submission

Today, the children handed in their cranes.

The boys unfolding their cranes

Looking pleased with their creation

"Pouring" their cranes into the collection bag

The children folded more cranes with left-over papers, and showcasing them

The one who gives is more blessed than the one who receives.

Thank you, children, for your hard work and heartfelt contribution!

On a side note, Zafranshah had lost the 25 paper cranes he made earlier while he was at play in school. However, he asked me for extra papers so that he could fold the cranes again to make his contribution. Trivial as it may seem to some, I'm very glad that such is our children - not one to give in or give up in the face of setbacks. Discouraged, but not beaten.

Thank you for reminding me of the important things in life through what you do, children.

English file

Dear children,

Please remember to bring a yellow file to school tomorrow. You'll need it to file in your English worksheets.

Paper cranes

Dear children,

I will collect your paper cranes tomorrow. Please remember to bring them to school.

Please do not waste any of the orange papers. If you have some leftovers or have not finished folding the cranes, please bring them to school and return to me. I can always get your friends to fold them and submit them to the teacher-in-charge tomorrow.

1 piece of paper is equivalent to 100 g of rice. These are very precious papers.

Racial Harmony Day

We celebrated Racial Harmony Day last week, and our children came to school all decked in their ethnic costumes.

The girls

The boys

And the quieter ones in class ... (with the exception of our chatty Zafranshah)

The children in the hall watching a drama 'The Three Neighbours' by The Paper Monkey

Chicken Little

The group has done well for our Readers' Theatre last Thursday, especially in the volume department.

Regina made a mask while Sabrina created a pair of wings using cotton and paper. The wings look fluffy and feathery from afar. Very creative I thought!

My Dream for Singapore

This year's theme for our National Day is Come Together, Reaching Out, Reaching Up'.

Our school would like all classes to log into My Dream for Singapore to pen down their dreams for Singapore. Each class will submit at least one entry per day and this will go on till 31st July 2009.

Today, I've assigned 5 children (Register No. 1 to 5) to go to the website to submit their entries.

Do remember what you've submitted as I will be asking you what your dreams for Singapore are the next day. :)

'Rice that Binds' Project

Our school is embarking on a project ‘Rice that Binds, Cranes @ North West’.

The objectives are to:

• provide rice to the needy residents
• encourage spontaneous volunteerism
• encourage residents to help one another
• promote cohesion among the residents

SongHe Rice agrees to donate 100 grammes of rice for every paper crane folded.

We aim to fold 630,000 paper cranes for 63,000 kilogrammes of rice.

The beneficiaries of this Project are:

1. Public assistance and special grants recipients who:
– Mostly stay in rental flat;
– Are elderly or permanently unfit to work; and
– Receive no support from children.

2. Needy residents assessed by the Advisers who:
– Meet the respective Advisers for financial help;
– Have no food at home to feed family; and
– Have no other source of food to feed family.

3. Various VWOs
–Elderly Nursing Home and Disabled Care Centre.

The children are given 25 pieces of papers each. However, I hadn't the time to teach them today. I will conduct a lesson on how to fold a paper crane on Monday, 27 July 2009.

It's a very meaningful project. Please give your support to your children.

Human anatomy

Today, I showed the class a human torso model.

The children were as excited as could be to see the organs in three dimensional form.

What to do when leaving a comment on a blog

Dear all (including my avid commenters),

I've always taught my students to be honourable and edifying in their words and deeds, and that includes leaving a comment on any blog.

I would appreciate that anyone who leaves a comment on this blog could leave your name behind and identify who you are, instead of maintaining an anonymous status (since it has a strong implication of under-handedness). Otherwise, I will not publish or entertain your comment.

My students and I are always open to constructive, honest and straightforward feedback that is open and aboveboard, be it negative or positive.

Sarcasm and in-between-the-lines are NOT welcomed.

PESA Storytelling Competition

Good news, children!

Armed with her story 'A Fractured Tale of Hansel & Gretel', Min Yi got into the Semi Final of the PESA Storytelling Competition! Out of16 contestants from different schools, 5 were chosen and Min Yi was one of them!

She has put in alot of effort and time in preparing for the Preliminary Round which was held today at YMCA Orchard, including being reprimanded by the other teacher who was preparing her when the practice wasn't 'good enough'. She held back her tears although she was on the verge of crying, and pressed on. She often stayed back till 4 or 5pm to practise her storytelling and to get her actions right. It has not been easy on her. She is the only English-speaking member in her family and she had to work doubly hard at it. Above all, I thought it quite a feat to qualify for Semi Final when this is the first time she enters a storytelling competition.

There'll be more hard work ahead for her for the next two weeks or so as she prepares for the Semi Final.

Let's continue to give her our encouragement and cheer her on!

These are the pictures when she first prepared for the competition:


Well done, Min Yi! Keep up the good work!

Racial Harmony Day 2009

Our school will celebrate and commemorate Racial Harmony Day on Friday, 24th July 2009, by having the children donned in their ethnic outfits.

Don't be unduly worried or vexed if you don't have ethnic costumes. Or you may not intend to wear anything ethnic at all. Just come to school as normal in your school uniform.

As for footwear, please put on your normal school shoes even if you're wearing an ethnic costume.

Human organ systems

Dear parents,

Today, we had a Science spelling on the five human organ systems: digestive, respiratory, circulatory, skeletal and muscular systems.

Only a handful of children got all five words correct.

Please help your children to commit these words to memory as these are key words. It'll be useful if the children are able to regurgitate on what these systems entail ie. their functions and what they consist of eg. digestive system consists of mouth, gullet, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and anus.

Things to bring tomorrow

Dear children,

Please bring glue and scissors to school tomorrow for your Science activity.

Spelling (Unit 10)

Spelling for Unit 10 will be conducted next Wednesday (8th July 2009).

The children have jotted down the words to be tested.

Motivating Children to Read

Some pointers I got off an e-learning resource for teachers on Motivating Children to Read:

1. Learn more about your child's interests and suggest books, magazines, and articles that relate to those topics.
2. Sometimes good movies are a starting point for pleasure reading — after seeing a movie based on a book, children will be motivated to read the book eg. the Harry Potter series, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
3. Sometimes travel sparks reading, and finding books that relate to a place you visit on a family vacation can get a child hooked.
4. Keep books and other reading materials at home.
5. Read aloud with and to your children every day! Children of any age can appreciate being read to. Experts recommend 30 minutes a day. Choose genres that your child prefers.
6. Be a good role model — let your children see you reading for work or learn something, and for pleasure.
7. Create a print rich home environment. Include both books (and books on tape) and writing materials. Include newspapers and child-oriented versions of popular magazines (e.g., Time for Kids, National Geographic for Kids). Set aside a special reading area in your home and make sure everyone uses it.
8. Read and write with your children in your home language. Let your child see you reading and writing in the language(s) which are most comfortable to you. Stock your home library with books in English and books in your home language. Let your child read at home for fun in whichever language she prefers.
9. Cook with your child to develop literacy. Read recipes together. Read the labels on ingredients together. Make a family cookbook of favourite recipes.
10. Explore books together. Ask your child questions. Point out new vocabulary and ideas. Explore the characters motivations and relate them to your family life.
11. Tell stories together. Talk together about your family history and perhaps, do a geneology chart. Look at old vacation photos and discuss your memories of the trip. Tape your storytelling.
12. Write with your child. Provide lots of writing materials and papers. Encourage your child to draw and write on her own. Encourage your child to write thank-you notes to grandparents, make to-do lists, write signs such as 'Tory's room. Keep out!' and the like.
13. Visit the library often. Encourage your child to get her own library card. Take advantage of library programmes such as family book clubs. Find out who are your child's favorite authors and genres and go with him to the library in search of interesting books.

The list is not exhaustive. In times when we're busy, let's not forget the importance of encouraging our children to read.

Operation Imaginary Creature

Yesterday, the children were tasked with creating an imaginary creature together as a group.

Before the school closed last term, we had brainstormed together as a class the features of various animals.

This term, the children have to create an imaginary creature based on their choice of habitats, diets, movements. The creature's characteristics and features have to qualify the criteria given to them.

These are our children at work: lots of discussion, brainstorming, exchange of ideas, compromising, negotiation, and above all, cooperation and the willingness to listen to one another's ideas.

Impressive!

The children starting to colour their creature, together

Final products in two-dimensional form

A presentation of their imaginary creatures

We had a mini voting session and Turtue - the turtle with trees on its shell, the creation of Group 2 (Zun Hong, Kar Moon, Keng Yee and Jeeva), raked in the most number of votes. Jeeva the presenter would have to take some credit for describing the creature vividly during his presentation.

One of these imaginary creatures will be selected to 'materialise' in three-dimensional form.

Stay tune!