Vote for Minyi!

Hi children,

Do you remember the voting segment of the PESA Storytelling Competition I mentioned when Minyi first joined the competition?

It's out on the PESA website. You can click here to view clips of her and other contestants' performances online. After that, scroll down to the bottom section of the page to vote for Minyi (No. 23) and Joseff Danielle (No. 8), who has taken part in the Speech Competition in the Upper Primary Category, as “Audience’s Favourite Speaker”. This poll will end at midnight of 23rd September 2009. The contestant with the highest votes will be crowned "Audience's Favourite Speaker" during the Awards Ceremony on 24 September 2009.

Joseff Danielle came in 3rd in the Finals. Do view her clip. She's from Philippines and is very articulate. You may pick up a learning point or two from her speech.

Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition 2010

DSO National Laboratories and the Science Centre are organising a competition 'Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition 2010'.

Primary School students (Primary 3 onwards) are encouraged to take part in Category A (Paper Plane).

The aim is to fold paper planes to achieve the longest flight endurance, perform loops and achieve precision flight.

Judging criteria:

• Endurance – For the team whose flying machine has the longest flying endurance on the competition field.
• Precision – For the team whose flying machine has the most precise (accurate) landing based on the mission.
• Acrobatics – For the team whose flying machine has accumulated the highest scores based on the mission.
• Creativity – For the team that shows the most innovative and original design in their flying machine.
• Aesthetic – For the team that shows the best looking flying machine.
• Best Presentation Award – For the team that best exhibit creativity, fluency, confidence and flair in the presentation of their team's work.

Children are encouraged to form teams of 2 or 3 to take part in the competition.

There is a registration fee of $50. However, an early bird discount of 20% will be given to those who register for the competition before 12th September.

Prizes are highly attractive! It's a Play Station Portable (PSP) x 3 Cash Prize of $300 per team!

The details are found in the link above. Do have a look. You can find a video showcasing 'The Paper Airplane Guy' under the tab 'Competition Categories'. It boasts to show you amazing paper planes that will make you say “WOW!”

Go ahead. Take a look!

PESA Storytelling Competition Update

Today, Min Yi went for her Semi Final Round of Storytelling Competition. The competition was keen and she, despite putting in good effort, did not make it to the Finals.

Nevertheless, it has been a fruitful journey for her, as well as for me, being my first time in training a child for a storytelling competition.

It was a good exposure and experience to watch children from other schools telling stories. The standard of storytelling was indeed very high. The children had to vary their tone, pitch and pace as they impersonated different characters and resumed their role of storytellers at different times. Some stories were amusing and tickled the funny bone of the audience. One of the stories was a sad one and the audience could feel the sadness and guilt of the storyteller for putting through her teddy bear through various pains by not taking good care of her teddy bear.

Some pictures to share:

Before we started on the journey

Min Yi and her mother
Other storytellers:

A beautiful peacock in waiting ...

'A woman's wit'

The audience

Min Yi the witch-and-Gretel rolled into one

Min Yi and her supporters

Min Yi and her parents

Min Yi and me

Min Yi, Ms Chia and me

The supporters among the audience during the break

Going home ... "Smile, Jennifer!"

It has been a rewarding, albeit arduous, journey as we prepared for the PESA Competition. A lot of time and effort was committed to brush up the pronunciation of words, coming up with actions and gestures for the lines, refining the actions and the impersonation of various characters and varying the tone and pace of the storytelling. On many occasions, we had to rack our brains to think of how to make the characters come across as really evil, sad, shocked or puzzled etc. We deliberated on the props, facial expressions, the kind of voices the characters would use, right down to how Min Yi's eyes should look.

I'm quite glad of the outcome. Like I said in my earlier post about the Competition, it is already a feat for Min Yi to enter the Semi Final, given that she does not have as much support as the other PESA competitors in terms of the environment. She has come a long way to where she is. From someone who is not a natural when it comes to dramatisation, Min Yi has indeed put forth her best in the Competition.

I will say it one more time - Well done, Min Yi!

Sony Creative Science Award Roundup

These are the children who submitted toys for Sony Creative Science Award. They were given a Certificate of Participation each as an acknowledgement of their good effort.

Xiang Qi received Sony product vouchers worth $600 for winning the Second Prize

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)

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!

Storytelling Audition

Five children got a consent form for a Storytelling audition for PESA (Plain English Speaking Awards).

The audition will be held on next Tuesday in school.

By next Tuesday, the children should have already selected a story, 3 to 5 minutes long, and memorised and rehearsed it.

I'll also need the children to type out the stories in Microsoft Word document so that when they are selected, they can email me the soft copy of the stories for editing if necessary.

Ms Sophia Chia and I will narrow down the number of children to two on Tuesday. Eventually, we'll send one child for the competition.

If it's any cause for wonder, I have selected the children based on a few criteria:

• the child is keen to join the competition
• the child enjoys and is confident in the use of English
• the child's voice is audible from a distance
• the child has an awareness of his audience
• the child is not afraid to present or speak in front of an audience

Interclass Floorball Tournament

We had an interclass floorball tournament yesterday.

Our children getting ready for the match:

Yuen Qing and her team in action:

Regina posing for the camera:The girls looking cool before the match:

Collating the scores ...

Jia Le and his team chasing after the ball:

Can you see Leon?

The excited spectators:Asyraf and his team playing the match:

Zafranshah and team members playing against another class:

Sony Creative Toy Awards

To update the status of the Awards, the deadline for the Awards is 20th April 2009.

Sony Creative Science Award 2009

Some children have been given an entry form for Sony Creative Award. It's basically a toy-making competition extended to our school by the Science Centre.

The competition is divided into 2 categories: ScizKid Award and WhizKid Award. A new award, Best Multi-Player Award, which requires at least 2 players for the toy, is also introduced this year.

Children can work individually or in pairs to make the toy.

More details can be found here.

Our school is also giving out a special prize this year to the class which has the most toys submitted (*hint hint*).

I thought the March holidays would be a nice time for the children to make the toys. :)