A Letter to My Children

Dear Children,

It's the last day of the school year. It's been a truly amazing year for me!

I've enjoyed myself tremendously in being the form teacher of this class. You have made me laugh so much throughout the year. The way you interact with one another, the way you argue with one another, the way you smile and laugh, the way you work with one another. Despite being nine, you are still oh-so-very cute!

Today, there was a mini prize-giving ceremony in the hall.

After that, we went back to class and played some games: 'Squirrel and Tree', 'Making Money' and 'Rojak'.

I could see that you enjoyed the games thoroughly, especially 'Rojak'. We had a ball of our time, laughing, laughing and laughing, totally enjoying one another's company!

Thank you so much for adding so much laughter and fond memories to my life, children. I'll always remember you. Don't ever feel hurt if I can't recall your names next time you call out to me, for I have so many names to remember every year. I'll remember your faces instead and the moments we share.

Having the opportunity to be your form teacher is one of the best things that's happened to me in my years of teaching. You've taught me many things yourselves and enlightened me in so many ways you'd never imagined. One of the more significant enlightenments is that you've made me see boys in a completely different light! I never knew boys can be adorable, endearing, diligent, committed to excellence, attentive, focused, active and yet sensible at the same time, and so many of you at that! Your parents must be really proud of you!

Thank you for the eye-opening experiences. I sincerely appreciate all that you've done to make this year such a memorable and valuable one for me. It's a shame that I didn't have the time to get you to write journals so as to know more about each and every one of you. I must admit that I've been very focused in gearing you more towards the academics. Even up till the second last day of school, we were still doing English worksheets. In fact, I was tempted to get you to write a letter to me to tell me how you've felt about me as your teacher today, even if you think I had been a witch, but I decided not to as I wanted you to play and have fun instead.

I still remember the time when you went to the computer laboratory to do an online survey on your teachers. Some of you told me you clicked 'Strongly Disagree' for every statement that was about me, your English teacher. I felt a little hurt but I told you I wasn't here to make you like me. I remembered that you were just children and tried to laugh it off.

I usually ask children not to give me Teachers' Day presents when nearing the Day because I don't want children to spend their parents' hard-earned money when they themselves have not started earning it, and I don't want any child to feel left out just because he or she doesn't give a present. But this year, I didn't tell you about it because I didn't think you liked me anyway, and I wouldn't give presents to someone I don't like. I was surprised that you heaped the teacher's table with presents on that Day. I felt touched that despite what you told me about what you did for the survey, you did seem to like me, judging from the evidence on the table. Thank you for your presents, children. Self-made cards would have done the job nicely, really.

Thank you for being a big part of my life. You'll make very fond memories for my teaching life for many years to come.

Do continue to work hard next year and strive for the best. To share one of my favourite quotes:
Reach for the moon. For even if you miss it, you'll be among the stars.

Love always,
Mrs Sam

Class Photo

All children, except for those who were absent today, should have received this photograph for their keepsake.

I just want to say that I'm really happy to have all of you in the picture.

Use Your Hand Campaign

Today, we had the Use Your Hand Campaign.

I'm very surprised and impressed that the children were just so eager to clean up the classroom.
Look at them go!

Yong Kang cleaning the windows

The back of the shelves was atrocious!

'Okay, let's push the shelves back!'

Battle with the blue-tack:

Warriors Jia Le and Amir

Female warriors Yuen Qing and Keng Yee

Warrior Jacqy

Warrior Kai Sheng

Jeeva and David sure know their stuff at sweeping

Jennifer exploring the books discovered during the spring cleaning

Leon reaching for a higher level

Zun Hong and Zafranshah cleaning the library

Betty smiling despite her 'dirty job'

Regina and Wilmer wiping the dusty shelves

Xiang Qi cleaning the windows

'Look at the amount of blue-tack we got from the wall!'

Well done, children!

Children's Blogs

I've set up a separate section for blogs of children in our class. Do check them out.

If any of you would like your blog to be added and enjoyed by your friends, leave me a comment with your blog address and I'll link it up with this blog.

Jin En,
I can't seem to access your blog. The message is as below:
"Blog not found
Sorry, the blog you were looking for does not exist."

Can you email me your blog address instead? Thanks!

Best Group of the Month (October)

Red Clownfish!

P3 Music Day 2009 - Other Classes

3 Determination

3 Creative

3 Diligence

3 Commitment

3 Persistence

P3 Music Day 2009

Our children showcased their creative dance on 6th October 2009 during curriculum time.

Their audience, the other P3 classes, were clearly impressed. They oohed and aahed at the stunts did during the dance.

Getting ready for the dance

'Action!'

The agile Hidayat doing his floor work

Jun Wei at his cartwheel moves

Floor work 2: Zafranshah and David

Looking relieved and happy after the dance

Great moves, children!

Children's Day

Our children were mesmerised by the Children's Day Concert on their Day, the yoyo performance especially. It was a pity I didn't have my camera with me that day. The whole hall of children were totally captivated by the yoyo 'professionals'. Their eyes were fixed, faces fascinated. If any parent is wondering what the hype is about, yoyo is all the fad now!

Some pictures of the children in the classroom showing their excitement when they received their gifts:

Best Group of the Month (September)

Blue Pufferfish!

Best Group of the Month (August)

Purple Octopus again!!!

These children have been really pleasant in more ways than one.

They chalked up alot of points for being the most well-behaved group when the other groups were restless. They knew the code of behaviour when teachers were not around ie. remained in their own seats and read a storybook on their own. During group discussions, they were constantly mindful of their manners towards one another and their noise level. To top it all, they are also the most consistent group in having everyone's books or assignments handed in on time.

They have been so consistent in their good behaviour it's hard not to be impressed by them.

A Seahorse

Just for fun, I showed the children a dead seahorse I picked up when I was walking down the street one day.

It's interesting how quickly the children were able to identify the creature ie. "A real seahorse???""A dead seahorse???" followed with the "Wow!!!" compared to a few adults I've showed it to. Most of them didn't recognise the creature as a seahorse immediately, some asked what it was, and if they did recognise, they doubted that it was real.

I thought it shows just how simple and pure-hearted, and thus clear-minded, children are. They tell it like it is and take it as it is - a very precious quality in human beings which is often lost when we grow up.

Be yourselves and keep it that way, children.

Rest in peace, Seahorse.

National Day 09 Pictures

A sea of red

Our children

(For some reason, the picture is not rotated when I post it up)

Teachers who are in red ...

Mr Zaccheus with David and Wilmer

Children in the hall watching a puppet show

Jin En decided that his fingernails are more interesting than the show

The big heart and map of Singapore pieced together by our students using the collage method

Preparing to sing 'What do you see?'Sophia and Ze Kang, our friends from 3 Persistence, looking good and cute

That's all, folks!