Friday 31 May 2013

P1 FIT Party

The P1 girls had their FIT Party on 25 April.

FIT stands for Fun, Innovative and Teamwork.

We started the session off with singing of some action songs and chicken dance.

Then we had inter-class games.

Guess what? Our class clinched the champion! It was totally unexpected. They didn't look that competitive during our practices in PE lessons. I guess they all rose to the ocassion!

After the game, we went to the canteen for the highlight- Pancake Decoration.

The girls brought lots of toppings for their pancakes.





Indeed, they were very creative in decorating their pancakes.


mdmfiona's Pancake decoration album on Photobucket


Look at them bite into their pancakes!


mdmfiona's Bite into our pancakes album on Photobucket
After enjoying their pancakes, some girls helped to clean up the area. Thank you very much!


I sure had lots of fun watching them. ^_^

Thursday 30 May 2013

June is round the corner?!

How time flew! In a twinkling of an eye, today is the end of May. I feel so guilty for being missing in action.

Can't believe June holiday starts tomorrow! I shall make good use of this time to add a few posts on the activities we had in Term 2.

I've just finish putting stars I "owe" the children into their bottles. Look how much stars the girls have gathered!




I shall be more dilligent in awarding stars (and folding them!!!) so that each pupil gets to bring home a bottle full of stars!

Monday 8 April 2013

Term 2 and moving forward!

How time flies! We are into Week 2 of Term 2!

I apologize for being missing in action, but really, there's nothing much to talk about during test periods. It's just lots of work, filing and more work. Filing is a love-hate relationship for me. I love it when I clear them from my tables but the process of filing is tedious! Pupils place their worksheets in the wrong file, in the wrong order, missing worksheets... Let's hope the we can work out a system to allow us to complete filing more efficiently this term.

This term we are really moving forward quickly. We have taken a step towards writing stories independently. We started class writing and group writing. Here are some snap shots of the girls engaging in group work.



In general, the girls still have issues in turn taking and the concept of achieving a common goal together. Many approached me to bring up issues they have with their classmates. We have came up with group names. Next, we shall work on strengthening the group identity and working out differences in their groups.

Before the March break, I gave the girls some paper dolls. Here are some of the dolls I've received!
Sweet, aren't they?


The dolls are in costumes of different countries. I hope the girls learnt something about appreciating friends and cultures of different countries.

Here are the girls with their dolls.



Some of the girls came dressed to celebrate International Friendship Day.


I only had a handful of them. Some of them were not aware they can wear international costumes, while some mentioned they had outgrown theirs. I am looking forward to Racial Harmony Day, when the girls can wear their traditional costumes!

Wednesday 13 February 2013

Happy Chinese New Year!

Opps... I have been slacking!

I told myself to do a post during Chinese New Year, but I never got around to do it. Did everyone have a good rest over the long weekend?

First up is a video on the girls' hip hop moves!


What I love about the video was the beautiful smiles on their faces.

The children came to school in their home clothes last Friday to celebrate Chinese New Year. They looked so different I almost could not recognize some of them. It was a pity the day went by so quickly, that I did not get to take any shots of them in their pretty clothes. I must make it a point to do it during International Friendship Day / Racial Harmony Day.

Here is a picture of the girls holding up their oranges for blessing by Father Henry. Any sharp eyes can spot where are the 1 Love pupils?


The following performers created quite a stir!


There were squeals of excitement especially from the lower primary girls. Some of the girls were terrified of the drums and lion dance though. They even burst into tears. Overall I think it was a good exposure for some of the Primary One girls, especially those from the other races.  They may not get to chance to see a lion dance performance otherwise!

Personally I loved the mascot most! He's the cutest I've ever seen!


The highlight of the day is the Snake Dance Competition. The girls were so excited that they began cheering for their classmates even before the contestants come on stage!

Yolindrea represented 1 Love in the competition. She was very calm and composed.

 


Although she did not clinch the top few prizes, I am still very proud of her for having the courage to go on stage and for delivering a good performance.

That's all for this update!

Wednesday 30 January 2013

P1 Info Night

The P1 Info Night has been rescheduled to 22 February 2013, Friday. It would be held from 5-7pm.

More details will be given closer to date.

Working as a team

The girls sat down in their teams for a Maths activitity last week.

Each team was given 2 stamps and an ink pad. They had to form number bonds and illustrate the number bonds by printing pictures onto their worksheet.

While it was a very simple task on its own for adults, I was quite apprehensive if the children can accomplish the task without getting their fingers, uniform and belongings dirty. Though simple, it is also hard to correct if they make errors in counting or printing.

Indeed, I have over zealous girls who printed more than required. There were also groups which repeated some number bonds as they did not print in a systemetical order.

While I felt that they could have done a better job if I gave them more explicit instructions to scaffold their task, it was a learning experience for them to explore ways of accomplishing the tasks.





I had fun watching them complete their printing. I hope the children had fun too!

Sunday 20 January 2013

Week 2

It has been two weeks since school has started!

Last week, we had hands on activities for Maths.

Here are the girls working on the manipulatives.




They caught on to the routines very quickly and were able to return the manipulatives to the correct bag after lessons.



Great job, girls!

The recess buddy programme had also came to an end last Friday. The girls sat down to do a thank you card for their buddy in class last week. They were very excited and came forward to ask me if they could paste their favourite stickers or decorate the cards with glitter! It was very sweet of them to show their appreciation with so much zest!



The girls had their first session of Modern Jazz class. It is part of the Programme for Active Learning (PAL) programme for P1 pupils in our school.  

All of them participated with delight and enjoyed themselves very much.




Its amazing how children can pick up skills so quickly. They could even repeat the routine in small groups. I bet I'll forget them immediately after I've seen them!

I can't wait to see their dance moves this Tuesday!


Wednesday 9 January 2013

Reading Effectively

Reading is an important skill.

How can we improve reading? I strongly believe that improving reading starts from books selection.

Children will not benefit from reading books which contains words they do not understand. Neither will they benefit from books which are so simple that they cannot learn much in terms of vocabulary and content.

Reading can be classfied in three levels:

Independent Level

Pupil can read the book with few errors.  This book is ideal for independent reading or silent reading.

Instructional Level

Pupil can read the book with some errors, challenges and skill building. Pupils will generally make 4 or more errors per page. This book is suitable for guided reading, that is, to be read to an adult who will guide the child in pronounciation and comprehension of text.

Frustration Level

This is when the book is too difficult for the child and the child will make lots of  mistakes within a paragraph. Pupils will be frustrated with their reading and this will eventually affect the child's self esteem and willingness to read.

All pupils have to bring a story book to school. They will have their silent reading in the morning before morning assembly. Are they bringing the right books to school?

If they do not have appropriate books, you can bring them to the library to borrow some. Some parents give their children the freedom to choose their own books so as they have interest in what they read. Many a times young children choose books that interest but are beyond their current reading level. Parents should choose the books with them. Some books chosen can be reserved for guided reading, and parents can also suggest other books of the same theme / topic for independent reading.

Monday 7 January 2013

Week 0 - down!

We are into Week 1 of Term 1. I must say the pupils have adapted to school very well.


Here are the girls on Day 1. Most have not made friends so they were sitting on their own.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, our class was one of the classes without P4 buddies on Day 1. After waiting for 10 mins, we made our way down to the canteen. At first glance, I was shocked to see the crowd in the canteen. The P3s were there. The P1 and some P4s were there. Parents were also around. However, the girls did fine. 

 
Lovely smiles from the two girls!
 

More smiles!~
 
I was glad the logistic issues finally got ironed out and the girls were paired up with their P4 buddies.
 
 
P4 girl watching over her P1 buddy
 
 
Getting along together~
 
 The ending of a week marks the beginning of a new one. I hope the girls are prepared to face the challenges ahead of them.
 

Abbreviations, love them or hate them

One major query some parents have when they see the time table must be what all the abbreviations stands for.

EL: English
SS: Social Studies
MT: Mother tongue
CME: Civics and Moral Education
MA: Maths
PHE: Physical Health Education (Physical Eduation - PE and Health Education)
FTGP: Form Teacher's Guidance Period
PAL: Programme for Active Learning
ASS: Assembly

Did I miss out any?

To enable copying of homework into the organizers to be more efficient, parents do note the following:

P.sig: Parent's Signature
LS: English Learning Sheets
SWS: English Supplementary Worksheets
WS: worksheet
WB: workbook
AB: activity book
TB:  Test book
TxtBk: text book
SP: Spelling
Pg: page

Ready for a test?

Q1: SS AB
Q2: MA WS
Q3: P.sig for Unit 1 SWS
Q4: Do MA TxtBk Pg 14. Bring MA TB tomorrow.


Answers:
Q1: Social Studies Activity Book
Q2: Maths worksheet
Q3: Parent's signature for Unit 1 Supplementary worksheet
Q4: Do Maths Text book Page 14.  Bring Maths Test Book tomorrow.

While we have abbreviations for almost everything, our school's stand is, we do not use abbreviations for the months of the year. Imagine growing up not knowing how to spell FeburaryFebruary... Dates in assignments should therefore be written like the following example: 7 January 2013. 







Wednesday 2 January 2013

Besides handing in the Social Studies Activities Book and Maths Workbook 1A, the following items were also collected today:

1) Stellar Handwriting book
2) About Grammar book



While it is not an easy decision to make to start this blog due to maintence considerations, I went ahead with it anyway. Firstly, I hope parents will be able to be more involved in their children's school life. Secondly, through this blog, I hope my pupils will be to hear my thoughts and also be able to reflect on how much they have grown by the end of this year.

I was very glad to see most of my pupils this morning. While two of them were overwhelmed with thoughts about coming to P1 during P1 Orientation last November, there was only one pupil who was visibly upset being seperated from her parents. However, she forgot her fears and was able to participate in class activities readily. I hope the lovely girls I've met today will have lots of fun making friends and learning in school.