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!

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!

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!

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!