Welcome to Term 4!

Welcome to term 4! How was your term break --or Exploration Week, if you joined Exploration Week activities? I believe it must have been great!


Now with your mind refreshed, you're ready to learn many new things in term 4: Poems, Quantifiers, Connectors, Prepositions, and Adverbs in English; Time, Angles, Parallel and Perpendicular Lines, and Area and Perimeter in Math; and in Science: Heat, Electricity... wait that sounds a lot! Yeah, it's a lot, but I promise it'll be a whole lot of fun too! But, don't forget to put on your hard work. This is quite a short term, in a blink of an eye, Semester Assessment 2 is around the corner.


So, are you ready?

SLC & Parents Feedback

Thursday, March 22, 2012, we had an SLC, Student Led Conference. We've been very happy to welcome all the parents. Students showed their parents their projects from term 3 and from the Annual Project. 

Ms. Ira, thx for the beautiful artworks and the photos! :)

At the end of the SLC, parents gave feedback related to the students' performance. Here is the summary:

What do you think of your child’s performance this term?

·         He understands, yet needs more confidence

·         Still can be improved

·         A little bit shy in communicating

·         Good, great job, very well, I’m amazed

·         He /she is more confident now

·         He did well independently

·         Very good progress, happy and proud of the student

·         Generally better than before

·         Better, but still can be improved

·         Voice is too soft/low

·         The student was able to present clearly about 3R

·         More reading comprehension practice

·         Same as previous term

What are the goals for your child next term?

·         Improving English subject, communication skill

·         More confidence in speaking and presentations; braver

·         Increase focus on lessons

·         Better communication and socialization

·         Better than this term

·         Improving academic performance, esp in Math

·         Improving academic performance in all subjects

·         Improving 6 pillars characters and SEL

·         To be more resilient and tough

·         Apply 3R in daily life

·         Improve in reading comprehension and Math models for word problems

·         Better grades

·         Keep up the good work

What are the steps to achieve those goals?

·         Liaise students’ progress with parents, parents-teacher communication, teacher’s input

·         The student to study harder and pay more attention to the teacher

·         Read more books

·         Devote more time to study at home, practice more, reduce time watching TV, practice

·         Guiding the student to be more responsible as a student

·         Keep a good health condition

·         More reading practice

·         More patient

·         More supervision at home

What do you think of this SLC?

·         Good way for school to show slightly the student’s capability to the parents

·         Great, good, very good, OK, excellent

·         Conduct SLC regularly

·         Gives the children opportunity to express/present their works and to learn to be more confident, great way to train  students in explaining what they’ve learnt, to understand what the students have made

·         To know students’ activity/progress in school

·         Good for presentation skills, communication skills

·         Good, needs more time though. 15 minutes is not enough

Annual Project: It's Cool to be an Eco School

Our Annual Project theme this year is 3R Campaign: It's Cool to be an Eco School. Yes, we're aware of this global issue happening around us, and want to contribute to make our Earth a better place! Let's stop global warming!

How did we do it?

First, we surveyed the students' awareness and implementation in 3R. We compiled the data we collected in a form of bar graphs. We also researched about waste problems and how 3R can help us solve this waste problem. Then, we made a power point presentations  and campaign posters to raise people's awareness. Some of us decided to also make 3R flyers, stickers, and even 3R songs. We campaigned about 3R from class to class, exhibited our works, and presented our slideshow.

With all the hard works we put on this project, we hope we can make a difference to the world.

Let's save the Earth!

Junior Reporter News on Channel 3B

The 3rd graders were having a lesson on news, and as the activity for the portfolio piece, we did a junior reporter presentation. Students were assigned with a newspaper report, then to analyze it with 5W+1H questions and finally to retell it in a form of a news report. They could choose whether they wanted it to be news anchor presentation, or junior reporters in which students became the reporter, eyewitness, victim, police officer, or whoever was involved in the events reported.

I provided the microphone so the voice will be loud enough, and the students got really enthusiastic -- they said, "Ms, it's like a real newscast!" and recorded the presentations with my BB.

Some students were able to comprehend the news as well as reported it without reading the script they prepared, but some were not that advanced. Either way, they had fun and learned something.

I added an opening, title, and news banner recently. Unfortunately, two presentations got really low voice volume even though I maximized the volume in the software.

Take a look and let me know what you think about them!

Why Class Blogging?

Well, at first it’s just a casual sharing through BBM with a fellow teacher. And the idea just came out: make a class blog!


But why class blogging?


Here are some whys:

1. Authentic writing opportunity for students. Above anything else blogging gives kids an opportunity to have an authentic audience far beyond the walls of our classroom through regular posting. Commenting and responding to comments also serves as a way for students collabrate and learn from each other.
2. Home school partnership. Blogs have the potential to change the ‘what did you do at school today?’ conversation to parents being able to talk about specific activities through blogging. They also have the potential to make information from the school more personalized and therefore relevant to each parent.
3. Enhance digital citizenship. Blogging is an authentic oppourtunity for teachers to model effective digital citizenship so that students can manage themselves online as well effectively participate and contribute to digital communities.
4. Global collaboration. Blogging gives students a chance develop their own personal learning networks whether it be like-minded kids, a scientist to help with a topic we are studying.
5. Sharing teaching practice. As a new teacher I find reading classroom blogs a great way to learn about what goes on in other teacher’s classrooms and will shamelessly steal borrow teaching ideas in order to adapt them for my context. If someone happens to gain something out of what is happening in what’s happening in my classroom this makes me happy.

Why are you blogging with your class?





*) the 5 whys are quoted from http://traintheteacher.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/why-are-you-blogging-with-your-class/