Long Vowels and their sounds

Dear children,

We were blessed to have Teacher Betty come to our class to teach us more on phonics! We had so much fun listening to her stories!

The key learning points:

1. When there are two vowels, say the first one (its letter name!).

2. The bossy 'e' makes the vowel say its letter name. It also changes the meaning of the word. 

I took videos too! I'll upload them soon!

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

National Geographic Explorer

Dear children,

A reminder to keep your National Geographic Explorer Magazine properly, we will be using it for our English lessons as well. We have tried logging in to the NG website during our computer lab session. 

Website: ngexplorer.net

Login ID: BC number

Password: BC number

You can use this website to learn how to read and it will help with your comprehension skills. Do try out!

Sincerely,

Mrs Soh 

Extra practice for Composition

Dear children,

You may want to practise writing on your own. Some of us who are in remedial class tried writing this. I will provide my version as well. All class writings and modal compositions will be printed for you and given on Wednesday.

(Paragraph 1) park bicycle cycling suggested / boasted race

(Paragraph 2) recklessly did not care zoomed / whizzed jumped out of the way

(Paragraph 3) was not looking could not stop in time hit / crashed yelled bag of groceries

(Paragraph 4) scolded harshly ashamed apologised profusely

Some pointers for Composition Writing

Dear children,

I have received some questions about composition writing and would like to answer them in today's post!

Q: Will we be penalised if we write less than 80 words?

A: The teachers will not minus marks if you wrote 75 words. So long you are able to write a complete story from beginning to the end, we will still give you the content marks. On the other hand, if you were to write 200 words and the story is not complete, you don't get content marks either.

Q: How many paragraphs must we write?

A: We need at least 3 paragraphs: Introduction, Body and Conclusion. However, I encourage you to write 1 paragraph per picture, so that you will not end up writing 1 paragraph and writing too little. Some of you wrote very little as you combined all the 4 paragraphs into 1.

Q: How can we make our story better?
A: Adverbs are very useful. Just by adding words like 'happily', 'sadly', 'hurriedly' can add meaning to your sentences. You can add more words of feelings too.

Compare: 
He walked to school.
He walked to school slowly.
He walked to school slowly with a heavy heart.

He dragged his feet to school, his heart heavy. 

Hope this helps!

We will be having more practices next week!

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

Composition Writing

Dear children, 

Today we used our time in class to write our compositions by ourselves. The test in week 7 will be similar to our practice where we will be given 45 min to write on the 4 pictures with helping words.

This is my version for you to refer to. It is not too difficult, we made used of words that we learnt. :)
_______________________________________________

          "Oh no! I am going to be late!" Johnson muttered as he dashed out of his house. Johnson had overslept because he did not hear his alarm clock ring. He held his sandwich and ate while he walked to school.

          When he was outside the school, he saw three naughty boys vandalising the walls of a block of flats. They were using colourful marker pens. Johnson's eyes grew wide with horror. He was shocked at what he saw.

          Although Johnson was going to be late for class, he stopped in front of the school gate. He hurriedly reported about the three boys to the teacher on duty. When the teacher heard about it, she called the principal and another teacher to go along with them. Then, Johnson led the way to where the boys were.

          The three naughty boys were caught red-handed. The teachers scolded them harshly. The boys were ashamed of their actions and apologised profusely. On the other hand, Johnson had done a good deed and was praised by the principal.
________________________________________________

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

Music: Singing in Canon

Dear children, 

We learnt a new song today "I hear Thunder"! We learnt about singing in canon and we tried singing in 2 parts. It still sounded terrible but for the first try it wasn't too bad. Take a look at the video to see how these girls sang in 5 parts to the song, "Row, Row, Row your Boat!"

Sincerely,

Mrs Soh

Mystery Pal

Dear children, 

We learnt about being a good friend during our SS lesson today. I thought it might be fun if we could all have a mystery pal, and you were all for it! Sadly we didn't have enough time to allocate one for everyone, and some of you got really upset when some of your friends started telling who your mystery pal is. We will try the whole process again and let's hope everyone can make our class an even happier place for all!

Important note: No buying of gifts for your pal! You are only allowed to leave nice notes (there will be a 'post office' in class) or do nice things for your pal!

Love,
Mrs Soh

Keeping our canteen clean!

Today, we did our part to keep the canteen clean!

No updates for today!

TR 3 on Monday (20/4)

Dear children,

Our Topical Review for EL is this Monday! This time, the paper is longer with a few more questions. It's similar to our previous practice papers.

Duration: 1 hour

1. Vocabulary - 3 MCQ
2. Grammar - 3 MCQ
3. Vocabulary Cloze - 4 Q
4. Grammar Cloze - 4 Q
5. Comprehension - 2 MCQ and 1 open-ended

To instill the use of AsknLearn for e-learning and homework, I have created an online test based on the topics coming out for sections 1 to 4. Please complete it as part of our revision. Look under 'Tasks' > 'Quizzes'.

For lots of comprehension practice, please log in to Readtheory.org. 
<Search This Blog> option is available at the top right corner of the sidebar. 
Key in 'ReadTheory' (with no spaces) and you can check out login details again.

I'm sure you will be able to handle the paper. I'll be revising the topics with you again on Monday before the test.

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

P/s Dear Parents, a gentle reminder to download the AsknLearn App on your phone as the school will start sending e-notifications in May. You may want to check out my previous blog post or the school website <Parents> for downloading details.

Doing our part for our Earth

Dear children,

We are collecting things that we can recycle, there will be a booth set up during recess for us to deposit all the recyclables. Bring along things from home like toilet rolls, plastic bags, aluminium cans etc. You can check out the chart for more ideas. Make sure for the drink cans and bottles, the interior is already clean with no sweet drinks remaining! I'll bring mine along too!

Meanwhile, today and tomorrow we will finish up with our testing of conversation. For those who have completed I have given you individual feedback on how to improve as well.

Remember to get your corrections done and books signed! See you tomorrow~

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

Food Fit for a King and the SEA Games

We read our new book today! This is my next favourite book after 'Beware of the Cat' so far. The small books are now each with group member 1. 

We learnt lots of new words of speech (like muttered, mumbled, stammered, stuttered) and sounds (like -ook, -ing, and -eet).

At the same time, we learnt a little more about the SEA games. They are holding it in Singapore this year! We had fun with the activity book. Each of us are going to write a welcome postcard to be displayed at the event!

We also got excited by the contests and prizes. Check out the website for more information!

Have fun!

Sincerely,

Mrs Soh

Revise: Adjectives

Preposition 'of' and 'off'

Dear children,

We talked about the difference between 'of' and 'off'. This video explains it clearly.

It's a wrap!

Dear children,

I'm so proud of you! Everyone looked fantastic up there. Photos and videos of our performance will be uploaded later when I have received them from our school's AV crew. I was busy dancing with you and didn't manage to take any photo or video, haha!

During recess, the parent volunteers set up booths to show us more about different cultures. There were costumes we could try, toys and food from all over the world too!

Hope you all have learnt something and enjoyed yourselves today. Have a good break this weekend!

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

Conversation Practice and Testing

Dear children,

A reminder that next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be our conversation test. It is 5% of our overall grade. In our practice paper, the teacher prompts are given. However, in the actual test, there will be no prompts. Only the picture will be given.

We had discussed about what a conversation should be like and I did a demonstration with Braven, where I was the pupil and he was the teacher. All of you got excited and started giving me suggestions! From what you have told me, I'm compiling the dos and don'ts here:

Do:
1. Greet the teacher. 
2. Maintain eye contact. Smile!
3. Answer the teacher's question. Talk about your personal experience, your thoughts and feelings. 
E.g. "I remember there was once when I went to the playground and met my friend Shailesh..."
4. You may want to end your conversation with a general sentence. 
E.g. "All in all, playgrounds are fun! I wish I can go there everyday!"
5. Thank the teacher.

Don't: 
1. Keep quiet and stare at the teacher.
2. Say things like "At the top right hand corner, a girl is playing on the swings".
3. Change the topic to what you buy in the shopping centre (let's say you started talking about going to the indoor playground. Stick to stories of the playground. Do not go on and on about the toy you want to buy at Toys R Us).

___________________________________________

That's all for now, it's really quite simple, really. Take it as you're chatting with a friend. For this first test, I'll be the teacher you will be speaking to.

All the best!

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

Reminders for IFD Performance (10/4)

Dear children,

Please come to school dressed in your IFD costumes and wait in our 2H classroom. Mdm Wang will first take your attendance before bringing you to me in the hall. Be in school as per usual at 7.20. I'll be taking attendance of the performers from other classes.

Remember to bring your PE attire! You will change after your performance.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your parents to contact me on my mobile phone.

Remember to practise the steps! We are doing 2 songs this time round! :)

Love,
Mrs Soh

Update: Some parents have asked if you can come and watch. It's an internal school event so we didn't invite the parents. Meanwhile, I have requested for video recording of the performance, so you won't miss out much. :)

AsknLearn App

Dear parents, 

The school is going to start pushing letters and notices through the AsknLearn app on your mobile devices. This is our school's effort in going green, and at the same time being able to provide you with timely information. You may search for "AsknLearn" in your app store or play store. When in doubt, please refer to the school website for instructions (you will be directed to the page by clicking on the picture below).

Sincerely,
Mrs Soh

Hello and Sign Language

Dear children, 

We talked about children who are different from us, be it where they live or how they look. We looked into children who might be deaf, and how they use sign language to communicate.

In this song, the teacher uses sign language as part of the actions. Let's see if you can remember them!

Some of you came to me to ask what other signs there are. This video might be interesting to you, you can learn signs of other words now. :)

Sincerely,

Mrs Soh

PAL Dance

Dear children,

I got this video from Mdm Wang, it's you dancing the Cha-Cha! This was taken last week. Enjoy!

:) Mrs Soh

Nouns -> Adjectives

Noun as Adjective

As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun:

adjective	noun
clever	teacher
small	office
black	horse

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun "acts as" an adjective.

noun as adjective	noun
science	teacher
ticket	office
race	horse

The "noun as adjective" always comes first

If you remember this, it will help you to understand what is being talked about:

• a race horse is a horse that runs in races
• a horse race is a race for horses
• a boat race is a race for boats
• a love story is a story about love
• a war story is a story about war
• a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis
• tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis
• a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers
• a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The "noun as adjective" is singular

Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in the singular form.

Right		Wrong
boat race	boat races	NOT boats race, boats races
toothbrush	toothbrushes	NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes
shoe-lace	shoe-laces	NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.

A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they are unchanged:

• a news reporter, three news reporters
• an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions: When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs, accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

• clothes shop, clothes shops
• sports club, sports clubs

(https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns-adjective.htm)

Class Composition Writing

Dear children,

This is our class writing, for your reference. It will be good to use the good phrases underlined in your own story. For the rest of it, try to write it by yourself. We will be having more writing practices soon!

The Dangerous Fire

      It was a Saturday morning when Jane and Mary were alone at home. They were bored and had nothing to do. Jane had an idea. “Let’s play with fire!” Jane suggested excitedly.

      The two girls went to the kitchen and found a box of matches in the cupboard. They stroked a matchstick on the matchbox and a small flame appeared. “Yay! This is fun!” they cheered. 

      Suddenly, a draft of wind came into the living room. The lit matchstick fell off onto the curtain. The curtain caught fire! Soon, the fire spread through the whole house. They were very frightened. Jane was paralysed with fear while Mary screamed for help. “Help! Somebody help us!”

     The neighbours heard their cries and quickly tried to put out the fire. However, the fire was too big to be put out. They called the fire brigade for help. The girls were in shock. Regret rushed through their veins as they saw their beloved home engulfed in flames. Everything they loved was destroyed. They had learnt a painful lesson.

By 2 Honesty and Mrs Soh

Have a restful weekend,

Mrs Soh

Updates of the day

Dear children,

We got back our report books today. Please remember to ask your parents to sign it!

We practised our dance again today, and went on stage to take our positions. Some information about the performance:

What: International Friendship Day cum Earth Day
When: 10 April, Friday, during morning assembly period
How: Wear costume/uniform to school, bring PE attire to change after that

Costumes from other countries are preferred. If not, we can wear our Chinese, Malay and Indian costumes. If you have none of these, then school uniform it is. Meanwhile, do let me know by next Monday what you are wearing. Please feel free to whatsapp me a photograph of your costume, or you can bring the actual costume to school to show me.

There will be a full rehearsal after school next Wednesday, from 2.15 pm to 3.30 pm. A consent form will be given tomorrow. Please let me know if you are not able to attend, but no worries, we can work something out if you're not able to.

That's all for now! :)

Mrs Soh