Notices for Term 1 Week 9

Dear students,

SCIENCE

Our class will be going on the Science Learning Journey to the Zoo.

Date: 29 Feb (Wed)
Time: 8am to 12:30pm

I have given the consent forms on 24 Feb (Fri). Please bring back with your parents' consent on 27 Feb (Mon). I've also informed that you are not required to take any photos during the trip. So, there is no need to bring along a camera. Please be reminded that the teachers will not be responsible for your belongings (such as cameras and handphones) if you bring them along and lost them. Please take care of your belongings during the trip. There will be no time to search for lost items.

Things you may bring:
1) Bag
2) Packed food/ snacks/ tit bits
3) Water
4) Cap (if it is a sunny day)
5) Stationary
6) Not more than $5 - for emergency use

We will like to thank our 2 parents volunteers who will be joining us on this trip.

MATHEMATICS

Maths Test 2 (50%) will be on 1 March (Thur).

Topics tested:
1) Whole Numbers (3) - Multiplication by a 1-digit number, Multiplication by a 2-digit number, Division by a 1-digit number, Word Problems

2) Tables and Line Graphs - Presenting and interpreting data in a table, More tables, Line graphs

Science - announcement

Dear 4G students,

This announcement was made by Mr Chan this morning in my place. I'm posting it again in case anyone missed out any details. Choir members, please take note!

Please continue to make your observations and collect your data until next Monday, 27/2/2012, and submit your AA worksheet on Thursday, 1/3/12. If you have any questions about doing the worksheet, please look for me after school.

Each group is also given 4 minutes to present your work. Every member must contribute. Please leave comments on this post if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Mealworms - Day 21, Thursday, 23/2/12

Oops! Our pupa has become a mealworm beetle already. Sorry for the late update, but here's a photo of our beetle:

Evey child's a writer

Hi all,

The students in 4G had been told to email me a soft copy of their composition#01. This soft copy will be used for the "Every Child's a Writer" programme.

Students can use computer at home or in the school library (after school) to type out the essay. Submissions must be in Microsoft Word. I had re-set the deadline on Monday, 27 Feb. My email address is lee_song_lin@moe.edu.sg.

Some students mentioned they did not know how to email. I hope the parents can help them in this aspect.

Thank you and regards,
Mr Lee.

Reading out 3 - Ruby's Sunflower

As soon as Ruby heard about the contest, she
decided she wanted to win. Ruby liked winning.
Last year, she’d won a prize for the best story
and a green badge for swimming.

Ruby watered her sunflower every day. She
put sticks around it to stop her dog, Spider, from
digging it up.

Grandad gave her some special plant food.
Ruby watered the sunflower with the plant food,
and it grew and grew.

Saul was in Ruby’s class. He lived two doors away.
His sunflower was very tall. Ruby could see it from
her bedroom window.

“I’m sure mine is the tallest,” she thought. “Saul
never wins anything.”

The contest ended on Saturday. Mr Buckley was
coming round to measure all the flowers. Ruby was
so excited, she kept jumping around and getting in
everyone’s way.

“Go outside and play,” Mum said crossly.

Ruby went into the garden. Spider was excited too.
They played “fetch the ball”, and Spider ran round
and round, barking loudly. Suddenly Ruby’s hand
slipped. The ball flew straight at the
sunflower. Spider jumped after it.
The stem of the tall sunflower
snapped.

Everything went very
quiet. Spider stopped
barking. Ruby stared at
the broken sunflower.
She felt like crying.

Then she had an idea. She fetched the ladder and
found a small, straight piece of cane. No one was
looking. Carefully Ruby pushed the cane into the
broken stem till only a small piece was sticking out.
Then she pushed the flower down onto the stem.
The sunflower stood up tall again. It looked as good
as new.

Ruby went out into the street to see if Mr Buckley
was coming. Saul was practising basketball in his front
garden. He missed almost every shot.

“Dad says I have to practise if I want to get on the
team,” said Saul. “But I’m not very good.”

“Can I try?” asked Ruby.

The ball went in first time.

“I wish I was good at things,” said Saul.

He missed again.

Just then Mr Buckley came round the corner
carrying his ladder.

“Hello,” said Ruby. “Can you measure my
sunflower first?”

“All right,” said Mr Buckley.

Ruby led the way.

“That’s the biggest yet,” said Mr Buckley.
“Two hundred and ninety-five centimetres.
That’ll be hard to beat!”

He folded the ladder. “I’ll
measure Saul’s sunflower next,”
he said.

Saul was still playing
basketball.

“Hi!” said Mr Buckley.
“Let’s see if you can beat
Ruby. She’s in the lead
so far.”

Up close, Saul’s sunflower looked just about as
tall as Ruby’s. “Wow! Another whopper!” said
Mr Buckley. “Will you hold the top of the tape?”

Saul scrambled up the ladder. His fingers were
tightly crossed.

“Saul never wins anything,” thought Ruby.
“And I’m cheating.” Suddenly winning
didn’t seem so important.

“This is great!” said Mr Buckley.
“Two hundred and ninety-three
centimetres. I think you may be …”
“… the winner,” Ruby said quickly.
“That’s taller than mine, isn’t it?”

Mr Buckley looked surprised. Ruby
shook her head. “I’ll tell you later,” she
whispered.

Saul wasn’t listening. He was
punching the air with delight.

“I reckon it might be,” Mr Buckley said slowly.
“I’ll tell you on Monday.”

Ruby followed Mr Buckley back out onto the
street.

“Now what was all that about?” he asked.

Ruby told him. “It was a good sunflower,” she
said, “but I didn’t want to win like that. It wasn’t
fair.”

On Monday, Saul went up to collect his prize in
front of the whole school.

And Ruby clapped louder than anyone.

illustrations by Kirsty Lillico
Text © Sally Stephenson 2001. Illustrations © NZ Ministry of Education 2001.

Online assignments on MConline

Hi all,

There are some online assignments that the students can practise with. Contents are taken from Unit 1. Here are the details:

Website: http://www.lead.com.sg/
School: edp
Password: mconline

Upon logging into the school's account, the student should log in using his/her Birth-Cert (BC) number.

Username: (Individual student's BC number)
Password: End*2012

The online assignment is not a test and is not a complusory homework. But I do encourage to give this a try. The assignment will be open till Friday.

Thank you and regards,
Mr Lee. 

Maths Homework for Week 6

Maths Homework to be completed and handed in on 13 Feb (Mon):

1) Maths Workbook: Pages 47 to 54, 56 to 58 (We have gone through Practice 4 Qns 1 to 3 in class.)

2) Maths Workbook and Worksheets Corrections

Science Announcement / Mealworms - Day 8, Friday, 10/2/12

There are four announcements:

1) Please obtain your parent's signature for Spelling 2. Please also ensure that Spelling 1 has been signed - I noticed that some of your books were not signed.

2) Corrections for spelling words: please write the word 5 times below (on the same page).

3) Spellings will be conducted fortnightly from now on. This means that the remaining Spelling tests will be in Week 8 (24th Feb) and Week 10 (9th Mar).

4) Please remember to do your homework on "Comparing the Life Cycles of a Chicken and a Frog". You may use a pencil. It is due next Monday, 13th Feb, and I would like Samuel and Jin Yi's help to collect the Nature Study books and to leave them on my shelf by the end of the day, 1.15pm.

Please observe how the pupa looks like after 2 days. Are there any changes?

Mealworms - Day 6, Wednesday, 8/2/12

Here are the photos of our mealworms today:

Please remember to bring your Nature Study books to school tomorrow.

Alternative Assessments

Dear Parents,

This is to keep you informed that the pupils' Continual Assessment 1 for this term will be conducted in the form of Alternative Assessments. I believe your child has already shown you this leaflet which was given out last week. The students were told to keep this leaflet in the pupils' handbook.



Maths Notice

1) Maths Topical Test 1 (on Unit 1 and 2) will be conducted on 8 Feb (Wed).
2) Maths Homework - Students are to complete Maths Workbook till Page 46 by 7 Feb (Tue).

Mealworms - Day 4, Monday, 6/2/12

Here are the photos of our mealworms today:

Please remember to ask your parents to sign at Spelling 1, and to record your observations! :)

Announcements (Science)

Dear 4G pupils,

Please take note that I will be returning the Nature Study books tomorrow (Monday, 6/2/12) for your parent's signature for Spelling 1. Thereafter, please make sure to bring it back to school in order to record your observations for the growth of our mealworms in class.

Please also remember to make at least two observations this week. You should include descriptions of how the mealworms look like and drawings. You are not expected to know the stages of the life cycle yet -- just use your eyes!

Spelling 2 will be conducted on Friday, 10/2/12, for the next ten words under Human Digestive System.

Pupils who have lost their Process Skills booklets for Cycles and Energy as well, please buy the whole set on your own. Please do so as soon as possible so that your studies will not be hindered.

See you tomorrow!

Reading handout 02 - Canoe Diary

Canoe Diary.
By NIC BISHOP

July 21
The house looked such a mess this morning!
The living room floor was covered with gear....
piles of warm clothes, bags of food, pots and pans - you name it!
     I was packing for a canoe trip in the wild,
and I didn't want to forget anything. Once
you're on the river, there are no shops.
     Luckily, I'd made a list of all the things I
needed, and everything was there. But I'm
a bit worried. How is it going to fit into my
tiny canoe?

July 24
Today was the first day of the six-day trip.
My supplies did fit into the canoe, thank
goodness.
     It was great to be paddling up the river
at last. The water was so clear., I could see
right down to the bottom.
     I watched a terrapin swim slowly under the
canoe. It looked so peaceful and graceful.
     Bu things were not peaceful for long. When
I looked up, I couldn't believe my eyes! There
was a moose just ahead! I never realized a
moose could be big. It was feeding on the
river bank and lifted its head to look at me.
Then I saw a female moose and her baby. A
mother moose is very protective of her baby,
so I didn't hang around for long.

July 25
Today I saw a tree on the river bank that had
been eaten almost half! I could see the
tooth marks, and that could mean only one
thing - beavers.
     I think beavers are amazing animals.
Imagine being able to chew through a tree!
I looked hard for the beavers, but they were
nowhere to be seen.

July 26
Today I found a great campsite. It's by a big
lake surrounded by trees.
     After I'd put up the tent, I went looking for
firewood. I nearly picked up a toad! It was so
still, I thought it was a piece of wood.. At first I
thought, "Gross!" When  I looked closer, I saw
that it was really quite a beautiful animal.
     Before bed, I put all my food into a big bag.
I used ropes to haul it up into a tall tree
to keep it safe. There are bears around here,
and if they smell food, they sometimes help
themselves. Bears don't usually mean any
harm, but I'd rather not meet one in the wild.

July 27
Last night, I had a real fright. I was just falling
asleep when I heard heavy footsteps outside
the tent. My heart started pounding. Was it
a bear? I didn't dare look out of the tent or
even move! The footsteps sounded so close.
Then they headed off into the night.
     When I woke up this morning., my food was
safe!

July 28
The river has become more of a swamp.
Swamps are amazing places. I found some
strange plants that eat insects. They are called
pitcher plants because they have leaves shaped
like pitchers.
     I found five ants trapped inside one pitcher.
     Dragonflies zipped all around me , hunting
for sand flies and mosquitoes.
     The best thing I saw was a baby garter
snake. It was lying by the edge of the swamp,
staring into the water. All of a sudden, it
pulled out a fish and swallowed it whole!

July 29
This is my last day. I think I'm going to miss
camping out and seeing all these creatures in
the wild. I can't wait till my next canoe trip.
Maybe next time I'll see those beavers.

Reading handout 01 - Prince Zak and the Wise Frog

One morning, Prince Zak was playing with a
rubber ball at the bottom of the palace gardens.
Nearby, builders had been working on a new bird
house. So Prince Zak was careful to keep away
from the post hole in the lawn.
He was throwing the ball against the old garden
shed by the duck pond. Someone was watching
keenly. A pair of big yellow eyes peered out from
the mud at the edge of the pond. Suddenly the
ball bounced off the side of the shed. Down it
went, straight into the post hole.
The prince reached deep into the hole, hoping
there was nothing slimy or sharp-toothed down
there. No good. He poked a spade down.
Not long enough. Then he picked up a hose,
wondering whether that might help. It did
reach all the way down. But it was too soft and
bendy to lift the ball. Prince Zak stared sadly at
the hole.
Shlop! Shlop! Shlop! A big wet frog climbed
out of the pond slime and hopped across the
lawn. “I can get your ball out for you,” he
croaked. Zak was shocked! A frog was talking
to him? “I just need to know what it’s made of,”
said the frog boldly.
“It’s rubber,” answered the prince. “I think
it’s hollow because you can squeeze it, and it
doesn’t weigh very much.”
“As long as it’s not made of gold,” mumbled
the frog.
“No way,” said Zak. “My mum and dad met
over a gold ball. But gold balls are really heavy,
and they don’t bounce. Only olden-day princes
and princesses had them.”
“That’s fine, then. But if I get your ball back,
you must do something for me.”
“What’s that?” asked the prince warily. He’d
heard a few frog stories before, and not all of
them were good.
“Will you clean my pond every week? It’s
filthy. You know, a bit of slime is fine for frogs,
but not a mountain of it.”
“That sounds fair. So how do I get the ball
out?”
“You should use the hose,” said the frog.
“But I’ve already tried that!”
“You know, frogs live half their lives in the
water. So we think a lot about how things float
and sink. Go on, put the hose back.”
Zak did as he was told. The frog hopped away
and turned the tap on. Was the frog going to
dive into the hole and fetch the ball back?
Zak wasn’t sure.

Soon he could see the ball bobbing up towards
the light as the hole filled with water. “What a
great idea!” cried Zak. “Why didn’t I think of
floating the ball out?”
“Well, you know, people often forget the most
obvious things,” said the frog, looking at his
slimy, weedy pond.
Prince Zak smiled. “I’ll get my bucket and
rubber gloves right now. Such a wise frog should
have a pond fit for a prince!”

Lost reading handouts

I 'm very concerned that students misplaced their reading handnouts. These handouts were given to them every two weeks to start a unit and were used as materials for revision.

For those who lost these reading handouts, they can print them from the 4G blog. Alternatively, the students have to copy the whole story from their classmates. I hope this will teach the students to look after their own things and taking care of themselves.

Mr Lee