Hit the Bull's Eye



The children played a game on place value yesterday. They stood five steps away from the outer circle and threw their erasers within. For example, if 2 erasers landed in the hundreds place, the children have to record '2' in the hundreds place (see last picture) in their worksheet. Then, they will write the expanded form in the last column of the worksheet. This game will reinforce the concept of place value and simple addition.

URGENT: List of children who have yet to submit the response slip

Dear Parents/ Guardian

This is the list of children who have yet to submit the response slip for P2 Math Parents Workshop:

• David
• Dillon
• Jovan
• Hui Huang (absent)
• Gyle
• Javier
• Timothy

Homework on 31 Jan

Please check that your child have the following written in his/ her school organiser:

• Do Math WB corrections and page 35 and 36

The following pupils have handed in their WB:

• Rachel
• Nicholas
• Chunyi
• Brice
• Ru Yi

Thank you.

Parent-Teacher Poem

If there are any concerns that we may have with regards to your child, we will email/ call you.
Please understand that we do it for the betterment of the children and that no offence is intended.

Finally, I would also like to share a poem with you.

Parent-Teacher Poem 

By Ray A. Lingenfelter 

I dreamed I stood in a studio 

And watched two sculptors there, 

The clay they used was a young child’s mind 

And they fashioned it with care. 

One was a teacher; 

the tools she used 

were books and music and art; 

One was a parent 

with a guiding hand and a gentle loving heart. 

And when at last their work was done 

They were proud of what they had wrought 

For the things they had worked into the child

Could never be sold or bought. 

And each agreed she would have failed 

If she had worked alone 

 For behind the parent stood the school, 

and behind the teacher stood a home.

 

Greatly appreciate your time!

NOTICE: letters from parents

Dear Parents

If you are sending a letter to me through your child, an envelope is not necessary.

I wouldn't mind a recycled one if you insist.


Thank you.

Addition with Regrouping in Ones

Makingtenstemplate

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The children have started addition with regrouping. We are working on regrouping the ones first. The above slide is the one I used to illustrate the meaning of regrouping. The number sentence I used is
247 + 104 = ?

Re-write this number sentence as the standard working. Always relate the concept back to the pictorial (see slide show) so that pupils understand the mechanism behind doing the working. Otherwise, how would we explain the derivation of the remaining ones and the indication of the 1 ten (the tiny digit 1 that we write on top)? The same concept can be used to explain regrouping in tens too.

A Mystery Visitor to 2 Thinker

P2 Thinker was lucky to have a Bag Fairy came visiting! She (I assumed...) checked some children's bags and left a treat. See her fairy dust.

Math Corrections

Accumulating your child's doubts in Maths concepts will definitely cause unnecessary stress during reviews. I have been trying, to the best of my capabilities, repeat the teaching of the concepts within curriculum time. 

A lot of children have understood the concepts covered, and it would be unfair for them if I hover over what has been taught again and again. I have even gone to the extent of meeting individual children at my desk, and still they need the reinforcement at home.

There's only one of me to 30 children, and 2 parents to perhaps, 3 children in a household. Your personal, timely attention can definitely make a great difference in your child's learning process.

Please help to ensure that your child has completed all his/her corrections whenever the Math Workbook/ worksheet is returned.

Thank you.

Simple Addition Within 1000

Dear Parents

I wish to highlight some key points/ mistakes made by some children in 2 Thinker, so that you know what to look out for when you guide them in their work.

Word Problems: Work with the numbers given in the word problem. Method marks are still awarded (in a test) if your child is able to show understanding of the goal of the problem if he/ she answers the blank within the final statement correctly. However, let's reinforce the good habit of working with the numbers given within the problem.


Commonly-made mistakes

1) Alignment of numbers

The children are expected to complete the computation in the ones place first, then the tens place. In the above example, the child has written her computation of the ones in the tens place. At 8 years old, I know that some children have yet to develop their motor skills in writing numbers with ease. However, that should not be an excuse for the mis-alignment in answers.

2) Transfer error

Refer to the 2 examples of transfer errors. Such mistake could result in loss of marks.

Other possible mistakes (not noted in P2Thinker yet...)

3) Forgetting to put the Mathematical sign (addition/ subtraction sign)

4) Ignoring the function of the Mathematical sign (is addition but child subtracts when solving the sum)
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I can tell that most children have tried their best to ensure that the answers are in the respective places. I'm not looking out for font-print neatness, but a child's best in all that he/she does. We must be strict on the placement of working so that the children will be consistent in the way they do the standing algorithm (vertical working). Essential when they deal with greater numbers in upper primary.

With neatness in alignment, children are less likely to commit careless mistakes in computation. I hope to work closely with you to monitor your child's assignments.

Some good work samples:





Happy CNY!

Dear Parents

Have a Happy Chinese New Year with your family and friends! 新年快乐，万事如意！

Prepositions ( 'to' & 'at')

Hello Parents! :)

Yesterday, the children learnt the prepositions 'to' and 'at'. Just to recap, a preposition is a word that describes the position of a noun.

                                       Preposition



'To' is used when there is movement from one place to another.





'At' is used when there is no movement. The action is done when the person is stationary.



Note: the children have been taught to underline the clues.

For eg: The word 'winked' is underlined as it tells us that there was no movement from one place to another.

Thus, the preposition used here is 'at.'



Thanks for reading! :) 



Word Problems

The children began on Word Problems today. As emphasised to the children, the sums can only be worked out correctly if we understand what the question wants of us. We practised deciphering the goal of each question in Math WB today and we took note of key words such as 'altogether', 'all', 'at first'. The children are encouraged to highlight the key words with their colour pencils/ highlighters. 

'Altogether' tells us that the answer must be the total. 'At first' tells us that the number at the beginning, before anything happens to the items. 

The children were quick to form number sentences based on the numbers in the word problems. Having the mathematical ability to compute equations won't suffice when we do not know the goal of each question. Your reinforcement at home will make a great difference!

Simple addition within 1000 (Without regrouping)

The children revised the concept of simple addition today. You might came across the terminology 'regrouping' or 'renaming' in textbooks or assessment books before. Both these words have the same meaning. To put it simply, regrouping requires us to "carry over" the 10 in a place value to another.
 

The pupils represented the numbers (153 and 436) using magnetic base-ten set.



One more row at the bottom of the place value chart to write the total value.



The class was quick to point out that this pupil made a mistake.

 Note: Encourage your children to add from right to left. [That is to add the ones first, then tens and finally hundreds] As they move on to addition with regrouping, pupils will learn that adding from right to left will help them to get an accurate answer. However, when they are comparing numbers, they should look at the hundreds first, then tens and lastly the ones.

Be a Spelling Star!

Dear Parents,

I hope your children had fun practising for their spelling last week.I can see their enthusiasm when I was explaining to them on how to complete the suggested tasks in the list below.

I am so proud to say that some of the children have tried the activities. Thank you parents for being involved in their work! I hope more children will be coming forward with their completed tasks.

Here is the work of a few Spelling Stars in P2 Thinker! :)

Davian Soh

                                       


Davian Soh




Vernice Chen



Dillon Pek



Andrew Park

                                                                                        

Homework on 17 Jan

The pupils were given homework:

1. Do English learning sheets pg 5, 6, 7, 8
2. Math Journal (a sheet of paper)
3. Bring Art file

Pupils may bring home WB (Numbers to 1000) to complete the topic.
The following pupils handed in their work to me during Math class:

- David
- Jovan
- Eva
- Javier
- Danial
- YingXi
- Andra
- Rane
- Jase
- Satvik
- Nicholas
- Brice
- Andrew
- Chunyi

Thank you for checking your child's work.

Teachers' pigeon holes

Teachers' pigeon holes just outside the staffroom at level 2.

Each teacher has a pigeon hole for putting books/ worksheets. If your child needs to hand in something urgently, get them to put it on the shelf that's labelled with the teacher's name.

Class activities survey

Dear Parents

Please help me to remind your children to complete the survey.
The link is posted in lead.com.sg
You may click HERE to see the survey.

Thanks!

Math: Order & Pattern

Pupils should know:

• how to identify the greatest number when given some random numbers within 1000
• how to identify the smallest number when given some random numbers within 1000
• how to arrange numbers up to 1000 in an ascending/ descending order
• how to compare a number with the previous number using the terms '1 more than', '1 less than', '10 more than', '10 less than', '100 more than' and '100 less than'

I refer to my last bullet point.
Pupils can do these sample questions:
a) 1 less than 999 is ______.
b) 20 more than 415 is ______.
c) 100 more than 300 is ______.
d) 200 less than 583 is ______.

I'd introduced this site to the children (lead.com.sg) for them to revise this concept.

The link will not take you directly to the applet. Scroll down and click on 'Hundred Square (small)'.

IMPORTANT: Art Supplies

Please note your child will need to bring these art supplies for every art lesson. Use a recycle bag to contain the materials.

Math: Comparing Numbers Within 1000

You may want to use this strategy to revise the concept of comparing numbers:

I begin the lesson by relating something familar to them (that is the base ten cubes). First, compare the hundreds. Then, the tens and finally the ones. It's ok to be explicit when explaining. You can relate a number (e.g. 321) to the image (see picture).

Pupils should recognise the block as one hundred without trying to count individually. The same goes for the tens. They need to know how to use the terms "greater than" and "smaller than" correctly. For example, 321 is _________ than 234.

The pupils grasped this concept quite quickly so I did not dwell too much on it. I went on to play a game for an extension activity and I would like to share with you:

Explaining the rules of the game on the whiteboard

Nothing beats a demonstration for the pupils before you start a game. Pupils work in pairs. I will use Ms Huang and Danial as the 2 participants for this explanation.

1. Divide the pupils' whiteboard into 3 columns (ones, tens and hundreds)
2. Both the participants agree on that the winner is the one who can get the greatest/ smallest number
3. Danial starts to roll the ten-sided die first and he has the digit '8'
4. Ms Huang has to choose to write '8' on any one of the columns
5. Danial rolls the die the second time and he has the digit '0'
6. Keeping in mind that Ms Huang needs to make the smallest number to win, she places the digit '0' in the hundreds place
7. The last digit is '4'
8. The game goes the same way for Danial BUT he has to do more thinking! Do you know why? :)

The pupils enjoyed this game today. If you don't have a ten-sided die, you can try going online for random number generator or make number cards and get your child to draw them from a container.

Simple & Fun!

Thanks for reading.

Miss Huang 

Homework on 10 Jan

1) The pupils were given homework on Math WB (workbook) until page 16. Please do not be alarmed by the number of pages (written on pupil's school organiser) as some pupils had left certain pages out previously. Most of the pupils would just need to complete page 15 and 16. Note that the WB are torn out from the book.

2) The children had art lesson today. They created drawings using thumbprints. They are instructed to draw their friends and themselves doing an activity together. Head over to the art blog to find out more (see art blog on the right panel). They have a week to complete the artwork.

Common Mistakes in children's work

[This post is updated on 13 Jan 2012.]

Dear Parents

These are some of the common mistakes that the children had made when I came across while marking:

1. Spelling of number words (examples listed below)

• 411: four hundreds and eleven (children confuse spelling of number words with place value)
• 890: eight hundred and ninety (missing the word 'and'. Get them to verbalise as they write)
• 734: seven hundred and thirty-four (missing hypen)

2. Writing the wrong missing numbers in a given number sequence (examples listed below)

• e.g. 340, 360, 380, ____, 420. A few pupils have the tendency to fill in the missing numbers too quickly upon reading the question. They should look for any 2 adjacent numbers first and attain the difference. For e.g. the difference between 360 and 380 is 20. The difference between 340 and 360 is 20
• Next, we have to decide if the arrangement of the numbers is in an ascending or a descending order
• Since the arrangement of the numbers is an ascending order, we can say that the next number is always 20 more than the previous one. e.g. 360 is 20 more than 340 OR 20 more than 340 is 360.

Please remind your children at home when they are doing their homework. I will update this post again (if necessary) before I conclude the chapter "Numbers to 1000".

Thanks for your attention.

Miss Huang

Mental Sums book



The P2 pupils are using the notebook as Mental Sums book.

English Teaching 2010

FAQs for English teaching 2010

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STELLAR briefing slides

STELLAR briefing slides

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What is CUB?

CUB

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Syllabuses

English syllabus 2010

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Math pri syllabus 2007

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Math: Place Value

Reminder on the whiteboard just before pupils play a game



Pupils pair up to play a place value game

 Pupils need to know:

• Math vocabulary (digits, ones, tens, hundreds, thousands)
• Meaning of value and place in a question

1. In the number 258, the digit 2 has the value _______? Answer: 200 or 2 hundreds
2. In the number 258, the digit 8 is in the ________ place. Answer: ones

Thanks for your attention.

Behavioural Record



Choice Chart



Results

The pupils were introduced to the choice chart on the second day of school. Each clothes peg contains a pupil's name. This year, I use Rick Morrison's clip chart system. Everyone starts in the middle of the chart. Throughout the day, any teacher can catch pupils making good choices and those will move up the level. The pupils' goal is to reach "excellent choice". I'm collating the results (colour-coded) so you can see how your child fare in Week 1. I will give out stickers (exclusive to Horizon Pri Pupils only!!) for them to paste in their school organiser.

Week 1

Dear Parents

The following aspect was emphasised this week:

Writing down the list of assignments in the school organiser

The school organiser is a good way for your child to manage his/ her workload responsibly. However, if I were to update the children's homework via the blog, the children might misinterpret my intentions as a back-up plan for not jotting down important details in their organisers.

So, I will only post updates of their homework on a random basis. This will allow you to check if they are noting down their assignments correctly. It shifts the responsibility of the completion of homework to the child. Do establish a routine for your child for him/ her to tell you the assigned work each day.

This blog will continue to be a platform for these things:

1. Important updates for school notifications
2. Common mistakes spotted in daily assignments
3. List of children who have not submitted the items I need urgently

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On another note:

A teacher (who is a mummy too) had once shared this tip:

I train my boy to take out the things that require my attention, and lay them on the table. I will look through the items and place them back into his bag. Even if I have to work late, I will not miss out what is going on in his school life.


While it is a learning process for your child, it is always good to set some routines on these administrative matters so that your child brings the necessary by the next school day. Checking his/her bag daily will definitely help in the meantime.

Administrative Matters

Dear Parents

Please note the following:

+Venture Magazine

The school will not be collecting any payment for the subscription of Add-venture magazine this year.

If you wish to subscribe to the magazine, do send your cheque directly to the address given.

Spelling contract

Do read, acknowledge and return the contract. You may keep the other activity sheets. Even though this assignment is not compulsory, I hope that your child will find joy in learning new words and develop a positive attitude towards spelling test.

Examples to show some of the tasks for spelling practices


English Journals

We are using the single-lined exercise book as journal book. I told the children that it is alright if they wish to use their P1 journal books. Otherwise, they can use a new book. Pupils will need to decorate the cover of the book. They can draw or paste stickers/photographs to personalise their books. A topic will be given to the pupils to write about and this will be a weekly task.They are encouraged to express themselves by recording their thoughts and actions.

CCP from Week 2

Pupils will begin their CCP from next week onwards. They will need to bring a copy of the newspaper and an apron or an old T-shirt from home.

Math

Pupils will be tearing out pages from the Math workbooks and test books according to topics. The page number(s) reflected on the right-hand side of the first page will contain correction. If the page number is circled, it means that an error is still present. A line across the page number means that the correction is done.

That's all!

Numbers to 1000

ones

tens



hundreds

thousands

When pupils learn a new concept, the CPA approach is taken.

• C represents Concrete (usually involves manipulatives like cuisenaire rods, measuring tools or counters)
• P represents Pictorial (such as drawings, diagrams, charts, graphs)
• A represents Abstract (such as numbers or letters that the pupil writes or interpret o demonstrate the understanding of the task)

This approach is taken in mathematics because it gradually move pupils from actual objects through pictures and finally to symbols.

The above pictures are base ten cubes that the pupils are using in class as manipulatives for this topic.

You may want to revise today's concept:
The pupils are led to count up to 1000 using 100 blocks. We count by 100s as follows: 100, 200, 300,...., 900, 1000. Then we stack up the 100 blocks as we count. Introduce the number 1000 and the number word 'one thousand'. Emphasise that 10 one-hundred blocks make one big cube, which represents 1000. 

Thanks for reading.

Books Collection

Dear Parents

These are the books we have collected for now:

English

• Language Usage, Booklet 2
• Listening Comprehension Booklets 1
• Vocabulary Cloze Passages Booklets 1 and 2
• The ultimate Guide to to Mastering Comprehension P2

Mathematics

• Maths Workbook 2A Part 1 (2nd Ed.)
• Maths Workbook 2A Part 2 (2nd Ed.)
• Maths Test 2
• Maths Process Skills, Booklet 1 and 2
• Blue Notebook (For Mental Sums)
• Math file (blue)

Social Studies

• Inquiring into Our World Activity Book 2

Health Education

• Perfect Match Health Textbook Primary 2

Music

• Perfect Match Music Textbook Primary 2

Some of the books are not handed in yet at the time of writing this post. Please remind your children to do so. We will not be checking their bags one at a time.


Thank you very much.

Miss Huang and Miss Nuzul

Use of Class Blog

Dear Parents

I'll continue to update the class blog for pupils in www.lead.com.sg  --> This site is not ready for new pupils. I seek for your understanding in using the class blog as another mean of communication. Imagine the amount of quality time wasted each day if I were to be occupied with administrative tasks like calling out these names and ask if they have brought the required  items? :)

I really need you to check the class blog daily for the latest updates for the class. This is the fastest way to disseminate information to all the parents. I will post a list of items that are collected by me tomorrow. Maximum time can be reserved for meaningful lessons if everyone cooperates and brings the necessary so that learning can take place.

Thank you!

Miss Huang