Online Assignments

Dear Parents,

This is a kind reminder that there are assignments to be completed on the LEAD portal.

http://www.lead.com.sg/LEAD/login/lms_login.aspx

Thank you! :)

Free Math online tutorial by NIE

Dear Parents,


An account is created for each child. The username (only 4 characters) and password are printed and attached in their school organisers. Participation is optional. Please contact Mr Tan (see below) if you have any questions.

Website: http://elearndesign.org/singapore/tutorials


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National Institute of Education-Singapore (NIE) is offering FREE Math Online Tutorials called “The Blending Assessment with Instruction Program (BAIP). It is a commercial program developed by researchers and Math experts in the University of Kansas in the United States and has been field tested over 239 mainstream school districts and 3,777 students with special needs in year 2009 within the United States.


BAIP is made powerful through (1) researched-based lessons for teachers, (2) instructional tutorials (text and animation versions) for students, (3) parent resources linked expressly to curriculum standards, and (4) eventual summative assessments used to monitor student achievement and management system. 


Student skills BAIP addresses:
· Fundamentals
· Higher Order Thinking
· Reasoning
· Data Analysis
· Probability


The BAIP project will provide FREE ACCESS to its collection of online lessons, tutorials and parent activities in exchange for parents and teachers using BAIP. It also seeks to answer how we can promote student achievement, learning attitudes, and parental support in mathematics. In exchange for helping us answer these questions, we pledge class collection of mathematical resources to you.


Clarence Tan
BAIP Research Assistant
National Institute of Education
Phone: (+65) 8280-3608

English Review Exercise 2

This is the list of students who have returned the English Review Exercise 2:


-Davian
-Brice
-Eva
-Ashley
-David
-Amberlie
-Rachel
-Szee Wei
-Satvik
-Fion
-Jase
-Andra
-Rane
-Javier
-Andrew
-Chun Yi
-Ryan
-Julia
-Ru Yi

For those that have yet to return the Review Exercise, please return by tomorrow (Thursday)




Thank you for your attention.

More on Mass & feedback on homework

Learning objectives: 

• read the scale on a weighing machine where the indicator does not point exactly to the numbers on the scale
• Use a weighing machine to determine the order of the masses of two or three items
• use the unit, gram (g), for measuring mass
• read a scale which shows masses less than 500g
• measure and compare masses in g
• solve two-step word problems involving addition and subtraction
• solve one-step word problems involving multiplication/ division concept
• Using models to solve word problems

Feedback on pupils' homework

1. Inversion of numbers

There are many children who inverted the numbers in the tens and ones place (see picture). To prevent this, encourage them to read aloud their answers. For example:

one hundred, one hundred and ten, one hundred and twenty, one hundred and thirty... 

103 is read as one hundred and three.

130 is read as one hundred and thirty.

Otherwise, they can do the vertical working to prevent error: 

100 + 10 = 110

110 + 10 = 120

120 + 10 = 130 

2. Good Practice

Some scales in the workbook may seem too much for the children. Encourage them to extend a line from the indicator and between the intervals (the shorter lines).

Hope this helps!

More on Measurement

Not drawn to scale

Notice the parts on the weighing balance in my previous post? Now, when we are given any scale, we can see it being applicable to any standard units (e.g. m, cm, kg, g) as long as we understand how to find the parts within the scale.

Using the scales above to measure an eraser, the children can give me a more precise answer when it comes to its length. We started with 'about 4 cm' using the scale right on top. Then we move down to the one below and measured 'between 3.5 cm and 4 cm' and finally we had '3.8 cm' as the answer. Therefore, we can conclude that the scale at the bottom can give us the most accurate reading here.


Do note that the topic decimal is not in P2 syllabus.


However, the children will need to know to how to read the scale on a weighing balance where the indicator does not point exactly to the numbers on the scale. Each shorter line stands for a value.

Note the red dots marked on the weighing scale. We take interest in the shorter lines between 30 kg and 40 kg. Now, when the indicator does not stop at the number, the children have to find out the value of each part.

Think 'number patterns' when we do this. A guess & check can be done to find out the answer.


An example of thinking aloud:

First, let's see where the indicator points to. (between 30 kg and 40 kg)


Then, let's do 'counting on' based on the guess and check method.


30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40






Let's take a look at another example:

The heaviest item that this weighing scale can measure is 100 g. When the children are given questions like this where the indicator is not pointed to a given number, they have to figure out themselves.


Let's try the 'counting on' using the guess and check method.
I pay attention to the shorter lines. (There are 9.)
So, I can count on from 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.
Therefore, when I reached the 30 g mark, I am sure that each shorter line represented 1 g.

Math workbook Part 2 pg 82

There are 2 things to note in this pupil's work. First, I can conclude that this child is ready to handle some concepts of decimals. I can use language like '0.5 kg' in my explanation. I will be able to ask this child to solve this addition number sentence 6.5 + 0.5 = ? Second, I am sure this child did not check the numbers given after 6. He/ She wrote 6.5 kg because it happens to be a halfway mark.


It will be confusing to the children if we introduce them to a new concept (decimals) just to explain another new concept. Therefore, build on their prior knowledge of 'counting on'.The shorter lines have numbers which are missing just like in a number pattern. As usual, we do a guess and check.


6, __, __, __, 8


6, 7, __, __, 8 (wrong)


6, __, 7, __, 8 (correct)


6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8 (correct but the topic decimals is not in P2 syllabus)






Topics involving measurements include 'length', 'mass' and 'volume'.



That's all!

Feedback on Review 3 (Term 2)

The children were given a bag of items with their review papers.

Many children put 'about 4 m' as their answers in Question 3 because they measured a single clothes peg instead of the two that's required. :(

For Question 4, lines drawn freehand are unacceptable.

Many children make mistakes in question 4 and 5. Please refer to my previous post about it.


Thank you for your attention.

Mass

Tip of the day: If you want to lose weight, go to the moon.

Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object, whereas weight is the force of gravity acting on that mass. When astronauts orbit the earth in the space shuttle, their weight is less than it is on earth but their mass does not change. Hence, it is accurate to refer to mass instead of weight.


In Primary One, the children were introduced to the concept of mass with 2 objects as an example:


Say, I hold a brick in one hand and a basketball in the other and ask "Which is heavier?" From their experience, children will likely know that although the ball is larger in size, the brick is heavier. Then, I will proceed to ask the class to name some things that are heavier and light. These ideas were further developed as the children hold objects and feel the pull of gravity. In most cases, the masses of two objects cannot be compared by sight, they must be held to determine which is heavier. Simply, I do not randomly choose the objects. Otherwise, some choices are quite obvious e.g. a piece of paper and a basketball.


This week, we will cover the standard units for measuring mass - kilogram (kg) and gram (g). At home, children should look for products that are packaged or sold by mass. (e.g. a cake mix, a box of cereal, a candy bar or a bag of apples.)


Avoid measuring bottled drinks or canned beverages as they are more closely related to the topic volume.


Avoid saying kg as 'k-g'. Pronounce kg as kilogram because we don't pronounce g as 'g', we say gram.




Learning objectives: (there are some more!)

• read a scale which shows '1 kg', 'less than 1 kg' or 'more than 1 kg'
• find the mass of an object in kg using the balance with 1-kg masses
• compare the masses of objects and tell which is heavier or lighter

Note the smaller parts within the scale? I will have a separate post about it.




Thank you.

Important Notice

Dear Parents, 


To curb the spread of infectious diseases like HFMD and flu, please refrain from sending your child to school if he/ she is unwell.


For more information on HFMD, please click here.




Thank you.

Commonly-made mistake for Length

Look at the pictures above, which one of the following is the correct way to measure the green rectangle?


That's right! It is the picture below. Any object to be measured must be placed an the '0' cm mark.


Highlight to children that some rulers have measurements of 'cm' and 'inches' on them so they have to identify and use the correct scale.

If the object (yellow rectangle) to be measured is not placed on the '0' cm mark, the children need to know how to find the difference in the length by subtracting the beginning mark from the end mark. For example, the yellow rectangle is 2cm - 1cm = 1cm long.








Referring to the Math Workbook 1A part 2 page 69, questions such as this:




          8cm                                           2cm
(i) The straw is _____ cm longer than the key.


Children are encouraged to write the measurement on top of the objects. A commonly-made mistake is children often write 8cm as the answer because they did not see that this question needs them to compare the lengths of 2 objects. The words in bold 'longer than' is a clue. Writing the measurements above the objects will help them to see this relationship. Finding the difference (how much more or less) means we do subtraction.

Labelling lines

Question: Draw a line BC that is 6cm.


The top picture shows the correct answer. Get your child to explain to you why the bottom 2 pictures show the wrong answers.


Drawing straight lines freehand is unacceptable.




Other learning objectives:

• Use a string to measure lengths of curves
• Solve one- and two-step word problems by relating them with addition and subtraction concepts such as 'part-whole', 'adding-on', 'taking-away' and 'comparing'
• Solve one- and two-step word problems by relating them with multiplication and division concepts such as 'group and item' and 'multiplying'
• draw models to solve the problems

Thank you for your attention!

Pupils who have yet to submit Math Process Booklet 1

Dear Parents

Kindly check that your child has completed his/ her corrections in the Math Process Skills booklet. Please return the booklets on 8 May.

Pupils who have yet to submit the booklets:
- Jovan
- Vernice
- Timothy
- Dillon
- Ying Xi
- Andrew
- Nicholas
- Jase
- Gyle

Thank you for your attention.

Feedback on Review 2 (Term 2)

Q2. Most pupils who got this question wrong chose (2) as the answer. They could have misinterpret 4 sweets as 4 groups. Do refer to this post for recognising 'items and groups'.