Newsflash for this week

Chinese New Year Class Decoration Contest
I guess everyone will be busy this week with Chinese New Year preparations for the home, including me. I've only bought a tin of Pineapple Tarts at Toa Payoh Hub last night. The school is also busy decorating for the Chinese New Year Class Decoration Contest, which will be judged this week. I wish to thank those pupils who have contributed Chinese New Year decorations and artwork : Newton, Victoria, Han Sheng, Claudia and Jacob.


Maths
We are finishing the topic on Addition and Subtraction Within 10000 this week. The pupils are getting better and better at solving two-step problem sums! We have class competitions where a member from each group will answer a problem sum on the board and score "ice cream sticks" for the group. Sticks are awarded for showing the right model, mathematical statements and answers. After that, the pupils will do the same problems in their exercise books as reinforcement.
Sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, I'd be carrying out a Maths Test on this unit from the Maths Test Book.

Science
Fron this week to week 8 (end of February) We are covering Unit 2 : Animals. Pupils need to know about the characteristics of Mammals, Birds, Fish and insects and how to classify animals into these groups.

Group Competition
The class is divided into five groups and each day they can win points in the form of 'ice cream sticks' for good behaviour and participation in class. The points will add up on the notice board. The group with the highest points at the end of the term will get to have a mini recess party with me! Any group higher than 200 points will also get a goodie bag.

Neat Work Awards
We would like to congratulate the first pupil to get 10 neat work stamps - Chiau Choon Wee!

Neat Work Incentives

Class Committee 2010Every pupil in the class is given a leadership role to play. Please refer to the document attached for more details.

3F Class Committee Form 2010

Online Links : Living and Non-Living Things

How to take care of plants :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/living_things/help_plants_grow/play.shtml

Grouping things into living and non-living things :http://www.vtaide.com/png/livingthings3F.htm

The Fantastic Game Of Pig (Maths Addition Game)

I introduced a new game today, in conjunction with the new topic on Addition, called The Game of Pig. We have finished Numbers Up to 10,000. This is how the game is played :

The Game of Pig

Math concepts: This game for two or more players gives students practice with mental addition and experience with thinking strategically.

The object: to be the first to score 100 points or more.

How to play: Players take turns rolling two dice and following these rules:

1. On a turn, a player may roll the dice as many times as he or she wants, mentally keeping a running total of the sums that come up. When the player stops rolling, he or she records the total and adds it to the scores from previous rounds.
2. But, if a 1 comes up on one of the dice before the player decides to stop rolling, the player scores 0 for that round and it's the next player's turn.
3. Even worse, if a 1 comes up on both dice, not only does the turn end, but the player's entire accumulated total returns to 0.

Now you know why it's called the Game of Pig. When you get the double one's, it looks like a pig's snout, doesn't it? hahaha. Hey parents, you can play this game with your children too! It will test your mental skills!

MATHS LINKS FOR LEARNING ABOUT PLACE VALUE

FINALLY, this is what you fantastic pupils are waiting for!! The links to the MATHS games we played online. HAVE FUN! (Fantastic pupils, please ask your parents for permission before playing these games, ok? AND make sure you've done your Math Homework! ) I will post more next time, I promise. By the way, I spent the whole afternoon accompanying my mother to her medical appointment at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Do you know I'm still in my PE attire now? (it's 9.23 pm) OH MY, I can hear all of you gasping, haha! Alright, I'm going to take my shower now. See you all in school tomorrow!

http://www.funbrain.com/ofm/index.html

http://www.learningbox.com/Base10/CatchTen.html

http://www.learningbox.com/Base10/BaseTen.html

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/numbersense/index.html

http://www.ixl.com/math/practice/grade-2-identify-digit-in-ones-tens-hundreds-or-thousands-place

http://www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err=496&engine=5

Science Trail 1

Which pupil doesn't enjoy a lesson out of the classroom? We had a great one last Tuesday where we went to the fountain to look for living and non-living things. It is so interesting to see what the pupils wrote in their science activity books. Some of them even listed me among the living things, haha. Pupils, look forward to more Science trails. By the way, I need some snails for a Science experiment next Tuesday. Could you help me bring some live snails to class? Please put them in a container that allows some air to enter. I will definitely be taking pictures of the activity so please help me hunt for some snails!
See if you can find yourself or your child in the photographs below!

Comparing Numbers Math Game

 

This is the Comparing Numbers game that the pupils looked forward to after completing their work. It is basically a game with a big card with four spaces for four digits which they draw from a pack of smaller cards with digits from 0 to 9. They compare the numbers they each made with their 4 digits. The winner is the one with the biggest number. 3F pupils : Can you identify yourself in the video?

Science Activity 11 Jan'10

We did this Science Activity where the pupils brought old magazines to cut out pictures of living and non-living things to classify in a chart. Could really see that they had fun looking at the pictures because there was a lot of laughter in the classroom! They was a lot of discussion and even arguments over whether the pictures were living or non-living things. All of the groups worked very well - everyone was involved in cutting, pasting and selecting the pictures. The video shown was of Group 1 who, in my opinion, really worked very well together. They sat in a close circle and worked quietly and efficiently! The members were Yan Shun, Sanchay, Nicole, Clarice, Yee Chuan and Yang Sheng. Hope I did not leave anyone out!



I will post pictures of the completed charts soon! Watch out for them!

3F Time-table

Class Time Table

Welcome to 3F's blog

Dear Parents,

Welcome to my blog created specially for 3F. I sincerely hope you will bookmark this blog and refer to it constantly for information on what is happening in class as well as in school. This includes homework, exam/test dates, school events, time-tables, announcements and reminders. If your child is absent from school, I believe this blog will come in very useful for parents to keep up to date on what is being taught. As I am teaching Maths and Science, I will also include links or attachments that are relevant to the topics being taught. I sincerely hope these will help you when you are doing revision with your child. Please feel free to leave any comments that you may have or alternatively, you may email me at tan_keng_lee@moe.edu.sg if you prefer. I look forward to hearing from you and working together with you as I believe good communication between parent, teacher, and student is very important for your child’s academic growth. Please refer to my attached "welcome letter to parents" for more information. Here's wishing all of you good health and have a great year ahead! Cheers!