Week 6 Begins soon

Dear all,


[ homework for the weekend ]

Please complete your picture composition by Monday, 23rd April.


[ video links for the weekend ]
Here are the links for the complete documentary on Christian the lion, a heartwarming story about animals and humans. In tune with our topic on save the world, remember that animals are not meant to survive in captivity. We mostly cage them up for our own personal entertainment. But we may also keep them in captivity to protect some of the endangered species of animals which may be hunted and poached in the wild. Remember to protect the animals, which are part of the world we live in. Click on the link below to open the videos in a new window. There are 5 parts.

Part 1 Christian the Lion
Part 2 Christian the Lion
Part 3 Christian the Lion
Part 4 Christian the Lion
Part 5 Christian the Lion

[ Vocabulary words for you ]

captivity -> the state or period of being held, imprisoned, enslaved, or confined.
poach -> to illegally steal animals or to hunt.


[ Water, our precious resource ]

As we start on the last topic for term 2 on Science, take the time to first reflect on the importance of saving water and keeping our water source clean and polluted-free. We learn that our body is made up of a huge amount of water. Water is vital for our survival, not just for quenching our thirst. It helps our body to function, especially for the respiratory and circulatory system. Note the functions of water in these systems. 

Circulatory system read up -> http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/heart.html
Respiratory system read up -> http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/lungs.html

Water is also important for plants to survive. Roots take in water for the plant. Water is one of the important conditions together with air and warmth for seeds to germinate. Also, plants take in carbon dioxide, sunlight and water in order to photosynthesize to make food for the plants (producing sugar and oxygen).


[ water pollution ]

How then, do we not pollute the waters? Take note of the ways to save water and stop pollution. Also note the effects of water pollution. Water pollution will affect the marine life. If water is polluted, it will affect our food source. It will cause living organisms such as fish and plants to die. It will affect the food chain. Humans will also be affected.

3 ways to not pollute the water:

1. Do not litter into the water.
2. Do not dump waste into the drains.
3. Reuse and recycle your oil and pesticides.

3 ways to save water:

1. Do not leave the tap on when you are soaping off.
2. Reuse the left over water from washing clothes to wash the floor.
3. Use pails to wash the car rather than to use a hose.


[ Oral examination tips ]


Reading
1. The biggest fear that most children have about this is that they would come across a word that they don’t know how to read. Firstly, attempt to read the word but do not pause. The reason for attempting is that you may have a chance of getting the word right. And you must not pause so that the flow of reading is not affected. Usually, if the child is unable to read only 1 word, the teacher would not penalise him too severely.

2. Be loud and clear. I can’t stress this enough. The oral examination is also an assessment of how confident the child is. You may have two equally good readers but one is louder and more confident than the other.

3. Articulate the end-consonant of the word clearly. This would be referring to the ‘-s’, ‘-k’, ‘-t’, ‘-d’ and even the ‘-l’ sounds. I’ve seen too many candidates who simply ‘swallow’ these sounds up so the candidate who does articulate these sounds would be rewarded amply.


Picture Discussion
For Picture Discussion, just remember the D.I.E.O approach.

Please note that the present tense is to be used when discussing the picture.

The first statement usually indicates the venue that the picture is depicting. It generally takes one of the following forms: · This is a hospital. OR · This picture shows the scene at a hospital. OR · This picture depicts a hospital.

4. D is for describing the picture. This is the part that most children can do relatively well. They will be able to tell the examiner what the characters in the picture are doing. What the candidate can do to outperform his peers is to embellish his descriptions with more details. Instead of saying what the characters are doing, he could add in more information like what the characters are wearing or where they are. For example, instead of simply saying ‘A girl is throwing the wrapper on the ground.’, he can say ‘The girl in a striped dress is throwing the wrapper on the ground.’

5. I is for interpreting the picture. Interpret the actions and feelings of the characters in the picture. e.g The girl looks happy.

6. E is for elaborating or explaining. Give statements to support your interpretation. Develop your point. Convince the examiner on the statement you made in your interpretation. e.g The girl looks happy with the expressions on her face. She is smiling. I think that she feels that way because of the gift she received from her parents during the birthday party.

7. O is for opinion. Opinions would refer to judgment; whether what a character is doing is ‘right’, ‘wrong’, ‘dangerous’, ‘inconsiderate’, ‘kind’, ‘helpful’, etc. They should also be able to support their judgment by explaining why it is so. For example, ‘In my opinion, the girl will remember this party for a long time with the many gifts she has received. If I were her, I would also feel happy receiving so many gifts. A birthday is a joyous occasion in which you hope to celebrate with your loved ones and friends. It is meant to be a happy day!’


Conversation
Candidates are given 5 minutes to prepare before they see the examiner. However, what they would only see during those 5 minutes are the Reading passage and the Picture. This means that they would have no idea what the Conversation topic is. The children’s biggest fear is that they would be speechless after the examiner has asked them the question. Not to worry. In the PSLE oral examinations, the Reading passage is linked to the picture by a common topic and the Conversation would be centred around this common topic. In other words, it is possible for the candidate to guess what the Conversation topic is by studying the Reading passage and picture closely.

8. During Conversation, if the question leads to a ‘Yes/No’ answer, support your answer by listing the reasons which prompted you to choose that answer. The more elaborate your answers, the better you will do.

9. If it is an open-ended question (like ‘What sports do you enjoy?’), use the ‘wh- words’ to structure your response. The ‘wh- words’ are: · Who (who do you do the sport with?) · What (what sport do you enjoy?) · Where (where would you do this sport?) · Why (why do you like it?) · When (when would you do it?) Of course the points could be reordered to give your response a smoother or more logical flow.

Remember to use the structure > INTRODUCTION > Your Points with elaboration and explanation > CONCLUSION.

10. Always speak in grammatical and complete sentences. In fact, the more sophisticated the language, the better the candidate will score. If you have an impressive vocabulary, now is the time to show it off. All the best for Monday! Your SA1 starts from Monday with the first scoring component.

Thank You,
Sincerely,
Mr. Nelson Ong