Energy

Dear all,

You would have gotten your supplementary forms. Please look through and get your parents to acknowledge the letter. One important point to note is that Tuesday's lesson would be until 3.30pm as English and Science is merged into one day.

Thursdays are set aside for selected pupils for remedial (based on their SA2 results and daily work assessment). I will also open it to students who wish to stay back and want to participate in revising through basic concepts too. Priority will still be given to the remedial pupils. Pupils who wish to stay back must not disrupt the lesson and learning of the remedial pupils and must also inform their parents.

Here is a recap of today's learning:

Science

We learnt about the different types of energy yesterday, namely gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy. Today, we applied these two terms into an experiment to show that energy can be transferred and that when an object has more gravitational potential energy, it will also lead to an increase in its kinetic energy.

Today's experiment of increasing the height of the ramp and releasing a toy car down the ramp showed that the higher the ramp (the more the gravitational potential energy), the faster the car moves (increase in kinetic energy).

This proves that energy can be transferred too from gravitational potential energy (at the starting poin before moving down) to kinetic energy (when the car moves) and back to gravitational potential energy (when the car comes to a stop).

I also went through another key concept of friction (defined as resistance when one object come into contact/ rubs against/ moves against a surface or another object. Friction opposes motion and slows down movement. But friction is important as it allows us to carry out simple things in life like moving and stopping, holding a pen and running.

Deeper teaching and learning of this concept will be done when we move into the 2nd term theme of interactions.

Today we also learn about the skill of answering relationship type of questions. When a question asks about the relationship between an item and another, we are essentially using the skills of linking and comparing. For example, "what is the relationship between the brightness of light and the rate of photosynthesis?"

1st step: Highlight the two items involved in the relationship.

2nd step: Compare the two items (when one is lower (decreases) / higher (increases)), what happens to the other item?

Answer: The brighter the light, the higher the rate of photosynthesis.
*Use of adjectives is very important in answering questions on relationship

This was one type of questions in which most of you had difficulties answering last year, so I taught that it is important for you to know and learn.

The key to answering open ended Science questions is to always identify the concept and topic behind the question, use key words and elaborate with details the given scenario.

Homework Reminders

- Spelling test unit 1 tomorrow

- Unit 1 composition to be handed in tomorrow

- Submit your money for PSLE books by Friday

- Submit your acknowledgement forms for Supplementary tomorrow

Last Words

It is important to always seek feedback from all of you and today I seek the class's feedback on my teaching speed and level of understanding. Speed could be a little slower for Science but level of understanding is good. When in doubt, always ask your questions. I am always willing to answer your assessment worksheets or tuition questions which some of you have been asking me. Also, I will be replying the answers to some of the questions you have dropped into the question hat. Even if your question may be out of our syllabus and textbook, feel free to ask because that will only increase your thinking and passion for learning. It is not all about PSLE. It is also about asking questions that help you in life and additional knowledge you can pick up along the way.

This year, the focus is on quality teaching and in depth teaching. As such, some of you felt that we are going too slow for English. Do not worry as we are not behind time. The focus is on helping you pick up key skills and not just doing work after work. You need to be able to master techniques to answer comprehension open ended, comprehension cloze and composition writing and as such, I have taught you the pre-reading thinking activity for comprehension open ended, understanding and highlighting key words for comprehension cloze and also, we have gone through planning and focus writing for composition. Planning and teaching you 'why' and 'how' is much more important than feeding you the answers. Teaching you techniques will enable you to approach future questions with confidence rather than just practising blindly. As such, really enhance and work on your strategies learnt and apply them to your daily work.

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong