Last Post of the Year

Dear all (parents and wonderful students),

It is the end of the school term for 2012. How time really flies. I would just like to take this chance to end off with one last post for this blog for the year.

I still remembered the first time I met the 34 of you before Alan joined the class to make it 35 of you! We set rules, went through our top 5 rules of which you would repeat everyday and remember very well. Through all the laughter and scoldings, I saw the change and progress in each of you. Some of you matured faster while some of you  took a longer time to mature. The truth is that I saw a change in all of you, no matter how small it might be.

You may feel that I am very strict, especially when I shout at you when you misbehave but there needs to be a figure of authority that you guys must have in class. Being your form teacher, I believe that I am not here to win your popularity vote but to make sure that you guys are disciplined and do well in your studies and character education. It is also important that you not fear me but respect me. That is the key thing at the end of the day, to earn your respect so that you do want to learn from me.

Our class has really wonderful teachers - teachers who gave their all to give you extra lessons and revision notes. We believe in you no matter how long it might take for you to open up, to realise your potential and to make the push to excel. It is a long process. We are not going to expect instant rewards such as you improving by 50 marks over night. We accept that it will take time and as such, our patience towards you never ends.

Despite some of your continual misbehaviour, I believe that with time and guidance, your discipline can be corrected. As rule #1 says, we are a family and a family does not abandon its members. Very importantly, class spirit has to be cultivated and we need to work as a class in order to facilitate learning and help one another. Some of you studied together throughout the year and helped one another out which is very important. Tap on one another's strength and motivate one another.

You all are a very lovable and teachable batch. We have good praises for you but of course, I cannot be praising you all the time if not, it will make you feel complacent. We need to be down to earth and learn the value of humility. I am very glad that you all do accept feedback and criticism very readily and do try to work on what you need to improve.

The notes for you are to encourage, guide and motivate all of you. It's these little things that will count and when you look at them, you know that your  teachers care about you and hope to see you excel and correct your mistakes.

One issue is your ability to really focus and retain your knowledge/content/concepts learned. You guys have the tendency to forget very easily, as such you need to constantly practise and make sure that you never lose track of what you have learned. Apply your knowledge and spend time revising through your P3, P4, P5 work this holidays!

To all of the parents, I am very happy to have such supportive parents through this journey with the kids. Without all your feedback, suggestions and conversations, I would not be able to truly guide your kids to higher grounds. It is always a two way communication channel and forgive all the teachers of the class if we do take a longer time to get back to you and have forgotten about some of your requests. It is indeed long days for us most of the time and things may have slipped off our minds. But do know that we do our best to understand your child and to develop him holistically.

In ending off, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of you for it is you who shaped me to be a better teacher and to care for you in the best possible way to benefit all of you. I do sincerely hope that you (at this point) have started to realise the importance of next year's big major exam and start to work hard and really tell yourself that "when I am at my best, I am a 'A to B' student at least!' I believe in all of you. Happy holidays and good health to all of you.

PS: If you need help in any questions in your daily life or revision/assessment questions, feel free to email, sms or call me. I am still your teacher for 2012 :)

Yours Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

Calculating Overall Marks

Dear all,

Thank you parents for your feedback and queries about the calculation of the students' final marks and the breakdown of their scores. Here is a detailed explanation of how the breakdown is done to tabulate the overall mark in the report book.

CA1: Not counted for overall marks.

SA1: Worth 30%

CA2: 28.6% of the marks for the subject will be calculated.
SA2: 71.4% of the marks for the subjects will be calculated.
These 28.6% of CA2 will then be added to the 71.4% of SA2 to get an overall mark for 'Combined Semester 2'

This combined overall mark for Semester 2 is worth 70% and this mark will then be added to the 30% of the first semester (SA1) in order to arrive at the overall score.

Let me state an example:

In the subject of English, Student A scores 50 for SA1, 60 for CA2 and 40 for SA2.

SA1: 30% x 50 = 15 

CA2: 28.6% x 60 = 17.16
SA2: 71.4% x 40 = 28.56

Second Combined: 
17.16 + 28.56 = 45.72
70% x 45.72 = 32.004

Overall: 32.004 + 15 = 47.004 (Rounding up, it will be tabulated as 47 for the Overall marks)

Hope this helps you in understanding how the scores are being arrived at. Do take time to explain to your children too and help them set targets for next year. :)

Thank You,
Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

Reminders

Dear all,

While you are having your rest at home, here are some reminders for you:

• Bring your rags and pails for 'Use your hands campaign' next week. Please do so by Monday.
• I will you to bring all your Science SA2 Papers, Booklet A and B tomorrow to go through a question again. 
• Please turn up next Monday as you will be getting back your report books. 

Now that the examinations are over, here are some feedback and thoughts for you to ponder about:

1. Most of you have put in effort to do your best and improve upon your results. First, have you reached the targets I have personally sent out to you to achieve? If you have, good job. If you have not, there is much more work to be done.
2. I can see effort being put in to want to do better. That is commendable but for many of you, your overall marks were pulled down by your earlier results in CA2 or SA1. Your overall results is a combination of your whole year's effort so do not repeat your mistakes in Primary 6. 
3. Keep your confidence up! Use your improvement as a platform for you to continue to improve for next year and do well. The standard of the school examinations is very high and the purpose is to make sure that you are well prepared for your PSLE. Do not give up. Press on!
4. For your end of the year holidays, it is time to do some work and revision too. Take out your P3 and P4 work, especially for Maths and Science and start doing revision and assessments. It is good to recap and refresh. Many of you are weak in your basic concepts and foundations so take this time to master them rather than attempting to climb a level higher in going on to try out P6 questions. Your focus should be on mastering your basic concepts and then go on to try the P6 topics once you are familiarized. 
5. For English, work on grammar and vocabulary and Comprehension open-ended!

See you all tomorrow,

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

And there are 2 papers left...

Dear all,

Hang in there. You are coming to the end of the examinations. You can do it! There is Science Supplementary lessons tomorrow from 1.30pm - 3.30pm. I will extend by another 1 hour to 4.30pm for those of you who need the extra lesson.

I just want to make a short note for all of you now. You may find that I am harsher these few weeks but it is definitely necessary to help you all be disciplined. I am still disappointed to find a handful of you forgetting to bring your revision papers when you know that you need to go through the papers and these papers were the SA2 papers for last year so you have a rough idea of how the standard is. Some questions may come out again or similar questions at least.

As I was marking through some of your revision papers, I still have people who handed up blank answers and this is simply not right, considering that you have come to the end of the year and this examinations truly matter! It constitutes most of your overall marks.

Of course, it is only a small portion of you so I am glad to see that most of you do want to put in effort. You have 2 more papers so make the most of it. I know that you are nervous and some of you really want to do well badly so continue to keep the faith and hard work. I am sure you can do it.

Notes for Science:

• Identify the topic of each question first.
• Highlight the key words (Not all of you highlighted key words for your English. Thank you to those who highlighted!)
• Identify the concepts (I will complete the revision of concepts and processes tomorrow)
• Use key words please!!! Go through the list of vocabulary words in your notes for each chapter. 
• Note your spelling!
• Target for MCQ (40 and above upon 60, so you can only afford to have 10 questions wrong.)
• Target for Open-ended (20 and above upon 40, so make sure you pass the paper.)

See you all tomorrow,

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

English Synthesis & Transformation Answers

Dear all,

Here is the uploaded copy of the Synthesis and Transformation Practice Answers.

I will post up more tips and practices over the long weekend. Enjoy your weekend and study hard please!

Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

Science Notes

Dear all,

Here are the extra Science notes that I am talking about. You can jot down or it would be good if you can print it out and revise. The (X) represents that these are the commonly wrong way to answer the questions and the answers are too general. The tick represents the correct way to answer the questions and the use of concepts and KEY words. The difference between a correct answer from a wrong answer can sometimes be down to one key word being used or not used, so make a point to remember the correct answering methods.

Click on the images to make it bigger. I will go through them in class if we have additional time left. These are extra notes for you.

Happy Revision,
Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

Rosa Parks and Equality of Race

Dear all,

As we finished up on our revision practice paper today, an important issue to highlight from the comprehension open-ended passage is about racism and the equality of races. Some of you mentioned that the theme is about racism and you are affected by the story. This story here is an actual fact that really teaches us about the reality of life and important values to be learnt. Racism is very real in the world. It is still ongoing and was evident in the United States of America in the early years. What Rosa Parks did was a great act that helped spark the Civil Rights Movement to abolish racism. You can watch the video of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Junior below.

Two points to make:

• We learn the value that all human beings are equal and that we need to live in harmony.
• No matter what the theme of topic of the comprehension passages may be, approach it with a objective and calm mind. You may not like the topic but this doesn't mean that you put in less effort to complete the questions. All passages let you learn something new so be receptive and do your best!

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Grading System

Dear all,

Here is the grading system of what I have stated in class earlier this morning.


A* 91 – 100

A 75 – 90

B 60 – 74

C 50 – 59

D 35 – 49

E 20 – 34

U 0 - 19

Ideally, you should end up with a grade C and above but as what I have mentioned, lets' be realistic. If you are very weak in a subject and not doing as well, the minimum you can go should at least be a D to be on the safe side. There is no fixed way of telling you how you would end up in foundation. We will be looking at your overall results and you should NOT have a U grade for any one subject.

If you are weak in a subject, make sure you try to get at least a D and the rest of the subjects should all pass. Know your own weakness and strengths and work hard. Now, you have a better idea of how it is like and the difference between foundation and standard. It is a blessing and your own hard work that got you to studying 4 standard subjects so do not waste it and drop into foundation. It is important that you all know the reality now and start to study hard.

For those who are not doing well in certain subjects, the best advice would be to make sure that you are 35 marks and above. Push your marks as high as you can.

I sincerely hope that all of you will do well for this SA2. These few weeks still have not shown me that all of you are serious about this examinations - the half-hearted efforts you have shown in your daily practice and listening attentively in class. You have one week left to change your studies for the better so make full use of it.

This weekend, I will be uploading some revision notes on Science - the common WRONG way of answering certain questions and the CORRECT way of answering. Compare these two and make sure that you do not make the mistake. You can print the notes out. It will be useful for your revision. It will be rather long.

Go through your practice papers as they are last year's SA2 papers and of high importance to you. Do it again and again until you are really familiarized with the topics and the ways of answering.

Study Hard,
Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong