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Charlottle's Web

Alicia borrowed the book from NLB! It is so encouraging to see that some of you are reading so widely and actively.

Reading is just like travelling. It brings us to places, people and cultures which we do not know about.

This is an excellent book which many primary schools in Singapore are using as their English/Literature book because the *themes are rich and storyline is very touching and inspirational.

*Themes such as friendship, love, good values (perseverance, creative, problem-solving).

I hope that Alicia will share her reflection on the book with us.

Look whose reading Aussie Nibbles!

(Above) Vanness is reading another storybook from the Aussie Nibbles.

Vanness shared the following new words he has learnt from the book.

1. muffle
2. sparks
3. gigantic
4. dangerous
5. enormous
6. cliff
7. screeched
8. electrical
9. banquet
10. relief
11. sidewall

(above) Justin (on the left) reading a book from the Aussie Nibbles and Danish is reading The Magic Violin which every pupil bought together with Spider!

Let's wait patiently for these ardent Aussie Nibbles fan to share their reflection with us after reading the books!

For Ideas on writing Book Review and Reflections, click here for the blog entry.

Games for Admin Day (29 Oct 2008)

Hi children

Some simple games for you to start off the day.

1. Capital Letters Game 1-Blown away (below)

2. Capital Letters Game 2-Play your caps right (below)

Aussie Nibbles

[Post-dated]

(above) Alicia and Vanness are reading another two new books from the series!

(above) Vanness showing us the book he is reading now. Behind him are his classmates reading silently before the morning flag raising ceremony.

Previous Blog entries:
Aussie Nibbles 1
Aussie Nibbles 2

Who is Shel Silverstein?

This is the second series of introducing great authors to you.

Have you come across Shel Silverstein's books in the bookstore or libraries?

He is one of my favourite Children's authors because of his superb imagination and of course, writing skills.

The simplistic illustrations are so unique too.

The first book that I read many years ago was The Giving Tree (above).

It is a lovely book that teaches me appreciation for people/animals/plants who have helped or comforted us in one way or another.

It also reminds us to take care of the natural resources we have. Example: trees.

Eager to read the first few pages of the book?

Go to his excellent homepage with heaps of animations and his very generous introduction of his animated homepage and his stories. Make sure you don't skip the introduction!

(above) A screen shot of the introduction.

After that, you will see this menu page (below).


Then click Shel's Book icon. You will see this screen (below).

Then click The Giving Tree icon or other books you would like to read.

Well, though each click only allows us to read the first few pages, I thought that is very kind of Shel (or his boss/company) to produce the animated version of each book.

Alright, that's all from me.

Remember to look out for his books in your next trip to the library!

Charlotte's Web

Another famous classic story is Charlotte's Web by E. B. White.

Watch the trailer of the movie here.


The theme song.



Don't rush out to buy the DVD/CD!

We are watching an abridged version on next Tuesday! Hurray! This will be the penultimate (the second last) activity of Spider!

Dancing with Lilo and Stitch

If you have been sitting down for a long time reading blog entries, how about getting up to exercise?

Don't know what to do?

How about dancing with the hilarious characters in this musical movie clip?

Oh, take note- Do NOT do some of the stunts you watch in the clip! :~)



Well done! [clapping]

Now you can take a deep breath and watch Lilo and Stitch.

The Carrot Seed

A silent movie clip on perseverance.

The Carrot Seed

Do you know Pat Hutchins?

Hello children!

Now that the examination is over, you can enjoy yourself by reading more books and learning some skills!

So here am I introducing an author who specialises in writing fantastic Children books. Some of her stories may be short (sentences are simple too) but she uses wonderful writing techniques to illustrate her ideas and very often, there is a twist to the stories' ending!

An excellent example is the book below "The Wind Blew". You will find this in the class library next year!

(above) This is a fabulous story because of the poetic language used to describe the things that the wind did. Pat used a writing skill called 'personification' whereby the wind takes on a person's behaviour; who does things like a person. So you will find verbs like 'grabbing', 'taking' and many more in this story.

If you can't wait to read it, make a trip to the nearest library (or in your neighbourhood) to borrow books by her.

After reading, you can write a review (an activity to do!) of what the story is about and your reflection (if you like it and if yes, why OR what you have learnt from the story) and then, share with the whole class.

We can even post your writing on our class blog!


Another example is the one below "The Doorbell Rang".

Meantime, how about reading Titch's Christmas story online?

OR go to TITCH's homepage for more activities like knowing more about the author and how she looks like?

(above) This is Titch, the little one.

(above) What is Titch doing with the flour?

How about singing along? Go here and click on the red rectangle that says TITCH Opening Theme Song with Vocal to download the song.


This lyrics (the words of the song) is from the website.

My brother and sister think I'm very small
But I'm growing a bit every day, every day
and when I'll be big
I'll be good at the games that they say I'm too little to play
My brother and sister are bigger than me
But I'll keep on growing and then they'll see
That I can do everything all on my own
They won't have to help me because I'll have grown

Let's watch the snippet of Titch by clicking on the movie clip.



Another play adaptation of the story "The Doorbell Rang" in a classroom.

Our Kolam and Rangoli Activity for Deepavali

Today, we learnt about Kolam and Rangoli from a talk given by Mrs Moorthy and colouring activity in the class after that.

Let's recap about these art forms.

Kolam is an essential part of the South Indian Culture whereas Rangoli is an essential part of the North Indian Culture.

Both are decorative artwork drawn on the floor in front of houses and in front of prayer rooms.

Rangoli is derived from 'Rang' (colour) + 'avalli' (coloured creepers) or 'Rang' + 'aavalli' (row of colours).

The designs are symmetrical and geometric in shape drawn with lines that may be straight or wavy and rounded on the edges.

Flowers, coloured powerder and grains are used in creating this art form.

Websites for more activities

1. Rangoli Craft for Kids

2. Kolam activities (Step by step guideline for creating a Kolam)

3. Colourful Kolams in Chennia, India (a blog entry with photos)

Movie clip on Making these art forms

(1) Demonstration with soft music in the background.



(2) Demonstration on using powder with soft music in the background.



(3)Simple instructions in English on drawing Rangoli (you can create your own after watching this)



(4) Rangoli Exhibition at Paddington Library, London.



(5) MUST WATCH: Click here to watch the movie clip of a lady and many others in Pondicherry, India, drawing large Kolams in the wee hours of the morning (when it was still dark) outside her/their house(s).


Photos on Our Colouring Activity in Class

(above) Aaron's art piece.

(above) Charlton's demonstrating an action.

(above) Gladys is a silent worker who coloured the Rangoli with pride.

(above) Gabriena was not in her best mood, hence she was given the permission to sit beside Alicia, watching her colouring. Who knows when I was taking a photo of them, Gabriena picked up a colour pencil. After that, she joined in the activity!

(above) Heng Wee loves purple and yellow for he only used both colours for his Rangoli and Kolam.

(above) The effect of the pastel colour combination is as gentle as Yu Ling.

(above) Megan: See, I am proud of my art work and they look so attractive!

(above) Si Yu's showing her colouring!

(above) Wow, Dylan looks so handsome in this pose, mainly because of his bright smile. Well, I was very impressed by his politeness when he invited:~) Gabriena to go back to the group. When she refused, he smiled (helplessly) and walked back to his seat. Poor Dylan whose group mates were all 'missing', leaving him alone in his group.

(above) This group is always so quiet when they are doing their work. They whispered instead of talking at the top of their voice. Siti was absent from this group because the Malay pupils had a rehearsal for the coming performance in the school.

(above) Another group concentrating on their colouring, except Owen, oophs.

(above) One, two, three, smile!

(above) It is your turn to flash a smile at the camera!

(above) Oophs, I've forgotten whose work is this.

(above) Hey, we are as close as sisters and our colours chosen are vey warm.

(above) Chun Lin smiled at me with his neatly-coloured art work!

(above) Wee Khong couldn't control his laughing after he was was told to relax and smile for the camera.

(above) Megan taking pride in every stroke of colouring. She has a flair in drawing!

(above) Rachel's carefully-coordinated colours for the Rangoli. Isn't it attractive?

(above) Owen's finished art piece.

(above) Justin's unfinished but very soft/gentle-looking Kolam, just like him.

(above) Yu Ling's finished lovely art work.

苏秋霖的作文-我的好朋友

Music Making

[Post-dated]

On Wednesday, the pupils had a fun time singing with their vocal and instruments.

(above) The whole class with their Music teacher, Mrs Ang.

(above) Singing gleefully with actions!

Aussie Nibbles Books

[Post-dated]

(above) Alicia borrowed a book from the Aussie Nibbles series (the same series with Spider!) from the local library.

(above) Vanness too! His borrowed book is What Dino Saw! Vanness told us that he has borrowed a number of books from this series!

If you are interested to read any book from Aussie Nibbles, make a trip to the library with your parents.

When you return to school next Wednesday, you will receive a new book that you have paid for together with The Spider!. The title is The Magic Violin!

For more information, click here.

Kids' Athletics Results

(above) From left: Alicia, Justin and Rachel who participated in the Kids' Athletics and were awarded the Certificate of Participation by Beacon today.

(above) These kids were not satisfied with two photos taken for they wanted different pose in different position!

They deserved the 'limelight' because they demonstrated the sportsmanship spirit together with other 23 Beacon pupils on last Saturday at Bukit Gombak Stadium.

Quoted from Mr Nasrun, the head for Wellness Channel in Beacon, in an email to the staff:

"I have to say that they easily became the darlings of the event as the officials and fellow competitors fussed over how cute and determined they were.

 

Participating in the 7-8 years old category, they found themselves competing against mostly P2 pupils as well as children who attend weekly training with the organisers, Swift Athletes Club. Nevertheless, there was determination written all over their faces. there was team spirit, and most importantly, everyone came away with a valuable experience and asking for more such experiences.

All in all, the organisers were impressed with our pupils and look forward to our annual participation. We also had a strong backing from the parents who came down in full force to support their children and stayed throughout the event."

Planets

(above) A cut-out from The Straits Times, 5 October 2008.

Do you know the names of the planets?

Try the above activity!

Conjunctions

(above) An activity that one learns to use 'and', 'because' or 'then' to connect phrases to make sentences.

Can you make some sentences using the above conjunctions?

Butterflies & Spiders

(above) A cut-out from The Straits Times, 5 October 2008.

True but Strange

Although lots of insects get caught in spider webs, you rarely see a butterfly caught in the sticky strands.

That's because butterfly wings are covered in tiny scales. If a butterfly flies into a web, it often sheds some scales and escapes.

Compound Words

The word 'butterfly' is a compound noun, because it takes two or more words-in this case 'butter' and 'fly'- and puts them together to make a new noun. Other examples are 'ladybird' and 'wallpaper'.

Can you think of other compound words?

Facts or opinions?

Facts or Opinions? What is the difference between facts and fiction?

Listen to the explanation here and a learning game.

http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/factsopinions/

Online preposition

Hello, another new and fantastic site on preposition.

Click here  http://www.skyblues67.tk/.

Then once the homepage is loaded, click on Preposition.

On this page, you can listen to sentences that have preposition in them.  Or you can do quizzes to test yourself within 2 minutes.  Otherwise, play games on preposition!

泰荣、秋霖，祝你们生日快乐