All About Preparing For Primary One

[jedamum]

Any good P1 assessment books to recommend?

[ChiefKiasu]

jedamum:

Any good P1 assessment books to recommend?

Should have told me earlier. We just threw out a whole bunch of old ones. But if you are looking at assessment books (read - worksheets), you might want to consider signing up for testpapers.com.sg this year. For $60, you can be assured of the most relevant questions for Primary 1.

In any case, a trip down to Popular will let you know pretty much what you are up against :).

[jedamum]

ChiefKiasu:

jedamum:

Any good P1 assessment books to recommend?

Should have told me earlier. We just threw out a whole bunch of old ones. But if you are looking at assessment books (read - worksheets), you might want to consider signing up for testpapers.com.sg this year. For $60, you can be assured of the most relevant questions for Primary 1.

In any case, a trip down to Popular will let you know pretty much what you are up against :).

wa..guess i missed the boat.
yes, have taken a glance through some assessment books and surprisingly the standards are tougher than during our times.

[Mum2Gals]

When can I ask the school about the school bus ? Can I approach them anytime now via email, or do I need to wait till they have an open house ? How would I know they have open house ?

[ChiefKiasu]

You can call up the school for the list of bus operators serving the school at any time.

[jedamum]

ChiefKiasu:

2. Academic Preparation
There are only 3 subjects in Primary 1 and 2 - English, Chinese and Maths. While there are variations, in general the following can be expected:

a. English and Chinese
P1 kids are expected to do:
- spelling, 听写 and dictation every week (word list of 10 words)
- show and tell every term
- tests involving multiple choice grammar, comprehension, and picture composition
- oral tests involving picture compositions.

To prepare for this, it will be good to encourage kindergarten kids to:

- read voraciously to build up grammer and vocabulary. It is a given these days that kids are EXPECTED to know phonics and all 26 alphabets BEFORE they enter P1.

- attend speech and drama classes to improve confidence and presentation skills

- learn to write simple Chinese characters properly in terms of all the basic strokes 笔画 (heng, shu, etc) and in the proper order. Some teachers are VERY sticky such that even though the character looks correct, if the strokes are wrong, it will still be marked wrong.

- For Chinese, make sure there is a strong foundation of Hanyu Pinyin. I would recommend that you consider sending your child to group-based learning such as the http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/enrichment/hua-language-centre as soon as he/she reach 4 years old - it is VERY difficult otherwise to build an interest in the language unless you constantly use it at home.

b. Mathematics
P1 students are expected to:
- Add/subtract up to 100
- Number bonds
- Times table up to 10 (some 12)
- Abstract modeling to solve problems
- Read analog time (half past, quarter to, etc)
- work with numbers in numeric and alphabet form: eg. 10-8=? or what is the difference between ten and eight?

It is very different from during our times, where all we need to do is to memorize by heart the 12 times table. Kids are required to really UNDERSTAND the logic behind the math.

Take a peek at the P1 assessments when you drop by a Popular bookstore to get a feel for what your child is going to be up against.

To prepare for P1, the main thing to focus on would be to work on the speed of doing the fundamentals of addition and subtraction, and multiplication. Then your child can focus in class on the more complex and abstract logic and modeling processes. I highly recommend Kumon for this job... if you start your child in Kumon by K1, you can be sure that he will well prepared for P1 (and even P2!)

a. Chinese
Am focusing more on word recognition rather than 听写 at this moment. AM leaving Berries to do the rest of the job for me.

b. Mathematics
Could not effectively teach multiplication and division concepts....especially when used in problem sums. Another tricky one is on the concept of 'less than' and 'more than'. problem sums is also another issue. other than that, i guess the rest of the P1 syllabus is pretty straight forward.

a. English
Only know how to teach comprehension.
Realised that teaching/learning of vocab involves alot of memory work.
My boy gave me a puzzled look when i told him that 'The child sings', the 'sing' has a 's' cos the child is a singular person. He told me that the other day I told him that more than one (ie plural nouns), must add a 's' behind the noun (ie 'cat' is 'catS' for plural).
Had made my boy do reading everynight.... somehow he doesn't likes to read. wonder how can I motivate him to read, or is there any good/interesting books that can entice a 6 yr old?

[dt7570]

Original Title: Primary One Preparatory Class


Hi

I'm new here.

Could anyone recommend any learning centre for P1 Preparatory Class in the West Area?

Thanks!

Moderator's Note: Threads merged.

[simplyjo]

dt7570:

Hi


I'm new here.

Could anyone recommend any learning centre for P1 Preparatory Class in the West Area?

Thanks!

Hi,

I recently enrolled my girl in Just Education P1 Prep-class in Seng Kang and they do have branches in Jurong too. You can check them out: http://www.justeducation.com/flashindex.html#top

However, be prepared that there will be a lot of worksheets every week and it can be quite stressful for your child. Most importantly, is your child ready for P1 Prep? I was very kiasu and tried to start my girl in P1 prep-class in Jan, but her phonic teacher objected cos she feels my girl is not ready back then.

My girl has been taking phonics class for almost 2 years now (the course will complete end of Jun), and I find the lessons really helps her to pick up words and read very easily and she has no problem reading instruction on worksheets or can understand story sums very well. I think understanding the instruction is more important than making her do lots of worksheets, which she may not understand what is she supposed to do at all.

[dt7570]

Thank you for your information.


I know it will be stressful for the kids if they have to complete worksheet now and then. When I am doing English worksheet with him, he does not understand his grammar and vocabulary which really worries me that’s why I think with the preparation class, he will be prepared when he goes to P1. Btw, where did you send you girl for phonics lesson?

[simplyjo]

dt7570:

Thank you for your information.


I know it will be stressful for the kids if they have to complete worksheet now and then. When I am doing English worksheet with him, he does not understand his grammar and vocabulary which really worries me that's why I think with the preparation class, he will be prepared when he goes to P1. Btw, where did you send you girl for phonics lesson?

Hi, my daughters are attending phonics at Just Education @ Seng Kang too. My eldest will be completing the whole programme in Jun and my 2nd girl just started in Jan. Phonics is definitely more than just learning the sound of ABC (which I used to think) and it's good foundation for the kids.

Sometimes they can read or say words which surprises me cos I certainly never teach them that! Just a few day ago, my eldest told me her father has a \"safety violation\" cos he was talking on his phone while driving! She later explained to me that she had pick up the words from TV programme and it was very dangerous for her daddy to use phone while driving. I'm so impressed cos she understand and know how to use it correctly.