Preparing kids for P5 in 2011
-
Mine also P5 in 2011.
livewith_vanilla - Thanks for your inputs. It really helps to see things from the kid's perspective. Please come and share your experience when you have time. About making notes, can you show some examples ? My son doesn't make notes and doesn't know how to ! :stupid:
Janet_lee88 & KoalaMummy - Are your kids taking HCL ? Mine taking NCL and did poorly for OE compre and oral. I am in panic mode. Any suggestions what to do to help our kids with MT ? I am really worried this subject will pull down the T-score. Everyone keeps saying read more Chinese books but it is like so little time left
Leanne - See the last post by James Ang on this thread.
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6640&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
The Secondary science guides were mentioned. I went to Popular to have a look but I think they are a bit over-kill for my P5. Very wordy with a lot of information. At the moment we are fighting fire so I am not introducing these secondary guides. Probably high ability children who have covered their own syllabus and guides books will find them useful - just my 2cents worth. -
Leanne - See the last post by James Ang on this thread.
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6640&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
The Secondary science guides were mentioned. I went to Popular to have a look but I think they are a bit over-kill for my P5. Very wordy with a lot of information. At the moment we are fighting fire so I am not introducing these secondary guides. Probably high ability children who have covered their own syllabus and guides books will find them useful - just my 2cents worth.[/quote]
Like I mentioned I just use the experiment illustrations and some of the notes during revision with my ds. Arr...i don't really think must be high ability children to understand the guide book. Just that need to sit down to go through a bit cos some notes too much for them.
Actually after I read James's post, I was also wonder wow sec guide book. So I went to have a look and I find it not bad with the experiments shown. (*which i don't find it PSLE sci guide)James also mentioned that.
@leanne>> Maybe you have a look yrself at popular to decide. -
@MoonFlower, I don’t mean that only high ability children can understand the secondary guides. The guide books, especially experiments, are useful surely. What I meant was that my child don’t have time to cover the core primary guide books and assessments for the 4 subjects already so I have to give up the secondary guidebooks (and the marks allocated to those questions).
-
janet_lee88:
I don't really remember the books I used since i've given most of them away.Hi livewith_vanilla,
Thank you for your valuable post. As a parent, I am worried for my son going to P5 next year.
Can you advise what titles of guide books as well as assessment books are useful for P5 ? Like English & Science for eg. Your input is valuable.
Well for science, can get the PSLE revision guides already. PSLE revision guides covers the p3-p6 topics. I got my first PSLE in P3
I bought EPH Ultimate Guide and the orange one in P6.
I say, should start in p5, since p6 will be hectic. When your DS has the time, do go through the p3 and p4 topics with him, it will certainly ease your burden next year.
Since my english is strong, i don't really buy assessment books. Just did the outside-school exam papers my mom bought for me.
I would say, read widely.
Usually the cloze passages are non fiction, so very good to read newspapers daily, read non-fiction books.
Also, for compo, must build up good vocabulary.
I would suggest keeping a vocab book.
You can ask your DS to get an exercise book.
Then inside it, he can fill the book with good vocab and phrases.
Lets say, I read a book and found a new phrase, \"a bull in a chinashop\".
I write it in my vocab book and look up its meaning.
I then write the meaning next to the phrase/word.
I find this very useful.
For maths, practice makes perfect. Focus on topics/areas your DS is weak in. Like if he is weak in fractions, let him do more sums on fractions. Clear his doubts if you can, if not, tell him to ask him teacher.
Important note: The major topics covered in PSLE is usually: Fractions,percentage,decimals,speed,circles,area and perimeter and abit of algebra.
Thus, must build up strong foundation for fractions,percentage,decimals and area and perimeter first.
I can tell you that speed and circle are two very confusing topics if one does not fully understand the methods.
I hope i helped. ^^pixiedust:
Sorry I haven't been checking in often. ^^Mine also P5 in 2011.
livewith_vanilla - Thanks for your inputs. It really helps to see things from the kid's perspective. Please come and share your experience when you have time. About making notes, can you show some examples ? My son doesn't make notes and doesn't know how to ! :stupid:
Well making notes is really simple actually. Let me do an example.
First, i suggest you to get your DS his own lecture pads. I bought a set of 5 lecture pads(can use for next time also) at popular.
Then you can let him design the cover, so it won't look so boring.
Tell him to focus on a topic, lets say Digestive Systems.
Usually I will do notes for english and science.
So i will mark out my title on the top of the page- Digestive Systems.
Usually for science, i will have my guide books by my side.So get your DS a good guidebook , it makes things easier.
Okay so first i do a read up on the topic, a quick recap. After reading the whole chapter, i take out my highlighter(use yellow, other colours too dark) and highlight the keypoints.
For digestive systems, the keypoints would mainly be the digestive parts, when does digestion happens, when does digestion not happen, when does digestion stop etc.
After that, I would copy the keypoints neatly onto my lecture pad. So my paper would look something like this (Note: The following is inaccurate information, I'm just typing whatever I can remember):
Digestive System
-Starts from the mouth
-Sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream here.
-Teeth grinds the food and saliva softens it (I don't know. :P).
-Food is swallowed and enters the gullet.
-No digestion takes place in the gullet.
-Food enters the stomach.
-Digestive juices in the stomach further breaks down the food.
-The simpler substances enter the small intestine.
-Digested food/Water is absorbed into the bloodstream.
-Remaining substances/water goes into the large intestines.
-Water is absorbed into the bloodstream here.
-Digestion stops here.
-Undigested food is then stored in the rectum.
-It comes out from the anus as waste.
Something like this. Remember to get your DS to spice up the page (not too much) so that he won't feel its boring.
He can also include pictures to help him remember.
I hoped i helped.
^^ -
janet_lee88:
I don't remember 短文填空 is which one. But i remember OE(my favourite, cause I usually get close to full marks or full marks for this)
My son flunked his Paper 2...did badly in 短文填空 and open-ended comprehension...according to his teacher, the former shows we are not conversant in Mandarin.KoalaMummy:
Hi, my ds is also in P5 next year. Really hope to get much advise here.
My ds did not do well for his MT (Chinese) and really worried for him.
For OE, must understand the passage well, know what the passage is talking about.
My techniques for OE:
Read the questions first.
Know and highlight the key points in the qn.
After highlighting and reading the questions, read the passage once.
Then read the passage again, this time armed with pens.
For each paragraph, bracket it up and write at the side a brief summary of what the passage is talking about.
If your DS remember what is the first question and found the ans in the paragraph, get him to highlight the ans.
If not, get your DS to go back to the qn.
Start from the first qn.
Using the brief summary on the side of the paper of each paragraph, your DS should be able to find the ans he wants quickly enough.
I'm only able to type eng, so bear with me. ^^
Example:
At the end of that summer, all the Jewish children from Anne's school were kept behind after assembly. The headmistress faced them from the front of the room. \"I'm afraid you won't be allowed to return to this school next term.\" she began, her hands clasping and unclasping as she spoke.\"The Nazis have passed a new law.Jewish children can no longer go to school with non-jews.\"
I would draw a big bracket( } ) at the side of the paragraph and write:
New law- Jews can't go to schl with non jews\"
It summarizes the paragraph up, thus if the qn is like this:
What was the new law that was passed down by the Nazis?
Your child would be able to find the ans quickly instead of looking through the passage again, wasting valuable time.
Hoped this helped. ^^ -
Good post and share livewith_vanilla
Bless u dear....... -
peterch:
Thank you.Good post and share livewith_vanilla
Bless u dear.......
Hope I'm able to help in some way.
To add on:
Compositions-
You can get your child this book if you still haven't gotten it:
Creative Writing for Primary 3-6
Over 900 creative phrases !
By Liza Tan
Published by: Mexxi Three
It's white in colour. ^^
It's a useful and great book for me.
Many good sentences and phrases.
Sample phrases:
Anger
If looks could kill, I would have withered there and then.
He ranted and raved,oblivious to the curious stares of passers-by.
Anxiety
My heart pounded hard and fast as every step took me nearer to the Principal's office.
She wrung her hands and tugged at the hem of her blouse -
Great great tips! Thank you livewith_vanilla ! Really appreciate your time and effort.
I will try to get ds to make use of remaining weeks to revise P3/P4 science before the P5 term starts. -
pixiedust:
Don't force your DS . Learning Science should be fun ! I know that because I hate studying science, its so boring.Great great tips! Thank you livewith_vanilla ! Really appreciate your time and effort.
I will try to get ds to make use of remaining weeks to revise P3/P4 science before the P5 term starts.
No offence, but this is pupil's perception.
I would suggest surfing for simple experiments and letting your DS do these experiments.
Or you can surf online for websites on Science topics and let your DS read up himself or play the games online.
I have to go out soon . If I have the time, I will surf the internet for some fun websites.
If your DS is weak in Science, best to start revising the foundation (p3/p4 topics).
If your DS is not weak in Science, best to recap a little and work on Science Process Skills (Can be found in the My Pals Are Here Science PSLE Revision Guide).
The skills can help your DS in formatting his answer in the Open-Ended section of the Science Paper (Booklet B).
The skills would teach him what the question is asking for, the answers that should be written down etc.
At the back of the guidebook, there are Case Studies.
They are worked examples to help your child further understand the concepts.
There are also useful mindmaps at the back to summarize each main topic (EG. Energy)
Hope I helped. ^^ -
Thank you livewith_vanilla for sharing these valuable tips :celebrate:
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login