Preparing kids for P5 in 2011

[cimman]

janet_lee88:

Hi Mummies,

My hubby finally waved the white flag last night...after insisting he can coach Maths. So I'm desperately looking for an affordable Maths centre for son. Friend recommended Newtons Apple...will call and check out the place later. 临时抱佛脚.

hee, Maths not so easy to coach. It's one thing to know the solution, normally we will solve it by algebra, it's another to work out the solution using the \"approved\" methods.
Though, sometimes, I find that the questions do call for algebra, except that in place of alphabets, they are using squares, triangles, circles etc to represent unknowns. I think the schools should just teach algebra and get it out of the way. Algebra is easy to understand, just move the unknowns to the left hand side of the equal sign and the numbers to the right hand sign, as they move, the operation changes.

[cimman]

kaka:

Me too fire fighting all the time as my Dd is weak in many fundamentals (I woke up suddenly and realised the fire burning)


Having been through my Ds PSLE last year, the stress is going to build up more and more towards PSLE, thus got to stay cool now, we need to build stamina together with our kids. This is especially with my Dd personality, when she is stressed, she became too anxious and her mind will just go blank.

.... meditation .... it calms the mind...

[kaka]

cimman:

I find that with Science, the key issue is not with understanding the concepts, but with expressing the solution. This involves a pretty good foundation of the English language and a logical mind.

My child just uses key words and the sentence structure is not correct, there are grammatical errors and spelling errors. There are also logic issues, like step 1 should occur first before step 2, sometimes the steps are not in sequence in the explanation.
Anyone knows how to resolve such issues ? anyone here shares the same sentiment ?

I am a science grad and I do not know how answer the questions when I first started to help my kids. I can answer in my way but not the way to score points.

Now I teach my kids to remember all the key concepts of the topics, look at the questions, seach through the concepts and look for the appropriate one to apply. I use thematic maps to help her map the concepts.

If I am not wrong, grammar and sentence structure not important in science (ie marks will not be affected), but for spelling, marks will be deducted for wrong spelling of key words.

[tisha]

kaka:

cimman:

I find that with Science, the key issue is not with understanding the concepts, but with expressing the solution. This involves a pretty good foundation of the English language and a logical mind.

My child just uses key words and the sentence structure is not correct, there are grammatical errors and spelling errors. There are also logic issues, like step 1 should occur first before step 2, sometimes the steps are not in sequence in the explanation.
Anyone knows how to resolve such issues ? anyone here shares the same sentiment ?

I am a science grad and I do not know how answer the questions when I first started to help my kids. I can answer in my way but not the way to score points.

Now I teach my kids to remember all the key concepts of the topics, look at the questions, seach through the concepts and look for the appropriate one to apply. I use thematic maps to help her map the concepts.
If I am not wrong, grammar and sentence structure not important in science (ie marks will not be affected), but for spelling, marks will be deducted for wrong spelling of key words.

Can share more how you got the hang of answering the science O.E. We are still struggling with that part.

[kaka]

tisha:

kaka:

[quote=\"cimman\"]I find that with Science, the key issue is not with understanding the concepts, but with expressing the solution. This involves a pretty good foundation of the English language and a logical mind.

My child just uses key words and the sentence structure is not correct, there are grammatical errors and spelling errors. There are also logic issues, like step 1 should occur first before step 2, sometimes the steps are not in sequence in the explanation.
Anyone knows how to resolve such issues ? anyone here shares the same sentiment ?

I am a science grad and I do not know how answer the questions when I first started to help my kids. I can answer in my way but not the way to score points.

Now I teach my kids to remember all the key concepts of the topics, look at the questions, seach through the concepts and look for the appropriate one to apply. I use thematic maps to help her map the concepts.
If I am not wrong, grammar and sentence structure not important in science (ie marks will not be affected), but for spelling, marks will be deducted for wrong spelling of key words.

Can share more how you got the hang of answering the science O.E. We are still struggling with that part.[/quote]I am still learning, though gain some experience going through PSLE with my Ds last year.

Have a good Science guide book, start with a simpler ones as the concepts might be too much for average kids to remember. Then can proceed to more detailed book (the orange PSLE Science Guide works for me). Focus on revising the questions he/she got wrong till she gets the concept and the process skill the question is looking. Repetitive work helps, like in Maths, untill the concepts are clear and she anwers in the way the question is testing regards to process skills. I learn and look for answers together with my Dd, sometimes we google for answers too.
Now her favourite subject is Science.

[Chenonceau]

Tisha, there is an excellent book by Math Heuristics that addresses this issue of answering OE questions. They have some approach called LiSC… I cannot remember book name because my son does not have problems here, but I remember that it explained the whole process very systematically.


Maybe you can find the book in National Library? No harm looking 'cos this book is at $40.

[Brenda10]

Hi, for your information. 5B Visible Thinking In Mathematics is available now in Popular.

[Peony]

Brenda10:

Hi, for your information. 5B Visible Thinking In Mathematics is available now in Popular.

Have seen... may give it a miss, although I have the 5A, coz DD's teacher is giving LOTS of maths worksheets everyday. My assessment books are untouched...

PLUS realise that the worksheets consists of shamelessly lifted questions from the assessment books I have! The kids are \"smart\" enough to recognise. DD will even \"check\" to see if she has the correct answer!

[tisha]

kaka:

tisha:

[quote=\"kaka\"]
I am a science grad and I do not know how answer the questions when I first started to help my kids. I can answer in my way but not the way to score points.

Now I teach my kids to remember all the key concepts of the topics, look at the questions, seach through the concepts and look for the appropriate one to apply. I use thematic maps to help her map the concepts.
If I am not wrong, grammar and sentence structure not important in science (ie marks will not be affected), but for spelling, marks will be deducted for wrong spelling of key words.

Can share more how you got the hang of answering the science O.E. We are still struggling with that part.

I am still learning, though gain some experience going through PSLE with my Ds last year.

Have a good Science guide book, start with a simpler ones as the concepts might be too much for average kids to remember. Then can proceed to more detailed book (the orange PSLE Science Guide works for me). Focus on revising the questions he/she got wrong till she gets the concept and the process skill the question is looking. Repetitive work helps, like in Maths, untill the concepts are clear and she anwers in the way the question is testing regards to process skills. I learn and look for answers together with my Dd, sometimes we google for answers too.
Now her favourite subject is Science. :D[/quote]Thanks kaka for the tips. Will also get that orange book. We only have some book by EPH they are 4 different booklets(System, Energy, ...)
OK, will practise more.
Good to hear that ur DD likes science. DS also luvs science, (but usually what is not his syllabus) only thing is he answers the OE Q so descriptively that I have to remind him that no one is testing his language skills here. :lol: I understand that the expectation is for succint ans with the right key words.

[tisha]

Chenonceau:

Tisha, there is an excellent book by Math Heuristics that addresses this issue of answering OE questions. They have some approach called LiSC... I cannot remember book name because my son does not have problems here, but I remember that it explained the whole process very systematically.


Maybe you can find the book in National Library? No harm looking 'cos this book is at $40.

Thanks Chenonceau for the tip. $40 :!: will look in nlb first. :lol: