Science Guide Books

[teh_oh]

Champion:

teh_oh,
You are another dedicated mummy who prepare your kid way advance of the school's syllabus - Yes, good to stretch his ability a bit more if he is ready for it

Let's encourage and cheer each other's on!:celebrate:

Hi Champion,

Being a SAHP, I have no excuse not to coach my child. I usually only do the introductory unless the child is keen to learn more and asks more questions. Knowing what is to be covered in school actually gives me a peace of mind and I can adjust my expectations of my child basing on the difficulty of the curriculum (my husband can't believe primary science is so difficult until we bugged him with plenty of questions 8)). Additionally, if my child faces difficulty understanding, we have no pressure to pursue and will leave it to the teacher to cover it when the class reaches that topic.

You are a FTWP, so your load is heavier. You also have 3 children. It's not easy having to split your attention (and resources) .

[janet88]

Champion:

teh_oh:

[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]I just bought Science Explorer this afternoon...P3, P4 and P6.

This morn, I was just filling in answers in Science PSLE past year papers for him to learn in OE section...really demanding dread to think of next year when he is P6. So much to remember.

Hi Janet,
We parents are doing more work than the children. Hope they appreciate what we are doing for them.

Janet,
I am full of salute & admiration for your determination & dedication towards your son's academic progress:ugogirl: ...your son is so fortunate to have you as his dear mummy :love:

Let's encourage and cheer each other's on!:celebrate:[/quote]Hi Champion,
As a SAHM, I can't bear to sit back and do nothing. Education system is so tough, esp Math. I hope he will mature and realize his exams are not a laughing matter...yes, it's tough I agree but he's not the only one sitting for exams. Thank goodness I only have 2 kids. It's going to be tough on you though...working and keeping track.

[Champion]

Hi Janet & teh_oh,

Thanks for the sharing and encoragement; appreciates much :thankyou:

Yes, being a working mum and 3 kids really not easy to split the time and to catch up with the school works. So, I remind myself to talk to DD1 everyday to know about her school work :lol:.

I am still learning from all you parents here and hope to share more infos.... :celebrate:

[janet88]

teh_oh:

janet_lee88:

HI teh_oh,

P4 is going to be tough bcos there are 3 topics under Science to complete...Cycles (life cycles of plants & animals), Interaction (magnets) and Energy (Heat & Light). My hubby did a better job explaining Interaction and Energy to him.

Hi Janet,
Yes. I don't know why the school did not want to 'follow the norm' to include cycles in P3 because Interaction is such a small topic. Maybe they don't want to overwhelm the P3s students as science is a new topic this year. Cycles and Systems are two heavy topics, so I think they should have split it into two years.

Cycles & Systems not a tough topics compared to Interaction.
Interaction (involving magnets, properties) is not easy...better taught at P4, like what you mentioned, P3s just started with Science this year.

[Champion]

janet_lee88:

Cycles & Systems not a tough topics compared to Interaction.
Interaction (involving magnets, properties) is not easy...better taught at P4, like what you mentioned, P3s just started with Science this year.

I am wondering why did MOE introduce Science @ P3 only and they allocate so little time (4 periods of 30 minutes each) :? And the pathetic textbooks....:stupid: ...Especially now nearing the SA1, the teacher seems like rushing thru the topics and just dish out h/w for kids to do at home ..

[janet88]

Champion:

janet_lee88:

Cycles & Systems not a tough topics compared to Interaction.
Interaction (involving magnets, properties) is not easy...better taught at P4, like what you mentioned, P3s just started with Science this year.

I am wondering why did MOE introduce Science @ P3 only and they allocate so little time (4 periods of 30 minutes each) :? And the pathetic textbooks....:stupid: ...Especially now nearing the SA1, the teacher seems like rushing thru the topics and just dish out h/w for kids to do at home ..

Introducing Science at P2 would be cruel. Regarding the pathetic textbooks, there is nothing we can do but invest in good guide books to coach and teach.
Teachers in school teach just basic Science, not even good enough to pass exams. If want our kids to score, have to download past year papers to exposure them to different styles of questions and teach them KEYWORDS.

Hubby & I complement each other...he has no interest in 'wordy' stuff like cycles and systems but does a good job with magnets and electricity.

[Champion]

janet_lee88:

Teachers in school teach just basic Science, not even good enough to pass exams. If want our kids to score, have to download past year papers to exposure them to different styles of questions and teach them KEYWORDS.

For this aspect, I really must agree TOTALLY - after I join this forum, then I know CANNOT rely on the textbooks alone:x

janet_lee88:

Hubby & I complement each other...he has no interest in 'wordy' stuff like cycles and systems but does a good job with magnets and electricity.

Janet, you are so lucky :lol: - my hubby will tell me,\"Err...I am a \"Play\" daddy so when the kids need a break from the routine study, please pass the baton to me and i shall take over from there!\" :roll:...So, mummy has to outsource Science & EL Creative Writing to tutor to teach and Mummy to back up and support DD1 in the assessment + guide books. .....

[CharleneX]

Hi


As above, any recommnendation as I would like to prepare my P2 DS for the subject.

Thanks in advance.

[Chenonceau]

CharleneX:

Hi


As above, any recommnendation as I would like to prepare my P2 DS for the subject.

Thanks in advance.

I am thinking that P2 is too early for structured science assessment practices. Before you drill, you need to learn. The way to learn scientific thinking skills (which is heavily emphasized in Upper Primary syllabus) is to do experiments. There is plenty you can do and you can buy books entitled 101 Science Experiments to do at home.

My son has no problems in Science even with Upper Primary Top School Papers (and we don't do assessments) because we started doing experiments when he was in Pampers.

You can take red paint, put in a bottle of hot water. Immerse the bottle of hot red water in a pail of cold water and watch the \"volcano explode\". You can grow mould on rice. Put one bowl in the dark and another bowl in the sun. How come one grow the other dun grow? Put a hardboiled egg (with shell on) in rice vinegar - observe what happens.

You can google for explanations if you dunno them. This way, your child has a foundation of activities and scientific experience that will make it easier for him or her to understand the theory when teacher teaches in class.

Just my 2 cents.

[teh_oh]

janet_lee88:

Champion:

[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]
Cycles & Systems not a tough topics compared to Interaction.
Interaction (involving magnets, properties) is not easy...better taught at P4, like what you mentioned, P3s just started with Science this year.

I am wondering why did MOE introduce Science @ P3 only and they allocate so little time (4 periods of 30 minutes each) :? And the pathetic textbooks....:stupid: ...Especially now nearing the SA1, the teacher seems like rushing thru the topics and just dish out h/w for kids to do at home ..

Introducing Science at P2 would be cruel. Regarding the pathetic textbooks, there is nothing we can do but invest in good guide books to coach and teach.
Teachers in school teach just basic Science, not even good enough to pass exams. If want our kids to score, have to download past year papers to exposure them to different styles of questions and teach them KEYWORDS.

Hubby & I complement each other...he has no interest in 'wordy' stuff like cycles and systems but does a good job with magnets and electricity.[/quote]Hi Janet and Champion,
My take will be if MOE wants to introduce science at P2, they can use the whole year to touch on Diversity (without materials). Classification and living things in my opinion is like general knowledge.

Hi Janet,
Is Interactions difficult? We skim through notes on Janet Sim's Interaction book and looks like mainly covers magnets. To my child, he prefers such science than wordy stuff like materials (needing to know what materials is natural or man-made, knowing some animals'/plants characteristics for classification purpose etc), so I feel that next year will be tough on us with Cycles and Systems being wordy stuff.