Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary

[Happy Mama]

FQW:

I where got siam? Though the thought of having another freaks me out when I think of the interrupted nights, incessant crying, inevitable sickness returning to haunt me.

Yes that's true. We've long gone through the incessant crying stage, so the thought of going through the whole process again can certainly be very tiring and stressful.

FQW:

But fear not. After the first one, I've devised a way to make milk in the wee hours of the morning using my leg. How? I just kick my wife and say 'Oei, baby is crying, go and make milk leh.' Muahahaha :rotflmao:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao:

FQW:

PTC was the usual stuff, same as last year - no problems, all fine. The only interesting thing was that T noticed ds doesn't mix with gals. So I explained to her that playing with gals is something ds won't be caught dead with.

Really? Your DS is really cute. Hope to be able to meet him in person one day.

[Jennifer]

FQW:

Since PH has been doing well for PSLE last few yrs

This cant be a measure of how well the school is preparing her pupils.

I know for sure my elder boy's A* in Science is NOT the school's effort.

I know for sure my younger boy's achievement in P3 is NOT the teachers' effort.

:mad:

[Jennifer]

janet_lee88:

Jennifer:

This year Parents-Teachers conferencing, I needed to see only 2 teachers- FT is the EL & Sci teacher, CL teacher is away on the sch overseas trip.


I brought up my concern abt less worksheets given to the pupils and got a confirmation from the FT that the sch is indeed moving away from giving worksheets as many parents had feedback that the qty of worksheets were too much!

Obviously, some pupils need more worksheets. Now the sch is not giving, it becomes the parents' job to give & monitor at home :mad:

Hey Jennifer,
Same here. Son's Chinese teacher is away in Surabaya for some exchange program...so, we had to meet FT (Math/Science) and Eng teacher.

Looks like the school is moving towards the MOE's idea of 'Teach Less, Learn More'. Fortunately, my son in P6 still has worksheets. For Eng, it's better for school to continue giving worksheets bcos it's really too broad a subject...his EL teacher did mention giving him a little extra practice if time permits.
The baton of educating is passed back to the parents...so that explains why your boy in P5 this year has lesser homework than my son in P5 last year.

Janet, does your boy write journal?

During my elder boy's time, the EL teacher made it compulsory to write a journal every week, for the topics brought up by the school during assembly, any special celebration events, etc.

Last year, my younger boy only wrote 1 journal - about myself. The exercise book was not used at all after that.

This year, the EL teacher printed out a list of what-to-do to improve EL standard and journal writing was one of the recommendations. Again, the task of enforcing, monitoring, discussing what is written is passed back to parents :stompfeet:

The MA teacher is also a disappointment. He believed my boy is capable to do more, but is not willing to do more. So? He does not push? I was so angry, I sort of told him off that it is the sch responsibility to assign work & to push the pupils. Why else shld I leave my child in sch for 8 hours doing the minimal, then go back home to do more worksheets to be given by parents becos the sch does not give in the sch?

Sorry for the ranting. I am really very disappointed.

[IJJ]

I am sorry to hear that, Jennifer. While I believe that teacher cannot do miracle during the school hour and the student (with parents) has to do his/her part to work on the learning off school hours, I think the teacher has to take the lead to motivate and educate.


Talking about journal writing, I agree that it is critical to develop style and good writing skills. Although not limiting to journal writing, but journal writing cultivates a more regular habit of writing, IMO.

The teachers here put strong emphasis on writing, be it journal, short story, poetry, I can see my eldest started to develop a more in-depth interest in reading and writing. Nowadays when she reads, she does not only read for the story, but also observe/study the unique style by the author (language, sequences, mood development etc). When she loves a particular style by a particular author, she will get to share that in class.

If the school is not able to provide this, perhaps, you would like to do it at home, it does not have to be daily. Read a book together with the child, work on a reading journal each (yours and the child) and review through upon completion of reading. You will get to see the different perspectives and help the child develop interest on both reading and writing.

My eldest is also doing dairy writing, a couple of times week, it does not have to be long, a few sentences to 2-3 pages when she is in the lor-so mood. She also does fiction writing and is currently working on one for the children’s literature festival.

[janet88]

Hi Jennifer,

My son has to write a journal every now and then...this week, he has to produce one with 350 words. I'm not involved with his school homework this year...hands off since he was in P4. Not done or forget to bring, prepare to get punished. Have to learn what responsibility is.

I dont understand why PH cannot allocate Math teachers to help kids handle the crazy tough problems at P5. Why wait till P6 ? It's too late !!! There is so much to learn and time is SO short this year. No way can we possibly depend on school at all :mad: school literally forced parents to outsource.

[janet88]

FQW:

Happy Mama:

See! Now he siam already. :rotflmao:

But fear not. After the first one, I've devised a way to make milk in the wee hours of the morning using my leg. How? I just kick my wife and say 'Oei, baby is crying, go and make milk leh.' Muahahaha :rotflmao:

FQW,
Did you say 'make milk'? I thought human machine is 24/7? :rotflmao:
Sorry everyone :offtopic:

Whether it's newborn or 8 years old, kids will still cry and 'manja'.
My daughter here kept me up all night for the past 2 nights...high fever.
Pray hard the education minister keeps Phase 2A2, and you now, try for #2. :evil:

[php]

janet_lee88:

Hi Jennifer,

My son has to write a journal every now and then...this week, he has to produce one with 350 words. I'm not involved with his school homework this year...hands off since he was in P4. Not done or forget to bring, prepare to get punished. Have to learn what responsibility is.

I dont understand why PH cannot allocate Math teachers to help kids handle the crazy tough problems at P5. Why wait till P6 ? It's too late !!! There is so much to learn and time is SO short this year. No way can we possibly depend on school at all :mad: school literally forced parents to outsource.

i tot this year is longer than last 3 years....you have one extra day...hahaha.....

[janet88]

php:

janet_lee88:

I dont understand why PH cannot allocate Math teachers to help kids handle the crazy tough problems at P5. Why wait till P6 ? It's too late !!! There is so much to learn and time is SO short this year. No way can we possibly depend on school at all :mad: school literally forced parents to outsource.

i tot this year is longer than last 3 years....you have one extra day...hahaha.....

It's only like 6 months more to go before PSLE.
Oral starts in Aug :frustrated: I really dread to think of the crazy times ahead. It's nerve-wrecking man.

[iRabbit]

Jennifer:

During my elder boy's time, the EL teacher made it compulsory to write a journal every week, for the topics brought up by the school during assembly, any special celebration events, etc.

Last year, my younger boy only wrote 1 journal - about myself. The exercise book was not used at all after that.

This year, the EL teacher printed out a list of what-to-do to improve EL standard and journal writing was one of the recommendations. Again, the task of enforcing, monitoring, discussing what is written is passed back to parents :stompfeet:

The MA teacher is also a disappointment. He believed my boy is capable to do more, but is not willing to do more. So? He does not push? I was so angry, I sort of told him off that it is the sch responsibility to assign work & to push the pupils. Why else shld I leave my child in sch for 8 hours doing the minimal, then go back home to do more worksheets to be given by parents becos the sch does not give in the sch?

Sorry for the ranting. I am really very disappointed.

Jennifer,

You know that your willingness to share the good stuff here made me hold your posts with high regard. Like IJJ, I'm also very sorry to hear of your disappointment. From the way you wrote this post, your disappointment seems almost palpable to me.

Many parents have expressed similar adverse feelings towards PH during this period. All this talk is getting me worried as I don't revise any school work with ds (except for spelling and the occasional presentation), preferring instead to spend the time to do other stuff with him. :gloomy:

[janet88]

Jennifer:

Again, the task of enforcing, monitoring, discussing what is written is passed back to parents :stompfeet:


The MA teacher is also a disappointment. He believed my boy is capable to do more, but is not willing to do more. So? He does not push? I was so angry, I sort of told him off that it is the sch responsibility to assign work & to push the pupils. Why else shld I leave my child in sch for 8 hours doing the minimal, then go back home to do more worksheets to be given by parents becos the sch does not give in the sch?

Sorry for the ranting. I am really very disappointed.

It's ok...no need to apologize. I totally understand what you're going through. It's very sad and frustrating that parents have to monitor and coach kids when school is compulsory.

Back then, my son had CA1 and SA1/2 in P1. I had to be very hands-on with him. This no CA/SA thing in PH now is scary...will kids in P2 know what to do in Oct when they face their first major exam ? Come P3, will they have a bigger shock when there is Science thrown in plus an increase in workload ?