About the STELLAR program

[buds]

qms:

Champion:

The teacher told us that Stellar programme was only rolled out last year (2010), so they are still \"new\" to the system. Is it so? Can any parents advise me on that?

The program itself is not new. Different schools might have introduced the program at different points in time. For my kids' school, it has gone through one \"cycle\", i.e. 6 years.

qms is right... different schools adopted this method at different times.

[buds]

Yong HL:

With this Stellar, will the CAs and SAs go accordingly to what is covered during the school terms?

Yes, correct.

Language for our P1 kiddies these days is via the Stellar Programme.
During Eng lessons big story books are introduced to students and the
grammar content of the English Language circles around the theme of
a particular book for the whole week/month.

There will be some wksheets that come with the Stellar books and the
other worksheets are mostly teacher-prepared-materials to supplement
the book's theme.

My DD's CAs were tabulated based on Formative Assessment Rubrics.

Yong HL:

And should we be revising with our kids based on what has been covered during the terms too?

My DD has work based on Stellar brought home so we know what she
has read in school and which part of grammar is being introduced as
well. We are always updated. The school also has given a full
curriculum of what's gonna be covered within the month. Her
previous school had fun assignments to do based on the bk's
theme... like in The Giant's Ice-cream... the school organised
a Make Your Own Ice-cream Day and when they were on The
Hungry Giant theme.. they had Sandwich Making Day.
They also had to write something about sandwich making aft
the fun project. This is what my DD wrote for her written
expression. Click on this blue link for direct access.

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/p1-written-expression

Yong HL:

Or shld we just forget about stellar's pace and just buy our own assessment books for general practices?

I still purchase the My Pals books to work with my children at home to
provide the structured part of language on top of what they are doing
for Stellar. No harm to get your own resources to add to what they r
doing in school as long as they do not have too much on their plate
already.

Yong HL:

I just went to popular to source for \"suitable\" english assessment books. Most authors indicated that its \"according to latest MOE syllabus\" (which i suppose its the stellar since most schools are adopting it). But seems to me, they cover much more than the stellar for the term....

Errr... think they are 2 different things entirely. I also get the Casco Pass
English assessment books for them. It covers everything from listening
compre, composition, grammar, vocabulary, cloze passage and compre
passage/questions. Even oral pictures are included. I also have a few
other oral exam resources at home to practise with my girls. See here.

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/tackling-primary-school-oral-examinations

> http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/tackling-oral-examination-ii

For me, i personally find my girls' school do A LOT already using the
Stellar Pgrm and also having a lotta fun. Then again, i also suppose
it also depends on the teacher? Probably not all teachers adopt the
thematic fun projects and assignments? Worksheets alone is one
very thick booklet.

[plum-cake]

Hi Buds,

Thanks again for sharing… You’ve mentioned that you are using mypals are here to teach… may I ask which one is that? because my pals have many titles…

Thanks

[janet88]

This Stellar program for teaching English uses story books to teach the kids in a fun way…from what I heard, some schools even let the kids dress up on certain days.


Found my son’s old English textbooks…matched page by page with My Pals Eng Homework book. I teach my gal from the textbook and then reinforce using Homework book. We revised ‘articles’ and ‘verbs’ yesterday.

[plum-cake]

You can get more infor and some activities from this website

http://www.stellarliteracy.sg/

[buds]

plum-cake:

Hi Buds,

Thanks again for sharing.... You've mentioned that you are using mypals are here to teach.. may I ask which one is that? because my pals have many titles...

Thanks

Not to teach really but to ensure DD gets the structured part of English
as compared to Stellar. I got the Handbook P1/P2... the activity books,
homework and test books. Other than that i also get the Casco's Pass
English assessment book. This lot is more than enough for the whole
year already.

To date, i must conclude that i love what DD does for all her Stellar
sessions!

While some of the books have been read during pre-school's reading
programme... the extension activities from the selected books used
for Stellar are what that makes up for the English content like grammar,
written expression, vocabulary, comprehension, hands-on projects and
written assignments plus show and tell.

She's still doing Stellar @ P2 and i love it!

Unstructured yes... but a more interesting approach to learning the language. :celebrate:

The assignments are usually the same across the level, so i do not think
that it depends on the teacher what is to be done... but rather all teachers
for that level have discussed and vetoed and agreed upon the lesson and
extended activities to be done for the whole year. That said, it depends
how \"interesting\" the teacher can be or wanna be to go out of his/her way
to make Stellar more interactive & engaging so children will learn to love
the language and speak the language... properly. :love:

[plum-cake]

buds:

it depends

how \"interesting\" the teacher can be or wanna be to go out of his/her way
to make Stellar more interactive & engaging so children will learn to love
the language and speak the language... properly.

Well said, :celebrate:
Thank you.

[buds]

You're most welcome. :please:

[Yong HL]

Buds, thanks for the comprehensive tips


In fact, similar to you, i myself also bought grammar and general english assessment books for her general practices at home too. I've seen the caso pass english book you mentioned, it seems \"chim\" to me.. :oops:

And you mentioned about the oral examinations. Gosh! mati liao. my daughter is like a mouse in school.. how to get her to talk? may i ask what is the title of the oral assessment books you mentioned in your link? Thanks much again..

[Yong HL]

plum-cake:

Hi Young HL,
Stellar is a program which makes the children to read. only the way of teaching/precenting has changed. that is the \"theam\". thoes days the they teached according to a particular theam. now the theam is the story book. so go ahead buy the assesment books and revise. grammar is grammar. no body can change that

haha.. thanks plum-cake..