First Day of School

Dear all,

Hope you enjoyed the first day of school of getting to know one another and adjusting to life in Primary 5. Primary 5 is definitely an important year and it defines your path to PSLE. As mentioned in class, you really need to work hard to get your basics right and set yourself up for next year. Do work hard and my target set for you is to have my 100% passes for English. We will work towards it and from the 100% passes, we will then aim for our As!

Important reminders:

• Do bring your Health Booklets for the P5 health checkup which will take place in this month of January. Pass it up to your form teacher, Ms Sun. 
• Get ready 2 exercise books for English - 1 titled 'English Journal Writing' and the other titled 'Newspaper Articles'
• Do bring your foolscap paper to class as we will need it for Dictation, Spelling and Composition writing. 

Tips to improve your English:

• The most important tip is to simply read and in reading, it means that you have to read novels, newspaper articles and world knowledge. Avoid just reading comics. Reading not only helps you to understand different perspectives (points of view of writing) but also helps you to brush up your grammar and vocabulary content. 
• Practise on grammar exercises (tenses and plural/singularity as one of the most important rules of grammar)
• Practise on vocabulary items (especially useful for vocab cloze, comprehension cloze, composition writing)
• Newspaper articles are very useful as most of the cloze passages in your exam papers are based on newspaper articles. 

As mentioned, I will definitely try to lighten your homework load. I believe in going through work with you in class and having you to understand what I teach than to keep pumping you with work. You need to understand the content I teach before you apply them to your work. 

Don't forget my rules for you and the routines I have set for you. Very importantly, I believe that you must have your character in place (motivation level and the passion for learning) before you will be able to improve and score well. Have a positive attitude and do not every give up. With great character, we can then learn better. As such, my 3 rules for you:

Rule #1 

WE ARE A FAMILY

This is top of my list for the fact that you will be together for the next 2 years. I have seen my P6 class stick together through thick and thin and graduated as a close unit just last year. The camaraderie formed has helped them through the ups and downs. As such, team spirit is important. We work for one another and help one another. Likewise, I am in this with you and promise to take you guys through your studies and character building.

Rule #2

DO YOUR BEST, PASS UP ALL WORK ON TIME

In everything you do, it is 100% effort and nothing less. I understand that some days, we do get tired and would like to take short cuts in our lives but you have to always remember that, you need to put in your best effort if not you will not see results. There are no shortcuts in life. You need to work hard for your goals. Work given is important and helps you to grow and learn. I really seek your help to submit work on time so that I in turn can mark and pass them back to you on time.

Rule #3

LISTEN ATTENTIVELY

In terms of respect, this rule is integral to establishing good communication between you and me. A teacher's lesson is measured by effective communication in delivering my message and lesson across to the students. Focus and understand in you classroom learning. Put all distractions aside and strive for excellence.

This short week is drawing to a close and the real teaching will begin next week. Here's to a good year for all pupils and parents. :)

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong