Journals

Hi all, pls remember to hand in your journals on Monday. You are supposed to reflect on the happenings on the first day of school.
Kenneth, I will give you the spelling list on Monday. Apologies for not typing the words here.

Eng/ Math Homework for this week:
Math WB (2 pages)
English WB Comprehension
Journals
Bring money to buy books and ODT

Thanks to those who decorated the class today. Special mention goes to Samuel and Wey Ian for staying back till the end to clear up the mess. We've also found an artist in Zhijie.

Nevertheless, many of you wanted to leave after painting, and did not offer to help clean up the room. There was paint splattered all over, the desks and chairs were not properly arranged, and the whole classroom was in disarray. Who do you think should do the cleaning up?

The fun part is always easy to do, but character is built when we show responsibility in doing the necessary but not so interesting bit. I hope the pupils who stay back subsequently can demonstrate responsibility.

5 Jan 06

Today we learnt.........

English
"To" is usually followed by the infinitive (base form).
E.g.
He seems to like ice-cream.
You have to take your medicine three times a day.

I also gave 2 instances when "to" is not followed by the infinitive.
1) I am looking forward to meeting you/ I am looking forward to watching the movie with you.
2) I prefer swimming to jogging.

We also learnt that a clause is a part of a sentence that contains its own verb.
E.g.
"She went to the market early as she wanted to avoid the crowd.
"She wanted to avoid the crowd" is a clause. It has its own verb -wanted.

Mathematics
Division involving algebra

Congratulations!

The following are EAGLES awardees for 2005:
Randall and Rachel
Well done! Continue to contribute to FMPS in your unique ways.

The following are Good Progress Awardees for 2005:
Caryn, Zhi Jie, Kenneth, Jie En, Gavin, Janice, Lorraine, Joshua, Reuben
You did well too! Keep working hard!

To the rest of the class, do continue to strive for better results. Aim high! One pupil in the class is aiming for a PSLE aggregate score of 300! Be the first Singaporean to do so!

Praying along with you. =)

Common errors in algebra 1

Error 1

Question:
Harun has $m. He spends $5 . How much does Harun have left? Give your answer in terms of m.

Correct answer:
$m-$5 = $(m-5)
Harun has $(m-5) left.

Wrong answer:
Harun has $m - $5 left.

Explanation:
Technically, although $m - $5 is equal to $(m-5), $m - $5 is not simplified.
For example, we do not write "I have $7-$5 left". Instead, we say "I have $2 left".
The unit of measurement should only appear once.

Error 2

Some pupils still wrote j x 7 = j7.

Explanation:
In algebra, we always write the number before the letter.

Overall comments for Practice 1:
Most pupils did the assignment neatly and well. A number of you scored full marks. Well done!

Those who did not score full marks made careless mistakes or did not follow my instructions regarding the brackets and units of measurement. Do try to minimise that!