EY ES NEWS

Toddler Mathematics
Written by Ms. Ann

“Can you see a circle? Yes, I can!  Can you see a triangle? Yes, I can!” This song became the class theme song during Maths time. While singing, they linked their tiny fingers to form these shapes.

Learning the basic shapes and colours is just the beginning of mathematical journey. This term the class learnt the basic shapes like circles, triangles, and squares. The class played matching games where they had to match different shapes to their name and structure. They also learnt about colours and classifying different shapes based on their colour. The little learners were enthusiastic about their newfound knowledge.

Additionally, the children were encouraged to visualise, manipulate, and create shapes using different materials. Overall, the class had fun and engaging sessions during Maths time, and their enthusiasm was contagious. Through these activities, they learnt new concepts, developed important skills, and built the foundation for their future mathematical learning.

Nursery Literacy
Written by Ms. Ann

This term, the Nursery class continued to learn letter sounds and formations using Jolly Phonics. The children participated in singing songs and performing actions to represent the letters, while also adding new vocabulary words to their word banks. Exciting activities were incorporated to keep the children engaged, while also allowing them to become familiar with sight words. Through songs, games, and rhymes, the children worked on mastering these skills. Additionally, the class engaged in various activities such as peeling oranges, slicing bananas, squeezing lemons, exploring jelly and pretending to be firefighters. They also played pretend games based on the story "We're Going on a Lion Hunt," which challenged them to navigate through different obstacles. Many vocabularies were learnt during the read-aloud stories and skills were enhanced through hand-on activities.

Overall, mastering phonics and sight words takes time and practice, but with patience and a little creativity, learners will develop reading skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

Pre-K Field Trip
Written by Ms. Ruby

Field trips are valuable in early childhood education, as they provide opportunities for children to learn in a hands-on and engaging way. It's wonderful to see children learning and having fun at the same time! Pre-K children had such a fun and educational field trip to Branchsto BSD on March 14th, 2023! They had a variety of hands-on experiences that helped them learn about caring for animals as well as enjoy fun activities like riding a pony and a barrel train. Field trips can be exciting, stimulating, and sometimes exhausting for young children as they explore and engage with new environments and experiences. But the lasting memories and learning experiences that they gain from such trips can be priceless. It's great to see that the children enjoyed their day and returned to school with positive feelings and hopefully, a deeper appreciation for the world around them.

K1 Understanding the World
Written by Ms. Klara

Children are logically curious, full of thoughts and questions, and motivated to observe everything around them. This term, the K1 students explored plants and animals, shared their discoveries, and became more respectful of all living things around them.

Being introduced to the conservation of plants and animals increases the children's awareness and reinforces their language skills and social, emotional, and physical health. The importance of plants and animals lays the foundation for the students’ perspective of living things and how they transform over time. The K1 students realised that all living things have needs — including food and water. They depend on other living beings and nonliving things in their surroundings to meet their requirements and continue to exist.

To start respecting Mother Nature, the K1 students got to know more about it and love it. Thus, they had some fun and hands-on creative activities such as:

• Nature Walk: Getting up close to nature and discovering the natural world, the students were fascinated to learn more about the conversations between plants and animals

• Art is a way: Creating different crafts from the plants and animals they’ve learnt

• Plant a Garden: Enhancing a sense of responsibility to take care of their plants and help them grow

K2 Field Trip 

Written by Ms. Diane and Ms. Lorely

About 10 km from school was where the K2 team headed for a short trip to Burger King. Are we making you hungry? Yes, we spent a few hours of our day learning beyond the four walls of our classroom, getting acquainted with ingredients, equipment, and identifying the materials the machines were made of, including the procedures, cooking and prepping stations inside their off-limits kitchen. Not everyone is given that opportunity to meddle in their working space right? 

Oh, before we forget, our ecstatic kids have had a first hand experience of taking ice cream from the ice cream maker.  It was a simple task, but for these little kiddos, it was one load of a memorable experience! Another significant part of the trip was giving the children a good feel of how these burgers are put together. They had a chance to assemble their own burgers as they put the layers together and wrapped them before taking that first huge bite!  Their ability to follow directions and to be patient was truly put to the test. 

The highlights of this excursion were the overall experience given to these kids. It was a productive field trip and let’s face it … burgers, french fries, and ice cream are hard to resist for kids and adults alike. 😉

ES Spirit Week

Written by Ms. Kelly

Spirit week is an exciting time for elementary school students to show their creativity and enthusiasm. During this three-day celebration, students and teachers were allowed to dress up in different themes and bond with each other. It surely helped to build a sense of community within the school and gave students a break from the regular routine.

The event kicked off with Twins Day, in which teachers and students dressed up in twins, triplets, or even quadruplets.

The theme of the second day is pajamas, which is definitely one of the easiest costumes for the ES students to prepare. To match the costumes, some students even brought their pillows and soft toys along.  

“Today is the coolest day ever as I can just wear my pajamas from home to school without changing it!” one of the students exclaimed.

The finale of the event is the crazy hair day.  For sure, our students will never want to miss this golden opportunity to come to school with rather “different” hair styles. Some of the boys came to school with ponytails while some girls went far beyond and used up the rubber bands at home to style their hair on that day.

It is amazing to see the creativity and the amount of effort the students and teachers exerted for this event to make it extraordinary fun.    

ES Pi Day Celebration
Written by Mr. Christian

Pi Day Celebration in School: A Day of Mathematical Fun and Learning

Every year on March 14th, maths enthusiasts around the world celebrate Pi Day in honour of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is a fun way to celebrate and appreciate the beauty of mathematics, and schools around the world often participate in various Pi Day events to promote the importance of mathematics in our daily lives.

In SWA, the Pi Day celebration is always a highlight of the year. The day is filled with a variety of activities that encourage students to explore maths in fun and creative ways. Here are some of the Pi Day events that took place in our school this year:

Pi Day Artworks: 

Students are encouraged to create Pi-themed artworks. The artworks are then displayed in the school lobby for all to see. This encourages students to think creatively about maths and helps them to appreciate the beauty of numbers and shapes.

Guesstimation: 

Guesstimation is a fun and challenging game that tests students' estimation skills. Students are given various objects and are asked to estimate how many there are. The student who comes closest to the actual number wins. This game helps students develop their spatial reasoning skills and their ability to make educated guesses.

Math Champion of the Class: 

The Math Champion of the Class event is a friendly competition that pits students against each other to determine who has the best maths skills. Students are given a series of maths problems to solve, and the student who completes the problems the fastest with the fewest mistakes is declared the winner. This event encourages healthy competition and helps students to develop their problem-solving skills.

Maths Amazing Race: 

The Math Amazing Race is a fast-paced event that tests students' maths skills under pressure. Students are divided into teams and must race to solve a series of challenges. The team that completes the challenges in the shortest amount of time wins. This event encourages teamwork and helps students sharpen their maths skills under pressure.

Overall, the Pi Day celebration in our school is always a fun and exciting day for students and teachers alike. It encourages students to think creatively about maths and helps them to appreciate the importance of maths in our daily lives. Through events such as the Pi Day Artworks, Guesstimation, Math Champion of the Class, and Math Amazing Race, students are able to develop their maths skills in a fun and engaging way.

Grade 1 ICT

Written by Ms. Kelly

As part of the SWA ICT/Robotics programme, the Grade 1 students were given opportunities to explore Lego WeDo during their ICT/Robotics lessons during Term 3. These lessons provide young learners with hands-on experiences in robotics and programming, all while having fun with one of their favourite toys: Legos.

With Lego WeDo, students are given a set of Lego bricks and a programming interface that allows them to control the movements of the bricks. By building simple machines and robots with the Legos, students can learn about engineering and mechanics while improving their problem-solving skills.

In Grade 1, Lego WeDo lessons typically start with simple projects like building a car or a moving animal. Students are then introduced to basic programming concepts, such as loops and conditional statements. They begin to program their creations to move and perform specific tasks. 

These lessons are a fantastic way to introduce young learners to the world of robotics and computer programming. They foster creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration as students work together to design and program their projects. Lego WeDo lessons also provide a fun and engaging way to teach STEM concepts to young learners, setting them up for future success in these fields.

Below are some of the projects done by the Grade 1 students:

Grade 2 Arts

Written by Mr. Ezard

Triangle, square, and circle are the basic shapes but the Grade 2 students learned more in art class. They tried to draw different kinds of shapes, such as irregular shapes and organic shapes. They created their own futuristic city by drawing various shapes. They came up with some interesting ideas and they were free to use any shapes in their buildings It was an interesting project and the students could creatively express their imagination.

Grade 3 Field Trip

Written by Ms. Olive

The purpose of the field trip to Pizza Hut Paramount Serpong was to provide students with an interactive learning experience that would enhance their understanding of real-world concepts and their applications in Math, Science, English, and Bahasa Indonesia. Through this trip, students had the opportunity to apply their knowledge in practical situations and connect their learning to real-life experiences.

Upon arrival, the students were welcomed by the friendly crew and were given aprons and Pizza Junior hats before heading to their stations. To begin, the students danced and sang, and some even volunteered to sing for the class. Following this, the students attentively listened to the instructions on how to make pizza, and showed their creativity in designing their own pizza.

While waiting for their pizzas to cook, the students answered questions in their booklet, and demonstrated their thinking skills by solving various problems related to the concepts they learned. Overall, the field trip was an enjoyable and fun experience for the students, who showed their thoughtfulness by only eating a portion of their pizza and taking the rest home to share with their parents.

In summary, the Pizza Hut field trip provided G3 students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a practical and engaging way while also fostering their creativity, thinking skills, and consideration for others.

Grade 4 Chinese Language

Written by Mr. Shen and Mr. Andy

最近，四年级的学生在学习《科目》后制作了自己的学习海报。这些海报展示了学生们正在学习的科目，并强调了这些科目的重要性。

在这些海报中，许多学生写出了自己喜欢的科目，并能表达出所喜欢科目的原因。如：许多学生强调了学习中文和科学的重要性。

总的来说，这些学生制作的海报反映了他们对学习科目的重视也是展示自己的学习成果和学习动力的一种有力方式，同时也激励其他学生更加努力地学习。

Recently, Grade 4 students created their own study posters after learning about "Subjects". These posters showcased the subjects the students were studying and emphasised their importance. Within these posters, many students wrote about their favourite subjects and were able to express the reasons why they enjoyed them. For example, many students emphasised the importance of learning Chinese language and science.

Overall, these posters, which reflect the students' emphasis on the importance of different subjects, serve as a powerful way to showcase their learning achievements and motivation, while also inspiring other students to work harder in their studies.

Grade 5 Field Trip

Written by Mr. Jay

Three . . . two . . . one . . . blast off!  

Grade 5 had a blast on their Term 3 field trip to Sky World at Taman Mini! In addition to learning all about space and the history of human space travel, they also were able to enjoy other activities that made the experience a day to remember!

The journey began with a tour guide walking them through the history of space exploration. They learned about the first rocket ships and lunar landings. They also learned about the stars, planets, and solar system. They capped this off with a 3D movie ride, where the seats in the theatre also rotated and moved like they were on a rollercoaster, which was a huge hit (despite causing them to scream most of the time).  

They then advanced to a large auditorium where they learned about the stars and solar system through a presentation that was displayed on the ceiling.  This too was a huge hit with them, as well as numerous other children attending from different schools. It was truly a very educational experience and something they all were engaged in.  

Next, they graduated to shooting water rockets outside.  Despite getting a bit wet, this was also a huge highlight, as they all got an opportunity to pump water into a bottle and then let it shoot out into the sky.  As much fun as they had shooting these bottle rockets, they had equally as much fun as trying to then catch them too.  

Finally, after a brief lunch time, many finished the day with a game of laser tag!  While some battled it out inside playing tag, others decided to try the rock wall climb or jump on the trampoline.  It was a really fun way to end the field trip on a high note!  Overall, the trip seemed to resonate with them and they had a great day!