The Real Reason Behind My Resignation

Hi all,

By today, all of you should know that I am no longer with the school. It has been a meaningful journey and I enjoyed being a teacher in 1 Honesty.

It has been really tough. Not because of the students. Not because of my own children. Not because of the workload. It is because I strived to be a good teacher. Sir Ken Robinson puts across 2 points on being a good educator.

Diversity in students
First of all, a good teacher must recognise that all children are different. I have three children on my own and all of them are as different as iron is different from glass. Each has their own unique characteristics. Some of you might have seen me scribbling in my little notebook before. I have a notebook which has 30 pages with a name on each page. I will record my conversations with the student and the conversations I had with the parent. I will do character analysis and try to inspire the child in my day-to-day engagement with him/her. However, the curriculum has a one-size-fit-all approach. Everyone in the class does the same thing and hear the same teaching from the teacher. I tried my best to be as differentiated as possible, but it was a very big struggle to juggle to complete the syllabus.

Many other teachers envy me and thought I have the 'charisma' that appeal to young children. They did not know the work behind the stage. All my conversations with the kids are thought way before I see them in the day. The stories I tell, the things I say to them when they did something wrong, the way I helped them when they got into trouble. It all boils down to how much I know the children and how much I want to inspire them. And, a child will not learn effectively from someone he/she doesn't like.

I think I have done this well as my students love me and at the same time, very afraid of the fierce me.

Learn and not teach
Secondly, a good teacher leads the child to learn. I guess it is very easy for teachers to fall into the trap to just teach and leave the autonomy of learning to the children. This is totally no cool at all. If a lesson is boring and the child cannot learn, the responsibility is not the child's alone.

Teaching is very easy. Making the child learn is very very difficult.

I am very fortunate that I did sales before I joined the profession. I am able to differentiate between selling and making people buy. They are totally two different things. The same is for teaching and making the child learn. It is very possible that a teacher is teaching and the child is totally not learning at all.

I have tried my best to make the lessons as interesting and fun as possible. My P4 students will have a taste of unconventional learning as I make links between the Science experiments and the real world. A student truly learns only when he/she can make generalisations and apply these new rules to the real world.



Currently, I am giving part time tuition. I am sorry that I have to reject many of you as my time-slots were taken up rather quickly and I want to thank you for having that confidence in me. You were the first group I broke the news to. But news spread very fast. There were parents who knew about my departure from other parents and booked me rather quickly.

My advice for you is to practise essay writing with your kid. You have to build structure into the essay and also build vocabulary into it. I recommend my writing program to almost all my tuition students as I find it the most difficult to learn as the student gets older.

My writing program adopts a two-pronged approach by practising two different types of essay writing. One focuses on writing narratives and recounts. The other focuses on building the words they need to produce a good piece of writing.

If any one of you are very interested, you may want to form groups of 5 students and then contact me. I can do a 10-session course for your kids. The group can either come to my house or I can travel to one of the students house for tuition. Writing is one skill that will follow them throughout their lives.

It is just a suggestion.

I miss all of you and I know you all are capable to making difference in this world.

All the best!!!

English Today

Hi all,

We have used some words very frequently this week. Do you still remember how to use them?

- as
- help
- please
- think
- watch

Happy learning!

English Today

Hi all,

We learned about past tense today. Let's go through some of the words again.

- waddled
- watched
- worked
- prowled
- scratched
- scraped
- ran
- told
- said
- kept
- went
- were
- saw

Cheers!

English Today

Hi all,

Let's go through what we have learned in class today: the 'scr-' sound and the '-tch' sound. Some examples would include:

- scribble
- watch
- match
- witch
- screw
- screen
- scrapbook
- catch
- stretch

Happy learning!

English Today

Hi all,

Let's revise the words that we have learned today.

- prowled
- hoes
- farmyard
- thistles
- scratched

Happy learning!

Zoo Pics

As promised, here it is!!

1 Honesty Video PAL

Hi all,

Some of you feedback that the video was not viewable. So I embedded it as YouTube Video instead.

Enjoy!

Spelling List for next Friday, 23 August 2013

watching
luck
scratched
scraped
laid
round
weed
thistles
farmer
hoe

English Today

Hi all,

We learned the conjunction 'or' today. 'Or' is used to join two sentences together to form a new sentence.

Do you want to go jogging?
Do you want to go swimming?

Do you want to go jogging or swimming?

You can see the words 'Do you want to' is repeated and hence removed in the new sentence using 'or'.

Happy learning!

1 Honesty Video 1

Hi all,

As your form teacher, I did not have many chances to take pictures of you as I was always busy teaching. I asked other teachers for your pictures and these were those that they passed to me. Enjoy the video.

By now, you might have realised that I am very delayed in producing the Math videos. My youngest boy is very sensitive to sounds and so I am 'barred' from recording video lessons for these few weeks. I hope you can understand.

I will see if I can find more pictures of you.

I am so excited to go to the zoo with you on Friday! :)

Okay, it's nearly 1 a.m. soon. I need to catch some sleep. See you!

Class Writing: Help Poggy Frog Solve A Problem

Today we tried to solve a problem about Poggy frog and his friends. They wanted to leap across the river to get to the other side of the river bank but they had some problems. There were not enough lily pads and each lily pad can only take the weight of two frogs. The crocodiles will eat the frogs if they drop into the water. At the end of the meeting, our class found the solution to the problem. The frogs finally crossed the river.

Spelling for Week 5 (31 July)

Hi,

The spelling list for this week is:

1. evening
2. best
3. friends
4. grass
5. thirsty
6. share
7. wonderful
8. shoo
9. ground
10. shouting

Have fun learning!

Parenting Tip: 3 Ways To Help Your Child To Be More Focused

http://motivateyourchildnow.blogspot.sg/2013/07/3-ways-to-help-your-child-to-be-more.html

Spelling List for 26 July

Class Writing: Invitation to our Class Party!!!

Dear Miss Chan,

We are going to have a class party next Friday! We would like to invite you to the party because you are special.

The details are:

Date: 26 July
Time: 2.00pm
Place: 1 Honesty classroom

Please let us know if you will be coming.

Have a nice day ahead!

Yours sincerely,
Danny Lim

Top 3 designs for invitation cards:

- Shin Yi
- Michelle
- Boon Shuan

Well done!!!

Spelling List for 19 July

English Today

Hi all,

You may have noticed that we have been using the following words a lot during English lessons this week.

- enough
- head
- out
- would

(^_^)

A new post for those interested in parenting

http://motivateyourchildnow.blogspot.sg/

English Today

Hi all,

We learned how to use the following connectors today.

- but
- and (we learned this before)

Cheers!

English Today

Hi all,

We have learned how to use the following words today.

- he
- she
- his
- her

Happy revising!

English Today

Hi all,

We have learned the following words today.

- birthday
- soup
- candles
- king
- prince
- cook
- gardener
- cake
- hose
- queen
- waggled
- squirted

Happy revising!

Welcome Back To School!!!

Hi all,

I hope all of you had a good holidays. Please follow the below timetable from today.

(^_^)

Parent Teacher Conferencing

Dear parents,

We will be meeting on Friday at the scheduled timing for the above. Please sign and return the report books if you are attending the meeting. If not, you may ask your child to bring the report book after the holidays.

For the holistic assessment file (yellow ring file), please keep it with you until school reopens. I will ask for the collection of the file when needed.

I look forward to meeting you!

Cheers!

Ice Cream Party!!! It was very fun!!!

Spelling for Week 9

Hi all,

Kindly note that Spelling this week has been postponed to next Monday.

Cheers!
Danny Lim

Announcements: Various Forms

Dear parents,

Kindly note that you have to fill up and return the following forms by next Monday.

1. P1 registration forms - have to return even if you are not registering any child for P1 in 2014.
2. Travel declaration form -  have to return a blank form even if you are not travelling during the June holidays.

Thanks!
Danny Lim

Class Writing

Title: Our Tea Party In Class

Last Thursday, we had a tea party in class. Firstly, Mr Lim distributed some snacks to us. Then, we washed our hands before we had our snacks. Next, Mr Lim gave us some tea in very small cups. Our favourite tea was the cranberry tea. We had a lot of fun. It was a happy day.

Our Tea Party In Class: We had fun!!!!

Ordinal Numbers Part 2

For your revision!




Have fun learning!!!

Ordinal Numbers 1

For your revision!

Have fun!!!

English File and Photo Orders

Hi all!

I hope you are having a great weekend! I have returned the English Files for your revision and will be collecting them after 22nd May.

For those who had not handed in your photo orders, please hand in on Monday!

See you back in school soon! (^_^)

Announcements

Dear parents,

Kindly note that I will be returning the Math File to you today for revision. Please do not file in any old worksheets. I will be collecting the files back in Week 9 (20 to 23 May).

Please also fill in the order forms for the class photos and return me by next Monday. You can take a look at the pictures below:

Have fun!

Show and Tell

Hi all,

We are going to have our Show and Tell again this coming week! Be confident and speak clearly.

I will be practicing with you on Tuesday and we will have the actual Show and Tell on Wednesday. Remember to bring your favorite food item or a picture of it.

Have fun!!!

Using our knowledge on Ordinal Numbers

Hi all,

We had a great time today using what we learned about Ordinal Numbers on English stories right? Here are the photos!

Stay happy!!!

Ordinal Numbers in storytelling!!!

Hi all,

Today we learn about how important ordinal numbers are in stories. Without the correct sequence, the story may sound very strange when you read it out.

Here is the story that we did together today:

Happy learning!!!

Length Part 2

Hi all,

Time to revise more on length! Have fun viewing the next video.

http://youtu.be/hR8l9JKS9II

Enjoy revising!!!

Revision for Length Part 1

Hi all,

Another teacher is sharing her videos with me on Length.

http://go.knovio.com/watch/22474b4cf7c44469bc2d6cb402093acb

Have fun!

What we learned today

Let's revise what we have learned today!

The /n/ sound in the beginning of the following words

- nurse
- night
- numbers
- nest
- newspapers
- nine

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJIuwFwW144

Happy learning!!!

What we learned today

Hi!!!

Let's revise what we have learned today.

- tiger
- anteater
- zebra
- hippo
- lizard
- baboon
- bee
- bug
- pie

Happy learning!!!

Individual Writing 2

Hi!!!

We have gone through one class writing and one group writing. Remember to complete your individual writing and hand in on Monday. You may use the helping words below:

Have fun writing!

Feel free to comment!!!

Hi all,

I have enabled commenting without a google account. Feel free to comment!

(^_^)

Class Writing Part 2!!!

Oh no!!!

The Giant is hungry and demands us to give him food, or else, he is going to knock us with his bommy-knocker.

Let's make a sandwich for The Giant!!!

How did we make the sandwich?

Have fun re-reading the procedural writing!

(^_^)

Show and Tell (Graded 10%)

Dear parents,

Kindly note that Show and Tell is conducted from 8 May to 10 May in Week 7.

Cheers!

English: What we learned today...

Hi!!!

Let's revise on what we have learned today!


Countable nouns (Those words that we can put 'a' or 'an' in front of the word. For example, an apple, a car.)
- eggs
- apple
- bun
- orange
- sandwich

Uncountable nouns (Those words that we cannot put 'a' or 'an' in front of it.)
- rice
- bread
- milk
- jam
- honey
- water
- butter

Have fun learning!!! :)

Announcements: Health Booklets

Dear parents,

Kindly note that the health booklets have been returned to your child last Friday. Please text me if you did not receive it.

Thank you.
Mr Danny Lim

What we learned today

Hi!

We have learned two conjunctions today: 'or' and 'so'.

We use the conjunction 'or' when we are presented with a choice. For example, "You can have the orange or the pear."

We use the conjunction 'so' when we are presented with a situation of cause and effect. For example, "The giant is hungry so he wants his food."

Happy learning!

Announcements

Dear parents,

Kindly sign the following Math worksheets and return to me on next Monday.

- Numbers to 20, Practice 1
- Practice 3: Making Number Patterns
- Addition and Subtraction Within 20. Practice 1
- Practice 3: Solving Word Problems

Thank you very much! :)

English: Word Identification Skills

Hi!!!

Let's revise what we have learned today!

The /ee/ sound as in bees and the /ow/ as in Ow!

Words that have /ee/ sound in them
- queen
- bee
- beetle
- cheese
- peel
- sweets

Words that have /ow/ sound in them
- flower
- towel
- crown
- clown
- owl
- crowd
- gown
- cow
- bowl

Happy learning!!!

Announcements

Reminder: Spelling on this Friday

Dear parents,

please note that there is a photo-taking session next Monday, 15 April. Kindly ensure that your child is in school uniform with his/her tie on.

Cheers!!!

English: What we have learned today

Hi!!!

There are two sounds that 'G' can make. The /j/ sound as in giant and the /g/ sound as in girl.

/j/ sound in
- giraffe
- germs
- gentleman
- giant
- genius

/g/
- girl
- goat
- game

Happy learning!!!

English: Vocabulary that we have learned today

Hi!

Let's revise what we have learned today.

- a bee

- a giant

- a pot of honey

- a slab of butter

- a beehive
- bommy-knocker
- bread
- hungry

Happy learning!!!

Video for Word Problems

Hi!!!

For your revision! Children, remember the part-part-whole concept. It is very important.

Happy learning!!!

Individual Writing Homework

Hello parents,

The homework for this weekend is individual writing. Your child has been exposed to a class writing and a group writing before this individual writing. This individual writing can have a very similar structure to the class writing and group writing. It can consist of:

- a beginning (E.g. Today is a sunny day.)
- a story
- an ending (It was a happy day.)

Before writing, we have brainstormed on some of the things we can write on and I have attached it as a picture below for your reference.

Have fun writing!!!

(^_^)

First Writing Activity!!!

Hi all,

We have done a great job in class writing and group writing today! You can find a picture of the class writing below.

Read at your own enjoyment! (^_^)

Subtraction Using Number Bonds

Hi all,

For your revision purposes!

Happy learning!!!

Subtraction By Counting Backwards

Hi all,

Please find latest Math video below!

Happy learning!

Graded Assessments

Hi all,

I have taken a picture of the graded assessments and their dates. For your reference.

Cheers!

The Latest Member In My Family

Hello parents and students!

Join me in my joy of welcoming the latest addition to my family: Zeph Lim!

In case some of you were wondering why I went missing for the last few days, I was in the hospital waiting for his arrival. He was giving his parents a long wait in the delivery suite.

My next few videos may have his cries in it as I record my videos late in the night. (^_^)

I also want to take this chance to thank those parents who had encouraged me to continue posting in this blog. Your encouragement inspires and affirms my contribution. (^_^)

The next Math video should be out tomorrow and there should be an update on English soon as well.

See you all soon and I miss my 1 Honesty students a lot!!!

Establishing Routines For Your Child

Dear Parents,

Establishing routines is very important for a young child. I wrote an article on it recently and I hope it will benefit you. The article can be found at http://motivateyourchildnow.blogspot.sg/2013/03/routines-routines-routines.html

Happy learning!

Addition By Making 10

Hi,

The next type of addition is adding by making one of the numbers 10 first. Kindly find video below:

Have fun learning! (^_^)

Grammar: is, are + continuous tense

The children learned about present continuous tense today by adding 'ing' to some verbs.

- laying
- reading
- running
- writing

The children also learned when to use 'is' and 'are' for the continuous tense. Please revise with your child to reinforce the learning. :)

Addition By Counting Forward

Hi parents and children,

The first Math video is out. It is harder to produce and edit a Math video. Please find link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKd9U7IEysg

Have fun learning!!!

Cheers!

Word Identification

The children learnt the following sounds today:

- Words beginning with 'sl'
- Words beginning with 'qu'
- Words ending with 'sh'

Some examples of the words are

- sleep, slap, slipper, slide
- queen, quiet, quilt, quail
- fish, hush, crash, brush

Please revise with your child to reinforce the learning. :)

Vocabulary

The children learnt the following words in class today:

- ants
- eggs
- royal
- Queen
- tunnel
- baby
- jelly

- honey
- hungry
- hurry
- nibble
- scurry
- sip

Please revise with your child to reinforce the learning. :)

Monitors!!!

Let's thank Isaac and Shin Yi for being class monitors in Term 1.

Isaac and Shin Yi

And let's not forget to thank Keziah for helping to be monitor for the first 3 weeks of Term 1 too!!!

Let's welcome the new monitors for Term 2!!!

Eldrick and Junice

Collecting English and Math Holistic Assessments

Dear Parents,

Kindly sign and return the English and Math holistic assessments before this Thursday (28 March).

Thank you.

Danny Lim

Welcome to 1 Honesty Blog

Dear parents and students,

Welcome to the long awaited 1 Honesty Blog!

I am sure your child has settled in the school by now. As Term 2 starts, this blog is a new platform for me (the form teacher) to communicate to all the parents. I will update this blog as often as my schedule permits. Things that you can be expecting from this blog:

1. General announcements from the school or teachers

2. General updates on what your child has learnt

3. Homework assigned to your child

4. And more!

The handbook is still important and will be used for more personalised messages for your child.

Feel free to give comments to help me improve on this site or my teaching! (^_^)

Cheers!!!
Danny Lim