Final updates for Week 1

Dear Parents,

Hooray, we have come to the end of Week 1! I hope the week has been good for you and that you find the class blog useful!

Today, the boys did two comprehension exercises:

(A)  Comprehension MCQ (Learning Sheet 1.9) 

The passage was an information text about earthworms:

                Earthworms are very helpful to farmers. They dig tunnels through the soil by gobbling up whatever is in front of them whether it is dirt or dead plants and animals. The remains of these materials are cast out at the other end of their body. Dirty and unimportant litter are digested in an earthworm’s body and come out as useful soil. Earthworms are the best soil makers on the planet. Without them, farmers would have a much harder time growing healthy vegetables and fruits.

The boys learnt that:

1. The first sentence is usually the topic sentence which gives an idea what the passage/paragraph is about.

2. The last sentence usually reinforces the topic sentence, providing a summary of the passage/paragraph.

(B) Comprehension Open-ended (Learning Sheet 1.10) 

The passage was a narrative text about two good friends.

The boys learnt:

1. how to dissect each question in order to answer it

Qn: Where did the bear attack the two travellers?

·                Where = place = (preposition + article) noun

·                did = verb must be written in its Past Tense form

*If the verb occurs after ‘to’ or a modal (eg. must), it should be written in its root form.

·                subject of the answer/sentence = the bear

·                object of the answer/sentence = the two travellers

Ans: The bear attacked the two travellers in a valley.

       (subject - verb - object - additional information)

2. underline keywords in the passage to be used to answer the question

The boys are expected to take notes while I am teaching. Most of them were able to do so today. Due to time constraints, we completed only two questions. Next week, I will do the other three questions with the boys. After the exercise has been marked, I will return the booklets to them to take home for your perusal.

This year, I will also be teaching the boys Parts of Speech. I hope that by the end of the year, they would be able to identify words as Nouns or Prepositions or Adjectives, etc. This skill would be useful to them when they have to tackle Comprehension Cloze in Primary Three.  

That is all from me for the time being! I believe I have caused you enough stress! 

Well, don’t be stressed! Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries, feedback or suggestions. 

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your co-operation, especially in ensuring that your child completes and submits his homework on time! Er…some boys did not do Page 38 of the Grammar Workbook yesterday…hmmm...

Anyhow, have a blessed weekend!