Ms Anna, Ms Ferly and Ms Srina
Primary Teachers
Contributed by:
Ms Anna (Science), Ms Ferly (Mathematics) and Ms Srina (IL/GP) with support from all teachers in the three departments.
Each one of us has various reasons to smile every day. ACSians in the Primary Division had more smiles when they had fun whilst learning during the celebration of Science, Mathematics and Inquiry Learning/Global Perspectives (SMILe) Week held on 19-22 February 2018. Each grade level prepared, displayed and organised several fun-filled activities related to the subject.
Day 1: Celebrating Science!
The first day was celebrated with various Science Fair activities. Grade 1 had a display of their Science projects about Plants in their respective classrooms. Grade 2 had their “Silhouette” activity. They traced the shadows of objects, cut them out and produced some shadow art! Grade 3 had their “PopsBridge!” activity, which was held at the Primary Library. Working in groups, students built and designed their own “strongest bridge”. Each bridge was tested on its strength using several weights placed on it. The groups whose bridge can withstand the heaviest weights without collapsing were declared the winners. Grade 4 had their “STEM Careers Festival”. Each group showcased their chosen career related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). They appeared like young professionals in the field, performing their duties, demonstrating or simulating with their models, and even producing their own products! They also acted like entrepreneurs as they promoted their own products and gave their audience the samples. Some have enjoyed playing with the created project such as the robotic arm, claw machine, and soccer field box! Grade 5 showcased their “Investigatory Projects” wherein they performed their own investigations or experiments following the proper scientific procedure. The other Grade 5 and Grade 6 classes learned the practical applications of Science from their investigatory projects
It was an awesome Science Fair for everybody that day as students of the Primary Division collaboratively learned from each other and actively participated in the various activities.
Day 2: Maths Fun Fair
The Primary students undertook a lot of fun, learning and exciting activities on the 20th of February 2018. This was a chance to show how important maths is to everyday life; we all need to use maths and that it is something to enjoy, promote and celebrate.
To be honest, it puzzles us when people say they aren’t any good at maths because they are often using maths in their everyday life all the time and don’t really realise it. This is literally about real life education as we all use the problem solving aspect of maths every day, whether we are shopping, running a budget or weighing ingredients when cooking. The lower primary students have been celebrating this fact and showing the techniques and skills that make every day maths a little bit easier. The Grade 1’s skewed fresh fruits wherein they learnt the concept of number patterns. The Grade 2’s cooked popcorn while the Grade 3’s cooked chocolate pudding, which helped them to learn the topics about time, mass, approximation and estimation.
The upper primary students have prepared some energizing activities that will help them to learn different skills in order for them to apply in real life situation. The children were all very innovative and enthusiastic about the games and engaged with their duties. The lovely thing is that they are all achieving a goal without it feeling like it is a hard work.
Different school values have applied and learnt throughout the event. Teamwork, while they were planning on what to cook and what to play. Humility and Respect by listening from each other’s opinion. Commitment and Integrity, as you will see them, actively and happily doing their own duties and responsibilities. Excellence, as they used their God given talents to think out of the box. They were able to show their creativity in food preparation and some used recycled materials in order to come up some games and made it enjoyable.
By the end of the day, they were all tired but we know that they had so much fun and learnt a lot of things during the Maths Day activities as they participated with great zeal and enthusiasm. We are so happy that this day was celebrated with the objective of creating awareness about importance of mathematics in day to day life situation and also to create students interest in studying the Mathematics.
Day 3: Get into the Global Scene with Inquiry Learning & Global Perspectives
This year, the department decided to have an exhibition to showcase what students have learnt thus far. The thrust was to allow students to research and build on their collaborative and communicative skills. Students took the helm that day and shared their knowledge with visitors.
EC: The topic ‘Ocean and Marine Animals’ was the focus during the week and the undertakings served as an on-going activity that revolved around the overall theme of ‘Animals and their habitats’. On event week, students created an art project and applied to be marine biologists. They got to choose a marine animal they would like to study and spent time looking into their animals of choice. Teachers also helped expose students to the concept of ‘sink or float’. They tested different objects in salt and fresh water and had a great time.
Grade 1: Students learned to make pop-up cards on the topic, ‘Learning Something New’. The works were displayed and students explained to visitors what they made and what new skills they would want to learn. The objective of the display and activity was to explore their curiosity in the world of learning new things outside academic activities and to increase their confidence to communicate and present their ideas to visitors.
Grade 2: Students explored the ‘Rich Culture of Indonesia’ and learned many new facts and figures. They worked in groups and ‘travelled’ across Indonesia. Some sang traditional songs to their visitors whilst others explained the niche and specialties of the provinces. They also showcased the hand-painted batik cloth they designed.
Grade 3: Visitors went back in time and learnt about the lives of past civilisations, the way they lived, their means of caring for their families, their weapons and legacies. These were studied and shared with visitors. Interesting facts and amazing features were learnt that day and it is hoped that visitors were intrigued by the sharing and motivated to learn more about these past civilisations.
Grade 4: Students were enthusiastic to explore the Indonesian culture and heritage. In the “Film Poster Project”, students were urged to use their creativity and imagination to create an interesting story for a film from an Indonesian culture or heritage as the main object without disregarding the original value. Using Canva.com, students learned to design and create their own film poster digitally. Students have also gained more confidence after the activity as they had presented their work to vast members of the school, including parents, that day.
Grade 5: The exhibition delved on the topic, ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ whereby visitors were brought into the world of Ocean Trash. Visitors entered classrooms that were well decorated in accordance with the theme. One even had a miniscule version of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to further illustrate their point. Students summarised the topic by means of a PowerPoint presentation, shared their thoughts on the implications of ocean trash on marine environment and engaged visitors in sharing their opinions on paper on the ways to reduce trash. Students were very much enthusiastic to pass on the knowledge and realisation that everyone has to play a part in keeping our earth healthy.
Grade 6: Students had worked on a role-playing project with a hope that it would enable them to debate the different sides of an argument about setting and building a new power station, its fuel source and the views of stakeholders. They first had to do an in-depth research to better understand the benefits and the advantages of nuclear power plants. After understanding the two contrasting sides, they produced a persuasive speech, convincing the town Mayor to support or to ban the idea of building a nuclear power plant in a residential town. Their speech was delivered during a hearing set in a mock town council meeting. The students took on the roles of the town mayor, power station workers, alternative energy supplier, the environmental activist, chemical industry workers, the major energy supplier, the national coal association, as well a local family. Their display on the day showcased the data and information used to justify the support and opposition of building one. Some students still had to be prompted whilst others gained confidence and improved on their presentation skills as the day went on. Some students still had to be prompted whilst others gained confidence and improved on their presentation skills as the day went on. It was a good learning experience that can only serve as a stepping stone to greater heights.
Day 4: Inter-house Quiz
The culminating activity to the event was an inter-house quiz. Any inter-house activity is bound to inject a highly competitive atmosphere to the setting and the quiz did not disappoint. Participants and supporters were hyped-up despite it being undertaken on two separate days, and it hoped that everyone learnt
something new from the quiz questions. This year, the quiz was interactive in nature whereby the game-based learning platform, ‘Kahoot’ was used. With its visual and aural attractions, it got our students’ interest and attention and indeed enhanced their learning. At the end of the day, Budi Utomo emerged champion. Oldham came in second and Kartini and Thoburn were third and fourth respectively.
A lot of effort and time were spent organising the event. It was a high octane week and the activities organised for SMILe Week indeed created more “SMILes J”, proving that we can always have fun whilst learning!
