Life and Times of Miss Kristen

Missing You

2007-05-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

It's coming to a week since I last saw everyone from 4B. I miss everyone alot, and I look at your presents often. I hope that I've somehow managed to give each of you a special gift, though you can't hold it or put a price to it.

I hope that everyone of you will treasure the memories of the fun times we had in class - from playing games (eventhough they were lame :P), drawing, secretly watching Naruto, Bleach and playing songs (although I didn't manage to play all your requests ;_; I'm very sorry).

I'll always remember you, especially those of you who really made me smile. I love all the letters I recieved and I thank you all for the gifts, I went to the staffroom and cried as I opened the gifts.

I'll use this blog to keep in contact with you and tell you how my new school is. If you guys do visit this blog, please leave a tag or an email to tell me how you are and how you find school.

Missing you all!

Exams!! Oh NO!!!

2007-04-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

It has been over a week since I updated this blog! Gosh, time flies... For all of us, me included, the examinations are looming frighteningly fast. Alright, so I may not be taking the exam, but I do know what it's like to be in your shoes. Revising is not that difficult a task, and after the slogging for the examinations we'll finally have some time to relax and play video games, draw, watch TV all day - anything! To help you guys make the most of the rest of your revision time, I've written a few study tips.

Create a Schedule

A schedule is like a time table where your days are planned with time for school, self-study, tuition, play and rest. With a schedule, you are able to see if you are putting in enough time for both study and rest, which is just as important as study. If you don't have a schedule or plan for studying, then you will not have any way of allocating your valuable time when something unexpected comes up.

You already have a schedule for school - your school time table. This is a good model on which to base your schedule for study after school. There are a few things that all schedules need - time slots (either 1/2 hour slots like in school, or 1 hour slots) and days. The self-study or revision that you plan should not clash with other repeating events, like tuiition, or prayers. Plan your revision around them.

Here are some schedule tips:

Don't plan to do the same activity for hours. Everyone needs a break from studying, this rests our brains so they work better. However, if you study for 30 minutes and then play for 3 hours, you know that you are not giving enough time to your study.
Balance your time. A good estimate should be that your study should be 3 times longer than your rest time, e.g. you study for 30 minutes and take a break for 10, then go back to work. Play time can be planned as well, perhaps an hour or two before bed.
Revise your schedule if needed. Sometimes things we plan don't work out well, and that's okay. Feel free to change your plan if you need to, be flexible.
Follow your schedule. The most important tip of all. If you know you may have trouble following your schedule, ask your parent or sibling to help keep you on track by reminding you of your plans.

How to study

Use the M.U.R.D.E.R. way!

How to Create Notes

My favourite way of making notes is to turn my textbook's information into a concept map or mind map. I happen to like mind maps as they allow me to link information between chapters, to remember things easily (just by remembering their location on the map) and it also gives me a chance to draw and decorate my notes!

Mind maps are usefull because our brains remember pictures better than it remembers words. This is because from the time mankind first evolved, the most important aspect of survival was remembering the faces of your friends and family. Forget what they look like and you might end up in hostile company. Using this old trick of our brain, mind maps make information easy to remember - especially if the information is short and sweet. Once the map is created you can even put it on your wall and refer to it as often as you want.

Read this link to find out how to make mind maps.

Drift Disaster!

2007-04-17T01:02:00.001-07:00

Drift Disaster video available for download! I'm glad to see so many of you enjoyed watching it in class. Have fun writing the compositions guys!

DUE THURSDAY!!! Don't forget! ^_^

Drift_0001.wmv

A Simple Blogger Tutorial

2007-04-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

Wow! I see so many of you are starting up blogs of your own! It's really enjoyable to write about your day's experiences and share them with your friends. For those of us who might be confused about how to set up or create a blog, I've written a simple help sheet to guide you through your blogging fun.

Blogging Basics

1) Remember your username and password!
This is the absolute basic thing you must do to be able to blog. Not only will you need this to sign in and post new things to your blog, forgetting your username and password will force you to have to start a new blog. Changing your address inconveniences people who visit your blog, so try not to do this too often.

2) Getting to the Dashboard
Starting at www.blogger.com, click the Sign In link in the upper right hand corner and sign in. This will bring you immediately to the Dashboard Page. From here, you can do many things from posting a new post to changing the design of your blog.

How to Post to Your Blog

Step 1: Get to the Dashboard Page.
Step 2: Click New Post.
Step 3: Write your post.
Step 4: Click Publish when you are done and wait until blogger shows "Your Post has been Published". If an error message comes up, don't worry. Press back on your browser and try again.

How to Post an Image to Your Blog

Click here for a tutorial.

If you have any further questions about how to blog, feel free to catch me on MSN to ask me. I'll whip up a tutorial if need be.

Our Week in Japan

2007-04-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

Origami

When I think of this week's English lessons, I can't help but smile. I think we all had a blast this week. Beginning with the past times, I realized that I need to practice my origami, since my origami swan looked like it had been run over by a car or something. I also got hooked on the kendama! I bought my own from Daiso for $2 and I'm practicing with it ever so often. I'm getting better, but it's slow going. Thanks Shere for bringing your kendama to school for all of us!

Those of us who want to find out how to fold more animals in the way of the Paper of the Spirits, you can browse Tammy Yee's Origami Page for many cute creatures you can fold.
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Japanese Snacks

Wagashi - Japanese Desserts

Wagashi basically means Japanese confectionary or desserts. The Japanese have a large collection of sweets, cakes, ice creams and many other desserts that will surely make your mouth water. Some desserts are seasonal, like the Hanamidango, which are eaten in spring during the cherry clossom season, while others are eaten all year round.

For any of you who are curious about Japanese food, I would recommend the stores beside Coldstorage at basement 1 of Takashimaya. My friend Miss Nadiah, who teaches in another school, and I frequently go there for delicious Japanese desserts like Manju cakes, Mochi and Hanamidango. While these treats can be very expensive ($2 per mochi... /dies), they are fantastic to eat once in a while. I would recommend everyone try these treats some time. My favourite is the White Bean Paste Mochi - it just melts in your mouth.

Sushi

Another readily available Japanese food is sushi - which is probably the most famous of all Japanese foods. Sushi was created inthe 7th century AD (700AD). As the land of Japan is largely mountainous, it was hard for the Japanese people to grow rice. So they were forced to rely on the sea for food. With fresh seafood readily available, sushi was created as a quick and filling meal.

Despite popular belief, not all sushi has raw meat. There are quiet a few that do have cooked meat as the main attraction. Sushi uses vinegared rice (rice with vinegar) which is stickier than normal rice. This prevents the sushi from breaking when you pick it up with your chopsticks. Sushis with raw fish are usually the sushis that feature salmon (a.k.a. sashimi) as the main topping. Other sushis feature omelettes (Tamago Sushi), cooked shrimp (Ebi Sushi), octopus (Tako sushi) and scallop (Hotate sushi) as toppings. My favourite are Tamago Sushi and Califronia Maki, which is a rolled sushi coated in salmon roe (eggs). It's really delicious!

A good place to get sushi would be Sushi Tei, but this restaurant is not halal. For halal Japanese cuisine, you might want to check out Ramen Ten, a restaurant at the basement of Far East Plaza along Scotts Road.
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I hope you all enjoyed learning about the pastimes and eating and living etiquette as much I enjoyed teaching it. Look forward to the upcomming composition, the last lesson we will have on Japan and it's people. We'll be writing about Japanese Drifters (car racers who drive as fast as possible and skid stylishly around street corners). Think Tokyo Drift. I'll see you guys in class!

Farewell, Nandesh...

2007-04-10T05:17:00.000-07:00

This is a goodbye to Nandesh, one of our class who has left for another school. Good luck and have lots of fun at your new school, Nandesh! We'll miss you, and I especially like reading your compositions :P See you online!

Turtle Power!!

2007-04-10T04:42:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My favourite character in the 1987 series was Raphael, since he was the biggest, most sarcastic wise guy. I never really liked Leonardo until recently, when I went to watch the recently released movie on TMNT. Leonardo was actually cool! He seemed like such a pushy geek in the old series I used to watch. Michelangelo was just adorable and his personality as the youngest most carefree turtle was really brought forward. What was sad was that the movie didn't showcase Donatello's talent at machines or much of his personality.

Oh well.

Which character do you guys like?

Watch the movie! It's awesome!! <3

Old Opening Theme

New TMNT Trailer

4B Sports Carnival Video!

2007-04-05T19:43:00.001-07:00

The little surprise is available for download!

4B Sports Carnival Small.wmv

Upgrades!

2007-04-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

This blog has been revamped! Besides the layout - which I'm sure everyone has noticed - there's also new stuff in the side bar as well. I've posted links to some pretty interesting websites there, where you can get everything from Frozen Yogurt Pops to the exact circumference of the earth. Pretty cool stuff.

There's also this new feature where I've allowed anyone to comment on any posts I have, so feel free to write what you think! Have fun!

Compositions By 4B

2007-04-02T04:23:00.000-07:00

I've selected a composition from my class and posted it here. I realized that one of the most important part of the story is the ending, because when the reader reads it, the ending is what they will remember most clearly. So here is the story that I liked the best. At the end of the composition, I will wrote some comments about the story.

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The Girl Who Hates School
By Farisha

The sun shone on the hard burnt ground. Horns from frustrated drivers made the day a rowdy day. Melina woke up and dawdled as usual. She forgot to do all the homework that her teacher had given her.

When she reached her schoo, she saw a boy who was involved in a fight and who had been expelled. She started to think about her freedom without school and she decided to earn it. She started a fight, bullied her friends and called her friends names. Unfortunately, the teacher came in and all the pupils complained about her.

The teacher was very shocked to hear all the complaints. She brought Melina to the principal's office and the principal called Melina's mother. The conversation between her mother and the principal was over and Melina was expelled from school. Her mother was so enraged that she abandoned Melina just like that.

As days passed, Melina was hungry and had nothing to eat so she had no choice but to beg for money and food. She really, really, really regretted what she had done but it was too late. As for her mother, she missed her child very much and cried untill she became blind. She too regretted what she had done.

Miss Dankie says: I liked this story very much as there was an interesting plot twist in the conclusion (or ending) of the story. I didn't expect the tragic end, and it's stuff like this that makes a story captivating for the reader. Plot twists are a great device to use in a story, such as the one Hafizul used:

"...It was the principal. The principal told Danker's (Miss Dankie: Why am I the girl who punches herself to get expelled? ;_;) that she would be expelled. Danker was happy and jumped around the house when she heard the news.

'Bob, do you have any interesting storybooks?' asked James.

'I don't have any, but this book is really silly right?' Bob replied.

'Yes,' said James."

I found this ending surprising and it took me a while to realize that the whole story was just Bob reading a book. In Grace's composition, the main character regrets getting herself expelled from school as she now had to go to a new school that was even more terrible than the last one. This is a good moral lesson to all of us to be happy with what we've got.

As you can see, while all of us had about the same plot for our compos, it is the originality that we put into it that makes it good. In this case, it's the endings that you have thought up for yourselves.

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Ohayogozaimasu, Danker-Sensei!

2007-03-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Sports Carnival on Friday! I hope 4B has fun and maybe wins a few prizes. It'll be great and I'm looking forward to it. I like hanging out with the kids - all of them are so cheeky. There's also going to be a guest over tomorrow during Science. Science will be fun tomorrow, since I am going to do another experiment. I'm kind of hoping we have time to do his experiment - I don't want to eat into their recess time (ha ha... get it...? eat into... recess time...? ... I am so funny right? /vomits).

Eventhough I didn't teach the class anything today, it was still such a tiring day! I had to stay back in school until 5pm today just preparing for tomorrow. Now I'm sitting at home, infront of the TV, with my laptop on my lap an trying to think of an english lesson for the kids. So this is the life of a Teacher... you have your students on your mind all day whether you like it or not. It's almost like being a parent, except you get paid. Argh, I need to find more stories for them. Maybe I will read them Matilda.

I also have a great surprise for them tomorrow, something that they may have only seen in cartoons or on TV but they'll get to see it in real life... We'll see if we get some 'ooh's and 'aah's when I unveil it.

In other news, I found an awesome story online about something... that could happen... It could! You never know, you might wake up and realize the whole world is purple!

It Could Happen by Carol Moore

Read and enjoy minna!

Poetry Post

2007-03-27T06:09:00.000-07:00

Poetry by my kids in class, I guess Kenn Nesbitt is having an effect, even if he calls teachers aliens from outer space (ruined our secret).

Uncle Laurie By Eileen

The first thing you will notice if you meet my uncle Laurie is how, whatever he does he can’t stop saying sorry.

He springs from bed at 5 a.m.As birds begin to waken, cries ‘no offence intended, lads-like wise, I hope none taken.

This drives my aunty Dorrie mad. It is not surprising she grabs him by the throat and screeched, 'Stop apologizing!'

My uncle who is a little deaf, says 'Sorry? Sorry, Dorrie?' 'For goodness sake,’ Aunt Dorrie screamed, 'Stop saying sorry! Laurie!’

‘Sorry, dear? Stop saying what?’ 'SORRY!’ Laurie shaken.’ 'No need to be, my dear,’ he says, 'for no offence is taken.

'Likewise, I`m sure that there was none intended on your part.’ 'Dear lord,’ aunty dorrie breathes, 'what can I do? where can I start?’

Then, ’oh, I see,’ says uncle l…’you mean stop saying sorry!’ I am sorry to cause your offence –opps! Er…sorry, Dorrie!'

Japan!!

2007-03-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

Another day passes and another hurdle is overcome. I taught the pupils the Unitary Method and Multiplication Method for fractions during math and Adverbs for English. Thankfully most of the class understood the math - seriously, I haven't taught a class this bright in my life, these kids never fail to amaze me. I could probably have made the English more enjoyable but at least they liked the koma top.

I was pleased with they way they behaved during math, but during English they could have been quieter. Only when I threatened to not screen Naruto did they behave. I shouldn't have to threaten them like that - it's not nice.

I'm hoping to find a documentary on Japan for the kids, but it's proving difficult... they are all so expensive (the documentaries, not the kids, I mean)! Oh well, must see what I can do. I'm SO happy that the theme for English is People of Japan because I love that country! Especially anime!! Now I get to talk anime in class and it's awesome! Little by little, I am also spotting all the anime fans in class too!

My New Class 4B

2007-03-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a new class in Chua Chu Kang Primary and I have to say they are a cheeky bunch of students. I enjoy teaching them, eventhough I feel that I tend to scold them too much. Oh well, even if I don't like scolding them, I have to maintain discipline in the classroom - even with little things like pushing in chairs quietly.

I hope they don't get the wrong idea about me. I am strict, but I am also very friendly and I enjoy talking nonsense, making jokes and reading silly poems.

So far, I really enjoy teaching them - especially english and art (even if they don't believe I drew those pictures!). They seem to enjoy the poems I bring to class, but not Jonathan Livingston Seagull, however, which made me a bit sad. That book has a very meaningful story. Maybe they will read it and like it when they are older. They seemed to enjoy the Monkey House poem, so that made me glad.

I hope that through my teaching, they will be able to succeed. I want them to do well, because I can see from their work that they are very intelligent. But most of all, I hope they will not hesitate to ask me questions if they are unclear about anything I may be teaching.

I'm looking forward to having a great time with this class!