We Have Grown!

Today, during class, the teacher suddenly shared that we have grown. We did not take much notice what she shared when she shared, but now that I have some time on my own, I had begun to reflect what she had shared. I think I would agree with her. I remember coming to Frontier feeling rather frightened and excited at the same time. It was as if I was embarking on a new adventure, and my mom and dad were not be able to accompany us everywhere we went. I think they felt nervous too but did not want to reveal their concerns.

When we first came, I must say that we were quite lost, not like now! Now, we are confident and always ready to get into action. We can do everything that were tasked although some of us needed more help than others. We felt safe because the teachers were always there. If we fall, we know someone would be able to pick us up. I am not sure how we became more confident. We just became confident along the way.

Earlier, we shared in a blog about how we celebrated National Day in Frontier. See http://fpsclassof2017.blogspot.sg/2012/09/happy-national-day-frontier.html .There were nine Student eLFs and myself who were chosen to be part of the Marching Contingent for the National Day ceremony in the school. We marched with the national flag and the school flag into the parade square. My friends and I were nervous but proud to be selected. We had trained very hard for the formal ceremony.

Here is a short segment of video of all of us in that ceremony. This video was the work of one of our parent volunteers. I thought we looked very confident. We are proud of ourselves. When I watched this video, I know that we have grown. Not just myself, but all my friends.

Mom and dad -- not to worry! We are going to be fine! We are enjoying school and the best thing is that we have just begun!

Enjoy the video.

Happy National Day @ Frontier



Carrying our home-made National Flag with Pride!



The moment I woke up in the early morning of 08 August 2012, Wednesday, I jumped out of my bed and got ready in my red T-shirt and white shorts which mom had prepared for me the night earlier. 8 August was the day we would officially commemorate National Day which actually falls on 9 August. 



Slow March - We are Flag Bearers!



I had an additional duty to perform for this celebration. The task assigned to me was an important one AND I had been chosen to execute it! I am honoured to have been chosen as this was a task usually given to the most senior pupils of the school. Because Frontier only had P1 pupils, there were talks that we might have to forgo this ceremony. However, my teachers had faith that we would be able to do it! And I am glad that our teachers had confidence in us! We, Frontierers, can achieve anything! Believe in us!



A Proud Moment



Nine other Student eLFs and myself had been chosen to be part of the Marching Contingent for the National Day ceremony in the school. We would march with the national flag and the school flag into the parade square. My friends and I were nervous but proud to be selected. We had trained very hard for the formal ceremony.

When I reached school, the parade square was flooded with Frontierers in reds and whites. I quickly met up the Marching Contingent and assembled near the flag poles to get ready for the formal ceremony while the rest of the Frontierers sang the National Day Songs.



Red and White in the Parade Square!



At 8am sharp, the formal ceremony started with the marching-in of the contingent. I could sense that all eyes were setting on us as we marched in. We did a great job and my friends told me later that we were even better than the contingent in the National Day Parade itself! I know my friend was exaggerating but deep inside, we knew we did well! J  



Love at First Light -- Frontier's Style!



The whole school sang the National Anthem as the flags were being raised by my fellow Student eLFs. We also recited the recollections and the National Pledge. Our Principal then read us the National Day Message and following that, my classmate, Alif Danial led the school in the singing of this year’s National Day song, Love at First Light. We were all swept off by his singing and all of us cheered him on and with that the formal part of the celebration had come to an end. If there was a Frontier Idol, he would have been the winner!



Together, Singing and Celebrating!



Teacher Performers!

We proceeded to the hall for the second part of the celebration where we have games and quizzes about the fun facts and landmarks of Singapore. We were all mesmerized by the dance put up by our Mother Tongue Teachers. We also sang a few other National Day songs and all of us danced in the hall with the shakers as we sang the song “Singapore Town”. Finally, the celebration ended off with a cake cutting ceremony and another recitation of the Pledge.

                               



Learning about Singapore thru a Beach Ball!



With the pre-celebration activities and actual celebration, I had reflected what it meant to be to love Singapore. My friends and I expressed our love for the nation when our class designed a huge birthday card where we penned our birthday wishes for Singapore during our Social Studies lessons. All the beautiful cards were then displayed in the canteen. We enjoyed reading the wishes pen by our fellow school mates during our recesses. I enjoyed myself thoroughly that day. Singapore is where we grew up and she will always be special to me. She is my home, my family and my school all rolled into one.



I am Singapore!



Happy National Day Singapore!

Love,

All of us in Frontier!

Racial Harmony Day in Frontier

Colourful Frontierers: We Came in Our Traditional Costumes!

20 July was the day my school officially commemorated Racial Harmony Day, which falls on 21 July. It was another exciting day! My friends and I went to school in our unique traditional costumes. Lo and behold! Our teachers were also wearing traditional costumes! The school looked very colourful with everyone in their unique costumes!

Teachers also Came in their Traditional Costumes!

My Teacher sharing About the RHD

The Racial Harmony Day Special Assembly Programme started with Mdm Koh Ser Lian telling us an interesting story entitled ‘Games We Played’. The story, written by Mdm Koh, was about how children used to make kites as a pastime in Singapore. Next, Mdm Nellie Soh talked about the importance of Racial Harmony Day. She taught us that there were racial riots in Singapore on 21 July 1964 and highlighted the importance of living together in harmony and appreciating the different cultures that make up Singapore. Through the talk, I learnt that the MOE Racial Harmony logo is in the shape of a heart as it represents both the brotherhood of Singaporeans and the deep emotional, visceral bond that we share. After the talk, my friends and I went on stage to sing the song ‘The more we get together’. This was followed by a fashion parade in which Mdm Soh pointed out the features of the various traditional costumes!

Parent Volunteers Manning the Stalls

Sticky balloon!

That was not all! To our delight, there was a local food and games bazaar during recess! There were traditional snacks such as kacang putih and crackers on sale. How I love the crispy nuts! Games such as kuti kuti, Goli and sticky balloon were also on sale! My friends and I bought the sticky balloon, but I did not know how to blow the gum into a balloon, so my teachers helped us. I was fascinated by how the toothpaste-like gum could turn into a transparent ball after blowing it with a tiny straw. Drums of various sizes were also on display to let us play with them. Besides these, there was a booth where I could go to try on other traditional costumes! It was really funny to see my friends wearing other costumes! These activities were all organised by my teachers and parent volunteers. Thank you, we really appreciate this!

Trying some costumes!

Chinese Drums!

Buying Kuti Kuti!

On the whole, I enjoyed myself tremendously! I love the Racial Harmony Month activities, especially the games! I’ve not only learnt how to play some traditional games, but I’ve also learnt the importance of being united and living in harmony with others, regardless of their race and religion. Besides, I have learnt to appreciate Singapore’s cultural diversity. National Day is approaching. I wonder what the school has planned for us! I am learning so much this year!

A picture for my album

Kampong Days in Frontier!

Now, what do you think this is?

Awesome! That’s the word to describe the whole month of July! July was really exciting and fun because there were many activities for us to take part in as part of Racial Harmony Day celebration!

These Games are fun!

Earlier in July, I saw some kampong house structures in the canteen! Wow, I was intrigued by them! I didn’t know that the older generations lived in such small wooden houses! I was shocked when I saw the toilet that was used in the kampong! It was small and did not have any toilet bowl. Instead, the toilet was raised above the ground with a platform that housed a bucket, covered by a wooden board. From the description provided by National Heritage Board, I have learnt several other things. In the 50s and 60s, many kampongs did not have electricity. Most households used firewood or charcoal for cooking in a brick stove. To get water, the kampong residents had to fetch water from public standpipes to their homes every day. Wow, I can’t imagine myself having to fetch water from public standpipes every day. I must really appreciate the modern amenities that I have and use them wisely instead of taking them for granted!

Kampong Doors~ Are these doors secured?

I was really glad that the Travelling Exhibition by NHB lasted for two weeks because that meant that I could play traditional games with my friends for two whole weeks! Hurray! Look at some of the games that I played with my friends! Gasing, Hopscotch, Goli, Capteh, Congkak, Five stones and Pick-up sticks etc. Have you played them before?

Frontierers playing Congkak

Initially, I did not know how to play the games. Fortunately, my Social Studies teacher taught us how to play the various games during Social Studies lesson. She not only passed the different games such as capteh and kuti kuti around to let us feel and touch, but also demonstrated how to play the games and showed us videos from http://www.gamesweplayed.sg/about.html  to let us have a deeper understanding.

Kuti Kuti - You mean My Mom Used to play with these!

I thought that the word “kuti” is an English word, but I learnt from the website that it is actually a Malay word that means “flick”. After we learnt about the various games played by past generations in Singapore, we had to complete a worksheet to identify the various games. I was super happy that all my answers were correct!

Capteh and skipping ...

During Music lesson, I learnt to sing the song “The more we get together” in the various mother tongue languages. The song, which has a lively tune and rhythm, is about friendship. My classmates and I thought it was pretty cool to sing a song in different languages! My teacher told me that these are the songs that my parents may have learnt as children.


Learning "The More We Get Together" in Different Languages



Dragon Design for me!

My Kite, My Design

Art lesson was also amazing! My teacher taught us to make kites! She also taught us the design elements found in various cultural designs! For instance, I learnt that motifs are repeated to create patterns in Malay designs and Chinese designs tend to use bright colours such as red and pink! With oil pastels and tracing paper, I drew a Malay floral design and my friend drew an Indian henna design on her kite! Although I’m not sure if my kite could really fly, I’m proud to make the first kite of my life!

Zero Point!

Other traditional games such as ‘Sepak Takraw’ and ‘Zero Point’ were introduced to us during PE lesson.  Wow! I was surprised that rubber bands could be tied to one another to form a long skipping rope! I guess I would start collecting rubber bands now to form my own Zero Point rope!

So, these are the games that my mommy and daddy used to play!

I Play But I Also Learn .. MTL Speech and Drama Enrichment Programme

Do you know that for the past few weeks, we have been having special lessons for our Mother Tongue on Wednesdays? In these special lessons, we do many interesting activities that are not only fun but cultivate the love of the language. The programme also enable us to learn important values. The lessons are obviously conducted in Chinese ( and of course, Malay for my friends who offer Malay for their Mother Tongue). Now, you know why I look forward to attending my Mother Tongue lesson every Wednesday! It is the day we have our Speech and Drama Enrichment Programme!



We Practise Active Listening! Active Listening helps us master the Language!



I Like to Move It...Move It ...Move It!

We Learn Thru Games ! And Boy do we like it!

Choral Reading and Acting!

This programme is the school's way to make learning of mother tongue fun. It allows us to use our mother tongue in various settings. We do so many activities, such as Poetry Recitation, Tongue Twisters, and Drama and Play through interesting games. I also get to perform in front of my classmates! We had so much fun during the lesson.

My friends and I perform choral reading and we also did some acting in front of  the class. We learnt how to express ourselves through different facial expressions too!

Before you start thinking that we do nothing but play in these lessons, let me assure you that there is serious learning taking place during this lesson. Our teacher taught us the right pronounciation of certain commonly mispronounced words! My teacher told us that this is “learning through play!”

My teacher also told us that we will be putting up a presentation to showcase our learning during our Mother Tongue Fortnight! In fact, I hear rumours that the school may even invite our parents to watch our performance. I certainly hope this is true! I cannot wait to perform for my Daddy and Mummy!

I love Mother Tongue Speech & Drama!

Frontier Sports!




Balance Personified!

 

Hello! I am back in school for the 2nd semester! I will soon be sharing about what we are doing in the 2nd semester but I thought I will share with you about my sports day experience in the last week of semester1. The date was 23 May 2012! It was really an exhilarating experience and if this is sports day, may I have many many more!

The Sporting Arena!

The day did not start well though. I woke up at 4 am and it was raining. I thought the school would not be able to organise the sports day as the downpour was quite heavy. I had already seen the school put up tentage in the sports ground and also the chairs for the spectators. Looks like all this hard work will be in vain. Even my parents who took time off to support me in this event were skeptical if the event was able to continue. I was kind of disappointed because I was looking forward to the sports day. Lucky for us, the school has a plan B. The venue moved to the school hall. It did delay the start of the event for a few minutes but the event would carry on! Wow! What a relief!! Now game on!



Game on!



My father likes to tease me that he did not believe that I could be selected to represent my class for the sports day as I was not particularly fast. Well, I told him to watch me because my class has good teamwork. Teamwork is important for the events. The fastest does not always win! My father must have forgotten about the story of the race between the hare and the tortise.

The turnout by parents was very good. In fact, it was so packed that some parents did not have get seats. However, they also enjoyed themselves by sitting on the steps. It was really like a carnival! The parents were great! They cheered till their voice went hoarse, and still they cheered!





The Cheering Parents ... and Grandparents!




Parents busy taking photographs of their children





We will do it together!

 

We also cheered for our friends. Everyone in the whole school took part in the sports day. Everyone had a part to play to help the class to do well. We aimed to win but we played fair. And we congratulated our friends when they did well. We are always told in school that winning is not the most important thing, but the want to win is. Hence, winning is a journey. Success is  journey. I could see that all my friends did their best and we cheered them on as they competed. I was proud of al my friends that day!



My Pledge of Good Sportsmanship



Doing my Best!

The change-over...

Even parents took part in the event. I think the parent were even more serious in the competition than we were. They also did their best and they were most sporting. This is the first time I see my father so serious in a sports. I enjoyed seeing my father in action. I was glad to let my parent understand what we did in school. Thank you, father and mommy for being with me today!




Parents and children completing the "impossible" task!

 


What a Great Day!



As in every event, there are winners and losers. That is not the most important thing. That day, I felt like a Frontierer. We are all one big family and I am happy that my teachers, parents and friends were together enjoying ourselves in a truly enjoyable day. What a way to end the semester 1 of my first year in primary school!




High Five!

 

Three Cheers for Frontier!







My Friend, My Class, My School, My Family

 



G' Day Mate! Konnichiwa! Namaste! Sawadeeka!

Our Australian friend from Pacific Hills Christian School

I had an exciting week in early April which I had meant to share with you. I would have shared this blog earlier but I had been so busy! It was only now that I have some time to share about my first International Week in Frontier Primary School. In that week, I felt as if I was in so many different countries! What an exciting week it was! Let me tell you all about it!

This year the theme for the International Friendship Day is “Singapore in the World”. The all exciting International Friendship Week kicked off with a bang on Monday 09 April with special visitors from Sydney, Australia. My school welcomed teachers and pupils from Pacific Hills Christian School (PHCS) to join us in our celebration of IFW and celebrate we did!

Our Aussie friends joined us in our Special Assembly programme

Our Australian friends, who are much older than us, told us much about their country… they shared about the special animals which are native to their country. We learnt more about the kangaroos, koalas, wombats and kookaburras through a really engaging puppet show… Later in class, our overseas friends taught us how to create our own boomerangs out of cardboard, using aboriginal art designs …so exciting and fun!

Our Music Teacher, also shared with us a lot about Asia – the continent that our school is focusing on for IFW this year. We learnt more about the different countries in Asia like Japan, India and Thailand during the assembly talk.



We danced to the tune of a famous Aussie folk song



Did you know that even if we do not travel to another country, we have people from all over the world staying in our own homeland? There is so much that we can learn from them. It is definitely necessary for us to respect our new friends as well as the many non-Singaporeans who have chosen to make Singapore their home.

He taught me all about boomerang!

We also took part in many activities related to IFW during our Social Studies, Music, PE and Art lessons.  Our Music teacher taught us a Japanese action song “Ooki Na Kuri No Ki No Shita De”. It has the same tune as the song “Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree”. I like it!

So this is cricket!

Mr Swenson and his students from PHCS showed us how to play cricket, which we later played during our PE lessons. Now, don’t be mistaken…it’s not the insect I am talking about but a game that is really popular in India (and Australia too). This is really an interesting game! Aha!… I can now quiz Dad on the terms used in cricket like ‘batsman’, ‘bowler’, ‘fielder’, ‘wicket’ and others. I bet I can teach him a few things!

Now, my favourite is our Art lessons that week. Besides the boomerang, we also learnt to make a ‘loy krathong’ using banana leaves. Our Art teacher showed us a video clip on how to make it first before we get to make the real thing ourselves. It was the first time that I ever touched and folded banana leaves. So cool!



Our Aussie friends eating with us!



To conclude that exciting week’s activities that Friday, some of our teachers and friends were dressed in other countries’ traditional costumes. My teacher looked fantastic in the Korean outfit! There was also a skit on ‘The Little Prince’ by Drama Arts Ltd. After the skit, we actually had a Mr & Ms Frontier Asia fashion parade show! My friends on stage looked lovely in their Hanboks, Kimonos, Ao dais, Longyis and so on. During recess that day, we also got to eat sushi, pappadum and thai longans… mmm…yummy.

Our teachers also came in beautiful costumes! Aren't they lovely?

Before school dismissal on Friday, there was excitement in the air as my friends and I gathered and watched a demonstration on how the ‘Loy Krathong’ festival was being celebrated in Thailand. It was to the music of ‘Loy Krathong’ that my friends released the ‘krathongs’ that our classes had made into our school pond. It was such great fun!



My friend releasing the krathongs

I can’t wait for next year’s International Friendship Week! I wonder which continent we would ‘visit’….maybe Europe? Maybe South America? I can't wait!