2 more days to go... and I have got lots to say...

Im counting the days left in the school with a heavy heart. As much as I would like to stay on and be in the company of children, I can't. I have to go and complete my course and then return to the education system in a year's time.

I have wonderful colleagues, they are helpful and they have been extremely kind to me during my stay here - for that I am very grateful.

I have been told some children are actually angry that I am going. But children, do know that all teachers have to undergo training or be away from school for a period of time. We can't help it. All teachers have such obligations to fulfil. Full pledged teachers have all their teaching duties, as well as administrative work to do. In addition to playing the role of mentor to the children, we also have to fulfil our quota of courses to attend in a year. This way, teachers would be kept up to date with what is the latest requirements and developments in the education system.

Ultimately, its our students who would benefit from our courses.

Photo-taking Day
On Monday, the entire school took class photographs. *sigh* I did not managed to take with 3C. Not that I dont want to - Its probably I was not invited, and also I was doing relief with one of the primary 4 classes. If the present form teacher of my former class did not invite me to take photographs with my 4B, I probably wouldnt have taken with my class, even though I would love to have my photographs taken with them. In fact, if I have had my way, I would have taken photographs with all the classes I have taught since 7 months ago. (That would be 17 classes out of the total of 22 classes in the morning session!)

I can't wait for the photographs to come back to the school, but that would probably take about 3 to 4 weeks. I have placed my order and I am awaiting very impatiently for them!

Why always mention 3C?
Some people might ask me also, why the frequent mention of 3C? But no mention of 4B ? My students from 4B are actually a very diverse lot. We have the extremely mischevious ones to the really hardworking and obedient ones. They are much more independent than the primary 3s. However, theyare also more reserved when showing their feelings. I do not know if they welcome me back into their lives. ( Although I do pray very hard that they do.)

I do know 5A loves to have me back in their classrooms, I have taken them through some lessons this semester and I do detect their interests in my lessons. Thank you very much! You have been a joy to teach too!

P6D also have been a joy to be with last week, even though they still make noise, but are more cooperative. Thank you for making my last few days in school very memorable. Study hard and good luck for your PSLE.

I have also made some friends in P6A, many of whom are very talented but they dont know it.

My 53sb tamil students who have taught me how to write my name in Tamil - Thank you so much too! It was a really enjoyable 2 periods with you.

My dear primary 4s, if you are reading this, please work very hard because this coming CA2 and SA2 determines which class you would go next year - this is very important because it is the beginning of the many roads you would have to take in your life.

Same goes to all my p6s, because some roads have no u-turns, therefore you cannot afford to make mistakes.

Physical Fitness Test
Today was the first day of the physical fitness test. It has been a really long day indeed. Actually the last thing I wanted to do was to start blogging. BUt I was afraid if i do not put my thoughts into words now, I probably would not managed to put such thoughts into words the next time.

I have taken some photographs of the action for day 1. The 5 stations and the 1.6Km test. In fact, I only returned home at 6.15pm today. It has been a really long 13 hour work day. ( And you think teaching is easy?! *grin*)

HOwever, I am not able to post the photographs up yet because my camera's battery is flat again. I will post them up tomorrow.

I was put in charge of the primary 6s' 1.6km run. Some of them have very good endurance, some of them run of out battery after 2 rounds (because they ran as if they were in the Olympics in the first 2 rounds!)

When I was in school, I have always attain GOLD award for all my Physical Fitness Test.

Share some tips with you?

• Inflex arm hang - Always help your mother do housework or carry marketing from the market. They are so demanding on your arms, you develop muscles, inflex arm hang 20 times definitely no problem!!
• Sit and Reach - this one the trick to it is to do proper stretching exercises before the test. Also if you do simple stretching exercises daily, you would see much more improvements soon. Therefore those of you who have yet to take your 5 station test, start doing your stretching exercises now!
• Sit-ups - Ah.. my favourite! Because I could easily surpass the gold requirements for the boys. I guess most children shouldnt have problem with this. But if you do, I think it is too late to buck up now. You dont want to hurt your stomach muscles before the test do you?
• 1.6/2.4km run - Trick to it is practise hard during your pe lessons. Do the warm up rounds faithfully. You would train up your stamina for the actual test. Also, conserve your energy in the first few rounds. Never use up all energy by sprinting your friend to the finish line when it is only the 1st round. You only start to run fast when it is the last round.
• Standing broad jump - Trick to it is to swing your arms and your body to gain momentum for your jump. The swinging is especially important. If you get it right, reaching the required distance is " chicken feet " =P

PArent visits
A parent also told me he viewed my blog this morning while i was just outside of the school. *laughs and waves* A very big hello to all parents who happened to stumble on my blog while you supervise your children. I know it is inevitable for parents to stumble upon my blog by hook or by crook... though I tryto keep it low profile. But you know children being children, they will start passing the word around, even though I told them to be quiet about it initially.

My plea
Do note that this blog's content is made suitable for children, however do allow me the indulgence of not checking my grammar and do allow me the space to make typo errors. Many a times, I typed when I am really tired after a hard day's work. But if i have started on something, I would like to keep at it. Therefore, no matter how tired I am, if there has been some interesting bits I would like to blog about I would definitely blog about it and then go to bed.

Then there are also occurances when I am blogging my entry, my children would beep me on their instant messenger and I would get distracted by them and therefore write incoherently.

And since this is a very informal medium I would like to keep the tone of it informal else it would be too dry for the children. ( For example, this entry is too dry for the children, probably many of them would just scroll to the previous entries where there are lots of photographs.)

My last excursion
Ok last but not least, I would be going on my last excursion with the children tomorrow. Thus I would need to go recuperate and conserve energy for tomorrow's long day out with the P5s to the Science Centre.

Will you be there with me?