Journal 9: Improving the school

Hi everyone, I know that all of us would want to change a few things in school, especially air-conditioned rooms. But what other things would we like to change? For me, I would like more entertainment and activities during lessons. This way, we can have fun at the same way learn. I would also like for the teachers to be more helpful and responsible, not to mention interactive. Next, I would like for the school to be more inventive, providing excursions whereby they are like races. Lastly, I would like music to take an important role in learning, because I am a music- person, and I guess so are my fellow classmates and friends.

Journal 8: Believing in yourself

Hi everyone, after watching the clips, I feel that I too can create miracles just by believing in myself. From what I have seen in the videos, I am more confident that my goals for achieving sucess will come true as whatever you believing in and put your to, will come true. I believe that it is important to believe in oneself, as if we feel negative, we will never achieve what we want to achieve. I believe that I can create miracles and what I would do to achieve my goals is to stop listening to what my friends tell me like,"You can never achieve this" and more, and believe in my dreams and goals. Everyone controls their own ship!

Journal 7: Activities outside school

Hi everyone, besides school lessons, I am involved in swimming, chinese tuition, piano and I.T CCA on Monday to Sunday. For every activity, I spend a day participating in it every week. For swimming, I spend an hour in it; For chinese tuition, I spend three hours in it; For piano, it is 45mins and for I.T CCA, I take 2 and a half hours. The reason for taking swimming lessons is to build up my survivor skills; Taking piano lessons is to enjoy music, and learn how to feel and create music; taking chinese tuition is to increase my chinese knowledge and acheive sucess in my PSLE and my future; And lastly, taking I.T CCA is just an interest for me. Yes, these activities are necessary for me as they build up my knowledge and bring me a bright and sucessful future. Sometimes I feel a bit tired from taking part in these activities, and also feel that they might affect my studies, but never did happen, and I would never want ot give them up. For me, I cannot really speak for others, as everyone has their own opinion on whether they want to take part in outside of school activities.

Journal 6: Target Setting

Hi Mr Lau, the purpose for setting targets for the various subjects is to giving ourselves a goal to achieve and accomplish. I think that setting targets is useful as this gives us a nudge and remind ourselves of what we want to achieve.For me, I have set my targets for all A* as this way, I may have a chance to get into Raffles Institution. What I am doing is reading and finding common mistakes in the past PSLEs. My parents are helping me by proviing me with lots of assesment books to strengthen my knowledge so that I can excel in the upcoming examinations. Actually, what have I done is ask my neighbours on how they did their PSLE and set myself to do better than them. I think the prevoius talk that the school held is already helpful as the talk gave infomation to our parents about the PSLE and so now my parents can help me even more throughout my studies.

Journal 5: Festivals

Hi Mr Lau, the festival I celebrate is Chinese New Year, reason being I am Chinese, and the Chinese celebrate this festival. Before the festival, I would have a reunion dinner with my family. Then during the festival, my family and I would go visit our relatives and 拜年. We would have the exchange of oranges and the giving of hong-baos during the whole festival. Other festivals which are celebrated are Deepavali and Hari Raya Puasa. They are celebrated by the Hindus and Malys respectively. I think that the celebration of the various festivals help in strengthening racial harmony among the various race in Singapore as they bring the different races together and show each other about their cultures and histories. We can group different races together and hold a race, which includes questions about the different races and cultures. Even if I have the freedom to propose a new festival, I would nt do so as I already like our current festivals and they should be permanent forever.

Journal 4: Total Defence Day

For 2009, the Total Defence Day theme is " What will you defend?' Most students in my school would normally care about the theme and blog about it. But for me, I would also talk about Total Defence Day. Have you ever wondered why we celebrate this occasion? Most people would just celebrate Total Defence Day without knowing the true reason. Well, according to Wikipedia, we celebrate Total Defence Day to commemorate the anniversary of the surrender of the British to the Japanese on February 15, 1942 ,precursoring 3 years and 8 months of Japanese Occupation. Total Defence has five aspects - Military Defence, Civil Defence, Economic Defence, Social Defence and Psychological Defence. These five aspects represent the key sectors of society and they are detailed like this:

Military Defence- Singaporeans keep Singapore secure. Whenever I hear of military defence, I would think of the SAF. The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is a strong defence force that is able to deter anyone from thinking of attacking the country. The SAF draws its strength from the support of every Singaporean – national servicemen, families, friends, colleagues and employers. Talking about national service, National Service is the only workable option to ensure our security. When National Servicemen (NSmen) and full-time NSmen (NSFs) take their training seriously, they help keep the SAF strong and operationally ready. Our operational readiness is also maintained by ensuring that all equipment is in good working order all the time, and keeping up with the latest advancements in technology to meet new challenges in the battlefield. Going back to the SAF, The SAF has widened its capabilities to deal with non-conventional threats such as terrorist bombings, hijackings, and chemical, biological and radiological attacks. The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the SAF will continue to work with other security agencies to deal with such threats.

Civil Defence- Taking care of your family, friends and people around you in times of crisis. Having the same thought, whenever I hear of civil defence, I would think of the SCDF. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) recruits and trains civil defence volunteers in first aid, rescue and evacuation procedures, and shelter management. The SCDF also conducts talks and exercises to familiarise the public with basic first aid, the nearest bomb shelters and emergency arrangements like relief supply of critical items such as blood, water and food. Participating in such exercises helps us to be prepared. When we know what to do, we can help to save lives and property, and ensure that life goes on as normally as possible in times of crisis. Also, The threat of global terrorism will be around for some time. Much has already been done to ensure that Singapore is well protected against terrorist attacks, but security personnel cannot be everywhere. Singaporeans can help by looking out for, and reporting, anything suspicious.

Economic Defence- Working and saving to achieve a better life for everyone. When we upgrade our skills and knowledge, it helps us to stay relevant and employable in this rapidly changing world. Our ability to embrace lifelong learning and re-training is vital to keeping our economy competitive. Economic defence is also when the foundation of our economy is strong, our economy will not break down so easily in times of war or crisis. Sound policies and practices help us withstand external shocks. Putting in place measures to keep businesses running and maintaining stockpiles of essential items also help to keep our economy going. It is also about protecting our enviroment. By saving electricity and water, and by adopting environment-friendly practices as a way of daily life, we are helping to conserve energy and to protect our environment. As a result, Singapore will continue to be livable for future generations.

Social Defence- Living in harmony, looking out for one another. Social defence is about maintaining racial and religious harmony to ensure peace and stability in Singapore. When Singaporeans understand and are sensitive to the cultures and traditions of one another, and build strong bonds across different ethnic groups, we help strengthen social cohesion.As one people, we have a duty to contribute to the community by helping the less fortunate and underprivileged among us, regardless of their race, language, religion, age or nationality. By doing so, we can further strengthen social cohesion, and build a gracious, compassionate society.

Psychological Defence- Singaporean and proud of it. As the final aspect of Total Defence, it is when Singaporeans are united in pride and passion for the country, Singaporeans will stand up to defend what is theirs and protect the independence of the nation. And whatever the crisis or challenge, the ability to overcome challenges depends on how mentally strong Singaporeans are. It is this will and the commitment of the people that will decide how strong Singapore is as a nation.

Now what are some of the old themes of Total Defence. In 2006, the theme of the campaign was "Stay vigilant, be resilient". The theme for the 2008 campaign was "Total Defence. It's Personal. Play Your Part." The goal is to have all Singaporeans understand and appreciate that the defence of Singapore is the personal responsibility of every Singaporean. Whatever happens to Singapore affects our lives, and a strong Total Defence will benefit everyone. Singaporeans thus have to play their part to keep Singapore safe and secure. The adopted theme for the 2009 campaign is "What will you defend?". Even as Singaporeans commemorate 25 years of Total Defence in Singapore, it is hope that the adopted theme will cause Singaporeans to dig deep within themselves, and reflect on what it is in Singapore that they hold most dear in life, what it is that they will strive to protect and defend in times of threat or crisis.

So overall, I would want to defend is everything I have and everyone I know, because all of them have a purpose in my life. For example, my parents are important to me as they brought me up from young and raised my to become a conscientious and responsible person; my house is also important to me as it is where most of my childhood memories are stored. It is also the place of where I found new neighbours and have the most joyous time of my life, therefore i would want to defend it. Another thing that we must defend/protect is our health, as there are many diseases around us. That is all for my blog and hope everyone else too has something or someone special hat they would want to defend.

Journal 3: Our School's Vision, Mission and Values

Hi Mr Lau, to start, the school's vision is to have a school of Distinction, Nurturing Future-Ready Citizens of Character; the school's mission is to provide quality education to equip pupils with the values, knowledge and skills for the 21st century. And finally, the school's values are described as Passion for learning
Intergrity our foundation
Excellence in everything we do
In my opinion, these values, our mission and vision, are meaningful, as they are like 'guides' to lead us to sucess. I believe that with these 'guides', our examination results will further improve and make us become excellent students of Singapore. Honestly, I find that engaging in the activities in school does not bring the students to think about the school values, as they only think about playing while participating in the activities. To live up to the school values, the teachers and instructors should encourage the students by reminding them of the school values, and how they can be put to use. Lastly, I think that the teachers can organise games like treasure hunts, reminding the participants about the school values along the way.

Journal 2: Back to School

Hi Mr Lau, ever since I came back to school, I find there was not much difference, besides that some of my teachers have changed, like now my art teacher is Mr Anuar. Also, the atmosphere of the school is much lively. Somehow, I aslo find that the P6 students are more focused well becuase this is the PSLE year. My parents however is just constantly helping me in my work and tutoring me not as strict as before. What is most changed is that now, my sister is going to school with me! This is what I have saw changed in the schol, and I will continue to update on the incoming events.

Journal 1: New Year's Resolutions

Hi everyone and a Happy New Year! My resolutions for 2009 are: Score over 270 for PSLE, get all A* for my SA1, get into Raffles Institution, get a school award, do more interesting artworks in school, take part into the Track & Field meet... these are some of them that I can think of. While what I would want to improve in from 2008 are: Be in the class TOP 3 placing and try to be Top 10 in level. Happy New Year again and good luck for your PSLE!!!

Journal 17: Vandalism

Hi Mr Lau, 'littering' is leaving litter around, while 'vandalism' means destroying property. From What I know, the difference between 'littering' and 'vandalism' is that 'vandalism' is much more serious that 'littering'. The reason children litter and vandalise is because they think it is fun and others will clean it up for them. When I see that the place is full of litter or vandalised, I feel a bit embarrass, because everyone has a part to keep the earth litter&vandalism-free, and still some does not play their part. I have seen all places full of litter, but for vandalism, I have only seen one place vandalised. It was a couple of houses away from my aunt's house. I think that if littering or vandalism happens in our school, we should take action and punish those who littered or vandalised. This way, we can make our school's cleaners' jobs easier, and also let us study in an litter & vandalism-free school.

Journal 16: Formula 1

Hi Mr Lau, after I read the links you gave, I know that the Formula One is the highest class of open wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants and cars must conform. The F1 world championship season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held usually on purpose-built circuits, and in a few cases on closed city streets. The results of each race are combined to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers and one for constructors. I think that the F1 started during the 1920s to 1930s, but I do not know where it started ( I have tried to look for the information on many sites, including the ones you gave Mr Lau). I think that the cities which held F1 are places which are big, such as: Sakhir, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Imola, Nurburg, Barcelona, Monte-Carlo, Silverstone, Montreal, Indianapolis, Magny-Cours, Hockenheim, Budapest, Istanbul, Monza, Shanghai, Suzuka and Sao Paulo (2006). I think that Singapore should hold the F1 race as although the country is small, it strives very hard to hold events for all of us. Some of the benefits that Singapore would get would be attracting more tourists and leaving the F1 drivers and tourists with a good impression of Singapore. My favourite driver would be Lewis Hamilton, because not only he is 1st in the drivers standings, but he also does not give up hope during his races. Honestly, I do not have much interest in F1 racing, but however, I have an interest in the cars. I have watched the F1 race this year, but not all of it as it was too long. I felt that the race was really thrillling, having a few twists in it. but for me, the best part would be the closing and rize giving ceremony......

Journal 15: Recycling

When it comes to the word 'recycling', I understand that it is about saving the enviroment and the earth's resources. I think it is necessary to recycle things because if we do not recycle, we will waste the earth's resources and soon, we will have no more resources to survive on earth. Some of the ways to recycle things is to keep plastic bottles, newspapers, aluminium cans. etc. Another way is to throw the things into recycling bins. I would practise recycling sometimes, like using recycled things for my artworks. However, I feel that I can recycle more often. For me,I would recycle newspapers and plastic bottles. I do not think that the school is doing enough in recycling as we only hold a recycling competition once every year. The school can hold more other ways for recycling, such as more competitions. Lastly, I would tell my friends and clasmates that the more we recycle, the longer we can use the earth's resources. So remember to recycle and save the enviroment.

Journal 14: Addiction to Computer Games

Hi Mr Lau, for me, I do play computer games, mainly because it is fun. Some of the games that I play are miniclip games and Club Penguin. The reason I am attracted to the computer games is because they are interesting and has a great storyboard. In my views, I think that many students play computer games, reason being it helps the student to relax and stay away from school work for a while. If I count how many hours I play computer games, it will be about three and a half hours ( Half an hour a day). I really do not think that playing computer games will affect our studies. If we manage our time well, have an equal balance of study and play, playing computer games will not affect our studies. Lastly, I am aware that people can be addicted to computer games, however, I am not too sure that I can do something about it, being at this age. So I will just hope that these people's parents will remind to watch their time.

Journal 13: Sleepy Kids

Hi Mr Lau, for me, I think that I get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep everyday, which is the average amount of rest needed. Sometimes, I feel I do not get enough sleep, while other times I do. But mostly, I do get enough sleep. When it comes to managing my sleeping hours, I would sleep early. But if I do not get enough sleep, I would drink something warm or shower in warm water. Truthfully speaking, I think that I have too many things to do, such as school, CCAs and tuitions. However, I think I am able to cope with them. Lastly, I think that parents should remind their children to do their homework in the day, and rest at night. This way, children can sleep earlier and wake up with a fresher mind.

Journal 12: Olympic Games

The Olympic Games originated long ago in ancient Greece. Exactly when the Games were first held and what circumstances led to their creation is uncertain. However, it is known that the Games were a direct outgrowth of the values and beliefs of Greek society. The Greeks idealized physical fitness and mental discipline, and they believed that excellence in those areas honored Zeus, the greatest of all their gods. These 'Olympic Games' are an important event in sports because people around the world can represent his/her country to win a medal, not to mention showing off their sport talents. I have watch a few of the Olympic events including table tennis, track & field. etc because I have an interest in sports, and watching it inspires me to try it. I think the table tennis player, Li Jia Wei, impresses me the most, because she stays calm and plays well. She also has the determination to get a medal for Singapore. I would like to participate in the Olympic Games in either the badminton or table tennis event beacuse these are sports which I am good at. I think that organising the Olympics is worth it as it gives a chance to everyone in the world to show off their talents and represent their country.

The Olmypic Logo: Blue = Europe
Yellow = Asia
Black = Africa
Green = America ( North and South)
Red = Oceania

Journal 11: NE Show 2008

This NE show was really a great experience for me. Besides the waiting time, I like everything in the show. I especially like the jets that did designs in the sky, it was cool! I feel that all P5 students should not miss this once in a lifetime opputunity, as this show can really show how people describe their love for Singapore. I feel that throughout the performance, the dancers should sing the national theme song, not leave it till the last minute. I also feel that more songs should be performed in the show!

Journal 10: Interdisciplinary Project Work

I think through this this project, I have grown to learn more about my friends and their backgrounds. I also feel that teamwork is the best in project work so together, my group and I have put in our hearts and time for it. I think that the project went great ( even when Mr Lau complimented my group on being the group that did lots of IT work.) I learnt that I need my friends to complete this project, without them, I can't do it.

Journal 9: Earthquake

Hi Mr Lau, besides exploring the link you have provided, I have found out other information on earthquakes from other links. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Here are some things we should do during an earthquake
-If you're indoors, stay there. Get under -- and hold onto --a desk or table, or stand against an interior wall. Stay clear of exterior walls, glass, heavy furniture, fireplaces and appliances. The kitchen is a particularly dangerous spot. If you're in an office building, stay away from windows and outside walls and do not use the elevator.
-If you're outside, get into the open. Stay clear of buildings, power lines or anything else that could fall on you.
-If you're driving, move the car out of traffic and stop. Avoid parking under or on bridges or overpasses. Try to get clear of trees, light posts, signs and power lines. When you resume driving, watch out for road hazards.
-If you're in a mountainous area, beware of the potential for landslides. Likewise, if you're near the ocean, be aware that tsunamis are associated with large earthquakes. Get to high ground.
-If you're in a crowded public place, avoid panicking and do not rush for the exit. Stay low and cover your head and neck with your hands and arms.
I think it is possible for scientists to detect earthquakes, one example is using a laptop. Many laptops have an accelerometer, a sensor that detects motion and free fall, and that can be used to detect the intensity of earthquakes when a laptop shakes. One place where an earthquake has occured is in Sichuan, China. I think there are earthquakes in those countries because there are plates under the countries which might have fall and cause a fault line. From there, an earthquake occurs.I am not too certain that an earthquake would occur in Singapore as I feel that we are protected by GOD.

Journal 8: Mother's Day

I think that Mother's Day is the day where I show my apreciation to my loving and caring mother (this is the two words i will use to describe my mother). That is why this year, I made a little coffee table for her. When I gave it to her, I could tell she loved it by the look of her face. My relationship with my mother has grown stronger each day, maybe because she has given me the encouragement I need and I can put my faith in her. Through out the years, my mother has been like a friend to me; she helped me in many ways-such as helping me in homework, teaching me how to differentiate the right from the wrong. I think the best way to strengthen my relationship my mother is to spend more time with her and cherish every happy moment with her. Mothers are one of the most important ingredients in this world, because they were the ones who fed you when you were young, and they gave us many pleasent moments. If there is one special thing I can do for my mother, I would paint a picture or write a special song for only her.

Journal 7: Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

HFMD is a common illness of infants and children. It is characterized by fever, sores in the mouth, and a rash with blisters.The spread of the disease can occur through direct contact with nasal discharge, saliva, feces, and fluid from the blisters. It can also spread indirectly through contact with toys, books, eating utensils, towels, and other articles used by an infected individual. The infection is spread most easily when people are feeling ill and sores are present in the mouth, but the virus can be spread for several weeks after that.The symptoms of HFMD are: fever 101F-103F, malaise, sore throat, painful oral lesions, non-itchy body rash - followed by sores with blisters on palms of hands and soles of feet, mouth ulcers and sores or blisters may be present on the buttocks of small children and infants. Actually, there is no specific treatment for HFMD. However, individual symptoms such as fever, lameness and pain from the sores, may be eased with the use of medication. HFMD is a viral disease that has to run its course, so that is why many doctors do not issue medicine for this illness, unless the infection is severe.To prevent the risk of contracting HFMD, I think we should practise good general hygiene. Wash your hands immediately after contact with the infected person and before handling food. Prevent others from contact with books, eating utensils, towels, clothes and other personal items used by the infected person.