3 days of horrific fun

Well, the remedial was very........drumroll.......Fun! Mrs chien is very fun and she can make boring remedials come to life!My favouurite was the party.let see... i ate Two small and one big hawaiin pizza=4 pieces.1 cheese pizza and two seafood.sum up............7!!!!!i beat ernest record!!!!!

Three days of fun fun fun!

These 3 days were AWESOME!

I absolutely loved the english and maths activities!!
The english waas funny yet enriching and the maths was an interesting change from your usual back breaking-skull numbing work!
The party we had on the last day was great too! My mum told me that the some people were actually JEALOUS!! Imagine that!
For me however, my science day was a pain.

List of Pains (X_X)

1. Box was not set up properly
2.Ernest made a REALLY big hole in the box by accident.( whoops )
3.A sharp object flew in the air and almost stabbed my eye open ( REALLY BAD whoops )
4.torch light was missing ( whoops )
5.Kai ler and james, who were operating the data logger disappeared
and so ernest and I had absolutely NO IDEA how to work the data logger.
6.Fish tank emptied 1 quarter of its contents on my shoes
7.Lucille almost tore my finger nail off.
8.2 of 3 guppies went suspiciously MISSING......maybe that pile of bones and satisfied lobster are related.......
9.lucille grace died.......ate puffer fish and went into .....dreamland.( sniff.....sob......)

Overall, everything was just fine!

Here is a mean joke: what is dark and bleak? answer: Your future!

What do you learn from that?

1. Plan before attempting investigation
2. If given a chance, change team members!
3. Lucky says ' when in doubt, walk around and learn form others' and he is spot on correct!

Thanks a million to your team - Lucky, Fear Pie for helping to bring our beloved Lucille 2 home. Never mind what happened next because YOU did your best to care for her. You are brilliant! (Mrs Chien)

Three days of extttrrreemmmee fun!!!!!!(with studying)

At first i thought this remedial will bore me to death but it proved I was wrong as we both had fun and learnt new things like how to use visual skills to solve maths problem sums . I did not fully understand the concept of materials reflecting light but after doing the experiment I understood the concept .But the most memorable moment was when the aroma of the delicious pizza entered my nose. I ate about 5 slices of pizza with cheese topping and 8 glasses of different kinds of drinks. The best part was when we cleaned the class. I enjoyed playing as well as cleaning the class it was one of the most unforgettable party ever.

3 Awesome days in school!

The 3 holidays rock!!!! On the first day our class was arranged like the arena . It was so uncomfortable , never sat like that before ... I couldn't answer any of the questions mrs chien gave ... (how to make myself raise my hand and answer the question?!) So i ended up trying my best to ''sell'' the eyelash curler . And the charade ... why must I do ''Honey I'm Home''???? SOBS!!! But it's still super fun! On the second day, we learnt about visualisation and looking for patterns. I LOVE THE 3rd DAY!!!

Doing that science experiment , the cycling in the dark . I don't know if my group joined charmaine's or charmaine's group joined us but we still did the experiment together. The most funny part was when Maythavee and I went in search for stronger torchlights. We found 3 torches but only used 1 of them . We kept adding torches to the hole until we used 4 of them and I think we made the hole too big and the torches kept dropping in. That rocks!!!
About the party let's not talk about it . Lasted only abut 15 mins. I wish mrs chien can hold this kind of classes again except for the party. And the next time i want to try to answer the questions!

Feedback for those 3 DAYS !

those 3 days were so fun ...FUN..!
MONDAY -English
Start of the day, we sat in an arena arrangement . I was late and did not know where to sit .Very lost at 1st but sat with megan after that . It was funny to see all the peoples' legs , especially boys infront of me slightly fidgeting. Obviously , we were uncomfortable.

CHARADES - I was in the arena and doing walking like an Egyptian, quite difficult and embarrasing - i couldn't think of anything about Egyptians ! I also remembered the very fun storytelling and wheel of fortune. I think it was useful as i 'overcomed' my embarassment and also learnt many new things.

TUESDAY-maths

we did visualisations and maths .. It's all about learning new things and the questions were refreshing. it was fun and i loved it . luckily we learnt these in case such questions appear in PSLE, must carve it in your mind!

wednesday-science+party
It was really fun that day . though we were rushing,we had fun doing the experiment (salim,hh,megan,charmaine,maythavee,theresa,bona)on the cyclist at night . the hands on was really good, learning alot. The workbook tests were to test our levels of science .. the experiments were fun . we used so many different torchlights of all sizes (L ,M,S) At 1st we were not successful ... but it all worked out well in the end ..! I think the experiment was testing how organised we were and i absolutely loooved it ...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE PARTYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHILE WE WERE STILL DOING THE EXPERIMENT , THE PIZZAS CAME ,THE AROMA ..!WE finished our work AS FAST AS WE COULD. FINALLY , THE PIZZA PARTY STARTed ...! THOSE WERE DELICIOUS!!!!!All FINISHED IN 12 MINS! I ESPECIALLY LOVED EVERYTHING .LOL .^^THE DRINKS SWIPED OFF .. QUICK ! THEY WERE TOTALLY FAB ..! I GOT A COUGH AFTER THAT . I DO NOT CARE ... I LOVED IT ... UNEXPLAINABLE LOVE FOR IT ...! ^_^ it was so fun .. IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS ... BUT I NEVER REALLY FELT FULL ..NEVERTHELESS.. I FELT EXTREMELY HAPPY IN THAT SHORT PERIOD OF TIME ...!!!!!!!!!!

The 3 Excellent Days :D

Those three days were awesome!!

I loved the first day best. The tables were arranged like an arena and we had to really adjust to it. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but i got used to it after a while. The charade was fantastic ! The continuing the story was soo funny ! especially when the slips were used. Lastly, we did the compositions, and it sounded weird as we went quite out of point after a short while of doing someone else's story.

The second day was all about maths, and wonderful ! We did many problem sums and found many patterns !

The third day, was so fun !! We did hands on experiments [mine was heat] and i really enjoyed it. We worked hard on the experiment, trying to make it a fair test by fiddling with the temperatures of the water to make it the same. Overall, it was cool.

And at the end of the day, was the PARTY !
We ate pizzas, nuggets, chicken wings and drank bottles of drinks which i mixed in my cup =]
All the food and drinks were finished within a short time and we had to CLEAN UP !
I missed the pizzas as by the time i got there, it was all finished. So, i spent my time eating the NUGGETS :)

Not like the other classes, which studied and studied and did worksheets, we had fun while studying, which was great
I totally loved the three days! Thank you Mrs Chien for the WONDERFUL time we had.

Those 3 days

Those three days were the best I ever had... No word is great enough to describe the happiness I felt. On the first day, we had our tables arranged into a circle to form an arena! It was a great arrangement- different from what we usually have (although getting to the desk was a little hard). Uncomfortable? Yeah. VERY. Having plenty of eyes look at you.... it's creepy. At least I didn't get to go to the arena (I wanted to...) Playing cherades, telling stories, doing the next paragraph of your friend's compo and find that the story wasn't what you wanted it to be... Everything was pure learning and playing.

Second day... MATHS. Dun dun dun dun~~~ Okay, enough drama. I feared that day. But I felt excited. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... In fact, I could climb up mt. Everest and scream at the top of my lungs, "I LOVED MATHS DAY!!!" Oh. wait. Nah, I wouldn't do that. Okay, so we learned about looking for the patterns and visualisation. I found it fun... really. Mrs chien told us that those two things would appear in PSLE. I sat with Eden who was- better not say it...Wei Jie who was quiet and Koh Eun who wanted to cut my hair. They were helpful to me as my maths isn't what you would call 'strong'....

Next day was... SCIENE!!!! YIPEE!!!! I love science.... My group (sheryl, koh eun, me and natalie) Did the heat concept thingy... It was fun... although I am afraid of hot water because of past experiences. Sheryl and I had fun just by waiting for the next time to check the temperature of the water... We counted down... Did silly stuff... Have natalie shoot her infamous glacial look at me... Finally, at the end of the supplementary, we had the party!! The whole class finished the boxes of pizza, chicken and nuggets in TWELVE MINUTES!!! I wonder if that'll put us in the book of world records.... I was a bit... erm... tired but I still kept my smile on (tried...) We cleaned up and I went home.

I had the most fun on Monday and felt helped the most on Tuesday... I want to see more of everything we did on those three days!!!

P.s: In which category of the "amount of courage chart" do I fall in?

3 days

Those three days in school during holiday were great. It helped me understand how to do well in oral. I really enjoyed them and the science worksheet was great. I wonder why it lasted only 3 days. i wish we could do even more revision and study more.

All the activities we have done were so great and I was so excited to be in 6 grace as other classes only did the worksheets unlike our class. And the last day party was the best among all the activities we did on those 3 days.

Now I miss my class as I will not be able to go to school and will always be hearing mom's nagging.^^ anyway I wish the holiday is over as I enjoy studying in the 6 grace classroom.

Feedback!!! :D

It was amazing and interesting! We didn't have to sit and do worksheets the whole day like others classes. We played and learnt at the same time. (enjoyed it very much!)
On the first day, we sat in a circle the whole day. At first, it was very uncomfortable but after a while I felt much better. I laughed almost the whole dAY! I really had fun!
2nd day...
It was my favourite subject, maths. We learnt about Visualisation skills and finding a pattern which Mrs.Chien said was a major topic which will come out for PSLE!
It was so amazing at first when Mrs.Chien guessed the number we thought of before we knew the trick!
3rd day...
It was one of the most enjoyable day! My group(me,theresa,charmaine,bona) did the question on "how can the cyclist be seen during a dark night". At first our group did it wrongly and we joined another girl group (megan,hui hao,jia li,clarissa). Megan and I searched the two science labs for stronger torchlights!
In the end, we use 4 torchlights to do the experiment!

Now, the most interesting part....
THE PARTY!!!
Wesley said we finished the food by about 15mins. (can record inside the world record!:D)
It was very enjoyable moment! I even ate 2 pizzas!
The class was in a mess after the party but we managed to clean it up.
It was the first time I had a party inside the classroom!

Thank YOu Mrs.Chien 4 organizing this whole event!
:P

3-day holiday remedial

The 3-day lesson was the most amazing lesson in the whole entire 5 years of learning!!!! on the first day..i thought we were all going to do boring work that will bore me to death...i even complained "i want to go back and sleep..." but to my surprise...'voila'!!! an arena was made in the classroom!!!

we did some amazing lessons like charades-we look edat students giving signals and guessed like crazy..this teaches us to not be afraid.

then we did some storytelling about our teacher and others...that day made me want to have more excitement in the lessons.

the second day was very useful as it taught me to visualize the picture and simplify it..( it was quite hard to see it!!!-Practice makes perfect!) Mrs chien even said such questions may come out in PSLE!!!

The third day was the most enjoyable day...its not only the party but also the hands-on activities!!!!the torchlight experiment was the bomb!!! i liked the experiment so much...(i wish i could do more) and finally...the holy party in 'da' class...'da' party!!! we ate alot of slices of pizza and gulped down gallons of fizzy drinks!!! we even set the record of eating everything in 12mins!!!! that unbelievable...how i wish this day could repeat all over again.
Mrs Chien!!!can we do this more often in class the next term?(those activities...not the party)
I'm so lucky being in ^grace!!!!

FeedBack~

O~O~O~O~
The holiday programme is wonderful!!!
it is soooo fun~all thanks to Mrs.Chien and friends!
I really liked the way we were seated on the first day,
a big round circle and everyone told a part of a story.I am basically laughing throughout the whole thing. Especially the second round(^+++^)
The math day is ok but it is quite hard to understand all these problem sums.

I LOVE science day! With everyone doing hands on experment and girls(me,charmaine,maythavee,bona,megan,hui hao,clarrisa,jia li.) in one group.
We ...ruined two boxes and some parts of the torch got pulled out(?) but we manage to fix all back !(Thank goodness)
And of course the best part is the PARTY!
We had 6 pizzas, nuggets, chicken wings and lot of drinks. Mostly the food ran out within a short period of time and we had the party in class! Never have a teacher that does that before!
So, I must thank Mrs.Chien for organizing the party for us!
Thank you!!!!Mrs.Chien!!!!You rock!

feed back ~

The three days of the holidays were super fun!! I had fun playing games on the first day. I love sitting in circles where I can see everyone. Going back to school enables me to meet my beloved friends and teacher. I wish that we could have the fun again. I wish we could always sit in circles and see everyone. Yesterday, we learnt maths and we did many fun things. We learnt how to visualise things and it was fun ! c: Today we had some hands on experiments where we can touch and see. It was superb ! Today we ate pizza, chickens, nuggets and drank soft drinks. But of course I could only eat pizza and drink soft drinks T.T I managed to gobble 1 slice of pizza and it was totally GONE ! haha.. xD then I had a few cups of soft drinks. It was really fun going back to school during the holidays !

My feedback for the holidays

These three days during the holidays were so fun :) It was exciting to go to school during the holidays, I was able to meet up with my friends and of course, Mrs Chien (the unpredictable teacher).. I loved the first day the best, we were seated in a huge circle, and we could see everyone, it was so much fun. It was like in a stadium.. We played many games related to english, there was so much laughter, I enjoyed myself a lot. And the party today was extremely fun too, we had 6 pizzas, some nuggets, chicken wings and soft drinks, they were all gone in about 12 mins.. Our class was such an 'amazing' class! Thank you teacher(and the deliverymen) for the food :)

At first, I dreaded the holiday programme. I mean, which student would want to go to school when they can sleep late?

So,on Monday, I reluctantly went to school. I thought I was late for a few minutes??When i entered the class, everyone was about to rearrange the desks already. Mrs Chien told us a plan - she wanted a circle! We then played games..the best way of teaching!

2nd day...was MATHS DAY! We learned that Visualisation skills and finding a pattern are 2 major concepts that will appear in PSLE!The visualisations questions were really hard to solve but i think that only after the explanations i managed to understand them.

Today...science day!!! We had to do an investigation - How can cyclist/pedestrians cross a road at night and be seen. So, at first,we had problems with the datalogger, the torch and a lot of things. When Mrs Chien suggested that the 2g roups(2 girls group) joined, we just worked together. We fixed the datalogger problem and got more torches and at the same time, had alot of fun!

FINALLY,we had our party! It was the best ever!
I felt lucky that i could go for 'remedial':)!

holidaay programm ((lagggy) luckyy schnauzerr

The holiday program was fun...had lots of laughs. The gladiator arena seating was fun.(have u stolen my underwear)^________^ the science hands on activities were fun and yet i learn from them how to set such experiment.and learnt one special thing that if unsure on how to set experiment,stand up and see what others do and copy(but not in exams or tests).The maths was really hard.... and confusing lucky revised it.eating pizza with friends fun espicially ...(how to spell espicially) m+W . Still record holder of 6 pizzaspieces, also found out that drinking ice lemon tea and f&n and coke and pespi and htwo o gives you a stomache............................................................................................................................... from lucky

FEEDBACK for THE HOLIDAY PROGRAM

I find the 1st day most interesting. It was awesome! We sat like as if we were in an arena and it was cool as in all my 5 years back in the school our sitting formation was the most boring... 2 people sitting together...

I find that i have learnt a lot of things in the all three days! The english day we got to learn about something - you should never stop - which is life-long learning. We started stories and ended them.

I learnt about doing the investigation on heat conductivity. It was so cool man. We worked together and started the experiment. The fun part was pouring the hot water into the beakers and boiling it.

I would like to have the sitting arrangements to be like how we sat on Monday - The arena thingy. I like it! And most of all.... i have learnt that eating pizzas with your great friends is fun! Thank you Mrs Chien for taking us through the 3 days!

my happiest holiday ever spent

On the 25th of may, I thought that the next day would be my most boring day i ever spent... "school holiday also need to go back to school - so boring - even though i knew that it is for my own good and i need to revise my work or else when the new term start my brain will be empty".

I woke up quite late but I found out that I was too early!! haha... iI sat down outside the library as Jun jie and my friends were there already. I chatted with them then we went to class...

Our teacher instructed us to arrange the desks in a circular shape so that we could form an arena. I guessed that day was about maths but i was wrong - it was English. We played games and was soooo fun. When i got home i revised and slept early because I was very sure that the next day would be very fun. And... i was correct haha (so high hehe). I went to school with a very very happy mood and teacher instructed us to transform the arena into groups of 4. I got into action and found myself a group and sat down... ...

the third day!! soooo happy because the class party was the first thing that I thought of but "also need to do work". haha there is no free lunch in the world!!!!! We did some hands-on experiment. Like in other experiments, we did the planning followed by the actual experiment. We chose the items which included some 'high risk' items. We handled them with care and lucky our experiment went smoothly!

After the experiment, we helped teacher to clean up the class and collect back the data loggers and placed them back in their original place. We drew a draft and concluded our experiment. After all this, we handed in the papers and the graph to teacher. And...the food arrived!!!!

I was like soooo happy like in heaven or better than that!! haha anyway i went to get the drinks and the party began - the pizzas, nuggets and chicken wings were gone in about 12 mins. Think of that!! Our class must all be experienced eaters. haha the drinks were finished in about 10 more minutes then that was the fastest class party i had ever been to! Some of my friends and I stayed back to help to clean up. After that Jun jie, Darren and I went home together.
Thanks for these enjoyable three days which i thought would be boring - they were so far from that! =)

by low heng yi=)

Oh This Heat - Haiku

Queen Of 'Show' not 'Tell'

By Theresa Chang

The sun was nowhere to be seen. Instead, rain and wind were everywhere. The heavy downpour was almost like waterfalls (2). Wind howled (4) even louder than wolves. The city was in a gloomy (1) mood as there was a traffic jam.

*Seated in the front seat, safety belt across my chest, I hummed a song as I watched the rain fall. Father was grumbling about the traffic, the weather, the oil price and everything else he could think of – which was a lot! (3) We were on our way to send bunches of roses, daisies and carnations to some customers of my family’s shop.

The traffic lights turned green and the snake-like queues inched forward. I looked at the greyish sky which told me that rain would carry on for the entire afternoon. *Looking at trees and raindrops always made me feel so peaceful.

Out of the blue, I heard a loud ‘bang’ and the car sank to the ground! I stared blankly at the back mirror and I saw a large tree trunk that had dropped out of nowhere and landed on the roof. Father, for once, was too stunned to talk and had gone weak with shock. I could feel the tyres deflating under the weight of the more-than-ten-years-old tree. All of a sudden I felt so helpless that I started crying. Salty tears dripped from my eyes onto my face into my lap. I went on sobbing until my vision was blurred. *Father, who had been speechless, woke up form shock and tried to do something for our safety.

“Bang!” A loud knock and muffled shouts stopped me from weeping for a moment. I looked at the man standing outside my door who was gesturing at me to unlock the door. *Hesitantly, I undid the safety lock. *With a loud blow, the door was thrown open. In front of me was a man wearing a striped shirt.

*Without a word, he unhooked the safety belt and ‘peeled’ me off my seat. A man carrying an umbrella took me aside to a bus stop for shelter while going back for my father. A lady in black knocked on his door. Father opened the door on his side faster than I had.

*Within minutes, Dad was by my side putting his arms around me and saying comforting words to me as he thanked the three rescuers. Many cars behind us started to ‘hoot’ to express their feelings! A lady in her twenties, holding on to her umbrella, phoned the police to get our out-of-shape car away.

In the end we went home with the help of the man in striped shirt. The next day, our photos were on every newspaper but as they were quite blurred, none of my friends recognised me – the miserable girl who got ‘crushed’ by a tree. As for father, he had bought insurance for his car and was happy to find that the new car would not cost him too much.

Please note:
(1) red: adjectives that tell me more
(2)green: comparisons make effective visuals
(3)pink: feelings - father, the author and even 'cars' expressed their feelings
(4)purple: verbs that create strong visuals and are action packed
*Excellent sentence structure

Mind Maps to Unleash Original Ideas

Of course great writing does not happen just like that.

Planning is the most imporatnt step to a successful and well-fleshed out story.

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And if you think, it takes too much time to plan properly, look at what these pupils did for SA1 2008 under pressure for a successful story!

Excellent Sentence Structures - SA1 2008

By Clarissa Lim

Herbal tea in hand, I followed closely behind my mother.

In unison, we rushed to see what happened.

With expected efficiency, the tow-truck and the ambulance arrived minutes later.

Having no transportation, we hired a taxi to send the driver to the hospital.

Outstanding Stories - SA1 2008

By Tan Guan Jie '

Angry (1) honks could be heard from the ever busy Bukit Timah Road on this cold, rainy Monday morning. I stared out of my father's black Nissan car with a sulky face (3) and at the same time, I tried to ignore father's grumbles about the slow, red lorry that seemed to be holding up the traffic. It was raining cats and dogs, which made driving difficult. And worse of all, I was late for school.

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I stared at the trees which were lined up along the road. The trees which stood tall and magnificent now looked eerie as lightning crackled (4) and lit up the whole sky. Looking at my watch, I grimaced as I saw that the time was now 7.05am. Soon, my father lost his temper and started beeping at the slow lorry like a mad man (2). And with that, all the cars joined in the beeping. Suddenly as if heaven above was angry, a bolt of golden lightning shot through the sky, hitting a tree squarely onto its foundation. As if the giant tree was responding to the pain, it swayed from left to right as it drew its last breath.

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The giant tree crashed down onto the frail red lorry. As it smashed onto the metal frame of the vehicle, it disfigured the lorry. Glass shattered and metal was bent! But the worst thing that could happen was the smell of petrol that hung in the air.

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My father and I did not know what to do. We just sat in the car helplesly while others, with their instincts kicking in, rushed to the scene. Some pried the door opened with giant umbrellas. Others with handphones called the Singapore Civil Defence Force. The thing that caught my attention was a scream that came from the bloodied school girl who was being pulled out of the lorry.

next

Upon seeeing this, a wave of guilt overcame me. If only I had been more patient. If only father had not honked at the lorry. If only... if only.... It was too late to change anything now.

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Tears started to well up in my eyes as I saw paramedics separate the father and daughter in two flashing ambulances and drive off. But from this, I learnt a valuable lesson - always be patient, a human life is more important.

nxt
Please note:
(1) red: adjectives that tell me more
(2)green: comparisons make effective visuals
(3)pink: feelings - heaven, the tree and the others also have feelings
(4)purple: verbs that create strong visuals and are action packed

Outstanding Stories - SA1 2008

By Wesley Au

Wood-Row Street - an incredible sight.

The street was named after the long rows of stout (1) trees that lined the edges of the footpath. It was truly a sight that resembled peace and tranquility (3) but it almost became a scene of a tragic loss of human life...

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Wood-Row Street - 2nd January 2006

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As always, the evening period was the most crowded as many people were returning home from work. I was driving back from work, eyes lazily snapping (4) close from exhaustion. Ahead of me was a husband and wife driving a slow-moving van which was as 'fast' as a lawn-mover (2) ! Sore, irritable and hungry , I angrily punched my steering wheel. But my displeasure quickly turned into sheer terror.

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A large oak tree directly beside the van emitted a queer, creaking sound and started tilting. "Something is wrong. A thousand-pound tree does NOT tilt!!" I thought wildly as the creaking became more and more pronounced. Shards of bark snapped free from the trunk with a crackle of joy. Then out of the blue, the tree dropped and crashed onto the van!

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It was horiffic. The hood of the van bent and buckled under the pressure of the seemingly iron-clad tree. I dashed out of my car and instantly sprinted to the van. Several passers-by helped the couple out of the van. Just as a man could not lift an elephant, the van could not take it anymore and got crushed like a lump of tin foil.

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As I was about to return to my car, the van erupted in a ball of billowing flames. The warmth of the flames greedily feasting on the tree was quickly chased away by the cold rain. "Like a funeral pyre," I thought grimly as I returned to my car. Luckily, someone had called the fire brigade which then proceeded to quench every last glowing ember.

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Life is unpredictable. Life can as easily reward you as it can curse you! Yet life has a flavour that only someone who has nearly lost it can experience.

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Please note:

(1) red: adjectives that tell me more

(2) green: similes make effective visuals by comparing one thing to another

(3) pink: feelings - here even the tree has feelings

(4) purple: verbs that create strong visuals and are action packed

Little Adjectives or phrases that made a Difference! SA1 2008

Various Vases

... white with a rainbow-coloured flower with deep green leaves ....(Koh Eun)

A pristine white vase with a few swans intricately carved on it..... (Kailer)

I decided to buy a colourful ceramic vase... (Maythavee)

I spotted a beautiful red vase (Darren)

... with designs of blue dragons (Jordan)

A unique vase with carved flowers and bees (Jia Li)
A dazzling vase as bright as fireworks (jun Jie)

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Trees
... a gigantic tree .. (Eugene)
a tree which had been there for twenty years ...(Hui Hao)
an enormous tree, three metres long (Chao JUn)
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Vans
a yellow van

a green van

a white van

a newly-bought van (Ernest)

an old van crushed (Se Kwon)
rusty van (Se Kwon)

a crushed vannext

Umbrellas were:
multi-coloured
bright blue
colourful
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Little Adjectives or phrases that tell me more...
wailing girl (Heng Yi)

unmovable lorry (Heng Yi)

glacial look (Ernest)
salty tears (Theresa)

concerned voices (Ernest)
gloomy mood (Theresa)
elongated shadows (Yong Zhi)

obese man (Nirmal)
sheer enthusiasm (Kailer)
tall over-head bridge (Megan)

squeezy and stuffy lift (Wei Jie)

a shop crammed with buyers (Nirmal)

Best Settings relevant to the story A Present for Mother - SA1 2008

The afternoon sun glimmered, its rays blinding my eyes. It was so hot that the sun at the back of my head was slowly 'cooking my brain'! Cars honked, dogs barked, just like in the previous days. But this time, it was more special. It was my mother's birthday.

Sheryl (Winner 2)

The sky was pitch dark. No sounds could be heard. Out of a sudden, an alarm clock rang, shattering the silence that surrounded the peaceful air.

Bona (Winner 3)

A bunch of pupils scurried out of the school gate. I walked down a long and narrow pathway that led to a bus stop. The sun was blazing hot. Sweat rolled down my face. I guess I was lucky! When I arrived at the bus stop, a big double-decker bus came.

Wei Jie

People's chattering buzzed into my ears. A cute, little store filled with customers caught my eye. Disney music filled my ears as I entered. The air-conditioner in the store was switched on at full blast and I was freezing.

Fauzia (Winner 1)

Best Settings that were Relevant to the Story - SA1 2008 - STORMY setting!

Lightning flashed in the sky. Thunder boomed into my ears. The rain was pattering on the windows, creating a beat. The rain was so heavy it flooded the drains on the roadside.

Hong Wei

"Dip... dip..." The dripping of water filled the surroundings. The loud honks of the cars joined the dripping making an irritating music. The street was as busy as in a wet market while the area was filled with colourful umbrellas.

Jun Jie

When I woke up, I was surrounded by darkness. I looked out of the window. The rain pounded against the windows, fighting furiously to get in, but the window was by no means weak. Out of the blue, lightning struck! "Goal!" It had hit its target.

Natalie (Winner 3)

The gleam of lightning brightened the dark, grey sky for a moment. Ten millions droplets hit the cold and hard metal parts of the car and made a terribly noisy sound.

Sung Chul

Thunder roared as a heavy downpour began. The ground of the neighbourhood was as wet as though a tidal wave had passed by. The sky grew darker. It gave me a horrifying feeling as though the world was coming to an end. Trees swayed vigorously and leaves rustled as the untamed wind blew.

Eugene (Winner 2)

"Crash! BOOM!" I heard thunder roar once again. Torrents of rain poured from the stormy clouds. I could see small clusters of people huddled together, scurrying like ants towards shelter. And a long, seemingly meandering line of cars clogged up the Expressway, honking loudly.

Fear Pie aka Andre (Winner 1)

Even though I was in an air-conditioned bus, I could hear the wind roaring outside. I noticed that the drizzle became heavier in just minutes or even seconds. I shut my eyes as I did not want to experience the rain.

James

It was pouring cats and dogs when I lazily switched off my favourite computer game. I rubbed my eyes and heard tyres of cars rolling through the wet road near my house. The sky was greyish as the rain poured down to the ground.

Hui Hao

Algae infestation Update Part 2

Got some more information from a source from Texas. Yes, Texas, the place with all the COWS. Was too lazy and sleepy to properly dissect it so here it is , in mass.*yawn*

Excessive Phytoplankton
(1) The abundance of planktonic algae (very green water) in a pond is generally related to the amount of nutrients present in the water. Nutrients can wash into the pond from woods, pastures, fields, human activities in the watershed, or come from pond fertilization.

Generally, the more nutrients, the more planktonic algae (or other aquatic plants) will grow or bloom. Although phytoplankton is good from an abundance of natural food and oxygen producing standpoint, it can become too abundant or excessive.

When phytoplankton become so abundant that water visibility is limited to less than 12 inches there is a danger of an oxygen depletion. These heavy or dense blooms use large amounts of dissolved oxygen at night and on very cloudy/overcast, windless days causing an oxygen depletion and fish kill.

This problem is often a consequence of overfertilizing, overfeeding, or excessive nutrients from livestock, fields, or septic lines.

Phytoplankton Die-off
(2)Phytoplankton populations, or blooms, can grow rapidly, particularly on sunny days when the water is warm and nutrients are available. Alternatively, they can die-off quickly, especially in the spring and fall as water temperatures change rapidly with weather fronts. However, a bloom die-off can occur at any time of the year with little or no warning.

Typically during a bloom die-off, the color of the water will start to change. Leading up to a bloom die-off the pond water may have a "streaky" appearance. Streaks of brown or gray-black through the otherwise green water of the pond is an indication that the algae are starting to die.

As the die-off progresses, the whole pond will turn from green to gray, brown, or clear. The pond water will typically clear after a die-off as the dead algae settle to the bottom.

Plankton die-offs cause rapid oxygen depletions for two reasons:

1) the remaining dissolved oxygen is consumed by aerobic bacteria and fungi in the process of decaying the dead algae

2) few live phytoplankton remain to produce more oxygen. Secchi disks can be used to monitor bloom densities. Any bloom that reduces visibility in the pond to 12 inches or less may cause oxygen problems.

Source:http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/contents/dissolved_oxygen.htm

Pies at last......

There! My Chicken Pies! As you see, these are not run-off-the-mill Chicken pies you find at Polar and bakeries. Mine is the genuine article and this Pic was NOT from the web. I took it myself.

More update on the algae, no water circulation is now a CERTAIN possibility.

PS : Whats so special about 29-30th May? Do I owe someone money on that days?