During our road trip to Shirato Falls we saw this lovely ice sculpture at the entrance of the grounds. Doesn’t it look really interesting with the icicle formation along a fence?
Growing the ice sculpture
It must have taken quite a long while to grow the sculpture to such thickness. I could see the ice melting away at certain sections of the sculpture and they were re-enforcing it with a spray gun. I wonder what type of liquid they use for this to happen as it certainly couldn’t have been just plain water.
This year as Monkey boy entered Primary Four I am focusing more on sprucing up his skills in English Composition. English composition is an area which many students find trouble in. Even though as a component itself it doesn’t bear the majority of marks in the English Semestral Assessment which occurs twice yearly it does affect one’s overall English grade.
Photo by Photoxpress
Before one can put the pencil to paper there are many different things that one needs to consider.
1) The story line
2) The tone of the essay
3) The use of content and language.
The requirements have changed a lot since entering Primary one. Now in Primary 4 he is required to write a essay is at least 120 words long and has to either describe in detail the pictures given or develop his own story based on the prompt given.
Just stating the facts as based on what one sees and brief or minimal expression of ones thoughts or feelings will not suffice at this level. No doubt you may be able to pass this component by doing just that but you would not be able to score good marks.
The visual/written cues given in the chosen scenario has to be fully and thoroughly developed into a highly interesting written piece which has to capture and captivate the interest of the reader. The essay which is pen out has to be entertaining and also tug at the marker’s heart string.
Besides having an engaging story line the students needs to use appropriate grammar and have minimal spelling mistakes in their essay. If he is able to fulfill these requirements I’m certain that he would be able to score highly in this area.
How then does one groom a child to do well in this component?
In the next post I will touch on the rubrics on how a composition is marked.
