#winningentries

The winners are (in no particular order):

Art submissions (Lower Primary)

Claudia Ong, 3I, Lifelong Journey Education Centre Nikita Ria Jei Siregar, 1 Aspiring, Rosyth School Teoh Yong Han, 1G, West Grove Primary School 

Art submissions (Upper Primary)

Low Xin Yi, 5 Challenge, Admiralty Primary School Muhammad Ihtisyam, 4F, West Grove Primary School Safi Arinah Bte Sa'ad, 4E, West Grove Primary School

Essay submissions (Lower Primary)

Claudia Ong, 3I, Lifelong Journey Education Centre Sng Wei Yang, Sean, 1H, Radin Mas Primary School AKM Zahidul Islam, 3C, Jurong West Primary School

Essay submissions (Upper Primary)

Rebecca Chua, 5 Challenge, Admiralty Primary School Seow Hui Qin, 6A, Xinmin Primary School Yeong See Neng, 5E, Raffles Girls' Primary School  

How I Would Like to Study and Play

Nowadays, my timetable is as packed as sardine, that “play time” never appears on it. It will be marvelous if we can combine play and study, the effect could be synergistic!

One way to do so is to bring in movies, pop songs and classical novels. This will help to improve our language capability. For instance, we can watch a movie a week. Then, we can isolate some phrases or even do a comprehension based on it. As I noticed, there are times that I did not fully understand the language and content of the movie. So, if the teacher can go through the movie, it certainly enhances our understanding of, not only the language, but also history and culture of that country. Take for instance, “Harry Potter” and “Chronicles of Narnia”.

For Mother Tongue and Civic Mindedness Education, we can go through classical novels and act it out. One example is “Three Kingdoms”. When reading it alone, it is dry and boring. However, when dissecting it with teachers and classmates, it can be fun and inspiring. It teaches us to be resourceful, focused and persistent. I feel there is a lot of character building in it too. By acting it out carves a deep impression on lessons learnt.

As for Science, I hope we can go for more field trips to fully grasp the concept taught in school. Topic like “Electricity”, we can visit Power Station. We can also play electric lanterns and scrutinize the electric circuit. For topic like “Plants” we can visit the Supermarket to familiarize ourselves with the different types of vegetables.

How I Would Like to Study and Play

A new way to study and play? That, I have many ideas. Let's begin with studying first.

Many students find studying tiring and tedious because they have to hunch over to write and their fingers might get numb! And if they lay down on the table to write, their teachers would scold them. Thus, I suggest that students should actually make use of the computer.

Typing on the computer is not as tedious as using a pen to write. It would also take lesser time to type and eventhough writing software like Microsoft Word have the feature of checking spelling, you can always easily turn that off. Once the students had finished typing his composition or other work, they can just sent it to their teachers electronic mail.The teacher then can easily check his or her student's work. That saves ink and also time. Maybe the school can also set some of the class to stay at home to study while the others come to school. There will be lesser students and the noise level will be lower, giving a quiet enviroment for the students. Teachers can also have lesser classes to teach.

Okay, now about play. Children nowadays like to play electronic devices like play stations and Xboxs.

I strongly disagree in that kind of play. Maybe the government could build more playgrounds? That will be awesome and more children can play outdoors. The Community Centres could also plan events like a day when children would go to the CCs to play different kinds of games and maybe also make some new friends. I would like that.

How I Would Like to Study and Play

If you ever ask me if my lifestyle is perfect, I would tell you that it is not. Having such busy, hectic schedules every day, one who is in upper primary will never have a day when he can totally relax.

If I could have my own way of studying and playing, it would definitely be great. All homework would be on paper, so that we need not turn the computer on just to do homework. Every day, we would play in the grassy ground and get all dirty. Even if we made our mothers angry, we would not mind washing up because we will enjoy all the fun.

We would share one book in each group for lessons. In that way, we would save money and we can cooperate as a group to take care of the book and keep it safe for lessons.

We would play olden games such as hopscotch, gasing, marbles and tin cans. We would also create games. 

On the last day of the year, we would organise a “Games Carnival”. On this day, we would play lots of games, including those designed by students. After that, we would have an annual “snowball” fight. Those participating would have to write something they like about the school on a piece of paper, then they would crush it into a ball and throw it around the room. When somebody else picks the ball, he will unfold it and read the message on it. Afterwards, they would try to guess who had written it. The most creative message would win a prize!

How I Would Like to Study and Play

Whenever raindrops fall on my window panes, I feel light-hearted. I am tempted to leave the piles of assessment books and send paper boats on puddle voyages. As I gaze outside, I long for a time when there would no boundaries between studying and playing.

I want to study and learn beyond my classroom through experiences. Mixing old methods with new technologies would allow me to learn in an interesting way and would help me understand things better. I also wish for my playtime to be a period of imagination and creativity. Whether I engage in role-playing games or build huge sandcastles, I want to learn some skills that would help me when I grow up.

How I Would Like to Study and Play 

Although I would like to sleep in, I think school for us lower primary pupils should be in the morning session because I want to learn more about English, Chinese, Mathematics, Music, Art and Computer skills, all my favourite subjects.

For Art, I hope to do what I enjoy most, drawing dinosaurs & dragons! Of course it will be great if art lessons include field trips to the Dinosaur & Dragon museum, if there is one in Singapore!

In Music, I learned this year’s National Day theme song Love at First Light, and I love it! I just love to sing. What do you say to background music throughout the school day? Yeah.