Learning Partners Closed for New Year

Today is the last day of 2012. We'll be ushering in a new year tomorrow.


As tomorrow, the very first day of 2013 is a public holiday, Learning Partners will be closed for the day. Lessons will resume on 2 January, Wednesday.


Have a great New Year's Day!

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 4

The holidays are drawing to a close and school will be starting in a few days' time. Children and parents alike would be busy preparing for the start of a new year. We hope that everyone has had a good break and is now fully recharged, ready to face the new year head-on.


And remember, having a good start is half the battle won. So make sure you learn your spelling for this week. The Spelling Lists are below:

Book Review: WHITE TIGER

White Tiger by Kylie Chan

White Tiger is the first book in the Dark Heavens Trilogy, detailing the adventures of Emma Donahoe. This book mixes the modern world with Chinese mythological gods and ancient martial arts, creating a story that in theory, should be very interesting, but in execution, is rather lacklustre.

Book Review: MY SISTER'S KEEPER

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My Sister’s Keeper tells of a thirteen-year old girl, Anna Fitzgerald, a “designer baby” who was modified to be a perfect match for her older sister Kate. Kate has been diagnosed with leukemia at two and needs a donor to donate cord blood. Kate survives, and Anna spends the next thirteen years donating to her sister whatever she needs – lymphocytes, granulocytes and bone marrow – as she suffers relapse after relapse. But the final straw comes when Anna is asked to donate a kidney to replace Kate’s failing one – Anna finds a lawyer, Campbell Alexander, and sues her parents for the rights to her own body, thus setting up the premise of the book.

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 3

Hi to all Intermediate and Advanced Compo students. Please see below for the Spelling Lists of Semester 1 Week 3.

A Composition A Week - The Terrorist Story

For Semester 1 Week 2, the P5 and P6 pupils were given a scenario-based composition:


You were in a shopping mall when you heard a loud noise...


The pupil has to use this as an introduction and write a story that consists of at least 150 words and includes the following points in the story:

• what made the loud noise;
• what happened next and
• what happened in the end.

This scenario is adapted from a past PSLE question.

During the brainstorming session, the pupils generated many plausible storylines, some of which included:

• a fire
• a robbery
• shoplifting
• a fight
• a lunatic running berserk
• a terrorist attack

The writing skill that we focused on was the Use of Colours to describe a setting. Pupils were given a vocabulary list of colours and asked to come up with an introductory paragraph to describe a shopping mall.

Composition of the Week

Christmas was in the air. As I strolled towards Ngee Ann City, I could not help noticing that Orchard Road was lined by creamy and carmine (good use of alliteration) little trees. When I entered Ngee Ann City, I was immediately greeted by a huge emerald Christmas tree which towered over me. There were turquoise, lavender and crimson balls hanging from it, with 'snow' that never melts scattered convincingly across the tree and right at the very tip of it was a huge lilac star. Hordes of shoppers thronged the mall and the excited buzz of the crowd drowned out the faint muzak playing in the background.

'She's late again,' I thought exasperatedly. I had arranged to go shopping with my friend, Jia Rong, to purchase some Christmas gifts for the upcoming festive season.

Just as I was about to call Jia Rong, a loud explosion rocked the building. After that, the mall was filled with screams of ladies, babies screaming and crying and some children screaming the screams of ladies, wails of children and shouts of grown men. For a moment, I froze, to stunned to react.

That moment of paralysis was shattered when some men wielding guns appeared and began shooting into the crowd randomly. The shoppers, so jolly some moments ago, descended into a madness of desperate chaos. Screaming and shouting in terror, they charged blindly towards the exits, pushing me along. In the pandemonium, I saw a man collapse. He had been hit by a bullet and crimson blood was gushing out from his chest. No one bothered to help him as everyone was too busy fleeing for their lives (unnecessary because it is understood that the shoppers would be concerned for their own safety). He twitched in agony for a while and then stopped moving. My heart turned icy with fear.

Suddenly, I saw some masked men in uniforms. From their attire, I recognised our counter-terrorist forces! My hopes rose only to plummet seconds later. Gunshots rang out as the criminals and law enforcers exchanged shots. Caught in the crossfire, I crouched as low as possible, praying that I would not be hit by any stray bullet.

As the soldiers engaged the outlaws, I clumsily made my way towards the exit of the mall, trying to move forward while staying as low as I could. After some time, my muscles were straining and my lungs felt like they were burning. But I ignored the discomfort and focused on the exit. Just when I was a few feet away from the sliding glass, my left leg seized up in agony. Of all times to be struck by cramps!

I could have wept in despair. Then unexpected, a figure darted in, grabbed me and hauled me out of the mall. It was Jia Rong! The moment I stepped out of the mall, I slumped against her and started crying uncontrollably. Relief, fear, sadness - they all coursed through me, separate at times and mingling at others.

Later, I would learn that it was a terrorist attack. I was of course immensely grateful to Jia Rong. If she had not risked her life to save me, I do not know what would have happened to me. The incident left such a scar on me that I refused to go out for weeks. I also did not care to read the newspaper reports about it. Maybe after a long, long time has passed, I may become curious and then I would want to find out the whys, the whats and the hows. But not yet. Currently, all I want to do is to forget the incident.

Isabelle Ong (Primary 6)

Chongfu Primary School

As I don't have sufficient time currently, I'm simply posting the composition first and will return to comment upon it later.

Till then!

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 2

Calling out to the Advanced and Intermediate Composition pupils, please see below for your Spelling Lists:


Advanced Composition

1. Hordes of shoppers thronged the shops.
2. exasperatedly
3. deafening
4. The moment of paralysis was shattered when...
5. wielding guns
6. descended into a madness of desperate chaos
7. pandemonium
8. plummet



Intermediate Composition

1. speeding
2. retrieve
3. accelerator pedal
4. ploughed down
5. The impact of the collision threw Jamie up into the air.
6. Crimson blood oozed from his wounds.
7. summoned
8. hospital


In Week 1, some pupils were caught unawares that although we usually post only 8 words/phrases/sentences in the Spelling exercise, there are actually 10 questions. The last two unseen questions are Bonus Questions and they are words/phrases/sentences that could be taken from the same composition or that are commonly used in compositions.

The idea being that using your short-term memory to memorise the Spelling vocabulary is good but it is even better to be fully attentive in class and incorporate the vocabulary into your long-term memory!

Book Review: THE HUNGER GAMES

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

When I first heard about The Hunger Games, my first thought was that it was just a rip-off of the Japanese novel Battle Royale. Both involved a group of kids being forced to take part in a fight to the death, until there is only one victor left.

Free e-Book Giveaway!

In the spirit of the festive season and to celebrate the inaugural post of this blog's sister blog, A Celebration of Life's Odds and Ends, we are giving a away a free e-book written by one of Learning Partners' very own pupils.


Readers who would like to get their hands on a copy of a fantasy story written by one of Singapore's and Learning Partners' homegrown young writers, please click on the following link:


Link to aquiverofquirks.blogspot.com

A Composition A Week

This is a new category.


Each week, we'll publish a composition written by one of our pupils.


The reasons for doing this are three-fold.


Firstly, we hope that this chance to publish would serve as added incentive and inspire the pupils to write more creative stories, for typically, only the better pieces get published.


Secondly, this would be a model composition for our pupils.


Last but not least, the published compositions would also be a resource to parents, who are seeking to teach composition-writing to their own children at home.


The child's work is in black while any corrections is in red. Please note that minor changes would be in black too because if we were to highlight every mistake, the resulting composition would be too messy to be read.


This week's composition is for Primary 5 and 6 pupils and based on a single picture:

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 1

Welcome back, students of Learning Partners.

Below are the Spelling Lists for the Advanced Composition class and Intermediate Composition class respectively.

Advanced Composition                                         

1. canine                                                              
2. toilet                                                                  
3. cottony white clouds                                        
4. sadistic                                                            
5. azure                                                                
6. trio/duo                                                            
7. melodious tune                                                
8. my anger was fuelled                                        


Intermediate Composition

1. recklessly
2. dangerous
3. unfortunately
4. honked
5. frantically
6. slammed on the brakes
7. screeched to a halt
8. apologised profusely



Please do remember that it is no good to just remember the spelling of the words/phrases. You have to know the meaning too, so learn the spelling and revise the meaning. We'll see you the following week.

Book Review: MISTER MONDAY

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Mister Monday is the first novel in the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, following the adventures of protagonist Arthur Penhaligon as he struggles to fulfill the Will set by the Architect, who supposedly created the worlds and the House (supposedly the origin of creation).

The novel starts off with Arthur’s first day at a new school – unfortunately for him, he collapses during an outdoor cross-country run due to his severe asthma. While his schoolmates Ed and Leaf run to get his inhaler for him, he sees two strange men appear, Mister Monday and Sneezer. Sneezer convinces Mister Monday to give the “Key”, which is shaped like the minute hand of an old clock, to Arthur, who is a suitable heir stated by the Will, and just take it back after his death. Although Monday is convinced, he soon becomes suspicious of Sneezer’s eagerness to give the “Key” away, and they begin to fight, disappearing in a flash of light soon and leaving behind a slim book. Arthur puts the book in his pocket and the Key, which he finds helps him to breathe. As his teachers approach, he hides the Key and passes out.

Book Review: THE RINGMASTER'S DAUGHTER

The Ringmaster's Daughter by Jostein Gaarder

Prior to reading The Ringmaster’s Daughter, I had read two other Jostein Gaardner books, Sophie’s World and The Solitaire Mystery. I enjoyed the latter because of its whimsicality and strangeness, and I was bored to tears by the former, to the point that I could not even finish it.

The Ringmaster’s Daughter is narrated by the protagonist Petter, a precocious and vain child and fantasist. It tells of Petter’s life story, how he grew up in a weird fantasy world of his own imagination, how he believed himself to be better than his peers and parents, and describes his somewhat obsessive relationship with his mother. His imagination becomes vital to his living, as after his lover Maria leaves him, carrying his child, he turns his imagination into a profitable business, selling stories to struggling writers. After many years of this profitable business, rumors begin to spread in the publishing industry of a “Spider” who sells ideas to everyone. Petter is warned that his life may be in jeopardy and he flees, eventually falling for a younger woman named Beate whom he later realizes is his own daughter.

2012 PSLE Results

Learning Partners would like to congratulate our students who have studied hard and done themselves and their families proud in the 2012 PSLE.


The following list is the achievements of our top scholars:

Book Review: TORN

Torn by Amanda Hocking

Torn is the second book in the Trylle trilogy, describing the life and adventures of protagonist Wendy Everly after she finds out that she’s a changeling switched at birth.

In the first book, Wendy discovers that she is a troll and returns to her hometown with her handsome bodyguard Finn Holmes, whom she clearly shares an attraction with. Due to their social ranking, Wendy is forbidden from having contact with Finn, and Finn is ordered to leave Wendy by her overbearing, cold mother, Elora. As a result, Wendy foolishly runs away to her old home, despite being in grave danger from an enemy clan of trolls, the Vittra.

Book Review: THE MARK OF ATHENA

Parents are always asking what they can do to help their children improve their English.


The answer is simple but difficult to put into practice. Read. Yes, just that one word answer. Reading is truly a very effective way of improving one's English, or any language for that matter. However, it is a sad fact of life that many pupils in Singapore do not have the luxury of time to read. But you know what? If improving your English is really important to you, then you would make sure you squeeze time out from your tight schedule to read. You don't have to read one book a day, just 20-30 minutes a day would be enough. But do make sure that you read with concentration. That means that after you put the book down, you should not only remember the main gist of what you have read but also also the words or phrases that you don't quite understand and then go and look them up in the dictionary or google them.


Another question that parents ask very frequently is what type of books they should borrow or purchase for their children. Hence, once a week, we would be putting out a book review. Along with the review we would also be putting up links that allow parents to purchase the reviewed book from Amazon. These are affiliate links and this blog would earn a fraction of the price of any book purchased. Our reviews will be balanced; we will not write rave reviews just to entice parents to purchase the books. Our main aim is to give parents an idea of what type of books are available to them and their children. Parents could of course opt to buy the books from Popular and most of the books that we review would be available from the library so if parents do not want to purchase the books, they could always borrow or reserve the book from the library.



Our inaugural book review will be The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan:

2013 Schedule

It is that time of the year again.


It is now time to say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013.


Learning Partners is currently closed for a month's hiatus and will resume lessons on 3 December 2012.


The schedule for 2013 is here.