Weather Forecasting Tool

Hi hi,
2 days ago, a friend sent me an email with the pict you are about to see.

She went on and on about how useful this tool is in forecasting the weather and suggested that it can be used for our classroom instruction in our subject area. She sounded so sincere and genuine when she sms-ed me to check my email that I have no heart to doubt her. So, here it is:


Found it useful? Hee..

SW

Playing in the rain

Hi hi,
Some pictures of rocks, rock formations, weathering, erosion, limestone caves, rivers and food etc...

Kayaking in the rain was fun, amidst cries of 'I cannot open my eyes!' when the rain got too heavy. Ha ha..
Ok, this series of pictures is named - A River Runs Through It.
The river is flanked by mangrove trees.
And pictures in the rain was made possible by a camera with underwater casing and a disposable underwater camera. So smart are the inventors of these gadgets. But so smart of us to come equipped with them too. Hee...

Some cave paintings

This is another river. The minerals in the water turned it a milky greenish. And anyone interested in a good complexion is highly encouraged to jump in, so long as one can get rid of the fear of those roots and creatures hiding in them. Hee... Hey, and I think it fun to measure river speed, obtain water samples to check for sediments in such a river. Dun be taken in by its calm look. It is the effect of poor photography. And the water is actually very clear. Every single piece of rock on the river bed can be seen.

Ok, another series of pictures. This trip was nearly called off because of the rain. We chose to wait it out while we got some Thai massage done. But the rains came again anyway. But who cares, since we are getting wet anyway?

Chicken Island - one can tell why it's thus named

And the following 2 rock pictures taken just beneath the chicken's neck:

Couldn't get any better pictures because the boat was being bumped around a lot, and us, merely rag dolls.

Here's a limestone cave by the sea:

Karst topography in the background:

Reminds me of those Chinese Paintings...


And a pict of the tsunami evacuation sign.

Food. Found this really interesting Thai chips with international flavours. Ok, I admit I was really hungry at that time, at 10am. I had no idea that the lunch duck kway tiao promised us was next on the itinerary, at 1030hrs.


Oh, I cannot resist this cutie pie. I dun think our country's is as cute.
Coca cola. This miracle drink is everywhere. And it records a fusion of cultures.


I am so in love with Thailand. The food is superb, the people so gentle and peace-loving. Even the announcements made by our own air stewardess sounded peircing. Sigh...

SW

Some thoughts

Hi hi,
After various rounds of formal and informal sharing with my fellow course mates, I am really thankful things went relatively well with my tp, with no major mishaps occuring in my classes or within the school. Some scary stuff I have heard recently:

1. Water war within classrooms
2. Stolen hp right from staff room table
3. Stolen mp3 with important files in it
4. Serious backstabbing
5. People with negative integrity who 'borrows' stuff without permission

And the sharing session on useful tips and strategies (CS2) was great. But through it, I realized that most of us (myself included) often bask in the glory of our kids' ability to produce amazing/creative/excellent pieces of work, which we often keep as momentos or for our own portfolio. We often omit to pay our attention to the weaker or average, somewhere-in-the-middle type of kids, who produce conservative work. These, and the weakest ones, are who we should focus our attention, to get them to realize their full potential by trying out different ways to discover what works best for them. We should now be ready to move on, and not be satisfied with appreciating what the best kids can produce. To be sure, that boosts our ego. But we should really move on.

Had a class of kids with a large spectrum of learning abilities. Some were just so quick in grasping skills/concepts (and were so self-motivated in vying to become first in finishing all tasks assigned), others so much slower. Differential learning activities must be designed for them so that the brighter ones do not get bored and get themselves into some mischief while the weaker ones do not become exasperated at their own failure to grasp some concepts/skills. Something we should also start thinking about now. :)

Ok, enough of the heavy stuff. Now to share some picts of my recent conquest. But not relevant to those going JCs though. :P

Coast : Stack and cave

Coast: Sea wall

Coast/Vulcanicity: My bag of black (volcanic) sand taken from beach

Vulcanicity: Black volcanic rocks - the most recent eruption in 2000 (Mt Batur)

Vulcanity: Crater lake before extinct volcano named Abang

Agriculture / Food: Terraced rice fields

Agri/Food: Harvested rice fields (look out for the ducklings foraging for left over rice grains)

Food: Different styles of eating my fav fastfood - KFC, served here with rice

Food: And this is a cafe.

Food: Another cafe

Food: Cocoa fruit (which most kids cannot recognise)

Food: Coffee cherries

Food: Roasting coffee beans

Food: Fresh coffee cherries with cups of local coffee and cocoa beverages

Environment: Recycling bins

Hmmm... and some nice nice picts in general:

Sunrise on Mt Batur just as the clouds came in

Sunrise and monkey on Mt Batur

The full moon in the west just as the sun is rising from the east.

The same moon, with long boat in foreground

The same long boat, but facing the east as the sun rises

Sunset

Yep, I do have a fetish for beautiful natural phenomenon/landscapes. I simply go beserk.

SW

Counting my chicks too early

Hi hi,
Hmm... after all that eager anticipation of my last post, I must admit that I counted my chickens too early, before the eggs even hatch. Sigh... Fate seems bent on withholding what we most look forward to. So, am still a zombified panda. :P The good news is, tomorrow is but hours away. And since we have to clear the premises by 1pm (to prepare the place so that it is fit for everyone to exercise our citizenship rights), it is an extremely short day. The kids are having their first paper tomorrow. And because of the mad rush to complete everything that we should, I could not even say a proper goodbye to some of the kids. That's bad...

Ok, list of things to improve on:
1. Questioning skills
2. Pitching at the right level
3. Classroom management
4. Level of alertness in class
5. Change of activities every 15min or so to retain interest (esp impt on hot days and times)
6. Create engaging activities
Ok, basically that includes everything. I still have a long way more to go.

But first, let's have a kit kat. Yeah!


SW