Group 5: Composition

It was a beautiful and breezy Saturday morning. Sally went back to school library to gather some information for her coming Science project. It was still early and hence the library was deserted. Sally used the search engine to find the location of the books that she needed. Soon, she came to the reference section. She browsed through the books on the shelves and tried to locate the suitable book. She took a book out of the shelf and flipped through the pages. “What a pity! This is not the book that I want although there are many nice pictures inside,” Sally thought. She then put the book back to the shelf and continued her searching journey. Suddenly, she saw a book named ‘Science Encyclopedia’ and she took it out of its place. She read a few pages and found that was the book she needed.

Gladly, she went to her seat with the book. As she was reading the book paying full attention, suddenly, her eyes were caught in attention by the book. Something seemed kept secretly in the book! With big curiosity, she took the thing out cautiously. It was a white envelope and it was sealed!

“Hmm..What is it inside here? Is there any secret?” Sally, driven by her curiosity, was tempted to open the envelope. However, she knew it was impolite to open the envelope without the permission of the owner, hence she was struggling and having a mind battle whether to open the envelope to find out what was inside it or not. She tried to put it under the light to see whether she can trace anything. She also avoided being tempted to open it by putting it away from her sight; yet she was unable to resist the temptation and finally she opened the envelope with inquisitiveness.

It was a paper! To be more accurate, it was a journal written by a person named Mandy. To her surprise, she was horrified by that Mandy saying that she felt unhappy and frustrated by her friends’ bullying. She also mentioned that she had faced family problem recently, her parents wanted to divorce. Sally was so sympathized with the girl, Mandy, and would like to help her but she was clueless what could she do. After a long thought, she decided to ask the help from adults and she approached the librarian, Auntie Lucy. Auntie Lucy, after realizing what had happened, told Sally she would alert the school and the counselor to investigate. She praised Sally for her kindness and her prompt action. Sally felt joyful as she did a good deed today.

group 4 - composition

One day, Anne went to the library after school. She needed to find information for her Science project. She walked and walked along the shelves in the library to find the encyclopedia that she needed. Then, she saw the encyclopedia that she needed. She took it, and walked around the library to find an empty seat.

When Anne found an empty seat, she sat down and continued reading the encyclopedia. Suddenly, she turned to a page and saw a thin envelop. She was curious, so she took it out and tried to see if she can opened it. But it was glued too tightly. She holded the envelop up to the light. She thought, "Maybe I can see it better with the light." But she still cannot see anything. In the end, she decided to open the letter. A piece of paper with glowing cursive words fell out. Anne felt very surprised. She picked up the paper and read it. It was a letter from an alien from Satun and this alien wanted to be friends with Earth children. Anne quickly found a piece of paper and she wrote a letter back to the Alien. She putted her letter back at the page where she found Milyuij's, the alien's, letter. Then, she quickly read the rest of the encyclopedia so that she can do her Science project. After that, Anne left the library. The next day, Anne came back to the library and she found that Milyuij replied her letter! They continued to write letter to each other. In the end, Anne was overjoyed that she had an alien friend. She and Milyuij promised each other to be best friends forever.

THE END

Grp 3 Composition

One day, Amanda was free after school so she decided to go to the school library to read. Reading was her hobby and she loved to browse the book shelves. She wore a black jacket to keep herself warm because the library was cold. Whenever she saw an interesting book, she flipped the pages to see what it was about. She could spend hours reading in the library. Once she had found a nice book, she went to a library table to read it.

Just as she was about to open the book and flip it to the first page, she noticed something whitewas protruding from in between the pages. It was cream colored, and she pulled the envelop out. It was a little heavy, and looked very detailed. But there was no name on the front of the envelop. She was shocked and surprised, nothing like this had every happened to her before. She lifted it above her head to see if the light would pass through the envelop, but the paper was so thick that it gave her no clue what was inside. "Oh dear, should I open it?" Amanda thought, feeling very curious but also worried that it was private and not good for her to do so.

In the end, Amanda decided to open the envelop so that at least she could try and find out who it belongs to. Inside, there was a letter. As she unfolded it, a pretty and delicate gold necklace dropped out. It looked very expensive. Amanda's heart beat loudly from her excitement. She unfolded the letter. The handwriting was neat, but it was cursive so she did not know how to read the name it was addressed to.

Amanda was tempted to keep the letter and the necklace because ti was so pretty, but decided to do the right thing. She brought the letter and the necklace to the head librarian, who kept it in the lost and found box. The librarian made an announcement to the whole school, and soon, Ms. Wong, one of the English teachers, quickly arrived at the library. She identified the envelop and necklace as her own, and thanked Amanda many times. She had accidentally left it in the book when she had returned it, and had been looking for it ever since. It was a letter and gift from her mother for her birthday. Amanda's heart glowed with pleasure, glad that she did the right thing.

Group 2 Composition

It was a hot and sunny day, so Mei Ling decided to go to the library to read a book. The library was nice and cool, and since she had to wait for her friend to finish her CCA, she might as well wait in the comfort of the library. The books lined up the shelves as far as the eye could see, and she decided to find an encyclopaedia on the solar system.

She browsed the books until she found one that had very nice pictures. She brought the book to a library table to sit and read it. As she was opening the book, she noticed something white protruding from between the pages. Curious, she pulled it out. It was an envelop! There was no name written on the front of the envelop, and it was not sealed. "Should I open this envelop?" Mei Ling thought, frowning. She tried seeing what was inside by holding it above her head to see if she could see the outline of the envelop's contents. It looked like a piece of paper.

Finally, Mei Ling's curiously got the best of her, and she decided to open the envelop. She cautiously lifted the envelop cover, and saw a photograph inside. "I wonder who this belongs to?" she said to herself, taking it out. It was a picture of Mrs Tan and her family! Mrs Tan was her science teacher in Primary 2. Quickly, Mei Ling put the picture back in the envelop, and left the library. She went to the teacher's office, and asked to see Mrs Tan. She returned the photo back to Mrs Tan, who thanked her and gave Mei Ling a sweet. Mei Ling went home that day with a big smile on her face.

Group 1 Composition

The Discovery

One Sunday morning, Sally went to the Bishan Community Library to find some books for her school project. She went to the third floor of the library and walked up and down the shelves and shelves of books and browsed through them in search of a relevant book. A thick encyclopaedia sitting on one of the shelves caught her eye and she picked it up. She flipped through the encyclopaedia and decided that she could use it for her project. Thus, she brought the book back to her seat.

Upon sitting down, Sally started to flip excitedly through the book as she was eager to get some ideas for her project. She was flipping and reading and flipping and reading when suddenly, she spotted something white peeking out from the top of the book. Curious, Sally closed the book and looked at the top of it to find out what it was. It was a white envelop! Sally did not know what the envelop contained and out of curiosity, she cautiously lifted the envelop out from the pages of the encyclopaedia. The envelop was thick and it was not sealed. Sally did not know what to do with it. She did not want to open it, as she did not know who the envelop belonged to. However, she was curious to find out what was inside the envelop. She fought an internal struggle, as she tried all ways to find out what was inside it without opening it. Eventually, her curiosity got the better of her and she cautiously opened the flap of the envelop.

There was a stack of $50 notes in the envelop! This surprised Sally and she did not know what to do with the money. She started thinking of all the things she could buy with the money. However, she remembered her mother telling her that she must be truthful and not take what does not belong to her. With that, she decided to bring the envelop to the librarian on the first floor. The librarian informed her that a man had called to report a loss of his envelop as he had accidentally slotted the envelop in the book when he returned it. The man came down to the library to retrieve his envelop and he was very grateful towards Sally as the money was meant to pay for his mother's hospitalization fees. Sally was happy that she had done a good deed and she went home happily.

Group 5: Brainstorming of ideas

(1) What do you think happened at the end?

She found a journal written by a person named Mandy and that girl mentioned about she was unhappy as she was bullied by her friends in school and she also faced family problem, that is her parents wanted to divorce. Hence, she was helpless and felt hopeless.

(2) Some interesting phrases we can use:

Picture (1): beautiful and breezy morning, deserted, browsed through, flipped through, what a pity, searching journey.

Picture (2): her eyes were caught in attention, pay full attention.
Picture (3): driven by curiosity, tempted, mind battle, inquisitiveness.

Picture (4): frustrated, sympathize with, clueless, alert, do a good deed

(3) What are some ways we can use to help make the transition between pictures smooth?
We can talk more about the actions that may happen in between the pictures yet did not show up in the pictures. We can use more interesting phrases to describe the main character, the surrounding and the atmosphere.

group 4 - brainstorming

(i) The ending for the story:
The girl will find a letter from an alien. This alien is from Satun, and wants to make friends with Earth children. The girl writes back to the alien and in the end they become good frens. Best friends forever.

(ii) Interesting phrases that can be used for each picture frame
- The library was freezing.
- The letter had glowing cursive words.
- The girl was overjoyed to have an alien friend.

(iii) How the four picture frames can be smoothly linked
- The pictures did not show the girl walking to her seat, so we can talk about that to make the pictures link.
- The pictures also did not show the girl thinking about what she should do with the letter, so we can talk say that she think for very long before she open the letter. Then the pictures will link.

Grp 3 Brainstorming Ideas

(1) What do you think happened at the end?

We think that the girl will find a love letter and a ring inside the envelop. She will report it to the librarian to put the envelop in the lost and found. The librarian will make an annoucement in school for the owner of the envelop to find her, using the names in the letter.

(2) Some interesting phrases we can use:

1 picture: loves to read, browsed the endless shelves, wore a jacket to keep warm in the cold library
2 picture: something white protruded from the book. she was shocked and surprised! nothing like this had ever happened to her before.
3 picture: pretty and delicate, and looked very expensive. the writing was neat and cursive.
4 picture: tempted but decided to do the right thing. heart glowed with pleasure

(3) what are some ways we can use to help make the transition between pictures smooth?
we can talk about the action of the girl moving from place to place, instead of making it seem like she's teleported by just describing each picture. we can write more detail about her clothes and the surroundings.

Group 2 Brainstorming

(i) the ending for the story

1) The girl will find a love letter for her friend from a secret admirer
2) There is nothing in the envelop!
3) there is a picture of her teacher in the book.

(ii) interesting phrases that can be used for each picture frame

Frame 1: The library was as quiet as a church
- books lined on the shelves as far as the eye can see
- The girl had found a fascinating book
Frame 2: there was something wedged between the pages of the big heavy book
Frame 3: after thinking very hard, the girl decided to open the envelop
her heart was beating very hard

(iii) how the four picture frames can be smoothly linked

we can describe her actions, first walking from the shelves with her chosen book, then trying her best to decide whether to open the envelop, and when she opens the envelop, she can walk to her friend to show her the letter.

Group 1 Brainstorming

(i) the ending for the story
- She found a letter containing $1000 worth of cash
- She decided to tell the librarian
- It belonged to a man who had planned to use the money to pay for his mother's hospitalization fees.
- He was very grateful towards Sally.
- Sally had done a good deed.

(ii) interesting phrases that can be used for each picture frame
Frame 1:
- an encyclopaedia on the shelf caught her eye

Frame 2:
- flipped excitedly through the book
- something white peeking out from the book

Frame 3:
- fought an internal struggle
- cautiously opened the envelop

(iii) how the four picture frames can be smoothly linked
We can talk about how she found the book and how she sat down with the book. Also, we can describe how she thought about the envelop before opening it.

Picture Composition 5: Part A

adapted from:
Alejandro, J. (2006). English Model Compositions, Primary 3. Singapore: Educational Publishing House.

Picture Composition 5: Part B

Look at the pictures below. Write at least 120 words about them. You may use the helping words given below.

The Discovery

Helping Words:
browsing
flipping through
envelop
encyclopaedia
cautiously
curious

Picture Composition 5: Part C - Video

The video is used to help you to imagine the entire story as represented by the 3 pictures below. Instead of using the pictures below, use this video to help you write a story of at least 120 words. You many use the helping words below.

The Discovery

Helping Words:
browsing
flipping through
envelop
encyclopaedia
cautiously
curious

Picture Composition 5: Part D - Group Discussion Points

In your groups, please brainstorm about the following:

(i) the ending for the story

(ii) interesting phrases that can be used for each picture frame

(iii) how the four picture frames can be smoothly linked

Please type out your group discussion and post it on the class blog using the group account that has been given to you.