27/11/2008 (Thursday)
a) Permission is important
Eugene brought a small cake to school and it was in a box…so delicious.
One of the kids was so tempted to try that he dipped his finger into the cream and ate it.
Jin Nan and some other kids saw it.
Then, we talked about “permission”…and learning to ask when we want something. Otherwise, in the world out there, policemen would catch us if we take things from supermarket.
That kid apologized and gave part of his biscuit to Eugene as compensation.
b) ERP: The Little Red Hen.
We did the whole short story. Altogether there were 7 paragraphs.
We talked about the overall story; trying to relate the key words.
Plant, grain, wheat, reap, thresh, mill, bake, won’t, will.
c) Phonics: “ng”
We did phonics on “ng” sound. These included: king, swing, ring, thing.
Vocab: tyrtle, shark, crab, fish, octopus, tentacles.
English Workbook
We continued with the worksheet on “s”.
Vocabulary: snake, sock, seven, sausages, spade, scissors.
Our Pomegranate friends！
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
I Can Be Fair!
26/11/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Toy sharing
l Shi Jie brought a paper folding. It has the sharp mouth and can be opened into 4 parts using fingers.
l Justin brought his “Stone” man toy of Fantastic 4. It has a button whereby the kids pressed to move his hands.
b) Story book: I can be fair!
l A good story of how a girl tries to share her things with people and yet to be fair to everyone. Sometimes, she can only share with a few people and in order not to hurt the other friends’ feeling; she has to explain to them. Each different group will take turn to play.
l Sometimes, we need to allow others to be first and we be in the middle or even the last! It’s okay because it is fun to be at anywhere!
l The kids related themselves to their friends. They recalled how some friends only shared his/her food with some friends and not everyone. They also recapped how some friends just screamed just because they accidentally cut queue.
l Moral: When you are fair, people will like you even more. We will have more friends.
c) ERP: The little red hen.
l We continued with the third paragraph and the fourth.
l New vocabulary: mill, tresh, reap, flour.
l Some even asked whther “flour” is pronounced as “flower” or “flour”.
d) Phonics and Homework
l We continued with the last exercise to identify the final blend consonants: ck, ll, ss.
l There are 2 pages of homework.
l Vehicles on land: bus, van. On the sea: ship, boat. In the sky: aeroplane, helicopter.
l Sentence writing: Bob flies a kite; Ann blows a balloon.
a) Toy sharing
l Shi Jie brought a paper folding. It has the sharp mouth and can be opened into 4 parts using fingers.
l Justin brought his “Stone” man toy of Fantastic 4. It has a button whereby the kids pressed to move his hands.
b) Story book: I can be fair!
l A good story of how a girl tries to share her things with people and yet to be fair to everyone. Sometimes, she can only share with a few people and in order not to hurt the other friends’ feeling; she has to explain to them. Each different group will take turn to play.
l Sometimes, we need to allow others to be first and we be in the middle or even the last! It’s okay because it is fun to be at anywhere!
l The kids related themselves to their friends. They recalled how some friends only shared his/her food with some friends and not everyone. They also recapped how some friends just screamed just because they accidentally cut queue.
l Moral: When you are fair, people will like you even more. We will have more friends.
c) ERP: The little red hen.
l We continued with the third paragraph and the fourth.
l New vocabulary: mill, tresh, reap, flour.
l Some even asked whther “flour” is pronounced as “flower” or “flour”.
d) Phonics and Homework
l We continued with the last exercise to identify the final blend consonants: ck, ll, ss.
l There are 2 pages of homework.
l Vehicles on land: bus, van. On the sea: ship, boat. In the sky: aeroplane, helicopter.
l Sentence writing: Bob flies a kite; Ann blows a balloon.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Water and our body
25/11/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Water
* Some kids were never serious at drinking water. They could be drinking consistently just because he / she knows that teacher is watching. The next week, they would be hiding or pretending to drink. However, all kids would drink a bottle be fore they go out to the playground at 2.30pm. I am very strict at this. Otherwise, they would not be able to go to the playground.
* The independent kids were usually Jin Shan, Eugene, Ze Yan, Jian Wei, max and Song Chuan.
* Thus, we analysed the water flow from our mouth into our organs. The main organ is our kidneys. They would filter the toxic from our body with clean water. With less water, the urine colour is very yellowish and is an unhealthy sign for us. Besides being sick, a person might have “stone” problems within their body after a long term.
b) Storybook: The Ants and The Grasshoppers
* Some kids have heard of this famous story but in Mandarin version.
* I drew the ants’ underground home….and they go…”Wow, so many tunnels!”….with the Queen Ant busy laying eggs.
* The ants worked together to gather food under the hot sun. They know that they would be hungry as there won’t be food in the winter.
* The grasshoppers teased them for being overworked! They continued singing and laughed at the ants.
* Finally, when winter arrived; the hungry grasshoppers were the ones crying searching for food. Then they came upon the ants’ home. They asked for food.
* The kind-hearted gave them some food despite their teasing.
* Moral: Be hardworking and not lazy. We must be kind-hearted so that we won’t have any enemies.
c) Phonics
l We revised on the blend sounds of “ll, ss, gg, ck”.
l Then they did an exercise to complete the sentence.
d) Organising Files
l The kids assisted me to organize their files.
l The gathered their art and craft and workbook to be given to me.
a) Water
* Some kids were never serious at drinking water. They could be drinking consistently just because he / she knows that teacher is watching. The next week, they would be hiding or pretending to drink. However, all kids would drink a bottle be fore they go out to the playground at 2.30pm. I am very strict at this. Otherwise, they would not be able to go to the playground.
* The independent kids were usually Jin Shan, Eugene, Ze Yan, Jian Wei, max and Song Chuan.
* Thus, we analysed the water flow from our mouth into our organs. The main organ is our kidneys. They would filter the toxic from our body with clean water. With less water, the urine colour is very yellowish and is an unhealthy sign for us. Besides being sick, a person might have “stone” problems within their body after a long term.
b) Storybook: The Ants and The Grasshoppers
* Some kids have heard of this famous story but in Mandarin version.
* I drew the ants’ underground home….and they go…”Wow, so many tunnels!”….with the Queen Ant busy laying eggs.
* The ants worked together to gather food under the hot sun. They know that they would be hungry as there won’t be food in the winter.
* The grasshoppers teased them for being overworked! They continued singing and laughed at the ants.
* Finally, when winter arrived; the hungry grasshoppers were the ones crying searching for food. Then they came upon the ants’ home. They asked for food.
* The kind-hearted gave them some food despite their teasing.
* Moral: Be hardworking and not lazy. We must be kind-hearted so that we won’t have any enemies.
c) Phonics
l We revised on the blend sounds of “ll, ss, gg, ck”.
l Then they did an exercise to complete the sentence.
d) Organising Files
l The kids assisted me to organize their files.
l The gathered their art and craft and workbook to be given to me.
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Aedes Mosquito
24/11/2008 (Monday)
a) Corner Playing
Some kids preferred colouring (Shi Jie, Le Xin, Jin Nan), some playing The Aeroplane Board Game(Jian Wei, Zi Yang, Eugene) while some playing with blocks(Justin, Jin Shan).
b) The Aedes Mosquito.
Last Friday, Jin Nan, Jin Shan and Eugene mentioned about this mosquito.
So the kids learnt that this is a dangerous flying insect.
Only the females suck our blood in order to assist them to lay eggs.
The males feed on plants.
They have black and white stripes on their legs and body.
To avoid them, we must always ensure the flower pots are dry. Also try to ensure dry drains as the mosquitoes lay eggs in the water.
c) The Clapping Game
We pretended to hit the mosquitoes. We learnt these words: above, below, left, right, front and back.
It was very challenging as the kids had to liten carefully. Eugene, Xin Ru, Jin Shan and Jin Nan were attentive. The others tried very hard to follow......it was fun!
d) Mathematics
After tea break, we learnt “add” and “less”.
Most kids were independent. Le Xin and Jun Hong. Xin Ru has shown great improvement.
e) Phonics
We recapped on these sounds: ck, ll, ss, gg.
Then they did an exercise to circle the words with same consonant blends.
Words: dress, egg, pill, hill, clock, duck.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Alphabet: Small letters
21/11/2008 (Friday)
a) The Aeroplane Chess
We played a new game: The Aeroplane Chess.
It’s interesting to see how the kids had to tolerate one another to play fair. Otherwise, they are not qualified to be a player.
We had 4 sets of this game. So, everyone had a chance.
Meanwhile, some kids did their incomplete homework as well as Mathematics workbook.
b) Storybook: Big Penguin’s Surprise
The kids were excited to see the big pictures.
They learnt how a penguin couldn’t fly high despite having wings.
The baby penguin; Pugwug slid along the snow and bumped into big penguins. There he saw his mother having a golden egg.
Pugwug was excited to know that he was gong to have a baby brother or sister.
He thought of many tricks to play with the egg but it had no response.
When the seals attacked the adults, Pugwug had to be responsible to take good car of the egg.
It started to hatch and bit by bit, step by step; a baby sister was bornt.
Later, his mother survived from the seals and they rejoined as a happy family!
c) Alphabet: Small letters
The kids read the letters randomly.
They then took turns to write the letters individually.
Next, they wrote on their paper.
Some still wrote the letters “mirror imaged” especially: b, d, p, r, z.
Most of them were independent.
a) The Aeroplane Chess
We played a new game: The Aeroplane Chess.
It’s interesting to see how the kids had to tolerate one another to play fair. Otherwise, they are not qualified to be a player.
We had 4 sets of this game. So, everyone had a chance.
Meanwhile, some kids did their incomplete homework as well as Mathematics workbook.
b) Storybook: Big Penguin’s Surprise
The kids were excited to see the big pictures.
They learnt how a penguin couldn’t fly high despite having wings.
The baby penguin; Pugwug slid along the snow and bumped into big penguins. There he saw his mother having a golden egg.
Pugwug was excited to know that he was gong to have a baby brother or sister.
He thought of many tricks to play with the egg but it had no response.
When the seals attacked the adults, Pugwug had to be responsible to take good car of the egg.
It started to hatch and bit by bit, step by step; a baby sister was bornt.
Later, his mother survived from the seals and they rejoined as a happy family!
c) Alphabet: Small letters
The kids read the letters randomly.
They then took turns to write the letters individually.
Next, they wrote on their paper.
Some still wrote the letters “mirror imaged” especially: b, d, p, r, z.
Most of them were independent.
Alphabet Writing
20/11/2008 (Thursday)
a) Game
* After Corner Playing, the kids played a game. It’s called “The Magic Stick”. There were 2 groups of kids. Each at the side of a river. They dropped their Magic Stick into the river and had to find it. However, there is a very hungry Crocodile King. They had to “jump into the river” to find and quickly “jump out of the river” when the crocodile comes.
* Objective: i) Learn to listen, ii) Learn to observe, iii) Learn to work together.
b) Story book: The Pesky Fly
Thanks to Wen Yue’s mother for this book.
It is about how a fly journeyed from food to drinks to animals and to the mat.
The house owner “shoo”ed the fly! Finally, all “shoo”ed the fly!
Vocabulary: fly, shoo, cat, dog, milk, bread.
c) Writing: ABC
The kids took turns to write the capital letters individually.
They sang the song. Later, they took a piece of paper each to write the Capital letters. They learnt that there are 26 letters in the Alphabet family.
They could do this independently. Jin Shan, Jun Hong and Jin Nan needed some guidance. Xin Ru and Wen Yue showed good improvement!
d) Mathematics
They did 2 pages. One at counting the number of pictures. Another is to match the pictures to the numbers.
Insects
19/11/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Reciting Program
* After Corner Playing, we did the third paragraph of the poem, “The Little Red Hen”.
Third paragraph:
“Who will reap this whaet?” says the little red hen.
“I won’t,” says the dog.
“I won’t,” says the cat.
“I won’t,” says the pig.
“I won’t,” says the turkey.
“Then I will,”says the little red hen.
“Cluck! Cluck!”
So she reaped the wheat.
b) Lobster
* It was great to have Ze Yan back to school from holidays. He showed us his hand-drawn lobster.
Many kids were attracted.
* Then, he drew on the board and showed us. I guided him a little bit.
* He whispered to me that he wanted to draw many lobsters and give to his friends.
* We talked a little bit about lobsters.
c) Insects
The kids learnt that insects have 6 legs. Some can fly while some cannot. Usually, they have 3 segments of body.
They looked at an encyclopaedia and was amazed of the ants’ home which is underground.
They learnt that once the male and female ants got married (mating), the male ants would die leaving the female ant to be the Queen Ant. She would lay so many eggs and they become her colony. The insects just like ants have the similar “life cycle” like a butterfly.
Eggs --- larva --- cocoon --- adult.
d) Homework: Vocabulary
The kids have to do a page on the insects.
The scond page is to complete the missing letters to form words. “owl, shark, prawn, moon, rocket and the tortoise”. Then, they have to colour them.
a) Reciting Program
* After Corner Playing, we did the third paragraph of the poem, “The Little Red Hen”.
Third paragraph:
“Who will reap this whaet?” says the little red hen.
“I won’t,” says the dog.
“I won’t,” says the cat.
“I won’t,” says the pig.
“I won’t,” says the turkey.
“Then I will,”says the little red hen.
“Cluck! Cluck!”
So she reaped the wheat.
b) Lobster
* It was great to have Ze Yan back to school from holidays. He showed us his hand-drawn lobster.
Many kids were attracted.
* Then, he drew on the board and showed us. I guided him a little bit.
* He whispered to me that he wanted to draw many lobsters and give to his friends.
* We talked a little bit about lobsters.
c) Insects
The kids learnt that insects have 6 legs. Some can fly while some cannot. Usually, they have 3 segments of body.
They looked at an encyclopaedia and was amazed of the ants’ home which is underground.
They learnt that once the male and female ants got married (mating), the male ants would die leaving the female ant to be the Queen Ant. She would lay so many eggs and they become her colony. The insects just like ants have the similar “life cycle” like a butterfly.
Eggs --- larva --- cocoon --- adult.
d) Homework: Vocabulary
The kids have to do a page on the insects.
The scond page is to complete the missing letters to form words. “owl, shark, prawn, moon, rocket and the tortoise”. Then, they have to colour them.
Thank You, Mummy and Daddy
18/11/2008 (Tuesday)
a) English Reciting Program
After Corner Playing, we gathered to recite a short story.
“The Little Red Hen”.
The kids imagined how they saw this story from the top of a mountain.
First, a boy sang “The Wanderer Song”. Then he stopped on the mountain top to see this story, which was our “Short Story”.
First Paragraph:
A little red hen once found a grain of wheat. “Who will plant this wheat?” she said.
“I won’t,” says the dog.
“I won’t,” says the cat.
“I won’t,” says the pig.
“I won’t,” says the turkey.
“Then I will,”says the little red hen.
“Cluck! Cluck!”
Second paragraph:
So she planted the grain of wheat. Ver soon the wheat began to grow and the green leaves came out of the ground. The sun shone and the rain fell and the whaet kept on growing until it was tall, strong and ripe.
b) Revision: Assessment Words
* We revised some “Let’s Fly” words.
* helicopter, aeroplane, glider, airport, pilot, experiment and etc.
c) The “Thank You” Card
* We wanted to say Thank You to all parents for their support by bringing in books, items and sometimes delicious food. Their support for the kids’ concert was also very important.
* The kids drew their parents’ favourite pictures. They are very cute!
Our Rewards
17/11/2008 (Monday)
a) Corner Playing
* They chose their favourite play. They were chit-chatting. They also asked where the other kids
were?
b) Storybook: Flying Kites
They loved the colourful book. It was about Pooh and its friends. They had different shapes. Each kite was of different shape and decorated with beautiful tails to balance the tail....as what Jin Shan said.
Suddenly, the kites fell to the ground because of no wind. Each character started doing other activities.
However, the wind came back short while. Everyone started playing again.
The wind was so strong that it carried Pooh and its friends...haaaa!
c) Mathematics
The kids counted the number of Mail boxes that Pooh had. Then, they each came forward to write down.
We also learnt of ascending numbers. I am happy that Jun Hong, Wen Yue and Xin Ru had shown independence and improvement at completing these Maths. Exercises.
d) Rewards for my Little Footprints.....
It was a very challenging night for the 5 year old kid last Friday night. Although their rehearsal showed better and organized performance, yet Friday night was a far terrifying moment for these 5 year old and some 4 year old kids.
The fact that they stood on the stage to try their best despite the crowd's noise, laughter, camera flashes showed how brave they were! The process is what counts, which shaped every little kid to be stronger and better. Having greater confidence is what each and everyone is always looking for whether young or elderly!
I commented on everyone's contribution at that night. Their eyes glittered and I hope they would be forever when they unwrap their presents tonight.
e) My Favourite Moment
What's your most favourite moment at the concert?
Most kids drew Yun Wen blowing the bubbles. Zi yang drew himself as the pilot together with his other 4 friends. He even drew the BEN10 plan which we took weeks to accomplished!
Shi Jie drew herself, Jun Hong drew himself with his mother holding a camera. Wen Yue drew himself as Diamond Head. Eugene drew BEN10, Kevin 11, Diamond Head, the tortoise and also Max.
f) Phonics
* We did recap on phonics. Words: hump, help, nest, lamp, gift, box and pond.
a) Corner Playing
* They chose their favourite play. They were chit-chatting. They also asked where the other kids
were?
b) Storybook: Flying Kites
They loved the colourful book. It was about Pooh and its friends. They had different shapes. Each kite was of different shape and decorated with beautiful tails to balance the tail....as what Jin Shan said.
Suddenly, the kites fell to the ground because of no wind. Each character started doing other activities.
However, the wind came back short while. Everyone started playing again.
The wind was so strong that it carried Pooh and its friends...haaaa!
c) Mathematics
The kids counted the number of Mail boxes that Pooh had. Then, they each came forward to write down.
We also learnt of ascending numbers. I am happy that Jun Hong, Wen Yue and Xin Ru had shown independence and improvement at completing these Maths. Exercises.
d) Rewards for my Little Footprints.....
It was a very challenging night for the 5 year old kid last Friday night. Although their rehearsal showed better and organized performance, yet Friday night was a far terrifying moment for these 5 year old and some 4 year old kids.
The fact that they stood on the stage to try their best despite the crowd's noise, laughter, camera flashes showed how brave they were! The process is what counts, which shaped every little kid to be stronger and better. Having greater confidence is what each and everyone is always looking for whether young or elderly!
I commented on everyone's contribution at that night. Their eyes glittered and I hope they would be forever when they unwrap their presents tonight.
e) My Favourite Moment
What's your most favourite moment at the concert?
Most kids drew Yun Wen blowing the bubbles. Zi yang drew himself as the pilot together with his other 4 friends. He even drew the BEN10 plan which we took weeks to accomplished!
Shi Jie drew herself, Jun Hong drew himself with his mother holding a camera. Wen Yue drew himself as Diamond Head. Eugene drew BEN10, Kevin 11, Diamond Head, the tortoise and also Max.
f) Phonics
* We did recap on phonics. Words: hump, help, nest, lamp, gift, box and pond.
Boomerang
12/11/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Corner playing and props
The kids played while I checked their props. We modified the unsuitable props.
b) Boomerang
They were fascinated about boomerangs.
They learnt how previous hunters hunted animals with boomerangs.
Today people used for sports.
Some boomerangs are special because they can return to the thrower.
Next, they decorated and cut their crafts.
c) Practice
I am proud to see how the kids work hard to improve their performance.
They are getting better.
Parents! We can’t wait to see you this Friday!
Boomerang Throw
We went to the garden.
Of course, they loved throwing their hand-made boomerangs.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Group Training
04/11/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Group training
I called the kids in groups to train them. Jin Shan, Zi Jun, Eugene are in-charge of the Aeroplanes, helicopters, gliders and parachutes.
Meanwhile, YZ, ZYg, LX and JW will take car of the Airport and Hot Air balloon.
Wen Yue, Ze Yan and Justin take care of the “Quiz” section.
Pictures were used as well as books and flash cards.
b) Continuation of Parachute Craft.
* We recapped the usage of a parachute as Jun Hong was absent yesterday. The kids explained quite well. Such as Jin Shan who was very attentive.
As we do not have toy people, we used paper cups as the parachute diver.
The kids each took a piece of rectangle paper and drew a person as well as label it as parachute.
Most were independent except Le Xin and Jun Hong who needed more guidance.
c) Performance Practice
Today, the kids dressed up while practising.
It was quite good except that the Narrators kept forgetting when to say their lines.
They enjoyed watching Hou Yi and Chang Er dancing and practicing kung fu.
a) Group training
I called the kids in groups to train them. Jin Shan, Zi Jun, Eugene are in-charge of the Aeroplanes, helicopters, gliders and parachutes.
Meanwhile, YZ, ZYg, LX and JW will take car of the Airport and Hot Air balloon.
Wen Yue, Ze Yan and Justin take care of the “Quiz” section.
Pictures were used as well as books and flash cards.
b) Continuation of Parachute Craft.
* We recapped the usage of a parachute as Jun Hong was absent yesterday. The kids explained quite well. Such as Jin Shan who was very attentive.
As we do not have toy people, we used paper cups as the parachute diver.
The kids each took a piece of rectangle paper and drew a person as well as label it as parachute.
Most were independent except Le Xin and Jun Hong who needed more guidance.
c) Performance Practice
Today, the kids dressed up while practising.
It was quite good except that the Narrators kept forgetting when to say their lines.
They enjoyed watching Hou Yi and Chang Er dancing and practicing kung fu.
Parachutes
03/11/2008 (Monday)
a) Corner playing and Props
* The kids chose their favourte blocks play.
* Some kids were called to complete their props. Justin's caterpillar, Zi Jun's and Jin Shan's masks.
* Shi Jie, Xin Ru, Le Xin and Jin Nan enjoyed helping them with the props.
b) Flying Rescue
* We read a storybook: HELICOPTERS
T : Why is a helicopter important?
Jin Shan: Put out fire!
Eugene : To give out food.
Yun Zhe : To save people.
T : Good answers.
* The book showed how animals were given food in the cold winter.
* How a boy was rescue from the sea. The army hung himself with a rope from
the helicopter. The boy was first given a safety float so that he can breathe well.
* The helicopters also report the traffic or weather condition in some areas.
* Besides that, the airship does the same thing. Just like the Olympics Coverage recently.
However, not many airship in the world due to its high possibility of fire accident. Nevertheless, an Airship need not depend on the wind as it has an engine to control its height and destination.
We referred to Yun Zhe's book for the pictures.
c) Parachute craft
* The kids saw my parachute sample how it flew down from a high place....Wah!
* Since we do not have toy people, we shall use cups as people.
* Today we used plastic bags. We twisted each the four ends and pasted to a thread each.
* The kids were so independent now at writing their names as not to mix theirs with others.
* Tomorrow we shall continue the craft.
d) Role-Play Practice
* Ha.... the kids loved the music background so much.
* We added a new role....Diamond Head.....actually as an important chance to its actor, WY.
* I felt that he needs to learn from every little step. I know he can do it!
* Hou Yi played the flute while Chang Er danced....on the moon.....haaa!
e) Musical Dance Practice
* For the first time, we practised together with Teacher Ang and his guitar. Lovely!
* The movements were quite messy...as they were so excited! I'm sure they will be better!
Participants' Gifts
10/11/2008 (Monday)
a)Quiz Recap
The kids recap on the quizzes.
They learnt to recognise more words and speak in more complete sentences.
But what are we going to give to the players?
b)Thumb print Bookmarks
We decided to make bookmarks for our parents and family members.
We chose the colour. Then the kids decided what they wanted to thumb print.
Eugene chose aeroplane and helicopter, Justin chose rockets, Jin Nan and Le Xin chose butterflies.
Then they outlined the printed colours to make them clearer.
c) Parents' day Practice.
This week is going to be a fun week plus challenging for the kids.
The kids practised to listen to cues, remembered their lines and performed more independently.
They performed the drama, Musical Performance, watch Jin Nan and Justin's story-telling as well as the Pilots' Presentation. They also performed “Pantun”. Good job!
a)Quiz Recap
The kids recap on the quizzes.
They learnt to recognise more words and speak in more complete sentences.
But what are we going to give to the players?
b)Thumb print Bookmarks
We decided to make bookmarks for our parents and family members.
We chose the colour. Then the kids decided what they wanted to thumb print.
Eugene chose aeroplane and helicopter, Justin chose rockets, Jin Nan and Le Xin chose butterflies.
Then they outlined the printed colours to make them clearer.
c) Parents' day Practice.
This week is going to be a fun week plus challenging for the kids.
The kids practised to listen to cues, remembered their lines and performed more independently.
They performed the drama, Musical Performance, watch Jin Nan and Justin's story-telling as well as the Pilots' Presentation. They also performed “Pantun”. Good job!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Big Jets
31/10/2008 (Friday)
a) Corner playing and Props
l The girls cut their laminated little butterflies. Those are the hairbands’ and dresses’ decorations.
l Justin needed guidance to prepare his caterpillar’s skin. Jian Wei and Max helped him.
l Jin Shan did his eagle’s mask.
b) Quiz and discussions
Q : Name 2 types of aeroplane and the purposes.
* Immediately they said jet which is used for military purpose. Sea Aeroplane to rescue people from the water.
* We recapped about cargo Aeroplane, passenger Aeroplane and the Spacecraft that we learnt yesterday.
* The Big Jet is special as it carries smaller aeroplanes or jets after some missions or when at default.
Class : Teacher, an aeroplane cannot go backwards.
Ze Yan : I saw befor. It needs a big truck like tractor to pull it.
Eugene and Zi Yang: But…..a jet can fly backwards.
T : Correct but only for Military Jets. This is because they carry missiles and bombs to protect their countries.
Ze Yan : Yes,……like from the terrorists.
l I had to explain to the kids “terrorist” and they realized how lucky they are.
c) A different Aeroplane origami
* The kids leant a different paper folding. This is the normal folding. Some kids already knew about it.
* Then they compared the jet and the normal aeroplane flying. Definitely, the jet is faster.
* They could fold ant type of aeroplane as they wish. However, they have to label them. They were quite independent. Jun hong and Le Xin needed some guidance.
* Most folded the Big Jets as they wanted them to carry smaller planes. Quite interesting. Le Xin preferred Sea Aeroplane. 2 kids preferred passenger aeroplane.
c) Role-Play Practice
l Eugene and Ze Yan were more independent at their lyrics. Justin and Zi Yang the narrators needed more attention as they were trying hard to say their lines. The others were quite alright. The kids enjoyed seeing Ben, little tortoise and the rocket flying.
a) Corner playing and Props
l The girls cut their laminated little butterflies. Those are the hairbands’ and dresses’ decorations.
l Justin needed guidance to prepare his caterpillar’s skin. Jian Wei and Max helped him.
l Jin Shan did his eagle’s mask.
b) Quiz and discussions
Q : Name 2 types of aeroplane and the purposes.
* Immediately they said jet which is used for military purpose. Sea Aeroplane to rescue people from the water.
* We recapped about cargo Aeroplane, passenger Aeroplane and the Spacecraft that we learnt yesterday.
* The Big Jet is special as it carries smaller aeroplanes or jets after some missions or when at default.
Class : Teacher, an aeroplane cannot go backwards.
Ze Yan : I saw befor. It needs a big truck like tractor to pull it.
Eugene and Zi Yang: But…..a jet can fly backwards.
T : Correct but only for Military Jets. This is because they carry missiles and bombs to protect their countries.
Ze Yan : Yes,……like from the terrorists.
l I had to explain to the kids “terrorist” and they realized how lucky they are.
c) A different Aeroplane origami
* The kids leant a different paper folding. This is the normal folding. Some kids already knew about it.
* Then they compared the jet and the normal aeroplane flying. Definitely, the jet is faster.
* They could fold ant type of aeroplane as they wish. However, they have to label them. They were quite independent. Jun hong and Le Xin needed some guidance.
* Most folded the Big Jets as they wanted them to carry smaller planes. Quite interesting. Le Xin preferred Sea Aeroplane. 2 kids preferred passenger aeroplane.
c) Role-Play Practice
l Eugene and Ze Yan were more independent at their lyrics. Justin and Zi Yang the narrators needed more attention as they were trying hard to say their lines. The others were quite alright. The kids enjoyed seeing Ben, little tortoise and the rocket flying.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Glider
29/10/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Corner Playing and Individual craft
The kids chose their play. Meanwhile the girls coloured their own butterflies. I assisted Zi Jun and Jin Shan to tie the rubber band on their wings. They are the Eagles in our Role-Play.
Quiz
Jin Shan : What is a quiz?
T : Quiz is asking questions and answering them.
* I pasted a few pictures on the board and asked the kids to guess which aircraft was invented first.
* The first was hot air balloon.
* The second = “The Ornitopher”. Jin Shan labeled it. It looks like a huge bird. The pilot
controls the big wings in order to fly.
The third was the Glider. Ze Yan labeled it. A glider flies from a high place. Today’s glider included engine to speed the process.
The fourth was the passenger Aeroplane. The Boeing 747 is so big that it can carry 500 people. It has 4 jet engines.
The fifth was the Cargo Aeroplane. Guessed by Jin Nan.Some planes have opened nose while some have opened tail to load the goods. The kids guessed that it can load more than 1000 boxes…..Wow!
The sixth was the Sea Aeroplane whereby Xin Ru labeled. We flipped Ze Yan’s Encyclopedia and saw information of it. It has stands for the plane to land and fly on the water. It is used for rescue purpose.
The seventh was the Jet Aeroplane. It was guessed by Zi yang. Yes…..it can fly very fast and is usually used for military purpose. A jet has no propellers.
They remembered the inventor of aeroplanes. They were Wright brothers. Jin Shan was awesome as he could remember that they started off with a bicycle business and justn continued by saying that they wanted a flying machine. So, they invented aeroplane after many experiments.
b) A Glider Craft
The kids cut the paper into a sharp triangle shape. It looks similar to boomerang but boomerang can fly on its own and the edges are rounded. However, a glider’s edges are sharp.
Next, the kids decoarated their gliders.
They cut the straw into half and sandwiched the glider between the two short straws. They enjoyed flying the glider.
c) Performance Practice.
They worked hard to practise the Musical Dance and the Role-Play.
Eugene was absent. So, Max substituted him for a while. The kids are getting more comfortable. Could see their laughing face when they obseve their friends’ performances….although they seem to be unattentive.
a) Corner Playing and Individual craft
The kids chose their play. Meanwhile the girls coloured their own butterflies. I assisted Zi Jun and Jin Shan to tie the rubber band on their wings. They are the Eagles in our Role-Play.
Quiz
Jin Shan : What is a quiz?
T : Quiz is asking questions and answering them.
* I pasted a few pictures on the board and asked the kids to guess which aircraft was invented first.
* The first was hot air balloon.
* The second = “The Ornitopher”. Jin Shan labeled it. It looks like a huge bird. The pilot
controls the big wings in order to fly.
The third was the Glider. Ze Yan labeled it. A glider flies from a high place. Today’s glider included engine to speed the process.
The fourth was the passenger Aeroplane. The Boeing 747 is so big that it can carry 500 people. It has 4 jet engines.
The fifth was the Cargo Aeroplane. Guessed by Jin Nan.Some planes have opened nose while some have opened tail to load the goods. The kids guessed that it can load more than 1000 boxes…..Wow!
The sixth was the Sea Aeroplane whereby Xin Ru labeled. We flipped Ze Yan’s Encyclopedia and saw information of it. It has stands for the plane to land and fly on the water. It is used for rescue purpose.
The seventh was the Jet Aeroplane. It was guessed by Zi yang. Yes…..it can fly very fast and is usually used for military purpose. A jet has no propellers.
They remembered the inventor of aeroplanes. They were Wright brothers. Jin Shan was awesome as he could remember that they started off with a bicycle business and justn continued by saying that they wanted a flying machine. So, they invented aeroplane after many experiments.
b) A Glider Craft
The kids cut the paper into a sharp triangle shape. It looks similar to boomerang but boomerang can fly on its own and the edges are rounded. However, a glider’s edges are sharp.
Next, the kids decoarated their gliders.
They cut the straw into half and sandwiched the glider between the two short straws. They enjoyed flying the glider.
c) Performance Practice.
They worked hard to practise the Musical Dance and the Role-Play.
Eugene was absent. So, Max substituted him for a while. The kids are getting more comfortable. Could see their laughing face when they obseve their friends’ performances….although they seem to be unattentive.
The Various Airplanes
28/10/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Let’s play and decorate
Some kids played with the Lego blocks.
Meanwhile LX, SJ, XR, JN and YW coloured little butterflies as the Performance props.
Zi Jun and Jin Shan decorated their birds’ wings.
The Various Airplanes
T : Why do some airplanes have propellers?
Class: Silent
T : …..because they don’t have jet engines. Airplanes with jet engines are actually jets. They can very fast.
* They learnt that Passenger Airplane is a type of jet and it has 4 engines.
* Those with propellers are usually used for minor scale. Eg: farming and rescuing people.
* They types of Airplanes include:
Passenger Airplane / Cargo Airplane / Military Airplane / Glider / The Wright Airplane (The first flying airplane).
A glider has no engines.
b) Musical and Role-Play Practice
The kids already knew the song.
It is challenging to get them moving at the momentum. I even asked for their opinions.
They were very tolerant kids when it comes to positions. Good!
As for drama, Ze Yan and Eugene could say a few lines independently. The butterflies were very co-operative. Hou Yi and Chang Er were attentive. Jin Shan and Max were very attentive. The others needed more encouragement.
c) Individual training.
Training was also given for the individual performers.
At the moment we had the “Airport Presentation” and also story-tellers by “Jin Nan and Justin”.
a) Let’s play and decorate
Some kids played with the Lego blocks.
Meanwhile LX, SJ, XR, JN and YW coloured little butterflies as the Performance props.
Zi Jun and Jin Shan decorated their birds’ wings.
The Various Airplanes
T : Why do some airplanes have propellers?
Class: Silent
T : …..because they don’t have jet engines. Airplanes with jet engines are actually jets. They can very fast.
* They learnt that Passenger Airplane is a type of jet and it has 4 engines.
* Those with propellers are usually used for minor scale. Eg: farming and rescuing people.
* They types of Airplanes include:
Passenger Airplane / Cargo Airplane / Military Airplane / Glider / The Wright Airplane (The first flying airplane).
A glider has no engines.
b) Musical and Role-Play Practice
The kids already knew the song.
It is challenging to get them moving at the momentum. I even asked for their opinions.
They were very tolerant kids when it comes to positions. Good!
As for drama, Ze Yan and Eugene could say a few lines independently. The butterflies were very co-operative. Hou Yi and Chang Er were attentive. Jin Shan and Max were very attentive. The others needed more encouragement.
c) Individual training.
Training was also given for the individual performers.
At the moment we had the “Airport Presentation” and also story-tellers by “Jin Nan and Justin”.
Friday, October 24, 2008
What is a Performance?
24/10/2008 (Friday)
a) Let’s tailor them!
* While the kids were playing, I called them individually and tailored their Rocket hats and also butterflies.
* We measured the size of head and pasted them properly. As for Shi Jie, we tied the rubber bands to the Giant Butterfly.
b) What is a performance?
* The kids gathered to watch the performances by other kids back 2 years.
* The kids observed and giggled to see some of their friends.
T: How did they perform?
Class: Good! They were well-behaved.
T : Did they wear their hand-made props?
Class : Yes, they did.
T : Can you be like them?
Class : Yes!!
c) Computer slides
* We watched slides containing the lessons we learnt earlier.
The kids were great as they could recall what they did. It started with flying their plastic bags as aeroplanes wings…….helicopters propellers……….storyboks………..the Rocket Airport to BEN 10 Airport and also our hot air balloon,….the caterpillars to butterflies and also the dead dragonfly.
* The purpose of this activity is to assessed their understanding and to recap their lessons learnt.
d) BEN 10 as a reward.
Ze Yan brought a BEN 10 CD and it is the same as mine. This would be a reward to the kids if they perform well in the class and also at the performances preparation.
They only watched for 5 minutes and were very excited to see how little Ben transformed to hekp the polcemen.
e) Performance Practice
The kids put on their props and stood at their positions.
We did the drama first. Eugen the BEN 10 and Ze Yan the tortoise were very alert of their positions. They are still relying on me for the dialogue. The rocket was attentive too. Overall, they did alright.
Next, we did the Musical Performance on “Let’s Fly” song.
It was difficult initially as everyone wanted to fly. Then, they became attentive wit the leaders’ help and got better.
a) Let’s tailor them!
* While the kids were playing, I called them individually and tailored their Rocket hats and also butterflies.
* We measured the size of head and pasted them properly. As for Shi Jie, we tied the rubber bands to the Giant Butterfly.
b) What is a performance?
* The kids gathered to watch the performances by other kids back 2 years.
* The kids observed and giggled to see some of their friends.
T: How did they perform?
Class: Good! They were well-behaved.
T : Did they wear their hand-made props?
Class : Yes, they did.
T : Can you be like them?
Class : Yes!!
c) Computer slides
* We watched slides containing the lessons we learnt earlier.
The kids were great as they could recall what they did. It started with flying their plastic bags as aeroplanes wings…….helicopters propellers……….storyboks………..the Rocket Airport to BEN 10 Airport and also our hot air balloon,….the caterpillars to butterflies and also the dead dragonfly.
* The purpose of this activity is to assessed their understanding and to recap their lessons learnt.
d) BEN 10 as a reward.
Ze Yan brought a BEN 10 CD and it is the same as mine. This would be a reward to the kids if they perform well in the class and also at the performances preparation.
They only watched for 5 minutes and were very excited to see how little Ben transformed to hekp the polcemen.
e) Performance Practice
The kids put on their props and stood at their positions.
We did the drama first. Eugen the BEN 10 and Ze Yan the tortoise were very alert of their positions. They are still relying on me for the dialogue. The rocket was attentive too. Overall, they did alright.
Next, we did the Musical Performance on “Let’s Fly” song.
It was difficult initially as everyone wanted to fly. Then, they became attentive wit the leaders’ help and got better.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Team work!!
23/10/2008 (Thursday)
a) Corner playing and Individual Training
*The kids chose their favourite play.
*The kids came forward to hand up their homework….hmmmm….getting more responsible. Jun Hong
told me he didn’t do and wanted to do in school. I allowed him as he is getting more interested at
writing and colouring.
* Meanwhile, I called the kids to practise the dialogue lines for the coming performance.
* I called upon the tortoise, the farmers, the birds and also rockets.
* Next, I guided the group leaders for the Musical Dance Performance. They would be guiding the
other members.
b) Disallowed from bringing toys.
* Some kids had misused the chance I gave them. They could bring the toys and show friends but
disallowed form exchanging. Unfortunately, lately 2 kids did that and they even told lies to free
themselves.
* In future, any toys they want to show his friends, they have to let me know in advance.
c) Discussion and segregation of jobs.
* We recalled the tasks that we segregated yesterday. We had yet to these preparations: the Giant
butterflies, the sword, BEN 10 watch, the sword, Kevin 11 costumes and also Chang Er’s flowers.
* Thus, the kids gathered in 5 small groups to work together. My observation:
* Eugene is very effective and likes helping his friends. However, he prefers doing things individually.
The same goes with Max and Ze Yan. Jian Wei and Jin Shan are very determined and they chose to
decorate the background for the SPACE. He, Ze Yan, Zi Yang and Max even looked at books for
pictures.
* Justin worked together with Song Chuan to make a sword. Zi Jun came to help and later asked my
permission to make one himself.
* Yun Wen didn’t like doing butterflies. She preferred something for herself as Chang Er. After
discussing with her, she preferred flowers for her hair. Thus, she coloured 2 colourful flowers.
* Yun Zhe wanted to do Kevin 11 but had no idea. Thus, Wen Yue came to explain the look of Kevin
11. Kevin 11 has 6 hands. Then Ze Yan said, “Four hands are enough becaue Zhe Zhe already has 2
hands.” Jun Hong and Zi Jun helped to trace and cut the hands.
* Before leaving the class, the kids looked at the results of their team work. Quite good! A giant
butterfly, a sword, a BEN 10 watch, the space background and Kevin 11 hands.
* As a reward for their teamwork, I would allow them to watch BEN 10 film for a short while tomorrow.
Many people thought that they are fighting movies and would be negative for kids. I was one of them
until I watch the movie recently. Actually, it is otherwise and trained kids to be very creative.
a) Corner playing and Individual Training
*The kids chose their favourite play.
*The kids came forward to hand up their homework….hmmmm….getting more responsible. Jun Hong
told me he didn’t do and wanted to do in school. I allowed him as he is getting more interested at
writing and colouring.
* Meanwhile, I called the kids to practise the dialogue lines for the coming performance.
* I called upon the tortoise, the farmers, the birds and also rockets.
* Next, I guided the group leaders for the Musical Dance Performance. They would be guiding the
other members.
b) Disallowed from bringing toys.
* Some kids had misused the chance I gave them. They could bring the toys and show friends but
disallowed form exchanging. Unfortunately, lately 2 kids did that and they even told lies to free
themselves.
* In future, any toys they want to show his friends, they have to let me know in advance.
c) Discussion and segregation of jobs.
* We recalled the tasks that we segregated yesterday. We had yet to these preparations: the Giant
butterflies, the sword, BEN 10 watch, the sword, Kevin 11 costumes and also Chang Er’s flowers.
* Thus, the kids gathered in 5 small groups to work together. My observation:
* Eugene is very effective and likes helping his friends. However, he prefers doing things individually.
The same goes with Max and Ze Yan. Jian Wei and Jin Shan are very determined and they chose to
decorate the background for the SPACE. He, Ze Yan, Zi Yang and Max even looked at books for
pictures.
* Justin worked together with Song Chuan to make a sword. Zi Jun came to help and later asked my
permission to make one himself.
* Yun Wen didn’t like doing butterflies. She preferred something for herself as Chang Er. After
discussing with her, she preferred flowers for her hair. Thus, she coloured 2 colourful flowers.
* Yun Zhe wanted to do Kevin 11 but had no idea. Thus, Wen Yue came to explain the look of Kevin
11. Kevin 11 has 6 hands. Then Ze Yan said, “Four hands are enough becaue Zhe Zhe already has 2
hands.” Jun Hong and Zi Jun helped to trace and cut the hands.
* Before leaving the class, the kids looked at the results of their team work. Quite good! A giant
butterfly, a sword, a BEN 10 watch, the space background and Kevin 11 hands.
* As a reward for their teamwork, I would allow them to watch BEN 10 film for a short while tomorrow.
Many people thought that they are fighting movies and would be negative for kids. I was one of them
until I watch the movie recently. Actually, it is otherwise and trained kids to be very creative.
Our Rocket Craft
22/10/2008 (Wednesday)
a) The Glittering Sunglasses
*The kids continued with the cutting of the glasses. They were very careful when cutting the lenses.
* Then, they applied some glue and brushed some glitter on them.
b) Our checklist
* We listed the things that we were going to do for Parent’ day.
* We looked at what we have prepared and not yet prepared.
* We have to prepare the rockets, butterflies, sword for Hou Yi, costume for Kevin 11, BEN 10’s
a) The Glittering Sunglasses
*The kids continued with the cutting of the glasses. They were very careful when cutting the lenses.
* Then, they applied some glue and brushed some glitter on them.
b) Our checklist
* We listed the things that we were going to do for Parent’ day.
* We looked at what we have prepared and not yet prepared.
* We have to prepare the rockets, butterflies, sword for Hou Yi, costume for Kevin 11, BEN 10’s
watch and ribbons for Chang Er.
c) Printing our rockets’ hat
* As the kids have done the planes using boxes, thus we decided to use recycled cardboards for our
c) Printing our rockets’ hat
* As the kids have done the planes using boxes, thus we decided to use recycled cardboards for our
rocket.
* Our activity involved Printing. We used leaves, onions, hands for printing and included straws to
* Our activity involved Printing. We used leaves, onions, hands for printing and included straws to
blow the colours.
* The kids enjoyed the blowing most.
* Later, we assessed why the 3 original colours given had become brown?? Yes….when red plus
* The kids enjoyed the blowing most.
* Later, we assessed why the 3 original colours given had become brown?? Yes….when red plus
yellow and blue….they become brown.
* Then, the kids used yellow paint to decorate the brown colour. They looked better and nice!
d) Musical Practice
l They stood at their position.
l Some couldn’t even remember their positions. However, they sang well. Good! We stiil have to work on the consistencies of movement.
e) Labelling Our “BEN 10” Airport
l The kids labeled the names of different parts. They used different marker pens.
l Zi Yang was my main artist as he could draw well.
l Jun Hong and Le Xin kept saying, “Wow! Very beautiful….”….hmmm……Kids really appreciate their ideas and hard work J
* Then, the kids used yellow paint to decorate the brown colour. They looked better and nice!
d) Musical Practice
l They stood at their position.
l Some couldn’t even remember their positions. However, they sang well. Good! We stiil have to work on the consistencies of movement.
e) Labelling Our “BEN 10” Airport
l The kids labeled the names of different parts. They used different marker pens.
l Zi Yang was my main artist as he could draw well.
l Jun Hong and Le Xin kept saying, “Wow! Very beautiful….”….hmmm……Kids really appreciate their ideas and hard work J
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Pilot’s Sunglasses
21/10/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Painting Our Airport
* The kids excitedly painted their designed BEN 10 Airport.
* They painted 2 people at a time. Meanwhile, the others were having Corner playing.
* Le Xin painted the field helped by Zi Yang. Jian Wei painted the sky while Xin Ru painted the sea.
Jin Nan painted the Hot Air Balloon area while Shi Jie painted the workshop.
b) Pilot’s sunglasses
* A pilot’s eyesight is a criterion whenever one wants to drive an airplane.
* However, they sometimes wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from the burning sunlight.
* Thus, the kids designed their desired sunglasses.
* Yun Zhe drew a Ben 10 watch while Jin Nan drew butterflies, Jian Wei preferred simple patterns nd
b) Pilot’s sunglasses
* A pilot’s eyesight is a criterion whenever one wants to drive an airplane.
* However, they sometimes wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from the burning sunlight.
* Thus, the kids designed their desired sunglasses.
* Yun Zhe drew a Ben 10 watch while Jin Nan drew butterflies, Jian Wei preferred simple patterns nd
Jun Hong preferred an airplane.
* Most kids were independent. In fact, Eugene helped his friends. Jun Hong and Le Xin needed some
* Most kids were independent. In fact, Eugene helped his friends. Jun Hong and Le Xin needed some
guidance.
c) Drama Practice
* The kids stood at their positions.
* Jin Nan, Xin Ru, Shi Jie and Le Xin; Jian Wei, Ze yan, Justin, Eugene, Zi Jun, Jin Shan, Song
c) Drama Practice
* The kids stood at their positions.
* Jin Nan, Xin Ru, Shi Jie and Le Xin; Jian Wei, Ze yan, Justin, Eugene, Zi Jun, Jin Shan, Song
Chuan and Yun Wen were very attentive and focused.
d) Meeting with kids
* Teacher Yap and myself gathered together with the kids to have a discussion. We have to decide
what to perform for the coming Parents’ Day. They would be the hosts for certain stations and would
be responsible to explain.
* Finally, we had 5 groups. Some with 3 or 4 kids.
* Finally, we had 5 groups. Some with 3 or 4 kids.
Look! Our TREE NYMPH Butterflies
20/10/2008 (Monday)
a) Wow……butterflies!
* Yes! Finally the butterflies are formed! We predicted the date correctly as the 14th day on Sunday
(19/10/2008).
l* Altogether there were about 8 butterflies. It seemed that some cocoons were lying at the bottom of the cage.
* Some were trapped in between the cages wiring. Thus, I used chopsticks to take out the unmovable butterflies.
Altogether there were 5 unmovable butterflies. That’s very disappointing.
* We put them in a transparent plastic bag hoping that they could still survive. The kids also plucked flowers for
the unmovable butterflies. The other normal butterflies were alright and we fed them with flowers.
* One little butterfly flew out. We wanted to release the other 2 butterflies but their wings were slightly injured.
Thus, we decided to take care of them until they are ready to fly out independently.
* Teacher Huang made some honey for them to suck.
* The kids saw how the butterflies suck the sweet honey with its mouth that looks like a straw.
b) A closer look
* True enough, the unmovable butterflies were dead. Thus, I took one of them out to show the kids. They
identified the wings, the male / female, the black eyes, the six legs. They even touched the wings and learnt that
they composed of a lot of little dust.
* We would frame the dead butterflies. However, as we had never done that before, the principal promised to
do some research on it.
* The kids organized their observation record from 3rd October until today. They analyse their record which is
the process.
* The kids proceeded to draw today’s butterflies.
* We flipped through some books and discovered that the butterflies were closest to the species: Tree Nymph.
c) The Stag Beetles.
* They looked at the toy beetle. Why does it have horns?
* Horns show that they are males. Females have very short but sharp pinchers.
* The males would fight with another male to conquer a new home or a female Stag beetle.
* The female beetle would dig the log with its pincers so that it can lay eggs.
* A Stag Beetle has the same life cycle as the butterflies. Egg – larva – cocoon – adult.
* They can live for 5 years whereas butterflies can only live for a few weeks.
d) Airport Colouring
* Yun Zhe and Zi Yang continued with their Airport colouring.
* Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to paint their “BEN 10 Airport”.
a) Wow……butterflies!
* Yes! Finally the butterflies are formed! We predicted the date correctly as the 14th day on Sunday
(19/10/2008).
l* Altogether there were about 8 butterflies. It seemed that some cocoons were lying at the bottom of the cage.
* Some were trapped in between the cages wiring. Thus, I used chopsticks to take out the unmovable butterflies.
Altogether there were 5 unmovable butterflies. That’s very disappointing.
* We put them in a transparent plastic bag hoping that they could still survive. The kids also plucked flowers for
the unmovable butterflies. The other normal butterflies were alright and we fed them with flowers.
* One little butterfly flew out. We wanted to release the other 2 butterflies but their wings were slightly injured.
Thus, we decided to take care of them until they are ready to fly out independently.
* Teacher Huang made some honey for them to suck.
* The kids saw how the butterflies suck the sweet honey with its mouth that looks like a straw.
b) A closer look
* True enough, the unmovable butterflies were dead. Thus, I took one of them out to show the kids. They
identified the wings, the male / female, the black eyes, the six legs. They even touched the wings and learnt that
they composed of a lot of little dust.
* We would frame the dead butterflies. However, as we had never done that before, the principal promised to
do some research on it.
* The kids organized their observation record from 3rd October until today. They analyse their record which is
the process.
* The kids proceeded to draw today’s butterflies.
* We flipped through some books and discovered that the butterflies were closest to the species: Tree Nymph.
c) The Stag Beetles.
* They looked at the toy beetle. Why does it have horns?
* Horns show that they are males. Females have very short but sharp pinchers.
* The males would fight with another male to conquer a new home or a female Stag beetle.
* The female beetle would dig the log with its pincers so that it can lay eggs.
* A Stag Beetle has the same life cycle as the butterflies. Egg – larva – cocoon – adult.
* They can live for 5 years whereas butterflies can only live for a few weeks.
d) Airport Colouring
* Yun Zhe and Zi Yang continued with their Airport colouring.
* Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to paint their “BEN 10 Airport”.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Our “BEN 10 Airport”
16/10/2008 (Thursday)
a) Assessment and Corner Playing.
Some preferred playing while some colouring.
Meanwhile, I guided Le Xin for her homework. She is always working very hard and has shown improvement. She needed guidance to connect the numbers from 20 until 50.
I also did individual assessment.
b) Airport Vocabulary
In the last few lessons, we had sketched our Airport. Now that the kids understand the flying machines even more, we are ready to in-depth at it.
Vocab: car, bus, tree, entrance, ticketing counter, security officers, scanner, baggage, shop, restaurant, fire engine, hospital, playground, toilet and the flying machines.
I asked them the meaning which some they could answer. Examples: they could remember “scanner, lift, workshop, petrol station, restaurants, baggage”. They related to their experience.
c) The Airport Book
We looked at the pictures.
First, the car park. People go through the entrance and then to the ticketing counter.
Next, to the customs counter where the scanner is standing high. Bags moved along the rails to be loaded into the airplane.
Passengers showed passport and while waiting for their flight, they visit the shops, restaurants, playground and even toilets.
There are control towers to check the air traffic and also weather.
There is the long runway and the kids get a look at the indoor of an airplane.
d) Editing Our Existing Airport plan.
From the book, the kids saw an airplane that caught fire.
Class : Fire-engine.
T : Yes, we need to have a fire station nearby. What about the injured people?
Class : To the hospital.
T : Yes, we need to build a hospital nearby.
e) "BEN 10 Airport”
We listed a few names for our DREAM airport.
Some wanted the Bomerang Airport. However, BEN 10 Airport was the winner.
In fact, the kids taught me the proper wa to write the title….haaaaa! All capital letters for BEN!
They decided a “watch” as the shape of their airport.
f) Picture drawing
The kids chose the items they want to draw. Each has got their own responsibility.
Song Chuan drew and colour the Control Tower, Max did the Workshop, Yun Zhe did the title, Zin Ru did the kite, Jun Hong did the cars, Jin Shan did the Flying Car, Yun Wen did the parachute, Zi Yang did the aeroplane, Wen Yue did the rockets, Jin Nan did a butterfly playground, Jin Shan added in a Flying Dragon beside the Flying Fish. Thus our airport is beside the sea. Zi Jun did the lift, Justin drew his favourite Mc Donalds, Jian Wei drew people, Eugene and his petrol station, Shi Jie drew a rocket and Le Xin drew the flowers.
We shall continue with “BEN 10 Airport” tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Draw lots
15/10/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Corner playing
l The kids chose their play. I did individual assessment for writing of numbers 1 until 50.
b) The helicopter terminology.
l The kids learnt to identify the words and its spelling for: propeller, door, window, tail and helicopter.
l Zi Yang argued that helicopters do not have 2 propellers but Ze Yan said there is. Usually private helicopters have got only 2 propellers. The bigger helicopters have got more propellers.
l
c) Decorating the hat.
l the kids took some glue to paste onto their hats.
l They were quite cute. Then they added their Straw Propeller onto the hat.
l Max was enjoying spinning the propeller.
d) Boomerang
l Eugene brought a boomerang to school made by his father. Thanks again, Mr. Gan!
l Eugene explained what it was and how to throw it.
l The kids got excited and took turns to throw. They wanted to make theirs too.
l They learnt that a good boomerang would return to its owner after being thrown. The purpose is not to hurt people but probably as a protection. It is also a sport.
e) Cast Selection
l Since yesterday, the boys were already eager to be “BEN”. Some kids had chose their casts though. The volunteered casts were:
CRANES – Zi Jun and Jian Wei, TORTOISE – Zi Yang,
GIANT BUTTERFLIES – Le Xin, Xin Ru, Jin Nan, Shi Jie.
ROCKET – Jian Wei, CHANG ER – Yun Wen
l The other 8 kids agreed to do draw lots.
BEN – Wen Yue, KEVIN 11 – Zi Yang, FARMERS – Max, Ze Yan, Jun Hong,
NARRATOR 1 – Eugene, NARRATOR 2 – Justin, Hou Yi – Song Chuan
* Surprisingly, they were very co-operative and happy with their votes.
f) Role-Play
l We did the role-play. They were quite disciplined……I thought probably because “BEN 10” was in the drama. Zi Yang was funny. The girls always knew when to come in.
l Meanwhile, I trained Eugene and Justin separately for narrator cast.
a) Corner playing
l The kids chose their play. I did individual assessment for writing of numbers 1 until 50.
b) The helicopter terminology.
l The kids learnt to identify the words and its spelling for: propeller, door, window, tail and helicopter.
l Zi Yang argued that helicopters do not have 2 propellers but Ze Yan said there is. Usually private helicopters have got only 2 propellers. The bigger helicopters have got more propellers.
l
c) Decorating the hat.
l the kids took some glue to paste onto their hats.
l They were quite cute. Then they added their Straw Propeller onto the hat.
l Max was enjoying spinning the propeller.
d) Boomerang
l Eugene brought a boomerang to school made by his father. Thanks again, Mr. Gan!
l Eugene explained what it was and how to throw it.
l The kids got excited and took turns to throw. They wanted to make theirs too.
l They learnt that a good boomerang would return to its owner after being thrown. The purpose is not to hurt people but probably as a protection. It is also a sport.
e) Cast Selection
l Since yesterday, the boys were already eager to be “BEN”. Some kids had chose their casts though. The volunteered casts were:
CRANES – Zi Jun and Jian Wei, TORTOISE – Zi Yang,
GIANT BUTTERFLIES – Le Xin, Xin Ru, Jin Nan, Shi Jie.
ROCKET – Jian Wei, CHANG ER – Yun Wen
l The other 8 kids agreed to do draw lots.
BEN – Wen Yue, KEVIN 11 – Zi Yang, FARMERS – Max, Ze Yan, Jun Hong,
NARRATOR 1 – Eugene, NARRATOR 2 – Justin, Hou Yi – Song Chuan
* Surprisingly, they were very co-operative and happy with their votes.
f) Role-Play
l We did the role-play. They were quite disciplined……I thought probably because “BEN 10” was in the drama. Zi Yang was funny. The girls always knew when to come in.
l Meanwhile, I trained Eugene and Justin separately for narrator cast.
Our Story: Ben Ten And The Tortoise
14/10/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Assessment
l SJ, XR, LX preferred colouring while the others preferred to play with blocks.
l I did individual assessment for numbers 1 until 50.
b) Flashcards and drawing.
l Again, we did flashcards. Vocabulary: aeroplane, he;licopter, propeller, caterpillar, butterfly, hot air balloon, propeller, fly, plastic bag, experiment, fire.
l Zi yang said that some helicopters have 3 propellers. The bigger helicopters can even have 4 propellers. The private helicopter does have 2 propellers.
l We thought of different pictures to decorate our Helicopter hat. The kids volunteered to draw their pictures. Jin Shan drew a bee, Ze Yan drew a rocket, Zi Yang drew an aeroplane, Jin Nan drew a hot air balloon, Yun Wen drew a butterfly, Eugenen drew a flying tortoise, Zi Jun drew a jet and le Xin drew another hot air balloon, Zi yang also drew a bat. Eugene claimed that it does not have eyes. Actually, they have but they are blind and depends very well on their ears.
c) Decorating the Helicopter Hat.
l After having the ideas, they chose their favourite coloured paper and started drawing. Only Jun Hong needed some encouragement to draw. Later, he continued independently. Wen Yue, Xin Ru have shown improvement!
l They placed their pictures into a plastic bag to avoid being taken mistakenly.
l They also drew their own stars to be pasted on the hat. Those indicates their rankings: Inspector / Sergeant / Captain etc.
d) Story Continuation: Ben Ten
T : Did you go home to think of the ending of yesterday’s story.
Eugene : Teacher, I did!
Ze Yan : Me too! I got ideas from the television and computer.
T : That’s awesome!
Yun Zhe : I forgot teacher.
T : It’s okay…..let’s brainstorm the story now.
* This is their story………Enjoy!
* The two cranes flew into the sky with the tortoise biting the middle of it. A flying tortoise! The farmers saw them and praised the carnes. The tortoise was jealous and started shouting, “It’s my clever idea!”….and it fell down!!
* Meanwhile, Kevin 11 snatched Ben’s watch in the jungle and threw into the space. Ben was now alone and the tortoise fell onto its back.
* they both agreed to help one another. A giant butterfly flew them to an airport. Everyone got scared and so, Ben and tortoise launched a rocket to the space.
* There, the tortoise asked Jade rabbit’s help. Yes….Xhang Er and Hou Yi found the watch and gave to Ben. They thanked Chang Er, Hou Yi and the totoise. They returned back to Earth and Ben helped the tortoise to find a new home with lots of water.
* We were short of time to choose the casting. We would continue tomorrow.
a) Assessment
l SJ, XR, LX preferred colouring while the others preferred to play with blocks.
l I did individual assessment for numbers 1 until 50.
b) Flashcards and drawing.
l Again, we did flashcards. Vocabulary: aeroplane, he;licopter, propeller, caterpillar, butterfly, hot air balloon, propeller, fly, plastic bag, experiment, fire.
l Zi yang said that some helicopters have 3 propellers. The bigger helicopters can even have 4 propellers. The private helicopter does have 2 propellers.
l We thought of different pictures to decorate our Helicopter hat. The kids volunteered to draw their pictures. Jin Shan drew a bee, Ze Yan drew a rocket, Zi Yang drew an aeroplane, Jin Nan drew a hot air balloon, Yun Wen drew a butterfly, Eugenen drew a flying tortoise, Zi Jun drew a jet and le Xin drew another hot air balloon, Zi yang also drew a bat. Eugene claimed that it does not have eyes. Actually, they have but they are blind and depends very well on their ears.
c) Decorating the Helicopter Hat.
l After having the ideas, they chose their favourite coloured paper and started drawing. Only Jun Hong needed some encouragement to draw. Later, he continued independently. Wen Yue, Xin Ru have shown improvement!
l They placed their pictures into a plastic bag to avoid being taken mistakenly.
l They also drew their own stars to be pasted on the hat. Those indicates their rankings: Inspector / Sergeant / Captain etc.
d) Story Continuation: Ben Ten
T : Did you go home to think of the ending of yesterday’s story.
Eugene : Teacher, I did!
Ze Yan : Me too! I got ideas from the television and computer.
T : That’s awesome!
Yun Zhe : I forgot teacher.
T : It’s okay…..let’s brainstorm the story now.
* This is their story………Enjoy!
* The two cranes flew into the sky with the tortoise biting the middle of it. A flying tortoise! The farmers saw them and praised the carnes. The tortoise was jealous and started shouting, “It’s my clever idea!”….and it fell down!!
* Meanwhile, Kevin 11 snatched Ben’s watch in the jungle and threw into the space. Ben was now alone and the tortoise fell onto its back.
* they both agreed to help one another. A giant butterfly flew them to an airport. Everyone got scared and so, Ben and tortoise launched a rocket to the space.
* There, the tortoise asked Jade rabbit’s help. Yes….Xhang Er and Hou Yi found the watch and gave to Ben. They thanked Chang Er, Hou Yi and the totoise. They returned back to Earth and Ben helped the tortoise to find a new home with lots of water.
* We were short of time to choose the casting. We would continue tomorrow.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Helicopter/Propeller hat
13/10/2008 (Monday)
a) Corner Playing and Assessment
* The kids liked playing the blocks to build aeroplanes / rockets / swords. Last time, they
assembled guns and we discussed about the danger of guns. Thus, they had stopped assembling
those.
* Later, Jian Wei came with his Ben Ten watch, First, he only wanted to share with some friends.
After frfreshing their memory that toys brought to school are to shar around. Otherwise, leave
them at home. Then, he started sharing with all.
* Meanwhile, I did assessment with them. Today I called upon, Jun Hong, Yun Wen, Yun Zhe and
Xin Ru.
b) Origami: Propeller Hat.
l Last Friday, they painted their newspaper. Today, they learnt to fold it into a hat.
l They needed to check if they had two layers of paper.
l They needed to fold into half and then unfold again.
l They fold the two ends similar to aeroplane folding. Then they folded the bottom part over the triangle.
l Most of them were independent. They flew around with it!
c) Practice: Musical Play
l We looked at the words on the board to reinforce words recognition.
l I am glad they were more confident with the song.
l Then, we grouped separately into 4 groups: the aeroplane, the helicopter, the rocket and the
butterfly.
l The kids suggested to fly in circles rather than making straight lines.
l As they sang, they danced and performed. We did in a big group first. Then as they had a better idea, we did separately. They were laughing and having fun!
d) Storybook: A wonderful Idea
The kids gathered to listen to the story.
l It was about how two crane birds transported their good friend, a tortoise in order to find a new home with water.
l The tortoise thought of the idea. Yun Wen said, “The birds cannot carry the tortoise. It is so heavy!”
l She was right. So, the tortoise thought of an idea: to find a long strong stick to be held by the cranes. Meanwhle, the tortoise would bite the middle of it.
l The cranes reminded him not to open its mouth during the flight or it will fall.
l However, when it saw some farmers praised the clever cranes mistakenly, it got jealous.
l I opened its mouth, “It’s my idea!” and fell down……
l Is the tortoise dead. The kids said “NO” because of the shell.
l They had to think of the ending which we would discuss tomorrow.
a) Corner Playing and Assessment
* The kids liked playing the blocks to build aeroplanes / rockets / swords. Last time, they
assembled guns and we discussed about the danger of guns. Thus, they had stopped assembling
those.
* Later, Jian Wei came with his Ben Ten watch, First, he only wanted to share with some friends.
After frfreshing their memory that toys brought to school are to shar around. Otherwise, leave
them at home. Then, he started sharing with all.
* Meanwhile, I did assessment with them. Today I called upon, Jun Hong, Yun Wen, Yun Zhe and
Xin Ru.
b) Origami: Propeller Hat.
l Last Friday, they painted their newspaper. Today, they learnt to fold it into a hat.
l They needed to check if they had two layers of paper.
l They needed to fold into half and then unfold again.
l They fold the two ends similar to aeroplane folding. Then they folded the bottom part over the triangle.
l Most of them were independent. They flew around with it!
c) Practice: Musical Play
l We looked at the words on the board to reinforce words recognition.
l I am glad they were more confident with the song.
l Then, we grouped separately into 4 groups: the aeroplane, the helicopter, the rocket and the
butterfly.
l The kids suggested to fly in circles rather than making straight lines.
l As they sang, they danced and performed. We did in a big group first. Then as they had a better idea, we did separately. They were laughing and having fun!
d) Storybook: A wonderful Idea
The kids gathered to listen to the story.
l It was about how two crane birds transported their good friend, a tortoise in order to find a new home with water.
l The tortoise thought of the idea. Yun Wen said, “The birds cannot carry the tortoise. It is so heavy!”
l She was right. So, the tortoise thought of an idea: to find a long strong stick to be held by the cranes. Meanwhle, the tortoise would bite the middle of it.
l The cranes reminded him not to open its mouth during the flight or it will fall.
l However, when it saw some farmers praised the clever cranes mistakenly, it got jealous.
l I opened its mouth, “It’s my idea!” and fell down……
l Is the tortoise dead. The kids said “NO” because of the shell.
l They had to think of the ending which we would discuss tomorrow.
Free the moth, Le Xin!
10/10/2008 (Friday)
a) Handprint gift for our maid / “kakak”.
T : Do you know that today is our’s maid last day?
Ze yan : Why? Where is she going?
T : She is here only to replace the other maid.
Zi Yang : Where is she?
T : That maid is now in Indonesia. She goes home once in 2 years to meet her family.
Jian Wei : Wah….! So long.
T : She’ll be coming back on Monday. So, do you think we should thank this new maid?
Class : Yes!
As the maid told me yesterday that she is going to miss the children and she loves to see the caterpillar change into butterflies, so I proposed that we made a butterfly handprint card for her.
The kids took turns to thumbprint their favourite water colour on the paper. They knew that the prints must link to one another to form a caterpillar’s body.
Another paper was to thumbprint small butterflies. They liked them
b) Yee Ping gave us a surprise!
Yee Ping showed me her Helicopter Propeller Toy yesterday.
So, today I invited her to demonstrate her toy. She was so happy to demonstrate how it flew high into the air. We thanked her. This was exactly the same function as the craft we did yesterday. Then the kids played with their own propeller.
c) A Propeller Hat.
The next satge was to make our own hat. We used newspaper for this purpose.
I pasted a paper on the board. Then using the brush, I painted 2 different colours onto it.
Class : Why can’t we have more water in the colour?
T : It would be too wet and this will tear the paper. Furthermore, what do we have on the paper.
Song Chuan : A lot of ink.
T : Good! So the water will make the paper black.
* Some kids used 3 colours, some preferred 1 colour. Some were so excited to see that when the colours mixed, it became a new colour.
* They learnt that yellow and red becomes orange. Blue and red becomes purple. Justin said, “Wow! Red and yellow and blue makes brown!!” Haaa………!
* We leave the paper to dry and will fold it on Monday.
d) Justin’s Birthday!
Everyone was excited because of party pack………!
Justin invited his friends from downstairs as well as having us around. We sang “Birthday” songs of 3 languages. He was very happy!
e) An insect’s life cycle.
Comprises of 4 stages. We took a look at the butterfly’s stages.
Eggs, nymph (caterpillar), cocoon and adult.
They thought of examples including flies, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies and moths.
While in the cocoon, the caterpillar will start forming legs and its simple eyes will be bigger eyes. Its tiny hair would be stuck to its cocoon. This is like changing skin.
We were quite sad over the weak dragonfly that Teacher Karen gave to us. It was energetic but then towards noon, it became very weak.
Why?? Kids said: “An adult grasshopper only has 1 week’s life”…….That’s too short!
Thus, yesterday we put it in the grass near its favourite flowers.
When we check it today, it went missing. Maybe it recovered and flew away………maybe!
f) Le Xin’s moth.
The kids learnt that moths are usually brown or grey in colour.
Le Xin brought us a moth.
Ze Yan : Let it fly away. We don’t want it to die.
Eugene : Give it freedom.
Jin Shan : Let it fly away.
Le Xin : NO!!! I want to see it!
Due to short of time, I told the class that we had to respect Le Xin’s decision. Later, I had a talk with her. She was very sad and said, “I want her to fly to her mother. And friends.”
After bedtime, we went to the playground and freed the moth! They were so happy to chase the moth……….love and freedom….
a) Handprint gift for our maid / “kakak”.
T : Do you know that today is our’s maid last day?
Ze yan : Why? Where is she going?
T : She is here only to replace the other maid.
Zi Yang : Where is she?
T : That maid is now in Indonesia. She goes home once in 2 years to meet her family.
Jian Wei : Wah….! So long.
T : She’ll be coming back on Monday. So, do you think we should thank this new maid?
Class : Yes!
As the maid told me yesterday that she is going to miss the children and she loves to see the caterpillar change into butterflies, so I proposed that we made a butterfly handprint card for her.
The kids took turns to thumbprint their favourite water colour on the paper. They knew that the prints must link to one another to form a caterpillar’s body.
Another paper was to thumbprint small butterflies. They liked them
b) Yee Ping gave us a surprise!
Yee Ping showed me her Helicopter Propeller Toy yesterday.
So, today I invited her to demonstrate her toy. She was so happy to demonstrate how it flew high into the air. We thanked her. This was exactly the same function as the craft we did yesterday. Then the kids played with their own propeller.
c) A Propeller Hat.
The next satge was to make our own hat. We used newspaper for this purpose.
I pasted a paper on the board. Then using the brush, I painted 2 different colours onto it.
Class : Why can’t we have more water in the colour?
T : It would be too wet and this will tear the paper. Furthermore, what do we have on the paper.
Song Chuan : A lot of ink.
T : Good! So the water will make the paper black.
* Some kids used 3 colours, some preferred 1 colour. Some were so excited to see that when the colours mixed, it became a new colour.
* They learnt that yellow and red becomes orange. Blue and red becomes purple. Justin said, “Wow! Red and yellow and blue makes brown!!” Haaa………!
* We leave the paper to dry and will fold it on Monday.
d) Justin’s Birthday!
Everyone was excited because of party pack………!
Justin invited his friends from downstairs as well as having us around. We sang “Birthday” songs of 3 languages. He was very happy!
e) An insect’s life cycle.
Comprises of 4 stages. We took a look at the butterfly’s stages.
Eggs, nymph (caterpillar), cocoon and adult.
They thought of examples including flies, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies and moths.
While in the cocoon, the caterpillar will start forming legs and its simple eyes will be bigger eyes. Its tiny hair would be stuck to its cocoon. This is like changing skin.
We were quite sad over the weak dragonfly that Teacher Karen gave to us. It was energetic but then towards noon, it became very weak.
Why?? Kids said: “An adult grasshopper only has 1 week’s life”…….That’s too short!
Thus, yesterday we put it in the grass near its favourite flowers.
When we check it today, it went missing. Maybe it recovered and flew away………maybe!
f) Le Xin’s moth.
The kids learnt that moths are usually brown or grey in colour.
Le Xin brought us a moth.
Ze Yan : Let it fly away. We don’t want it to die.
Eugene : Give it freedom.
Jin Shan : Let it fly away.
Le Xin : NO!!! I want to see it!
Due to short of time, I told the class that we had to respect Le Xin’s decision. Later, I had a talk with her. She was very sad and said, “I want her to fly to her mother. And friends.”
After bedtime, we went to the playground and freed the moth! They were so happy to chase the moth……….love and freedom….
Thursday, October 9, 2008
A Propeller Craft
09/10/2008 (Thursday)
a) A visit to Wright Brothers’
T : Which came first? Hot air balloon or aeroplane?
Class : Hot Air Balloon.
* They learnt that to travel faster and not to rely too much to wind, the Wright Brothers thought of
inventing an aeroplane. They were actually bicycle operators. They used their experience and tools
to do many experiments to invent an aeroplane.
* They enjoyed looking at the fashion of people in 1900s….about 100 years ago.
* Eugene shared his compilation book of Flying Machines besides seeing my bigger pictures.
* The first experiment really looked liked an Eagle. However, Ze Yan said it can’t fly because the
wings are too heavy. Finally, after many experiments; they created a glider that flies without an
engine. Then, a few years later, they invented aeroplanes with engines.
b) Types of Aeroplanes.
* The kids were attracted to the Military aeroplane. They look so modern and trendy. They can fly
very fast as a jet. They carried soldiers or parachutes or food and water.
* They saw the difference of a Passenger Aeroplane and a Military Aeroplane. The Passenger
Aeroplane is usually bigger to accommodate passengers.
* They looked though the different pictures until they saw a Military Helicopter.
* Can a helicopter and aeroplane go backward or reverse?
* They were unsure……but they know that helicopter is flexible. Zi Yang said a helicopter can move
many directions.
c) Video Clip: Aeroplane and helicopter.
* They watched how Passenger Aeroplanes depart. Yes…..they need to run on the runway before
flying up into the sky. We saw the Cathay Pacific, Bangladeshi and also Arabian’s flights.
* They were huge and are considered jets that have 4 engines.
* We counted the number of wheels. They have 5 pairs of wheels with one pair in front. Different
aeroplane has different arrangement of wheels.
T : Why do people invent a helicopter?
ZY : To save people.
Eugene : It is lighter and easier to fly.
* We watched how a helicopter flew in action. It could overturn and even fly backwards……Wow!!!
* We observed the big and small propellers of the helicopter..
* We saw how another helicopter carried Rescue Dogs to save some people from the sea.
Class : Wow…..dogs can swim well.
Teacher : If they are trained well, then they can swim very well.
* As we watched the helicopter hovering, we recalled the dragonfly which Teacher Karen gave us.
Yes………the flying pattern is alike.
d) A Propeller craft.
* We sang “The Airplane” Song which we edited. The kids read the words and sang the song.
* As the kids wanted to make the “Doraemon” or “Helicopter” propeller. A propeller can be found on
a helicopter to help it hover. I introduced them the necessary tools.
* A rectangle piece of cardboard paper (small piece), a straw and super glue.
* The kids folded it into half, drew a small triangle and cut the it.
* Then, they inserted a straw into the hole. They tried spinning it from the chair.
* We compared 2 types. 1 using a straw and another one using a sate stick. They said the straw
Propeller could fly better.
a) A visit to Wright Brothers’
T : Which came first? Hot air balloon or aeroplane?
Class : Hot Air Balloon.
* They learnt that to travel faster and not to rely too much to wind, the Wright Brothers thought of
inventing an aeroplane. They were actually bicycle operators. They used their experience and tools
to do many experiments to invent an aeroplane.
* They enjoyed looking at the fashion of people in 1900s….about 100 years ago.
* Eugene shared his compilation book of Flying Machines besides seeing my bigger pictures.
* The first experiment really looked liked an Eagle. However, Ze Yan said it can’t fly because the
wings are too heavy. Finally, after many experiments; they created a glider that flies without an
engine. Then, a few years later, they invented aeroplanes with engines.
b) Types of Aeroplanes.
* The kids were attracted to the Military aeroplane. They look so modern and trendy. They can fly
very fast as a jet. They carried soldiers or parachutes or food and water.
* They saw the difference of a Passenger Aeroplane and a Military Aeroplane. The Passenger
Aeroplane is usually bigger to accommodate passengers.
* They looked though the different pictures until they saw a Military Helicopter.
* Can a helicopter and aeroplane go backward or reverse?
* They were unsure……but they know that helicopter is flexible. Zi Yang said a helicopter can move
many directions.
c) Video Clip: Aeroplane and helicopter.
* They watched how Passenger Aeroplanes depart. Yes…..they need to run on the runway before
flying up into the sky. We saw the Cathay Pacific, Bangladeshi and also Arabian’s flights.
* They were huge and are considered jets that have 4 engines.
* We counted the number of wheels. They have 5 pairs of wheels with one pair in front. Different
aeroplane has different arrangement of wheels.
T : Why do people invent a helicopter?
ZY : To save people.
Eugene : It is lighter and easier to fly.
* We watched how a helicopter flew in action. It could overturn and even fly backwards……Wow!!!
* We observed the big and small propellers of the helicopter..
* We saw how another helicopter carried Rescue Dogs to save some people from the sea.
Class : Wow…..dogs can swim well.
Teacher : If they are trained well, then they can swim very well.
* As we watched the helicopter hovering, we recalled the dragonfly which Teacher Karen gave us.
Yes………the flying pattern is alike.
d) A Propeller craft.
* We sang “The Airplane” Song which we edited. The kids read the words and sang the song.
* As the kids wanted to make the “Doraemon” or “Helicopter” propeller. A propeller can be found on
a helicopter to help it hover. I introduced them the necessary tools.
* A rectangle piece of cardboard paper (small piece), a straw and super glue.
* The kids folded it into half, drew a small triangle and cut the it.
* Then, they inserted a straw into the hole. They tried spinning it from the chair.
* We compared 2 types. 1 using a straw and another one using a sate stick. They said the straw
Propeller could fly better.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
An Aeroplane Flight
08/10/2008 (Wednesday)
a) The “Wind and Lift” Experiment.
We brought in 2 table fans.
The kids put on a cloak just like a “Superman” or “aeroplane”.
They ran from one end to end without the fan being switched on. Next, the fans were switched on and then they could feel their body and even hair being lifted. That is the force of wind.
They did individually and enjoyed themselves.
b) Theory: Aeroplane flight.
M : An aeroplane flies with its engine.
LX : It has wings to help it fly.
The kids learnt that an aeroplane needed the engine force to bring it up into the sky. The wind that goes against the aeroplane will cause a lift up. When the pressure balances, the aeroplane will fly evenly. The same when it goes down. I t needs its engine to help it down. Thus, wearing seat-belt is important during ascending and descending.
Then, analyzing our airport, we realized that an airport must have a long runway. Thus, we edited our Airport plan.
c) Helicopter versus aeroplane.
Eugene demonstrated how a helicopter lift top. Yun Zhe demonstrated the aeroplane. Zi Yang demonstrated the eagle flying.
The kids learnt that a helicopter is lighter and can lift itself up immediately. They can even rotor around back and forth unlike an aeroplane.
Ze Yan said that when an aeroplane brakes, a metal piece on its wings would come up.
d) Musical dance.
They decided to have a Musical dance rather than just singing. They voted to have three main singers to sing and guide them rather than singing as a choir group.
Then, we brainstormed on the flying machines we wanted to add into our song. Below is their edited song.
Then, we practise. In Nan, Xin Ru, Le Xin and Yun Wen volunteered to sing and they sang louder than the others too. We thought of ideas to make our items.They were also the four butterflies.
Thus four groups: aeroplane or airplane / helicopter / rocket / butterfly.
Well, I’m a little airplane,
I’m a little airplane nyeow,
I’m a little airplane nyeow
I’m a little airplane nyeow nyeow,
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
Well, I’m a little rocket,
I’m a little rocket vroom,
I’m a little rocket vroom,
I’m a little rocket vroom, vroom,
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
Well, I’m a helicopter,
I’m a helicopter chok,
I’m a helicopter chok chok
I’m a helicopter chok chok
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
Well, I’m a little butterfly,
I’m a little butterfly flip,
I’m a little butterfly flip,
I’m a little butterfly flip, flip,
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
a) The “Wind and Lift” Experiment.
We brought in 2 table fans.
The kids put on a cloak just like a “Superman” or “aeroplane”.
They ran from one end to end without the fan being switched on. Next, the fans were switched on and then they could feel their body and even hair being lifted. That is the force of wind.
They did individually and enjoyed themselves.
b) Theory: Aeroplane flight.
M : An aeroplane flies with its engine.
LX : It has wings to help it fly.
The kids learnt that an aeroplane needed the engine force to bring it up into the sky. The wind that goes against the aeroplane will cause a lift up. When the pressure balances, the aeroplane will fly evenly. The same when it goes down. I t needs its engine to help it down. Thus, wearing seat-belt is important during ascending and descending.
Then, analyzing our airport, we realized that an airport must have a long runway. Thus, we edited our Airport plan.
c) Helicopter versus aeroplane.
Eugene demonstrated how a helicopter lift top. Yun Zhe demonstrated the aeroplane. Zi Yang demonstrated the eagle flying.
The kids learnt that a helicopter is lighter and can lift itself up immediately. They can even rotor around back and forth unlike an aeroplane.
Ze Yan said that when an aeroplane brakes, a metal piece on its wings would come up.
d) Musical dance.
They decided to have a Musical dance rather than just singing. They voted to have three main singers to sing and guide them rather than singing as a choir group.
Then, we brainstormed on the flying machines we wanted to add into our song. Below is their edited song.
Then, we practise. In Nan, Xin Ru, Le Xin and Yun Wen volunteered to sing and they sang louder than the others too. We thought of ideas to make our items.They were also the four butterflies.
Thus four groups: aeroplane or airplane / helicopter / rocket / butterfly.
Well, I’m a little airplane,
I’m a little airplane nyeow,
I’m a little airplane nyeow
I’m a little airplane nyeow nyeow,
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
Well, I’m a little rocket,
I’m a little rocket vroom,
I’m a little rocket vroom,
I’m a little rocket vroom, vroom,
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
Well, I’m a helicopter,
I’m a helicopter chok,
I’m a helicopter chok chok
I’m a helicopter chok chok
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
Well, I’m a little butterfly,
I’m a little butterfly flip,
I’m a little butterfly flip,
I’m a little butterfly flip, flip,
And wangity-wang, wangity wang.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Butterfly to cocoon
06/10/2008 (Monday)
a) Corner playing
the kids chosed their favourite toys and played with them. Meanwhile, kids were called for unfinished homework or incomplete work. Then, I did individual phonics Assessment.
Le Xin brought some tiny kites which we didn’t get to play in the afternoon as it was drizzling. However, some kids read her books on birds and butterfly.
b) A Poem: Shoo, fly!
* We recited the poem. Then, we did the body movement. They had fun. Someone pretended to be the fly. Then, we talked a little about the fly. Kids said it likes dirty place. Imagining, it stops by the toilet to collect some bacteria and then transfer it to unclosed food……yuks!!....It’s dangerous.
Shoo, fly! Don’t bother me!
Shoo, fly! Don’t bother me!
Shoo, fly! Don’t bother me!
Go away to somebody else!
c) Recap on last Friday’s caterpillar’s
* There were 19 caterpillars and mostly were active and huge. The kids even drew the picture after observation.
* I showed them everyone’s drawing. They were happy to see those.
* We looked at a poster of caterpillar. They learnt that a caterpillar has 3 pairs of active legs to help holding the leaves. The other 5 pairs of legs are just to help it to move.
* It has 6 pairs of simple eyes to see.
* It has little hair around its body which enables it to feel its surrounding. Thus, noisy children would only scare them.
d) Storybook: The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
* A little egg hatched into a small caterpillar. It ate non-stop. It ate fruits from Monday to Friday. It became very fat.
* However, on Saturday; it had stomachache. The children guessed correctly because it ate unhealthy food such as ice-cream, lots of sweets, cakes and even jellies.
* Then, one day it stopped moving. Yes…it’s making its coccon. After 2 weeks, it made a small hole. It pushed itself out to be a beautiful butterfly.
e) Fourth day observation.
* The kids saw that 5 caterpillars were not moving. They were hanging themselves from the cage. Yes……..Max said those were cocoons or pupas!
* Meanwgile the others were not moving. The kids discussed the possibilities. Jin Shan said they were sleeping. Some said they were tired. One of them said, the bigger one bit the smaller one. Actually, the weekends had left insufficient food for those caterpillars. Thus, they probably would have died.
* The kids drew their observation.
* Back in the class, we recorded the observation together on a piece of words. We wrote in a table format. This is called “recording”……as Scientists do.
a) Corner playing
the kids chosed their favourite toys and played with them. Meanwhile, kids were called for unfinished homework or incomplete work. Then, I did individual phonics Assessment.
Le Xin brought some tiny kites which we didn’t get to play in the afternoon as it was drizzling. However, some kids read her books on birds and butterfly.
b) A Poem: Shoo, fly!
* We recited the poem. Then, we did the body movement. They had fun. Someone pretended to be the fly. Then, we talked a little about the fly. Kids said it likes dirty place. Imagining, it stops by the toilet to collect some bacteria and then transfer it to unclosed food……yuks!!....It’s dangerous.
Shoo, fly! Don’t bother me!
Shoo, fly! Don’t bother me!
Shoo, fly! Don’t bother me!
Go away to somebody else!
c) Recap on last Friday’s caterpillar’s
* There were 19 caterpillars and mostly were active and huge. The kids even drew the picture after observation.
* I showed them everyone’s drawing. They were happy to see those.
* We looked at a poster of caterpillar. They learnt that a caterpillar has 3 pairs of active legs to help holding the leaves. The other 5 pairs of legs are just to help it to move.
* It has 6 pairs of simple eyes to see.
* It has little hair around its body which enables it to feel its surrounding. Thus, noisy children would only scare them.
d) Storybook: The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
* A little egg hatched into a small caterpillar. It ate non-stop. It ate fruits from Monday to Friday. It became very fat.
* However, on Saturday; it had stomachache. The children guessed correctly because it ate unhealthy food such as ice-cream, lots of sweets, cakes and even jellies.
* Then, one day it stopped moving. Yes…it’s making its coccon. After 2 weeks, it made a small hole. It pushed itself out to be a beautiful butterfly.
e) Fourth day observation.
* The kids saw that 5 caterpillars were not moving. They were hanging themselves from the cage. Yes……..Max said those were cocoons or pupas!
* Meanwgile the others were not moving. The kids discussed the possibilities. Jin Shan said they were sleeping. Some said they were tired. One of them said, the bigger one bit the smaller one. Actually, the weekends had left insufficient food for those caterpillars. Thus, they probably would have died.
* The kids drew their observation.
* Back in the class, we recorded the observation together on a piece of words. We wrote in a table format. This is called “recording”……as Scientists do.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Can a mouse fly?
03/10/2008 (Friday)
a) One to one focus
l There were only 9 kids in the class; 50% turned up due to the school and Raya holidays.
l They passed up their homework. Some were incomplete. So, I had individual attention with them. Jin Nan and Shi Jie cut at school and coloured the shapes to be pasted on the hot air balloon.
l Meanwhile, I did individual Phonics assessment for Book 6.
b) Animals that fly.
l We brainstormed names of animals that fly. Among them included: bat, eagle, owl, butterfly, flying fish, dragon, phoenix and also Pteranodon.
l They said they could fly due to the wings.
T : Can we fly if we have wings and feathers?
Class: No!
Jin Shan: We are too heavy!
c) Storybook: Max Wants To Fly!
l It’s a storybook about a mouse who wants to fly like his friend, the crow.
l The crow laughed at his friend, Max because it has no wings. Thus, the Max collected some feathers, tied to himself and tried to fly! He failed a few times and did not give up.
l Then, he saw the helim balloons and tied to himself. It started flying higher, higher and higher. It had stomachache and couldn’t get down.
l Luckily, the crow that laughed at his silly idea, then helped Max to get down. The crow pecked the balloons one by one.
d) A mini role-play.
* The kids recalled the different characters in the story. The chose the desired characters. We modified the story by including 3 crows and 3 mice. (Yun Zhe asked: What are mice? Teacher: Mice means more than one mouse).
* They were enjoying the play and Jin Nan and Jin Shan were the more independent actor and actress.
* Vocabulary learnt: box, table, chair, feathers, wings, mouse, crow, fly, balloons
e) My painting
* The kids drew their favourite pictures of the story. Some drew the flying mouse, some the flying crows, some added the butterflies, clouds and the sun.
* Yun Wen, Jin Shan and Jian Wei had a very grasp of the story. They could draw the mouse flying with feathers and balloons.
*Yun Zhe and Zi yang preferred to draw Eagles rather than the crows.
* Le Xin painted a coulrful picture which she said was Rainbow. She said the rain and sun makes Rainbow.
a) One to one focus
l There were only 9 kids in the class; 50% turned up due to the school and Raya holidays.
l They passed up their homework. Some were incomplete. So, I had individual attention with them. Jin Nan and Shi Jie cut at school and coloured the shapes to be pasted on the hot air balloon.
l Meanwhile, I did individual Phonics assessment for Book 6.
b) Animals that fly.
l We brainstormed names of animals that fly. Among them included: bat, eagle, owl, butterfly, flying fish, dragon, phoenix and also Pteranodon.
l They said they could fly due to the wings.
T : Can we fly if we have wings and feathers?
Class: No!
Jin Shan: We are too heavy!
c) Storybook: Max Wants To Fly!
l It’s a storybook about a mouse who wants to fly like his friend, the crow.
l The crow laughed at his friend, Max because it has no wings. Thus, the Max collected some feathers, tied to himself and tried to fly! He failed a few times and did not give up.
l Then, he saw the helim balloons and tied to himself. It started flying higher, higher and higher. It had stomachache and couldn’t get down.
l Luckily, the crow that laughed at his silly idea, then helped Max to get down. The crow pecked the balloons one by one.
d) A mini role-play.
* The kids recalled the different characters in the story. The chose the desired characters. We modified the story by including 3 crows and 3 mice. (Yun Zhe asked: What are mice? Teacher: Mice means more than one mouse).
* They were enjoying the play and Jin Nan and Jin Shan were the more independent actor and actress.
* Vocabulary learnt: box, table, chair, feathers, wings, mouse, crow, fly, balloons
e) My painting
* The kids drew their favourite pictures of the story. Some drew the flying mouse, some the flying crows, some added the butterflies, clouds and the sun.
* Yun Wen, Jin Shan and Jian Wei had a very grasp of the story. They could draw the mouse flying with feathers and balloons.
*Yun Zhe and Zi yang preferred to draw Eagles rather than the crows.
* Le Xin painted a coulrful picture which she said was Rainbow. She said the rain and sun makes Rainbow.
Monday, September 29, 2008
The Spinning Propeller
29/09/2008 (Monday)
a) Singing and movement
l They took their plastic bags and flew like aeroplanes.
l They sang the song as to reinforce on the second paragraph.
l They were divided into 2 groups. The girls and boys. The girls sang better than the boys while the boys were more active and creative at flying.
b) Propeller Seed
l Yun Zhe and Yun Wen picked some “seeds” that looked like helicopter propeller. As we were unsure of the name, we call it as the “Propeller Seed”.
l We went out to the garden to fall it from a higher point. It looked the the spinning propeller.
l The kids recalled how Doraemon flew with the Propeller on its head.
l They decided to make a “Propeller Hat”. That would be our coming activity.
l In the classroom, the kids elarnt that some seeds are big and could not fly in the wind. Example: durian seeds.
c) Different Ways of Flying.
l The kids shared about their homework. They had to help the tortoise fly from Mountain “A” to Mountain “B”. Finally, we had 22 different methods.
l Yun Zhe: Use the hairdryer to blow the tortoise in a plastic bag. (like a hot air balloon). He also drew a dolphin that can dive fast and swim fast. He also suggested “flying fish”.
l Eugene said the flying aeroplane. He also drew a flying carpet.
l Le Xin drew a bird.
l Jin Nan drew a flying Propeller as the experiment we did in the morning.
l Wen Yue drew a flying hero.
l Other methods included: flying fish, parachute (Justin), balloons (Jin Shan), rocket and wings pasted to the tortoise body.
a) Singing and movement
l They took their plastic bags and flew like aeroplanes.
l They sang the song as to reinforce on the second paragraph.
l They were divided into 2 groups. The girls and boys. The girls sang better than the boys while the boys were more active and creative at flying.
b) Propeller Seed
l Yun Zhe and Yun Wen picked some “seeds” that looked like helicopter propeller. As we were unsure of the name, we call it as the “Propeller Seed”.
l We went out to the garden to fall it from a higher point. It looked the the spinning propeller.
l The kids recalled how Doraemon flew with the Propeller on its head.
l They decided to make a “Propeller Hat”. That would be our coming activity.
l In the classroom, the kids elarnt that some seeds are big and could not fly in the wind. Example: durian seeds.
c) Different Ways of Flying.
l The kids shared about their homework. They had to help the tortoise fly from Mountain “A” to Mountain “B”. Finally, we had 22 different methods.
l Yun Zhe: Use the hairdryer to blow the tortoise in a plastic bag. (like a hot air balloon). He also drew a dolphin that can dive fast and swim fast. He also suggested “flying fish”.
l Eugene said the flying aeroplane. He also drew a flying carpet.
l Le Xin drew a bird.
l Jin Nan drew a flying Propeller as the experiment we did in the morning.
l Wen Yue drew a flying hero.
l Other methods included: flying fish, parachute (Justin), balloons (Jin Shan), rocket and wings pasted to the tortoise body.
The Moon and Spaceship
30/09/2008 (Tuesday)
a) The Spaceship Rocket
l Justin shared with the class his 3-D assembled model. He said that the other 2 missile shuttles will fall after the launching of the Spaceship Rocket.
l Asking why, the kids said that it would be lighter and the rocket could speed faster in the air.
l How does it fly? Wind factor?
l They said it relied on engine and the fuel.
l In the afternoon, we watched the countdown of the latest Chinese Rocket launching.
b) Discussion: Possible future
T : Why do we need to fly into the space?
Class: To check if there are aliens.
T : Also to search for the possible resources.
T : Do you think there are traffic jams everywhere. Wouldn’t you like traveling in the space with no jams?
Class : Haaa……impossible. It will not happen teacher.
T : Would you like to visit your favourite Planets….or Chang Er as claimed to be in the moon?
Class : No, we will not travel in the space.
l Nevertheless, the kids enjoyed the game of boarding into our Hot Air Balloon Toy. We used the umbrella as the Hot Air balloon. A Huge Umbrella!!
l So, we flew to the space. We hopped at the moon. W floated there like astronauts.
c) The Moon Motion
l The Moon was the first planet that astronauts ever landed on.
l They could find only sand and rocks.
l However, the Moon motion is really interesting as it tells us about the Earth and Moon’s rotation.
l We used Zi Jun’s “The Moon’ book to guide us through.
l Then, we compared some of the kids’ homework of “The Moon” which they drew throughout that one week of “Lantern Festival”. Amongst, we analysed Jin Nan, Zi Jun, Eugenen and Song Chuan’s book.
d) The Moon Motion Flip cards.
* Smilar to the old days, this is the way cartoons are made.
* The kids were given 16 picture of motions. Then they cut them carefully and arranged in ascending. They were independent. Le Xin and Jian Wei needed little guidance.
* They were happy to own their cartoon flip cards…haaaa!
a) The Spaceship Rocket
l Justin shared with the class his 3-D assembled model. He said that the other 2 missile shuttles will fall after the launching of the Spaceship Rocket.
l Asking why, the kids said that it would be lighter and the rocket could speed faster in the air.
l How does it fly? Wind factor?
l They said it relied on engine and the fuel.
l In the afternoon, we watched the countdown of the latest Chinese Rocket launching.
b) Discussion: Possible future
T : Why do we need to fly into the space?
Class: To check if there are aliens.
T : Also to search for the possible resources.
T : Do you think there are traffic jams everywhere. Wouldn’t you like traveling in the space with no jams?
Class : Haaa……impossible. It will not happen teacher.
T : Would you like to visit your favourite Planets….or Chang Er as claimed to be in the moon?
Class : No, we will not travel in the space.
l Nevertheless, the kids enjoyed the game of boarding into our Hot Air Balloon Toy. We used the umbrella as the Hot Air balloon. A Huge Umbrella!!
l So, we flew to the space. We hopped at the moon. W floated there like astronauts.
c) The Moon Motion
l The Moon was the first planet that astronauts ever landed on.
l They could find only sand and rocks.
l However, the Moon motion is really interesting as it tells us about the Earth and Moon’s rotation.
l We used Zi Jun’s “The Moon’ book to guide us through.
l Then, we compared some of the kids’ homework of “The Moon” which they drew throughout that one week of “Lantern Festival”. Amongst, we analysed Jin Nan, Zi Jun, Eugenen and Song Chuan’s book.
d) The Moon Motion Flip cards.
* Smilar to the old days, this is the way cartoons are made.
* The kids were given 16 picture of motions. Then they cut them carefully and arranged in ascending. They were independent. Le Xin and Jian Wei needed little guidance.
* They were happy to own their cartoon flip cards…haaaa!
The Spinning Propeller
29/09/2008 (Monday)
a) Singing and movement
l They took their plastic bags and flew like aeroplanes.
l They sang the song as to reinforce on the second paragraph.
l They were divided into 2 groups. The girls and boys. The girls sang better than the boys while the boys were more active and creative at flying.
b) Propeller Seed
l Yun Zhe and Yun Wen picked some “seeds” that looked like helicopter propeller. As we were unsure of the name, we call it as the “Propeller Seed”.
l We went out to the garden to fall it from a higher point. It looked the the spinning propeller.
l The kids recalled how Doraemon flew with the Propeller on its head.
l They decided to make a “Propeller Hat”. That would be our coming activity.
l In the classroom, the kids elarnt that some seeds are big and could not fly in the wind. Example: durian seeds.
c) Different Ways of Flying.
l The kids shared about their homework. They had to help the tortoise fly from Mountain “A” to Mountain “B”. Finally, we had 22 different methods.
l Yun Zhe: Use the hairdryer to blow the tortoise in a plastic bag. (like a hot air balloon). He also drew a dolphin that can dive fast and swim fast. He also suggested “flying fish”.
l Eugene said the flying aeroplane. He also drew a flying carpet.
l Le Xin drew a bird.
l Jin Nan drew a flying Propeller as the experiment we did in the morning.
l Wen Yue drew a flying hero.
l Other methods included: flying fish, parachute (Justin), balloons (Jin Shan), rocket and wings pasted to the tortoise body.
a) Singing and movement
l They took their plastic bags and flew like aeroplanes.
l They sang the song as to reinforce on the second paragraph.
l They were divided into 2 groups. The girls and boys. The girls sang better than the boys while the boys were more active and creative at flying.
b) Propeller Seed
l Yun Zhe and Yun Wen picked some “seeds” that looked like helicopter propeller. As we were unsure of the name, we call it as the “Propeller Seed”.
l We went out to the garden to fall it from a higher point. It looked the the spinning propeller.
l The kids recalled how Doraemon flew with the Propeller on its head.
l They decided to make a “Propeller Hat”. That would be our coming activity.
l In the classroom, the kids elarnt that some seeds are big and could not fly in the wind. Example: durian seeds.
c) Different Ways of Flying.
l The kids shared about their homework. They had to help the tortoise fly from Mountain “A” to Mountain “B”. Finally, we had 22 different methods.
l Yun Zhe: Use the hairdryer to blow the tortoise in a plastic bag. (like a hot air balloon). He also drew a dolphin that can dive fast and swim fast. He also suggested “flying fish”.
l Eugene said the flying aeroplane. He also drew a flying carpet.
l Le Xin drew a bird.
l Jin Nan drew a flying Propeller as the experiment we did in the morning.
l Wen Yue drew a flying hero.
l Other methods included: flying fish, parachute (Justin), balloons (Jin Shan), rocket and wings pasted to the tortoise body.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
A respectable guest
25/09/2008 (Thursday)
a) Song Reinforcement: Airplane
* We read through the words.Questions were asked to check their understanding. They sang the song with movements.
* We had 2 mountains and a cloud in the classroom. The kids flew around while singing and were very careful not to hit anything! They loved it!
b) A guest
* They attended Jin Nan's grandmother's little sharing, She,Teacher Xie taught the 2 5-year-old classesto do some simple but very good Tai Chi techniques.
* Most kids could do very well......great observation and motor skills.
* About 15 minutes later,somecomplaint of tired legs. They sat for a while. Others continuedpersistently.
* Next,Teacher Xie introducedChinese Calligraphy. Thekids learnt the correct way ofholding the brush and the proper Chinese strokes.
* They also saw how Teacher Xie painted somebeautiful pictures.
c) Audience of traditional “ Shadow puppet”
* The kids watched their friends from the other 5-*year-old class performed short stories. They were happy and excited.
* An inspiration for another drama....perhaps.
* We thankedTeacher Xie for her valuable time.
Experiment 3: Hot Air Balloon
24/09/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Home items.
* WY was excited to show his Ben Ten round wheel which has little films. He shared with the class saying that one needs the watch to operate. So everyone took turns looking at it.
* YZ and YW brought some aeroplane toys. So the kids guessed the different functions and names. This was just a brief introduction. The teachers would go into more details about it. They were very excited to touch and play with them.
b) We continued with the second version.
First version
Well, I'm a little airplane nyow,
I'm a little airplane nyow nyow,
I'm a little airplane nyow,
I'm a little airplane nyow nyow,
And wangity-wang wangity-wang.
Second version
I'm a little airplane now,
I fly in the dark, over baseball park,
Well, I fly late at night,
I got my little red light,
And wangity-wang wangity-wang .
c) Video Clips
(1) Song: I’m a Little Airplane
They laughed at the ticklish music tune (it sounded like Beatles……haaaa!). The second round, they laughed at the kids’ movement on video clip. The third and fourth round, we sang together wit the clip……..Parents, get your kid to sing for you .
(2) Video clip: Making a hot air balloon
We talked about our unsuccessful Hot Air Balloon. The kids summarized that the plastic bag was too big. Yun Zhe said we need a long time to do this experiment. So, I thought this video clip would help everyone……which it did!!
The kids saw the steps and related to our yesterday’s experiment.
d) Experiment 3: Hot Air Balloon
We arranged for the things needed. Garbage plastic bag,candles, 2 bamboo sticks,matches cellophane.
We took turns to construct it. YZ said we had to hurry as it takes along time for the plastic bag to inflate.
We lit the candles. Surprisingly, it bloated up and could stand by itself. It was almost ready when one candle went off. Then,it became slower. However, we still hopedfor a miracle. However, it was accidentally touched by someone and the plastic bag got melted. The hole would not keep the air hot. At the same time,the plastic bag looked too thin to be used. We had to think of alternatives. Some kids were very curious!
a) Home items.
* WY was excited to show his Ben Ten round wheel which has little films. He shared with the class saying that one needs the watch to operate. So everyone took turns looking at it.
* YZ and YW brought some aeroplane toys. So the kids guessed the different functions and names. This was just a brief introduction. The teachers would go into more details about it. They were very excited to touch and play with them.
b) We continued with the second version.
First version
Well, I'm a little airplane nyow,
I'm a little airplane nyow nyow,
I'm a little airplane nyow,
I'm a little airplane nyow nyow,
And wangity-wang wangity-wang.
Second version
I'm a little airplane now,
I fly in the dark, over baseball park,
Well, I fly late at night,
I got my little red light,
And wangity-wang wangity-wang .
c) Video Clips
(1) Song: I’m a Little Airplane
They laughed at the ticklish music tune (it sounded like Beatles……haaaa!). The second round, they laughed at the kids’ movement on video clip. The third and fourth round, we sang together wit the clip……..Parents, get your kid to sing for you .
(2) Video clip: Making a hot air balloon
We talked about our unsuccessful Hot Air Balloon. The kids summarized that the plastic bag was too big. Yun Zhe said we need a long time to do this experiment. So, I thought this video clip would help everyone……which it did!!
The kids saw the steps and related to our yesterday’s experiment.
d) Experiment 3: Hot Air Balloon
We arranged for the things needed. Garbage plastic bag,candles, 2 bamboo sticks,matches cellophane.
We took turns to construct it. YZ said we had to hurry as it takes along time for the plastic bag to inflate.
We lit the candles. Surprisingly, it bloated up and could stand by itself. It was almost ready when one candle went off. Then,it became slower. However, we still hopedfor a miracle. However, it was accidentally touched by someone and the plastic bag got melted. The hole would not keep the air hot. At the same time,the plastic bag looked too thin to be used. We had to think of alternatives. Some kids were very curious!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Hot Air Balloon: Experiment 2
22/09/2008 (Monday)
a) The balloon shrunk!
Yes......! That balloon shrunk.......its actual size was as big as the tamborine which we measured that day. Ze Yan immediately took the tamborine for me to re-measure.
JS : Why......?
Only Ze Yan said because there was a hole below and the air got out from there.
Everyone tried feeling the wind from that part but untrue. It was just the tying knot of a balloon.
T : Why do you sweat after playing at the playground? Where did the sweat come from?
Eugene : The water we drink.
T : Good.......because everyone has millions of tiny pores or holes on our skin.
The kids learnt that balloons have tiny holes too. No wonder, it got shrunk!
b) Poem
We recited the poem again for reinforcement.
This time, we held hands together forming a circle. We pretended being a hot air balloon. Initially, we were very small. Then we inflated and became really big!
We recited the poem while doing body movements.
Down Below
Each tree looks as small,
as a weed in the grass,
down below, down below.
Each river is just
like a silver of glass,
down below, down below.
Each cow in the field
seems as small as a bee,
down below, down below.
c) Jin Shan's birthday and young helpers!
* We wished him “Happy Birthday” and sang him birthday songs of 3 languages....haaa! He was
shy. Anyway, thank you Mrs. Chan for the lovely party packs...the kids were so excited!
* Yun Zhe and Wen Yue were absent last Friday. Thus, I asked the kids to explain about our experiment on last Friday.
* Eugene, Zi Yang, Ze Yan and Jin Nan were the main helpers.
We heat up air because hot air is lighter and that is why a hot air balloon can fly.
d) Hot Air Balloon: Second Try
We recalled on the necessary tools for the experiment. Today, our extra tool is a hair dryer from Eugene. So, altogether we had 2 hair dryers. I was really glad because the kids held to their words remembering what they promised to bring......especially at the weekends! Thank you parents!
I blew up the plastic bag with 1 hair dryer so that the kids could recall their memories.
This time, the kids took turn to hold the plastic bag vertically. They took turns to stand on the chair. I handled the hair dryer. Yes........it was better. We could see the bag collecting more hot air. As we let go the plastic bag together, it could only fly a little.
Eugene: Teacher, use 2 hair dryers.
So, I got Song Chuan to help me with the less powerful hair dryer while I handle the other one. Together, we blew hot air into the plastic bag.
Wow.......! It was really inflating! We flew it but it landed on the fan. The kids laughed like thunders!
T : Kids, why can't the balloon fly up smoothly. If it flies smoothly, it will not land on the fan!
I suggested the kids to narrow the mouth of the plastic bag.
We worked together to cut a cardboard. We rolled it to form a circle. Then, we pasted it to the plastic bag mouth.
Then, we tried with 2 hair dryers. Yes........much better. It flew higher and smoother.
e) Analysing and Recording
T : Why can't this plastic bag fly as high as a real hot air balloon?
Class : You must have fire inside.
T : Do you think it's clever to place a hair dryer in the basket below hot air balloon?
Song Chuan: Too heavy.
T : Le Xin brought some candles for us. Shall we try out with candles?
Class : Yes!!
* However, we would do this tomorrow. The kids had to jot down their observation in their little green notebook. It was interesting seeing them drawing hair dryers. They are really good artists!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Experiment: Hot Air balloon
19/09/2008 (Friday)
a) Which is stronger?
* The wind or the sun?
JN, LX, J : The wind.
Others : The sun.
JN : It makes us feel cold……..like today.
ZYg : The hot sun will make us feel very hot…… and dark too!
* We read a story about “The Sun and The Wind”.
* These two good friends decided to play and see who is stronger.
* They experimented a man.
* The wind blew with all its might…..and the man was chilling and shivering.
* When it was the sun’s turn, the man had to fold his sleeves and took off his jacket. The sun used all his might and finally the man had to jumped into a river for a bath.
T : So, for hot air balloon, which do we need……..hot air or only wind?
Class: hot air.
* They learnt that a slight blow of wind would help to smoothen the hot air balloon’s flight. Stong wind will be dangerous for it.
b) Poem: The Wind
I can’t see you Mr. Wind,
But I know you are there,
You are bending the trees,
And blowing my hair.
* We recited and had various body movements. At this stage, the kids could understand without Chinese translation.
c) ZY’s encyclopedia
* LX brought a medium-sized hot air balloon lantern to school similar to mine. She was very excited about it. They have 4 threads connecting the balloon to the basket.
* However, actual balloon requires different number of ropes to connect its parts.
* They learnt that the hot air will make the balloon float. When they want to go higher, they increase the burner’s flame. To board down, the pilot can pull a rope to open the top part of the balloon to discharge some hot air. Otherwise, he can reduce the flame. With this knowledge, we started our experiment.
d) Experiment: hot air balloon
* materials needed: plastic bag, some threads, cellophanetape, a hairdryer.
* We wanted to do at the garden but withdrew due to the wet weather.
* Kids were divided to 3 groups.
* they tied the 4 threads onto the open part of the plastic bag. Thus, it would be easier for them to hold onto the flying plastic bag later.
* Next, I switched on the hairdryer and blew them. They were in joy to fell the blowing hot air.
* I blew the cool air in the plastic bag. The plastic bloated and just floated and was really messy.
*Max suggested we use a basket to hold the plastic bag. Thus the threads were tied to the basket.
* This time, it bloated more nicely. We were not satisfied.
* We looked at our hot air balloon lantern sample. There is a hole thus it definitely can’t fly. Zy said we closed the hole.
* We used some plastic to cover the hole.
* It flew a little bit only…….Why?
JN : Too heavy.
EG : We should use more hairdryers.
T : Okay, only Le Xin brought a hairdryer. Next week, we will try again with more
hairdryers.
* The class agreed.
a) Which is stronger?
* The wind or the sun?
JN, LX, J : The wind.
Others : The sun.
JN : It makes us feel cold……..like today.
ZYg : The hot sun will make us feel very hot…… and dark too!
* We read a story about “The Sun and The Wind”.
* These two good friends decided to play and see who is stronger.
* They experimented a man.
* The wind blew with all its might…..and the man was chilling and shivering.
* When it was the sun’s turn, the man had to fold his sleeves and took off his jacket. The sun used all his might and finally the man had to jumped into a river for a bath.
T : So, for hot air balloon, which do we need……..hot air or only wind?
Class: hot air.
* They learnt that a slight blow of wind would help to smoothen the hot air balloon’s flight. Stong wind will be dangerous for it.
b) Poem: The Wind
I can’t see you Mr. Wind,
But I know you are there,
You are bending the trees,
And blowing my hair.
* We recited and had various body movements. At this stage, the kids could understand without Chinese translation.
c) ZY’s encyclopedia
* LX brought a medium-sized hot air balloon lantern to school similar to mine. She was very excited about it. They have 4 threads connecting the balloon to the basket.
* However, actual balloon requires different number of ropes to connect its parts.
* They learnt that the hot air will make the balloon float. When they want to go higher, they increase the burner’s flame. To board down, the pilot can pull a rope to open the top part of the balloon to discharge some hot air. Otherwise, he can reduce the flame. With this knowledge, we started our experiment.
d) Experiment: hot air balloon
* materials needed: plastic bag, some threads, cellophanetape, a hairdryer.
* We wanted to do at the garden but withdrew due to the wet weather.
* Kids were divided to 3 groups.
* they tied the 4 threads onto the open part of the plastic bag. Thus, it would be easier for them to hold onto the flying plastic bag later.
* Next, I switched on the hairdryer and blew them. They were in joy to fell the blowing hot air.
* I blew the cool air in the plastic bag. The plastic bloated and just floated and was really messy.
*Max suggested we use a basket to hold the plastic bag. Thus the threads were tied to the basket.
* This time, it bloated more nicely. We were not satisfied.
* We looked at our hot air balloon lantern sample. There is a hole thus it definitely can’t fly. Zy said we closed the hole.
* We used some plastic to cover the hole.
* It flew a little bit only…….Why?
JN : Too heavy.
EG : We should use more hairdryers.
T : Okay, only Le Xin brought a hairdryer. Next week, we will try again with more
hairdryers.
* The class agreed.
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