Safari Map In Progress (2)

26/02/2008 (Tuesday)

(i) Activity: Shapes
We started the day with “shapes” We learnt 6 shapes namely; circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle and crescent. The kids learnt the pronunciation. Then, they related these shapes to their classroom and surroundings. Example: the clock, ceiling fan and radio’s speakers are circle, the hangers and the windows are triangle. The moon is sometimes circle and crescent. My face and most of their friends are oval. They learnt to differentiate rectangle and square using a thread. Next, the lesson was reinforced with a thread given to each child. They made a few shapes. Circle and oval were simple compared to square. LX, SYu, JW and JH, JS needed more guidance.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Intrapersonal skills)

(ii) Activity: Play dough and craft
After tea-time, we learnt to form play dough into shapes. Rules and regulations were earlier highlighted. Example: a) cleanliness, b) no mixture of colours, c) to always try. First, they learnt vocabulary on “form, roll, and squash” related to play dough. Second, they formed the variety shapes learnt earlier. Most of them were independent with circle and rectangle. Crescent and triangle were more challenging. M, ZY, JN and SY formed all by themselves.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical skills)

Then, the fun time when I told them they could make any animals. YZ made a dinosaur, ZY made people instead while some made snake. The idea here was to get their motor skills formed their imagination. They even helped one another. I was impressed that SY kept assisting our new friend, SYu. The mould is more important than the look!
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal skills)

While doing their shapes, I called the kids individually to sponge the Safari’s grass. The kids and I actually discussed that earlier. They enjoyed seeing the green everywhere!
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Spatial skills)

(iii) Activity: Story telling
As the afternoon teacher had to go back earlier due to unforeseen circumstances, I handled the class. I did story telling on “Big and Little” by the Scholastic Publisher. I enjoyed the story as much as the kids did. They learnt the differences between big and little. The story portrayed pictures of many animals. Some kids’ imagination was stimulated with their own experience and guessing especially YZ, ZY, JH, EG and JN.
(MI:, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical skills)

(iv) Activity: Play dough and Safari
Next, we did play dough. I showed them an example to form an elephant. I used the words of “roll, squash and form”. They tried with more colours (3). Meanwhile, I called them individually to paste their craft grass which was made earlier.
M finished first with his long snake and the other kids got interested with snakes. JS, JH and JW did snakes too. I stressed that we need other animals as we were making a Safari and not a snake park! They added the eggs …..phew! SYu formed a tortoise, ZYg kept pasturing me to help him with crocodile. I explained to him on how to form. He tried and hey…..it was partially completed. He had to think about it to continue tomorrow. EG made some rocks and a lake. The others made more rocks. They even started the road partially. I asked them to think about their Safari so as to get more ideas for tomorrow. Their smiles…just beautiful….
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Spatial, Naturalist skills)