31/03/2008 (Monday)
(i) Playground
I replaced Teacher Hui Ping who was unable to present today. It was really challenging to wake the sleeping kids. The faster kids were YP, SYu, JS and SC. We drank some water and I combed the girls' hair. We queued and marched to the playground. The first five minutes were free-play. Then, we formed a circle to play the "Poisonous Ball". Half of the kids formed a circle while the other half stood inside the circle. The circled kids would throw balls to the inner kids. Once, the poisonous ball touched them, they will lose their turn. They enjoyed the game.....but....it would be more fun to have more balls!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(ii) Video watching
I showed the kids two clips on Chameleon. (a) The snake eats the Chameleon, (b) The Chameleon eats the rat. They were thrilled to see how the Chameleon camouflages or changes its colour to protect itself. They learnt that it eats meat. Next, I played their favourite clip, "The Elephant Song". XR, JN, SYu, ZY, M, YW, TZ and EG were very well-versed with the song now.
(M/I: Naturalist, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist, Musical skills)
(iii) Chameleon Craft
In the classroom, I asked, "How does a chameleon protect itself?" JN, "It changes its colour". ZY, "It protects itself from danger". Then, I showed them a colouring paper of Chameleon. They may choose its original colour of "green, yellow and black" or any other colour to show it camouflages. After colouring, they were supposed to cut the parts and assemble them. All managed to colour the 'Chameleon". Some started cutting the parts. Most kids were excited that they decided to bring home to complete the "Chameleon". Some kids preferred to continue tomorrow. I allowed as they were lack of confidence to cut and assemble them. More individual attention would be given to motivate them. Generally, these kids required more encouragement and guidance at cutting. They included YW, LX, JH, ZYg,
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
Our Pomegranate friends！
Monday, March 31, 2008
Porcupine Craft
31/03/2008 (Monday)
(i) Corner Playing
At the playground, the early kids ran for 2 to 3 rounds around the field. My objective was to encourage them having fun and mixed around rather than staying indoor for books. After all, spend more time indoor most of the time. In the classroom, the kids were happy to have a new friend, Yee Ping. For Corner Playing today, I introduced them a few games. (a) 3D animal puzzles, (b) animal board puzzles. YW, SYu and SJ enjoyed the 3D puzzles. They learnt to match the numbers from the separated pieces. Meanwhile, YP, JN and JS chose to play with the train and blocks. ZY, EG, ZYg, JHg preferred lion dance. In fact, SYu, SJ, LX and JN asked for drawing after a while.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic skills)
(b) Getting to know you
We formed a circle and they learnt to introduce themselves to friends. Basically, they answered the 3 questions. (a) What is your name?(b) What do you like to eat? (c) Which is your favourite colour? They were very cute as most of them would say, "I like to eat fish". JN said she likes to eat rabbit, ZY said he likes to eat chicken meat, ZYg said he likes to eat dog.......woh......their imagination really stretched! Next, we sang the song, "Doe, Ray, Me" with actions. They loved the song and were attentive to the lyrics and their meanings.
Doe, a deer, a female deer,
Ray, a drop of golden sun,
Me, a name I call myself,
Far, a long, long way to run,
Sew, a needle pulling thread,
La, a note to follow so,
Tea, a drink with jam and bread,
That will bring us back to Do (oh-oh-oh). (Repeat)
Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-doSo-do!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(iii) Porcupine Craft
JS asked, "Why are we making a porcupine?" ZYg said, "Because its spines will shoot the Giant Anaconda". We learnt its vocabulary. (a) spines, (b) body, (c) head. I asked them to recall how a porcupine protects itself. M said it will shoot its spines towards the enemy. JN added that they are poisonous. Next, I chose half of the class to cut the paper plates into half. Then, they drew the face and eyes. Next, they cut a thick cardboard into fine rectangles; so as to paste to its body. Those are the spines. LX has shown improvement because her cuttings are more of equal size. ZYg needed a lot of encouragement to even start cutting. Them, he picked up fast. ZJ, WY, JHg, SJ, XR, YW and YZ needed more guidance. Our new friend, YP; SYu, M, JS, JN, JW, SC were independent. In fact, ZY was creative to make the spines really short and spine. I realised that YW and WY found that "gluing" could be quite disgusting which slowed them down on the craft.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(i) Corner Playing
At the playground, the early kids ran for 2 to 3 rounds around the field. My objective was to encourage them having fun and mixed around rather than staying indoor for books. After all, spend more time indoor most of the time. In the classroom, the kids were happy to have a new friend, Yee Ping. For Corner Playing today, I introduced them a few games. (a) 3D animal puzzles, (b) animal board puzzles. YW, SYu and SJ enjoyed the 3D puzzles. They learnt to match the numbers from the separated pieces. Meanwhile, YP, JN and JS chose to play with the train and blocks. ZY, EG, ZYg, JHg preferred lion dance. In fact, SYu, SJ, LX and JN asked for drawing after a while.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic skills)
(b) Getting to know you
We formed a circle and they learnt to introduce themselves to friends. Basically, they answered the 3 questions. (a) What is your name?(b) What do you like to eat? (c) Which is your favourite colour? They were very cute as most of them would say, "I like to eat fish". JN said she likes to eat rabbit, ZY said he likes to eat chicken meat, ZYg said he likes to eat dog.......woh......their imagination really stretched! Next, we sang the song, "Doe, Ray, Me" with actions. They loved the song and were attentive to the lyrics and their meanings.
Doe, a deer, a female deer,
Ray, a drop of golden sun,
Me, a name I call myself,
Far, a long, long way to run,
Sew, a needle pulling thread,
La, a note to follow so,
Tea, a drink with jam and bread,
That will bring us back to Do (oh-oh-oh). (Repeat)
Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-doSo-do!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(iii) Porcupine Craft
JS asked, "Why are we making a porcupine?" ZYg said, "Because its spines will shoot the Giant Anaconda". We learnt its vocabulary. (a) spines, (b) body, (c) head. I asked them to recall how a porcupine protects itself. M said it will shoot its spines towards the enemy. JN added that they are poisonous. Next, I chose half of the class to cut the paper plates into half. Then, they drew the face and eyes. Next, they cut a thick cardboard into fine rectangles; so as to paste to its body. Those are the spines. LX has shown improvement because her cuttings are more of equal size. ZYg needed a lot of encouragement to even start cutting. Them, he picked up fast. ZJ, WY, JHg, SJ, XR, YW and YZ needed more guidance. Our new friend, YP; SYu, M, JS, JN, JW, SC were independent. In fact, ZY was creative to make the spines really short and spine. I realised that YW and WY found that "gluing" could be quite disgusting which slowed them down on the craft.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
Friday, March 28, 2008
Video: Puppet Show
28/03/2008 (Friday)
(i) Phonics “ed”, “en”
After drinking water, the kids gathered to make a circle. I drew some bubbles and
asked them for their view. ZJ said he played bubbles during his bath. In the bubbles, I wrote the “ed” and “en” separately, Then, I tested on their phonics sounds. SYu, SY and JN were more independent. We highlighted on these words: “red, bed, wed” and “hen, pen, ten, men”. Then, each of them explained the meaning. SYu said she has a white and pink bed. ZYg said “wed” means father and mother got married. JH said ten is for “Ben Ten”. They said we have ten fingers. I showed them my pen which was a birthday present. It was a Parker pen and they said it was quite heavy. Meanwhile, I use a marker pen to write on the whiteboard.
After the writing, some did drawing and colouring. They were LX, JN, SYu, SJ and XR. Most of the boys included JH, JS, ZYg, M, ZY, ZJ and EG preferred lion dance and toy animals, In fact, JH asked me what other things he could used as a drum for the lion dance. I hinted him using the container’s cover. Later, JW also joined JH to make the sound.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(ii) Riddles
Next, we did two new riddles. They were:
(a) I am very big,
I have two big ears,
A long trunk to drink water,
And I can give you a ride,
What am I?
(b) I have four strong legs,
I can run very fast,
I am a mammal,
And I have black and white stripes,
What am I?
Upon hearing and reading the key words, “big ears, trunk”, they knew it was an elephant. Meanwhile, the second riddle hinted them with “black and white stripes”. They learned to ask properly. YZ asked, “Is it an elephant?” and JN asked, “It is a zebra”. I didn’t reveal the answer as they could discuss it with their family and find from the pictures given to them. It was a homework activity.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Naturalist skills)
(iii) Tea break
At tea break today, we sang “The Elephant Song” before eating. This time round,
they were very familiar with the song especially YW, YZ, JN, SY, JH, ZJ, SYu, SJ, ZY, EG, JW, M, JS and also LX.
(M/I: Linguistic, Musical, Interpersonal skills)
(iv) Video: Puppet Show
After tea break, I asked them if they had ever watched a puppet show. None of them said, “yes”. They only knew that we could hide under the table to perform. So, we marched down to the living room to watch a video on this. They watched two show. The first was “Harry Potter’s friends” and the second was “The three little pigs”. They enjoyed themselves. They observed that there was a background and we couldn’t see the people’s faces. They enjoyed themselves.
Next, we listened to our favourite song, “The Elephant Song”. They sang along and laughed at the cute drawings. They love Mr. Eric, the singer.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
(v) A brief practice
We got the three tables combined together. ZY, JS, ZYg, M, EG, SY and JN were excited to get the cloth and cover the tables. Next, all of them hid under the table. Most chose the crocodiles, Some chose the lions, the eagles and I held the “unfinished” Anaconda. They were very excited! We practiced some lines according to their ideas as discussed last week. Finally, they voted to invite their parents instead of schoolmates and said that they could do it together with the Friday’s Chinese Drama performance. They are not afraid of being tired. I didn’t agree yet as I had to discuss with the other teachers since I would be taking up their afternoon time.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(i) Phonics “ed”, “en”
After drinking water, the kids gathered to make a circle. I drew some bubbles and
asked them for their view. ZJ said he played bubbles during his bath. In the bubbles, I wrote the “ed” and “en” separately, Then, I tested on their phonics sounds. SYu, SY and JN were more independent. We highlighted on these words: “red, bed, wed” and “hen, pen, ten, men”. Then, each of them explained the meaning. SYu said she has a white and pink bed. ZYg said “wed” means father and mother got married. JH said ten is for “Ben Ten”. They said we have ten fingers. I showed them my pen which was a birthday present. It was a Parker pen and they said it was quite heavy. Meanwhile, I use a marker pen to write on the whiteboard.
After the writing, some did drawing and colouring. They were LX, JN, SYu, SJ and XR. Most of the boys included JH, JS, ZYg, M, ZY, ZJ and EG preferred lion dance and toy animals, In fact, JH asked me what other things he could used as a drum for the lion dance. I hinted him using the container’s cover. Later, JW also joined JH to make the sound.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(ii) Riddles
Next, we did two new riddles. They were:
(a) I am very big,
I have two big ears,
A long trunk to drink water,
And I can give you a ride,
What am I?
(b) I have four strong legs,
I can run very fast,
I am a mammal,
And I have black and white stripes,
What am I?
Upon hearing and reading the key words, “big ears, trunk”, they knew it was an elephant. Meanwhile, the second riddle hinted them with “black and white stripes”. They learned to ask properly. YZ asked, “Is it an elephant?” and JN asked, “It is a zebra”. I didn’t reveal the answer as they could discuss it with their family and find from the pictures given to them. It was a homework activity.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Naturalist skills)
(iii) Tea break
At tea break today, we sang “The Elephant Song” before eating. This time round,
they were very familiar with the song especially YW, YZ, JN, SY, JH, ZJ, SYu, SJ, ZY, EG, JW, M, JS and also LX.
(M/I: Linguistic, Musical, Interpersonal skills)
(iv) Video: Puppet Show
After tea break, I asked them if they had ever watched a puppet show. None of them said, “yes”. They only knew that we could hide under the table to perform. So, we marched down to the living room to watch a video on this. They watched two show. The first was “Harry Potter’s friends” and the second was “The three little pigs”. They enjoyed themselves. They observed that there was a background and we couldn’t see the people’s faces. They enjoyed themselves.
Next, we listened to our favourite song, “The Elephant Song”. They sang along and laughed at the cute drawings. They love Mr. Eric, the singer.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
(v) A brief practice
We got the three tables combined together. ZY, JS, ZYg, M, EG, SY and JN were excited to get the cloth and cover the tables. Next, all of them hid under the table. Most chose the crocodiles, Some chose the lions, the eagles and I held the “unfinished” Anaconda. They were very excited! We practiced some lines according to their ideas as discussed last week. Finally, they voted to invite their parents instead of schoolmates and said that they could do it together with the Friday’s Chinese Drama performance. They are not afraid of being tired. I didn’t agree yet as I had to discuss with the other teachers since I would be taking up their afternoon time.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Anaconda Craft
27/03/2008 (Thursday)
(i) Corner Playing and One-to-one
I allowed them to choose any games and toys for their play. JH, JS and ZYg started with trains and the railways. Then, ZY started playing his hand-made toy lion. EG joined along. ZY asked my permission to play with the big hand-made toy lion. Eg asked to play with the bells. I allowed and they pretended to be lion dance! They had fun!Meanwhile, the girls including SYu, SJ, LX and JN chose to draw and colour pictures. SYu drew her friends playing with the lion dance as she was not yet with us during the Chinese New Year thematic months. JB drew cats and balls. Meanwhile, I guided LX who forgot to do her “Numbers” homework. At the same time, I called them individually to complete their Eagle’s eyes. It involved squashing the sugar paper and then pasting. (M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical skills) (ii) Kookaburra song and movement We sang Kookaburra song again to do reinforcement. This time, it involved games. I used the three hoops to form a big circle. They flew creatively around them. They did the actions individually. They flew very fast as they had to fly individually and were quite shy. They were very interactive at the second round.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(iii) Thread or straw?
Next, we discussed to either use a thread or a straw to hold the Eagle craft. We tried punching a hole at the top portion. Then, a thread was inserted. However, it was difficult to control as the Eagle craft was not balanced. The same result was seen on the other birds. So, we decided using the straw to hold the Eagle puppet. Thus, they pasted a straw at the bottom-middle portion of the craft. They were independent.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iv) Tea break
What impressed me was when the kids shared among their friends. SY was feeling sad as she had little honey for tea break. I asked if anyone could give her some of their drink. Immediately, JH, LX, JN, ZY and EG stood to give her. They also gave some to JS who did not have enough drink.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(v) Anaconda Craft
Next, we did Anaconda craft. 2 pieces of cardboards were rolled and combined together. It was long. As the cardboard was too soft to be made into an Anaconda; I asked for their suggestions to make it firmer. ZYg suggested to put stones into the cardboard roller but I said it would be too heavy to handle as a puppet. M suggested small stones while ZY advised to put in toys. Finally, I gave them a clue. “What do your parents read everyday?” ZYg said “newspaper”. So, we started crumpling newspaper into small balls to put into the roller. They were very excited when they felt that the roller was much firmer than the previous.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(vi) Anaconda’s skin
We used small pieces of brown colour paper and also green wrapping paper to paste around the Anaconda. They used brushes, palate and glue for this activity. Thus, they learnt new vocabulary. They were very thrilled with the brushing and gluing.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial skills)
(vii) Ideas: Anaconda’s tail
I asked the kid’s opininion of the tail. EG and SY said we could cut a cardboard to paste to the Anaconda’s body. Then, I told them of a hawker who sells peanuts in newspaper cone. I rolled the A4 colour paper into a cone. To make the tail firmer, they suggested adding some newspaper ball into the tail. As time was insufficient, we would continue the craft tomorrow.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(i) Corner Playing and One-to-one
I allowed them to choose any games and toys for their play. JH, JS and ZYg started with trains and the railways. Then, ZY started playing his hand-made toy lion. EG joined along. ZY asked my permission to play with the big hand-made toy lion. Eg asked to play with the bells. I allowed and they pretended to be lion dance! They had fun!Meanwhile, the girls including SYu, SJ, LX and JN chose to draw and colour pictures. SYu drew her friends playing with the lion dance as she was not yet with us during the Chinese New Year thematic months. JB drew cats and balls. Meanwhile, I guided LX who forgot to do her “Numbers” homework. At the same time, I called them individually to complete their Eagle’s eyes. It involved squashing the sugar paper and then pasting. (M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical skills) (ii) Kookaburra song and movement We sang Kookaburra song again to do reinforcement. This time, it involved games. I used the three hoops to form a big circle. They flew creatively around them. They did the actions individually. They flew very fast as they had to fly individually and were quite shy. They were very interactive at the second round.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(iii) Thread or straw?
Next, we discussed to either use a thread or a straw to hold the Eagle craft. We tried punching a hole at the top portion. Then, a thread was inserted. However, it was difficult to control as the Eagle craft was not balanced. The same result was seen on the other birds. So, we decided using the straw to hold the Eagle puppet. Thus, they pasted a straw at the bottom-middle portion of the craft. They were independent.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iv) Tea break
What impressed me was when the kids shared among their friends. SY was feeling sad as she had little honey for tea break. I asked if anyone could give her some of their drink. Immediately, JH, LX, JN, ZY and EG stood to give her. They also gave some to JS who did not have enough drink.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(v) Anaconda Craft
Next, we did Anaconda craft. 2 pieces of cardboards were rolled and combined together. It was long. As the cardboard was too soft to be made into an Anaconda; I asked for their suggestions to make it firmer. ZYg suggested to put stones into the cardboard roller but I said it would be too heavy to handle as a puppet. M suggested small stones while ZY advised to put in toys. Finally, I gave them a clue. “What do your parents read everyday?” ZYg said “newspaper”. So, we started crumpling newspaper into small balls to put into the roller. They were very excited when they felt that the roller was much firmer than the previous.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(vi) Anaconda’s skin
We used small pieces of brown colour paper and also green wrapping paper to paste around the Anaconda. They used brushes, palate and glue for this activity. Thus, they learnt new vocabulary. They were very thrilled with the brushing and gluing.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Spatial skills)
(vii) Ideas: Anaconda’s tail
I asked the kid’s opininion of the tail. EG and SY said we could cut a cardboard to paste to the Anaconda’s body. Then, I told them of a hawker who sells peanuts in newspaper cone. I rolled the A4 colour paper into a cone. To make the tail firmer, they suggested adding some newspaper ball into the tail. As time was insufficient, we would continue the craft tomorrow.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical skills)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Craft and Riddles
26 /03/2008 (Wednesday)
(i) White board drawing
As 90% of my kids love drawing especially on the white board, so; I gave them the chance today. After drawing, they must name it in English. JS drew a cute shark, JN drew a crocodile, SYu drew a dog, ZY drew a parrot and ZYg drew a tiger. JS needed more guidance when it comes to speaking English vocabulary. My kids who would speak English spontaneously are ZY, JN, JW and EG. Meanwhile, kids who try persistently are LX, WY, SYu, YZ, YW and JS. The others required persistent reminder and encouragement.
(M/I skills: Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic skills)
(ii) Kookaburra song
Next, we did a song on "Kookubarra" bird. I drew the picture of Kookaburra sitting on a tree branch. I asked them to guess what it could see. ZYg said it could see animals, JN said it could see people and I told them that Kookaburra could fly to anywhere which made her gay or happy! She was also a greedy bird which could not see properly...haaa. They enjoyed the songs with body movements. The lyrics are as follows:
(M/I skills: Musical, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Riddles
Then, I continued with them on riddles. I repeated yesterday's two riddles. First, they listened, then they read the chart to recognise the words. They could remember the key words of "claws, mane, 66 teeth and King of the Jungle". I gave them the worksheet for homework so as to read together with their family.
(M/I skills: Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic skills)
(iv) Tea break
We had banana cake for tea and they just loved them! They were a little bit noisy compared to yesterday and I had to remind them of the story, "I Can Co-operate". I guided JH the proper way to sweep. JN could sweep pretty well.
(M/I skills: Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(v) Eagle craft
Next, we continued with our Eagle craft. We did the legs, beak and eyes. I drew samples using shapes. We revised on the rectangles and triangles. ZJ, LX, ZYg, SJ, SR and JH required more prompting. The others were rather independent. We use the sugar paper as the eyes. So, it involved rolling two eyes. They were quite good.(M/I skills: Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Eagle Puppet
25/03/2008 (Tuesday)
(a) Writing exercise "d"
We started the day with some writing exercise on "d". The exercise required the colouring of pictures that begin with "d". They included "door, duck, dragon, drain, dog". SJ was quite independent although she took a while to settle from her usual morning cry. JN, SY, SYu were independent while LX needed constant encouragement. ZJ was guided on his previous homework of "phonics -ed, -en" and also the Number exercise from 1 until 10. After the exercise, they did some drawing and colouring.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Spatial skills)
(b) Story-telling: "I Can Co-operate"
Next, we gathered together for a story-telling session. As I realised that my kids are yet to work in a group, I chose a story on the title, "I Can Cooperate". YZ, ZY and ZYg asked me the meaning of co-operate and I asked them to figure it out after the story session. JN guessed it was some food, YW thought it was drawing while SY thought it was playing. The story showed how a group of children worked and played together. They carried heavy basket of food together, arranged the tables and chairs together. They also helped their family preparing dinner at home. There was joy and spirit of co-operation everywhere. Next, we discussed the things we can do together. JN said we should play together, ZY said we should co-operate during thematic lessons such as on role-play. M said we can co-operate when carrying food. I really hope that this story would stimulate them to be more responsible and caring.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(c) Craft: Eagle Puppet
Hmmm......I was quite surprised that they arranged the tables and chairs faster and with less noise! I thought it must be the story influence. After tea break, we continued with the eagle craft. I took out a yellow paper. I cut into half. Then, I folded one of the two pieces. I folded it into small stripes similar to making a paper fan. Then, the same step is to be repeated on the other half. Wow....it was not an easy job for them. Most of them were not careful with my instructions to fold the paper alternatively front and back. Some just folded as if "rolling"! They included LX, ZJ, WY, SR, SJ, JH, YW and ZYg. Kids who were more independent included ZY, YZ, SYU, SY, EG and surprisingly my little quiet SC. I perceived him to be a good observant and attentive student although quiet throughout the class. Next, they were supposed to cut some small triangles at the paper end as to smooth the flying eagle. However, only JS, ZY, YZ, SC and SY had better grip. The others needed my guidance as they were rather small triangle cuts. The challenge came for them to insert the folded paper or wings through a small hole. ZYg, SR, LX, JH, ZJ were fearful to try. The others were quite okay although the wings placement could be unbalanced. Then, the kids started flying their eagles. To avoid any undesired accidents, we cleared the classroom for wider space. They had fun!
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(d) Riddles
As we had 10 minutes left, I gave them two riddles which we had done briefly in the past. They were quite fast at catching the key words and I resist giving them the answer. (i) My four short legs are short but strong, I crawl on land, I have a long snout, And 66 teeth to snap my food, What am I? (ii) I am strong and fast, I have thick mane, I use my sharp claws to kill for food, I am the "King of the Jungle", What am I? The key words of "snout and 6 teeth" hinted them that it is a crocodile. Meanwhile, "thick mane and King of the Jungle" hinted them that it is a lion. We would be doing more riddles exercises later on.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Naturalist skills)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Anaconda
24/03/08 (Monday)
(i) Colouring
On Mondays, I have more crying kids. I had SJie, JH, JW, SR and also SC wanting to follow their mother. Thus, I prepared some colouring lion pages for the kids. I gave them a sample and most of them preferred their style as most of them are creative. LX’s colouring has improved as it was within the boundary. She managed to colour the whole head independently! JW, SYu, JN, JS, ZY, SY, SJ were independent whereas EG required more motivation to continue colouring the whole lion. Meanwhile, I guided ZJ on his previous homework, the kangaroo. He was rather independent with numbers. Some responsible kids in my class are JS, SYu, YZ, YW, JN, SC as they would pass up their homework independently. The others need persistent reminder.
(M/I: Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
(ii) Anaconda and dialogue
Today, I recapped on our animal puppets story. They said the long snake scared away the
lions, crocodiles and many more animals. I told them that it is a giant snake called “The Giant Anaconda” which is normally found in South America. They were excited and disbelieved when I told them that scientists discovered Anacondas of about 25 until 50 feet.
Then, we recapped on the other animals in the plot. JW remembered the porcupines, WY remembered the chameleons, ZY remembered the eagles.
Next, we had 5 volunteers to represent each character. EG was the Giant Anaconda, JS was the eagle, JN was the lion, WY was the crocodile and M was the chameleon. I was the narrator. I guided them along the way. These were some of their interesting dialogue:
Lion : We are afraid because we cannot go out to play.
Crocodile : The Anaconda will eat us up!
Lion : The grass is too tall for us to see and fight the Giant Anaconda.
Eagle : Don’t worry, we can fly high and see him from the sky. We
will throw fireballs to Anaconda!
Porcupine : We will shoot the Anaconda with our poisonous spines.
Chameleon : We will jump to its body because it cannot see us.
We will scratch its eyes with our claws!
Narrator : So, they work together to attack the Giant Anaconda.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(iii) Craft: Eagle
After tea break, we gathered to make an eagle. I gave everyone a rectangle cardboard. They learnt to differentiate left and right foot. They have a choice to trace their left or right foot. Then, they cut along the line. That was the eagle’s body. Then, they drew eyes on it. Kids who needed more prompting were LX, SR, JH, ZJ and SJ. The others were quite good.
As, we did not have enough time, I showed them the way to fold the wings. It was similar to folding a paper fan. Some said that they could do that. Well, let’s just see how the results turn out tomorrow.
We ended the class by singing “The Elephant Song”. YZ, YW, JN and ZY were quite good at the song.
(M/I: Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
(i) Colouring
On Mondays, I have more crying kids. I had SJie, JH, JW, SR and also SC wanting to follow their mother. Thus, I prepared some colouring lion pages for the kids. I gave them a sample and most of them preferred their style as most of them are creative. LX’s colouring has improved as it was within the boundary. She managed to colour the whole head independently! JW, SYu, JN, JS, ZY, SY, SJ were independent whereas EG required more motivation to continue colouring the whole lion. Meanwhile, I guided ZJ on his previous homework, the kangaroo. He was rather independent with numbers. Some responsible kids in my class are JS, SYu, YZ, YW, JN, SC as they would pass up their homework independently. The others need persistent reminder.
(M/I: Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
(ii) Anaconda and dialogue
Today, I recapped on our animal puppets story. They said the long snake scared away the
lions, crocodiles and many more animals. I told them that it is a giant snake called “The Giant Anaconda” which is normally found in South America. They were excited and disbelieved when I told them that scientists discovered Anacondas of about 25 until 50 feet.
Then, we recapped on the other animals in the plot. JW remembered the porcupines, WY remembered the chameleons, ZY remembered the eagles.
Next, we had 5 volunteers to represent each character. EG was the Giant Anaconda, JS was the eagle, JN was the lion, WY was the crocodile and M was the chameleon. I was the narrator. I guided them along the way. These were some of their interesting dialogue:
Lion : We are afraid because we cannot go out to play.
Crocodile : The Anaconda will eat us up!
Lion : The grass is too tall for us to see and fight the Giant Anaconda.
Eagle : Don’t worry, we can fly high and see him from the sky. We
will throw fireballs to Anaconda!
Porcupine : We will shoot the Anaconda with our poisonous spines.
Chameleon : We will jump to its body because it cannot see us.
We will scratch its eyes with our claws!
Narrator : So, they work together to attack the Giant Anaconda.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(iii) Craft: Eagle
After tea break, we gathered to make an eagle. I gave everyone a rectangle cardboard. They learnt to differentiate left and right foot. They have a choice to trace their left or right foot. Then, they cut along the line. That was the eagle’s body. Then, they drew eyes on it. Kids who needed more prompting were LX, SR, JH, ZJ and SJ. The others were quite good.
As, we did not have enough time, I showed them the way to fold the wings. It was similar to folding a paper fan. Some said that they could do that. Well, let’s just see how the results turn out tomorrow.
We ended the class by singing “The Elephant Song”. YZ, YW, JN and ZY were quite good at the song.
(M/I: Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Elephant Song and Numbers
21/03/08 (Friday)
(i) Corner Playing and Individual session
This morning, SJie was crying and mother resisted to pamper her. So, initially, I persuaded her. It didn't work and the loud cry signalled me to be more stern. As she did not want to be left behind, she held to my hand and followed me up. The other kids hid under the table, eagerly waiting for me. After drinking their water, they chose their play. JH, ZYg, JS and played with the toy animals and trains. SYu, SY, SJ, LX, EG and ZY preferred drawing and colouring. Meanwhile, I checked their previous phonics homework. I guided ZJ and WY on writing their names. Meanwhile, JW arrived with tears and his mum had to stay there with him for a while. Later, he was just independent and comfortable with toy animals.(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills) (ii) Short riddles Before tea-break, I did a few short riddles with them. They were:
(a) I swing through trees. What am I? (YZ, ZY, YW could answer promptly. The others were unsure of the word, "swing". )
(b) I swim across the ocean. What am I? (JN said ducks while JH said octopuses. I said it was a good answer but they have tails and are smaller. EG and SY answered fish.)
(c) I scratch at fleas, sniff at trees and bark at the mailman. What am I?(They learnt that "kutu" is "flea" in Bahasa Malaysia an dthat a mailman sends letters to homes. Upon learning the word, "bark"; immediately they said it is a "dog".
(d) I curl up on the window sill purring and chasing mice. What am I? (M and WY said cat because it chases mice. They also learnt the word "purr".)
(e) I like saying, Cock-a-doodle-doo! What am I? (SY, YZ and JN said it is a rooster.)
(f) I reach into beehives for the honey. What am I? (The word honey stimulated most students with the answer, 'bear".)
(g) I jump up high to catch a fly and sit on a lilypad. What am I? (I explained "lilypad" and related it to lotus. Immediately, EG and YW said frogs. They were so excited because one of our tadpoles had grown legs.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
(iii) The Elephant Song and documentary
After tea-break, we gathered at the hall to watch a video clip on "The Elephant Song". They loved it so much that I repeated 3 times. The song involved Uncle Eric's singing and a little girl. Uncle Eric described the animals wrongly and my kids just laughed at them! This showed that they understood the song! Glance at the lyrics:
"Elephants. I like elephants.Elephants. I like elephants.I like how they swing through trees
Monkeys. I like monkeys.I like how they swim in the ocean
Fish. I like fish. (low)I like how they scratch at fleas and sniff at trees and bark at the mailman
Gotta like dogs.(high)Curled up on the windowsill purring, and chasing mice
Cats. I like cats. (equal)I like how they say, Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Roosters. I like roosters.I like how they reach into beehives for the honey
Bears. I like bears.I like how they jump up high to catch a fly and sit on a lilypad
Gotta like frogs. (hi)Running through a maze for some cheese
Mice. I like mice.I like how they say, hee-haw, hee-haw
Donkeys, I like donkeys,I like how they stomp through the jungle with their big gray trunks
Elephants. I like elephants.You know nothing about animals......I do so..."
Then, we spent another 10 minutes watching animal documentary. As we made crocodile puppets, so they watched crocodiles to get better picture. ZYg said, "It's very fierce." YZ said, "It's fast". So, we recapped on the word, "scales" for its skin. LX said it looked like many round bulges. It killed the "yak" and antelopes and were very quiet when hunting. The baby crocodiles feed on fish and frogs.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Naturalist, Musical skills)
(iii) Numbers and Marbles
Then, we went up to the classroom. We recapped "The Elephant song" and more kids sang this round. I figured that the other kids were still trying to understand the song. Then, we did revision on number 1 until 10. I took a bottle of marbles and invited every kid to place them in a container according to my chosen number. They were independent at counting but not at writing yet. So, I wrote on the board and they followed my strokes. Then, I called everyone individually to write on the board. SR, ZJ, JH, LX, SJ and WY needed some guidance. ZY wrote wrong strokes for "8" while ZJ for "4". Then, I handed them a number worksheet of "1" until "10".
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(i) Corner Playing and Individual session
This morning, SJie was crying and mother resisted to pamper her. So, initially, I persuaded her. It didn't work and the loud cry signalled me to be more stern. As she did not want to be left behind, she held to my hand and followed me up. The other kids hid under the table, eagerly waiting for me. After drinking their water, they chose their play. JH, ZYg, JS and played with the toy animals and trains. SYu, SY, SJ, LX, EG and ZY preferred drawing and colouring. Meanwhile, I checked their previous phonics homework. I guided ZJ and WY on writing their names. Meanwhile, JW arrived with tears and his mum had to stay there with him for a while. Later, he was just independent and comfortable with toy animals.(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills) (ii) Short riddles Before tea-break, I did a few short riddles with them. They were:
(a) I swing through trees. What am I? (YZ, ZY, YW could answer promptly. The others were unsure of the word, "swing". )
(b) I swim across the ocean. What am I? (JN said ducks while JH said octopuses. I said it was a good answer but they have tails and are smaller. EG and SY answered fish.)
(c) I scratch at fleas, sniff at trees and bark at the mailman. What am I?(They learnt that "kutu" is "flea" in Bahasa Malaysia an dthat a mailman sends letters to homes. Upon learning the word, "bark"; immediately they said it is a "dog".
(d) I curl up on the window sill purring and chasing mice. What am I? (M and WY said cat because it chases mice. They also learnt the word "purr".)
(e) I like saying, Cock-a-doodle-doo! What am I? (SY, YZ and JN said it is a rooster.)
(f) I reach into beehives for the honey. What am I? (The word honey stimulated most students with the answer, 'bear".)
(g) I jump up high to catch a fly and sit on a lilypad. What am I? (I explained "lilypad" and related it to lotus. Immediately, EG and YW said frogs. They were so excited because one of our tadpoles had grown legs.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
(iii) The Elephant Song and documentary
After tea-break, we gathered at the hall to watch a video clip on "The Elephant Song". They loved it so much that I repeated 3 times. The song involved Uncle Eric's singing and a little girl. Uncle Eric described the animals wrongly and my kids just laughed at them! This showed that they understood the song! Glance at the lyrics:
"Elephants. I like elephants.Elephants. I like elephants.I like how they swing through trees
Monkeys. I like monkeys.I like how they swim in the ocean
Fish. I like fish. (low)I like how they scratch at fleas and sniff at trees and bark at the mailman
Gotta like dogs.(high)Curled up on the windowsill purring, and chasing mice
Cats. I like cats. (equal)I like how they say, Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Roosters. I like roosters.I like how they reach into beehives for the honey
Bears. I like bears.I like how they jump up high to catch a fly and sit on a lilypad
Gotta like frogs. (hi)Running through a maze for some cheese
Mice. I like mice.I like how they say, hee-haw, hee-haw
Donkeys, I like donkeys,I like how they stomp through the jungle with their big gray trunks
Elephants. I like elephants.You know nothing about animals......I do so..."
Then, we spent another 10 minutes watching animal documentary. As we made crocodile puppets, so they watched crocodiles to get better picture. ZYg said, "It's very fierce." YZ said, "It's fast". So, we recapped on the word, "scales" for its skin. LX said it looked like many round bulges. It killed the "yak" and antelopes and were very quiet when hunting. The baby crocodiles feed on fish and frogs.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Naturalist, Musical skills)
(iii) Numbers and Marbles
Then, we went up to the classroom. We recapped "The Elephant song" and more kids sang this round. I figured that the other kids were still trying to understand the song. Then, we did revision on number 1 until 10. I took a bottle of marbles and invited every kid to place them in a container according to my chosen number. They were independent at counting but not at writing yet. So, I wrote on the board and they followed my strokes. Then, I called everyone individually to write on the board. SR, ZJ, JH, LX, SJ and WY needed some guidance. ZY wrote wrong strokes for "8" while ZJ for "4". Then, I handed them a number worksheet of "1" until "10".
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Phonics and Creation of Story
19 /03/08 (Wednesday)
(i) Individual guidance
This morning, the kids had to pass me their homework on the kangaroo worksheet that I gave yesterday. However, only 8 kids passed to me including JS, JW, YZ, YW, SC, WY, SYu and LX. JN, EG, JH and ZYg showed me their undone copy and I guided them thoroughly using the number chart. M and ZYg forgot to bring their copies and I reminded them to pass it on Friday. JS, JW, M, WY and JH preferred corner playing while the others preferred to draw and colour.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(ii) Phonics class
Today, they learnt the "en" sound and the recapping "ed" sound. They identified words included "hen, pen, men, ten, den" and "red, bed, wed". They also read sentences about Ted and Ken. Besides that, they also sang their favourite song "I have a red bed". Then, I wrote on the whiteboard to reinforce the words learnt. They wrote in the air to follow my proper strokes. Then, 5 kids were chosen to write on the board.
(M/I: Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(iii) Tea break and sharing
Today, JN and LX brought Yoghurt to the class and everyone quickly gobbled 2 pieces of banana cake and crowded these 2 girls. Hmmmm...it is the yoghurt season but they allowed their friends to dip some cake into their yoghurt........creative! YZ and YW arrived at this moment bringing little fish and tadpoles caught by Hui Ping teacher from the drain. After tea break, I divided into three groups to look at the fish and tadpoles. EG said that frogs stay in the pond. ZY said they swim in the river which I rectified. They learnt that the tadpole's legs would popped out in a week's time and after a few weeks; into a frog. Let's hope, YW and YZ would still have the tadpoles. I shared with then YW's musical box which got a dancing bear. They learnt the vocabulary and talked about the possible things to be kept in the drawer.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iv) Phonics reinforcement
As a few kids grumbled that I didn't choose them to write earlier, I thought I should take this chance to motivate them as well as to reinforce their writing skills. So, I wrote the "ed" and "en" words on the board to encourage them the proper writing stroke. ZY, M, SC, SY and SYu were able to write more indpendently.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(v) Puppet story
I pasted a lion and crocodile puppet on the board and drew long grasses. Then, I asked, "Where are the animals?" ZYg said in the grass. I continued, "Do wild animals live at the football field, playground or in the jungle?" Everyone said, "jungle" The conversation continued:
Teacher : The animals are very scared! What are they scared of?
JH : A long snake.Teacher : Yes, maybe a Giant Anaconda! How can they save themselves?
SY : Get many lions to hide in the long grass.
Teacher : But, isn't it difficult to see the Anaconda?
JS : Get the lions on the high rocks.
ZY : Get the chameleons because they can change colour. Then, Anaconda cannot see it!
Teacher : Any other ideas?
JN : Teacher, get the porcupines.
WY : Yes, they will shoot at the Anaconda. (LX took a play dough mould from our Safari layout).
Teacher : What about something too see the Anaconda from high?
YW : Get the giraffe.
YZ : The giraffe can see easily!
JW : Get birds.Teacher : Good ideas, maybe they can drop some stones onto the Anaconda....
The kids were enthusiastic. Anyway, I asked the kids to think about the story again and we would continue next week as the time was up.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(i) Individual guidance
This morning, the kids had to pass me their homework on the kangaroo worksheet that I gave yesterday. However, only 8 kids passed to me including JS, JW, YZ, YW, SC, WY, SYu and LX. JN, EG, JH and ZYg showed me their undone copy and I guided them thoroughly using the number chart. M and ZYg forgot to bring their copies and I reminded them to pass it on Friday. JS, JW, M, WY and JH preferred corner playing while the others preferred to draw and colour.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(ii) Phonics class
Today, they learnt the "en" sound and the recapping "ed" sound. They identified words included "hen, pen, men, ten, den" and "red, bed, wed". They also read sentences about Ted and Ken. Besides that, they also sang their favourite song "I have a red bed". Then, I wrote on the whiteboard to reinforce the words learnt. They wrote in the air to follow my proper strokes. Then, 5 kids were chosen to write on the board.
(M/I: Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(iii) Tea break and sharing
Today, JN and LX brought Yoghurt to the class and everyone quickly gobbled 2 pieces of banana cake and crowded these 2 girls. Hmmmm...it is the yoghurt season but they allowed their friends to dip some cake into their yoghurt........creative! YZ and YW arrived at this moment bringing little fish and tadpoles caught by Hui Ping teacher from the drain. After tea break, I divided into three groups to look at the fish and tadpoles. EG said that frogs stay in the pond. ZY said they swim in the river which I rectified. They learnt that the tadpole's legs would popped out in a week's time and after a few weeks; into a frog. Let's hope, YW and YZ would still have the tadpoles. I shared with then YW's musical box which got a dancing bear. They learnt the vocabulary and talked about the possible things to be kept in the drawer.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iv) Phonics reinforcement
As a few kids grumbled that I didn't choose them to write earlier, I thought I should take this chance to motivate them as well as to reinforce their writing skills. So, I wrote the "ed" and "en" words on the board to encourage them the proper writing stroke. ZY, M, SC, SY and SYu were able to write more indpendently.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(v) Puppet story
I pasted a lion and crocodile puppet on the board and drew long grasses. Then, I asked, "Where are the animals?" ZYg said in the grass. I continued, "Do wild animals live at the football field, playground or in the jungle?" Everyone said, "jungle" The conversation continued:
Teacher : The animals are very scared! What are they scared of?
JH : A long snake.Teacher : Yes, maybe a Giant Anaconda! How can they save themselves?
SY : Get many lions to hide in the long grass.
Teacher : But, isn't it difficult to see the Anaconda?
JS : Get the lions on the high rocks.
ZY : Get the chameleons because they can change colour. Then, Anaconda cannot see it!
Teacher : Any other ideas?
JN : Teacher, get the porcupines.
WY : Yes, they will shoot at the Anaconda. (LX took a play dough mould from our Safari layout).
Teacher : What about something too see the Anaconda from high?
YW : Get the giraffe.
YZ : The giraffe can see easily!
JW : Get birds.Teacher : Good ideas, maybe they can drop some stones onto the Anaconda....
The kids were enthusiastic. Anyway, I asked the kids to think about the story again and we would continue next week as the time was up.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical skills)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Numbers and riddle
18/03/08 (Tuesday)
(i) Writing exercise
Firstly, the kids drink some water. Then, I gathered them in front to emphasize on the right strokes of letters “c, o d”. As, today’s exercise was to colour the letters differently, so I focused on the different colours which were blue, yellow and green. The independent kids were JN, JW, ZYg, EG, ZY, SYu, SY and M WY, LX, ZJ, JS, SJ required more personal attention.
Then, I gave them a simple writing exercise to practice their names. They wrote two lines and then drew a picture of themselves. Actually, they were quite creative at drawing. EG was bargaining not to draw his picture. He was just saying “No, no, no” didn’t want to say why. So, I showed him how I drew a funny boy on the whiteboard. He was smiling and finally drew a cute boy. SJ, ZJ and LX were also guided in this exercise.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(ii) Tea-break
Today, somebody left a piece of bread on the table. It indicated either he or she disliked the bread or forgot about it. I told the kids that I want that person to see me personally to confess. They have until tomorrow to confess; otherwise each would be deducted 5 stars. I do hope this strategy works.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(iii) Numbers and games
We warmed-up by singing a song of “Gelang, Si Paku Gelang". We sang with actions. Next, we glanced through the numbers chart of 1 until 50. We ran through again. Today, I invited almost all kids to complete the numbers. SC, SY, ZYg, SYu, YZ, N and JW were able to write without my assistance. Although SC had not attended class for 2 weeks but he was quite good with numbers. ZJ, LX, WY and JS needed more guidance.My objective of this lesson was to enable the kids recognize and say the numbers. However, for writing wise, I would focus until number 20.Then, we formed a circle. There were 6 sets of numbers from 0 until 9 in the circle. Once I stopped singing "Gelang, Si Paku Gelang", the kids would grab the numbers I called out to. They were enjoying themselves. A few kids were quite independent in recognizing the numbers including JN, SY, SYu, ZY, EG, YZ and M.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
(iv) Riddle and numbers
I wrote a riddle on the board and read through with them. It sounded:
"I carry my joey in my pouch, I like hopping all around the place, What am I?"
They asked, "Are you a...?" JN said, "snake"; M said, "monkey"; YZ said, "elephant" while EG and ZYg said "kangaroo". However, no kids asked me the meaning of joey and pouch. I had to prompt then. From the prompting, they realized that it was a kangaroo.
Then, I took a kangaroo "dot-to-dot" worksheet which connected number 1 until 50. They showed great interest. We were supposed to do it tomorrow but they were enthusiastic to do it at home. Well, I let them bring home hoping that they could learn together with their parents. However, I assume that I need to run through the worksheet again.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal skills)
(i) Writing exercise
Firstly, the kids drink some water. Then, I gathered them in front to emphasize on the right strokes of letters “c, o d”. As, today’s exercise was to colour the letters differently, so I focused on the different colours which were blue, yellow and green. The independent kids were JN, JW, ZYg, EG, ZY, SYu, SY and M WY, LX, ZJ, JS, SJ required more personal attention.
Then, I gave them a simple writing exercise to practice their names. They wrote two lines and then drew a picture of themselves. Actually, they were quite creative at drawing. EG was bargaining not to draw his picture. He was just saying “No, no, no” didn’t want to say why. So, I showed him how I drew a funny boy on the whiteboard. He was smiling and finally drew a cute boy. SJ, ZJ and LX were also guided in this exercise.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(ii) Tea-break
Today, somebody left a piece of bread on the table. It indicated either he or she disliked the bread or forgot about it. I told the kids that I want that person to see me personally to confess. They have until tomorrow to confess; otherwise each would be deducted 5 stars. I do hope this strategy works.
(M/I: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(iii) Numbers and games
We warmed-up by singing a song of “Gelang, Si Paku Gelang". We sang with actions. Next, we glanced through the numbers chart of 1 until 50. We ran through again. Today, I invited almost all kids to complete the numbers. SC, SY, ZYg, SYu, YZ, N and JW were able to write without my assistance. Although SC had not attended class for 2 weeks but he was quite good with numbers. ZJ, LX, WY and JS needed more guidance.My objective of this lesson was to enable the kids recognize and say the numbers. However, for writing wise, I would focus until number 20.Then, we formed a circle. There were 6 sets of numbers from 0 until 9 in the circle. Once I stopped singing "Gelang, Si Paku Gelang", the kids would grab the numbers I called out to. They were enjoying themselves. A few kids were quite independent in recognizing the numbers including JN, SY, SYu, ZY, EG, YZ and M.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
(iv) Riddle and numbers
I wrote a riddle on the board and read through with them. It sounded:
"I carry my joey in my pouch, I like hopping all around the place, What am I?"
They asked, "Are you a...?" JN said, "snake"; M said, "monkey"; YZ said, "elephant" while EG and ZYg said "kangaroo". However, no kids asked me the meaning of joey and pouch. I had to prompt then. From the prompting, they realized that it was a kangaroo.
Then, I took a kangaroo "dot-to-dot" worksheet which connected number 1 until 50. They showed great interest. We were supposed to do it tomorrow but they were enthusiastic to do it at home. Well, I let them bring home hoping that they could learn together with their parents. However, I assume that I need to run through the worksheet again.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal skills)
Monday, March 17, 2008
Numbers and Puppet
17/03/08 (Monday)
(i) Corner playing
This morning at 8.40 a.m., I already had 8 students which was a good turn
up compared to the daily attendance. I let the kids choose their toys or games. The usual kids playing with toys were JS, WY, JH, ZY and JW. SYu, SJ, JN, YW, ZJ preferred to draw and colour. So, I gave them their blue book, which I bound for drawing, colouring and writing practice. SY drew about her younger sister, YZ about his father and himself, LX about dinosaur, SYu about her hi-tech house...phew!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(ii) “Gelang, Si Paku Gelang”
I sang this Bahasa song twice and the kids caught hold of it fast. It’s a song about a scarecrow. I asked the kids, “What can a sad farmer do so that the birds and rats stop eating its paddy?” ZYg said, “Chase them away!” JW said, “Lets scream!” Then, I reminded them who is going to scream when the farmer sleeps at night. When I drew a scarecrow, then; they said “Oh…..”. So, that song was to chase away the pests.
We sang with actions and I was glad that YZ and ZY actually sang the song while doing other activities. Well, sing along with your kids and have fun!
"Gelang si paku gelang
Gelang si rama rama
Pulang, marilah pulang, marilah pulang
Bersama-sama
Pulang, marilah pulang, marilah pulang
Bersama-sama"
(M/I: Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(iii) Numbers
I divided the board into two rows. The top row was for the number chart
of "1 until 50". The bottom part I divided into 5 columns as below. Then, I placed the numbers accordingly. 1,2,3,....10 / 11,12,13,....20 / 21, 22, 23,......30 / 31, 32, 33, .....40 / 41,42,43, .....50.
Most of them were able to say from 1 until 20. However, they focused attentively when I run through number 21 until 50. For every section of 10, I got different kids to show their fingers. In fact, what attracted them was the story of Alex who had to collect RM50.00. ZYg said Alex wanted to buy an iguana. So, Alex only had RM30.00. So, JS suggested Alex use an ATM card. As he was illegible to get one, YZ suggested his parents accompanied him to the bank to get his "Ang Pow" money. I suggested he take his coin box money. So, it was agreed that RM10.00 from the bank and the other RM10.00 from his coin box.
Then, I get the kids to read the numbers. ZY, SYu and SY were quite
independent and YZ was really focusing. He is a fast learner. Tomorrow, I would
do more exercises to reinforce the "numbers" lesson.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(iv) Puppet: Crocodile
Today, the kids learnt that the crocodile has generally 66 teeth
while the adults only 32. So, they started imagining, how the crocodile
and its snout chew its food..........haaaa!
I showed them the proper way to cut their colour paper into a puppet. After cutting, they would get a straw to paste behind the craft. M,
ZY,EG, ZYg, JN, SYu, SY, JW, YZ were independent. WY, ZJ, YW, SR, LX required more guidance and encouragement. Most of my kids were not ready for fine cutting especially when it comes to the animals' legs. Some kids
started chasing each other as crocodiles with the puppet!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(v) Numbers cutting
We intended to create a caterpillar of "numbers". So, kids who
finished the crocodile craft; helped me to cut the circles. YZ, ZY, M, EG,
JN, SYu, SY could cut nicely while the others needed more practice.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(i) Corner playing
This morning at 8.40 a.m., I already had 8 students which was a good turn
up compared to the daily attendance. I let the kids choose their toys or games. The usual kids playing with toys were JS, WY, JH, ZY and JW. SYu, SJ, JN, YW, ZJ preferred to draw and colour. So, I gave them their blue book, which I bound for drawing, colouring and writing practice. SY drew about her younger sister, YZ about his father and himself, LX about dinosaur, SYu about her hi-tech house...phew!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(ii) “Gelang, Si Paku Gelang”
I sang this Bahasa song twice and the kids caught hold of it fast. It’s a song about a scarecrow. I asked the kids, “What can a sad farmer do so that the birds and rats stop eating its paddy?” ZYg said, “Chase them away!” JW said, “Lets scream!” Then, I reminded them who is going to scream when the farmer sleeps at night. When I drew a scarecrow, then; they said “Oh…..”. So, that song was to chase away the pests.
We sang with actions and I was glad that YZ and ZY actually sang the song while doing other activities. Well, sing along with your kids and have fun!
"Gelang si paku gelang
Gelang si rama rama
Pulang, marilah pulang, marilah pulang
Bersama-sama
Pulang, marilah pulang, marilah pulang
Bersama-sama"
(M/I: Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical skills)
(iii) Numbers
I divided the board into two rows. The top row was for the number chart
of "1 until 50". The bottom part I divided into 5 columns as below. Then, I placed the numbers accordingly. 1,2,3,....10 / 11,12,13,....20 / 21, 22, 23,......30 / 31, 32, 33, .....40 / 41,42,43, .....50.
Most of them were able to say from 1 until 20. However, they focused attentively when I run through number 21 until 50. For every section of 10, I got different kids to show their fingers. In fact, what attracted them was the story of Alex who had to collect RM50.00. ZYg said Alex wanted to buy an iguana. So, Alex only had RM30.00. So, JS suggested Alex use an ATM card. As he was illegible to get one, YZ suggested his parents accompanied him to the bank to get his "Ang Pow" money. I suggested he take his coin box money. So, it was agreed that RM10.00 from the bank and the other RM10.00 from his coin box.
Then, I get the kids to read the numbers. ZY, SYu and SY were quite
independent and YZ was really focusing. He is a fast learner. Tomorrow, I would
do more exercises to reinforce the "numbers" lesson.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(iv) Puppet: Crocodile
Today, the kids learnt that the crocodile has generally 66 teeth
while the adults only 32. So, they started imagining, how the crocodile
and its snout chew its food..........haaaa!
I showed them the proper way to cut their colour paper into a puppet. After cutting, they would get a straw to paste behind the craft. M,
ZY,EG, ZYg, JN, SYu, SY, JW, YZ were independent. WY, ZJ, YW, SR, LX required more guidance and encouragement. Most of my kids were not ready for fine cutting especially when it comes to the animals' legs. Some kids
started chasing each other as crocodiles with the puppet!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(v) Numbers cutting
We intended to create a caterpillar of "numbers". So, kids who
finished the crocodile craft; helped me to cut the circles. YZ, ZY, M, EG,
JN, SYu, SY could cut nicely while the others needed more practice.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
Friday, March 14, 2008
Reptiles: worksheet
14/03/08 (Friday)
(i) Writing
Today, we did writing exercise. We focused on “c, o, d”. Before that, I taught them the proper way to write the letters. Then, I asked them to practise on the whiteboard, as they love writing on the whiteboard.
More attention was given to ZJ, WY, JH, LX and ZY who wrote with improper strokes. Faster and more independent kids finished earlier and they asked for paper to draw and colour. I am happy that SYu’s drawing has improved a lot. I remembered on SYu’s first day, she needed my help to draw a cat but today, she could draw people and animals…..….pretty ones.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Story-telling
I drew an animal on the whiteboard but a lot of the kids thought it was a crocodile or a baby crocodile. Actually, it was an iguana. They always thought that an iguana is the same as a chameleon which camouflages. I clarified that it belongs to the “reptiles” group. So, they tried recalling other reptiles learnt on Thursday. Most said were crocodiles and tortoises.
They enjoyed the story very much including LX who could focus for 10 minutes! It was a story about how Alex persuaded his mother persistently; so as to give him an iguana pet. The kids learnt that instead of crying and using a handphone, we can communicate through writing. Now, they know that we can use paper to write letters.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Do you know them and Role-Play game
I flashed them some cards and they could read elephant and tiger. I used the first letter phonics sound to help them. Example, “t” is tiger. Then, I wrote the Bahasa Malaysia version. They tend to confuse with “giraffe” and “zirafah”. Next, they learnt that: “tiger” itu “harimau”, “lion” itu “singa”, “giraffe” itu “zirafah”, “zebra” itu “kuda belang” and “elephant” itu “gajah”. YW always get confused the word “tiger” and “lion”.
. To reinforce, we did a role-play game. The flashcards were placed in the middle of a hoop and each child picked a card randomly. He had to read and role-played the movement. They were excited and started hunting one another as animals.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iv) Worksheet
Next, I discussed the worksheet with them. They had to circle the correct spelling. They are good in picture recognizing but not yet with words. Thus, I tend to pronounce the first letter sound to assist them.
YW, YZ, JW and SYu were more independent. In fact, most of them faced challenge with Bahasa Malaysia worksheet.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(i) Writing
Today, we did writing exercise. We focused on “c, o, d”. Before that, I taught them the proper way to write the letters. Then, I asked them to practise on the whiteboard, as they love writing on the whiteboard.
More attention was given to ZJ, WY, JH, LX and ZY who wrote with improper strokes. Faster and more independent kids finished earlier and they asked for paper to draw and colour. I am happy that SYu’s drawing has improved a lot. I remembered on SYu’s first day, she needed my help to draw a cat but today, she could draw people and animals…..….pretty ones.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Story-telling
I drew an animal on the whiteboard but a lot of the kids thought it was a crocodile or a baby crocodile. Actually, it was an iguana. They always thought that an iguana is the same as a chameleon which camouflages. I clarified that it belongs to the “reptiles” group. So, they tried recalling other reptiles learnt on Thursday. Most said were crocodiles and tortoises.
They enjoyed the story very much including LX who could focus for 10 minutes! It was a story about how Alex persuaded his mother persistently; so as to give him an iguana pet. The kids learnt that instead of crying and using a handphone, we can communicate through writing. Now, they know that we can use paper to write letters.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Do you know them and Role-Play game
I flashed them some cards and they could read elephant and tiger. I used the first letter phonics sound to help them. Example, “t” is tiger. Then, I wrote the Bahasa Malaysia version. They tend to confuse with “giraffe” and “zirafah”. Next, they learnt that: “tiger” itu “harimau”, “lion” itu “singa”, “giraffe” itu “zirafah”, “zebra” itu “kuda belang” and “elephant” itu “gajah”. YW always get confused the word “tiger” and “lion”.
. To reinforce, we did a role-play game. The flashcards were placed in the middle of a hoop and each child picked a card randomly. He had to read and role-played the movement. They were excited and started hunting one another as animals.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iv) Worksheet
Next, I discussed the worksheet with them. They had to circle the correct spelling. They are good in picture recognizing but not yet with words. Thus, I tend to pronounce the first letter sound to assist them.
YW, YZ, JW and SYu were more independent. In fact, most of them faced challenge with Bahasa Malaysia worksheet.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical skills)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Reptiles
13/03/08 (Thursday)
(i) Corner Playing
As it is the school holidays week, many kids came late today. Today, my kids went into the classroom earlier because the hot burning sun deterred them from playing at the playground.
JN, JS, LX and JW came early followed by the others. ZY, JS, ZY, JW, JH played with the train, while LX and JN preferred the toy animals. SYu and SJ chose to draw and colour. Meanwhile, I called some kids individually to assist in their writing skills, using their Pre-school Workbook. They were JH, LX, ZJ, JS, SYu and ZY.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial and Linguistic skills)
(ii) Rhymes: Higglety, Pigglety, Pop!
Next, I drew three animal pictures for the kids to guess. They were smiling away. A dog was biting a mop which scared away a pig; that mistakenly thought it was a snake. The scary pig bumped into a cat which was sleeping. YW who came earlier today asked me what was the cat doing? The others guessed it was eating or maybe sleeping. ZY guessed that the pig must be enjoying a lot of food. ZYg sad the pig might be enjoying ice-cream while YZ said, "roti canai". Haa.....very funny! Then, we formed a circle and tried imagining how the pig oinked, then run hurriedly and how the cat screamed.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Phonics lesson "ed"
Then, we had a session of phonics on "ed". They learnt about "red, bed, wed" and the song of "I have a red bed". Next, they sang along with the music. They also learnt the sound of letters. Example: "b" "e" "d" for bed.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Musical skills)
(iv) Tea break
At tea break, the kids tend to speak Mandarin. Example, today they had orange juice. ZY said, "Wah.....hen tian-ah". I highlighted his sentence, "It's very sweet". JS said, "lao shi, wo hai yao". I prompted him, "Teacher, can I have one more?" I kept reminding the kids to speak English often; example: "Teacher" and not "lao shi". It's even alright to have a mixture of Mandarin and English at this stage. Then, ZY said; "LX, say teacher! ......not lao shi".
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal skills)
(v) Discussion on Safari
Currently, the class is doing their finger puppets to practise on a puppet show later. I asked them what their intentions were? ZY and JN said they wanted to have a Safari world in the class.......phew! Hmm....as a new thematic teacher, I'm excited of this flow yet anxious at times! I asked, "So, are you inviting anyone?" There was a vote. 11 kids voted to invite their parents rather than other classes' friends. Then, a vote again. Majority wanted to use real money except M. M said, "If my mum uses her money, she will have lesser money to use later". Hmmm.....good answer. Then, they wanted to create big animal moulds namely a crocodile and a peacock. I told them that we would try our best to include those as our next week's project.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(vi) Reptiles
Next, I drew a crocodile and we learnt some words included, "scales, legs, tail, teeth, snout". They were excited with the big crocodile. Nobody knew what scales were. I told them about the fish scales and they had some idea. Then, I took out a CD-pocket with scaly surface for them to touch. Then, they named other animals such as tortoises, snakes, lizards as reptiles. Other features included cold-blood and lay eggs. WY asked why a porcupine isn't a reptile which they then realised it hasn't any scales but spines. Then, we used colour paper to make our crocodile puppet. We practised drawing. The dependent kids were guided to use shapes to draw including triangles and rectangles. YZ, ZY, ZYg, JN were independent. JH, JS, LX, YW performed better after some guidances. The puppet is to be continued tomorrow.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(i) Corner Playing
As it is the school holidays week, many kids came late today. Today, my kids went into the classroom earlier because the hot burning sun deterred them from playing at the playground.
JN, JS, LX and JW came early followed by the others. ZY, JS, ZY, JW, JH played with the train, while LX and JN preferred the toy animals. SYu and SJ chose to draw and colour. Meanwhile, I called some kids individually to assist in their writing skills, using their Pre-school Workbook. They were JH, LX, ZJ, JS, SYu and ZY.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial and Linguistic skills)
(ii) Rhymes: Higglety, Pigglety, Pop!
Next, I drew three animal pictures for the kids to guess. They were smiling away. A dog was biting a mop which scared away a pig; that mistakenly thought it was a snake. The scary pig bumped into a cat which was sleeping. YW who came earlier today asked me what was the cat doing? The others guessed it was eating or maybe sleeping. ZY guessed that the pig must be enjoying a lot of food. ZYg sad the pig might be enjoying ice-cream while YZ said, "roti canai". Haa.....very funny! Then, we formed a circle and tried imagining how the pig oinked, then run hurriedly and how the cat screamed.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Phonics lesson "ed"
Then, we had a session of phonics on "ed". They learnt about "red, bed, wed" and the song of "I have a red bed". Next, they sang along with the music. They also learnt the sound of letters. Example: "b" "e" "d" for bed.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Musical skills)
(iv) Tea break
At tea break, the kids tend to speak Mandarin. Example, today they had orange juice. ZY said, "Wah.....hen tian-ah". I highlighted his sentence, "It's very sweet". JS said, "lao shi, wo hai yao". I prompted him, "Teacher, can I have one more?" I kept reminding the kids to speak English often; example: "Teacher" and not "lao shi". It's even alright to have a mixture of Mandarin and English at this stage. Then, ZY said; "LX, say teacher! ......not lao shi".
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal skills)
(v) Discussion on Safari
Currently, the class is doing their finger puppets to practise on a puppet show later. I asked them what their intentions were? ZY and JN said they wanted to have a Safari world in the class.......phew! Hmm....as a new thematic teacher, I'm excited of this flow yet anxious at times! I asked, "So, are you inviting anyone?" There was a vote. 11 kids voted to invite their parents rather than other classes' friends. Then, a vote again. Majority wanted to use real money except M. M said, "If my mum uses her money, she will have lesser money to use later". Hmmm.....good answer. Then, they wanted to create big animal moulds namely a crocodile and a peacock. I told them that we would try our best to include those as our next week's project.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(vi) Reptiles
Next, I drew a crocodile and we learnt some words included, "scales, legs, tail, teeth, snout". They were excited with the big crocodile. Nobody knew what scales were. I told them about the fish scales and they had some idea. Then, I took out a CD-pocket with scaly surface for them to touch. Then, they named other animals such as tortoises, snakes, lizards as reptiles. Other features included cold-blood and lay eggs. WY asked why a porcupine isn't a reptile which they then realised it hasn't any scales but spines. Then, we used colour paper to make our crocodile puppet. We practised drawing. The dependent kids were guided to use shapes to draw including triangles and rectangles. YZ, ZY, ZYg, JN were independent. JH, JS, LX, YW performed better after some guidances. The puppet is to be continued tomorrow.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The King of the Jungle
12/03/08 (Wednesday)
(i) Writing
After the playground, the kids marched into the classroom and drank their water. Today, we did writing on “c, o, a” which is a reinforcement of what they had done since last week. LX volunteered to write “o” on the board but it was anti-clockwise. Thus, I reminded everyone.
The exercise instructed the kids to colour differently for different lettered picture. ZY, SYu, JN, JW were independent. I am proud to see JW’s improvement. ZJ, ZY, JH required more attention. When it comes to writing, I would spend more time with LX, JH, ZJ, JS and ZY so as to try persistently.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal and Spatial skills)
(ii) Story-telling: The Cuddly Friends
As JW’s mother bought him a book last week, I shared with the class because every animal picture enabled the child to touch its fur. They were excited to feel the different fur type of a cat, rabbit, hamster, dog and a bird.
Then, I asked them to recall a mammal’s features. ZY and JN talked about fur. I highlighted about hair too. I asked them, “Do rabbits lay eggs or give birth?” A few said they lay eggs. The others objected! Another feature was warm-blooded animals. So, they recalled some of the animals which included monkeys, tigers, hippopotamuses and cats.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)
(iii) The Lion
Next, I gave them a riddle:
“I am strong and fast, I use my sharp claws to kill animals,
I have thick mane, I am the King Of The Jungle, Who am I?”
They had to answer, “Are you a…….?”
JN and ZY got the correct answer. Some asked if it was a snake or hippopotamus. Haaa……of course, I waited for them to ask me questions about “mane” and “claws”. So, the answer was “lion”.
Then, we learnt its features including “tail, claws, legs, paws, whiskers and mane”. Some said misai instead of whiskers and they laughed, realizing it was Bahasa Malaysia. ZY automatically mentioned that a monkey too has got a tail. JS said a cat too while ZY said a gorilla does not have a tail. The others were unsure. So, we thought of asking the zookeeper when visiting the zoo or safari.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Naturalist skills)
(iv) Craft: The lion puppet
After tea-break, I showed the kids my lion puppet. They were very happy. ZY said that we could use it and hide under the table. JN said that we could have a background so the audience can't see us.
Thus, I showed them the steps to make the lion craft. They required a long rectangle colour paper which is to be folded into half. Then, cut along the folded line. Next, a lion's face is to be drawn on one of the pieces. A pair of scissors is used to cut the mane. The other piece is to be rolled to form the lion's body. Next, paste the two parts. A tail and some whiskers are also to be added using colour paper.
Today's activity only witnessed LX, JH, ZJ, JS and ZY asking for guidance. The others were quite independent. In fact, M, ZY, YZ, SYu and YW made two.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(i) Writing
After the playground, the kids marched into the classroom and drank their water. Today, we did writing on “c, o, a” which is a reinforcement of what they had done since last week. LX volunteered to write “o” on the board but it was anti-clockwise. Thus, I reminded everyone.
The exercise instructed the kids to colour differently for different lettered picture. ZY, SYu, JN, JW were independent. I am proud to see JW’s improvement. ZJ, ZY, JH required more attention. When it comes to writing, I would spend more time with LX, JH, ZJ, JS and ZY so as to try persistently.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal and Spatial skills)
(ii) Story-telling: The Cuddly Friends
As JW’s mother bought him a book last week, I shared with the class because every animal picture enabled the child to touch its fur. They were excited to feel the different fur type of a cat, rabbit, hamster, dog and a bird.
Then, I asked them to recall a mammal’s features. ZY and JN talked about fur. I highlighted about hair too. I asked them, “Do rabbits lay eggs or give birth?” A few said they lay eggs. The others objected! Another feature was warm-blooded animals. So, they recalled some of the animals which included monkeys, tigers, hippopotamuses and cats.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)
(iii) The Lion
Next, I gave them a riddle:
“I am strong and fast, I use my sharp claws to kill animals,
I have thick mane, I am the King Of The Jungle, Who am I?”
They had to answer, “Are you a…….?”
JN and ZY got the correct answer. Some asked if it was a snake or hippopotamus. Haaa……of course, I waited for them to ask me questions about “mane” and “claws”. So, the answer was “lion”.
Then, we learnt its features including “tail, claws, legs, paws, whiskers and mane”. Some said misai instead of whiskers and they laughed, realizing it was Bahasa Malaysia. ZY automatically mentioned that a monkey too has got a tail. JS said a cat too while ZY said a gorilla does not have a tail. The others were unsure. So, we thought of asking the zookeeper when visiting the zoo or safari.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Naturalist skills)
(iv) Craft: The lion puppet
After tea-break, I showed the kids my lion puppet. They were very happy. ZY said that we could use it and hide under the table. JN said that we could have a background so the audience can't see us.
Thus, I showed them the steps to make the lion craft. They required a long rectangle colour paper which is to be folded into half. Then, cut along the folded line. Next, a lion's face is to be drawn on one of the pieces. A pair of scissors is used to cut the mane. The other piece is to be rolled to form the lion's body. Next, paste the two parts. A tail and some whiskers are also to be added using colour paper.
Today's activity only witnessed LX, JH, ZJ, JS and ZY asking for guidance. The others were quite independent. In fact, M, ZY, YZ, SYu and YW made two.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
A trip to M’s home
11/03/08 (Tuesday)
(i) A trip
The kids gathered for M’s home. They were excited.
Everyone except WY, SC, EG, SY arrived. WY’s mother fetched him there while the other three were absent. It was very kind of SR’s mother to give fetch us to and fro there. Half of the class boarded her car while the other half into Ms. Ng’s car. Three teachers went namely Teacher Hui Ping (afternoon session), Ms. Ng and myself.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Linguistic skills)
(ii) At M’s home
Upon arrival, they looked around the living room for M and couldn’t find him. M’s mother was in the kitchen. WY who arrived earlier, surprised us from the top floor. The kids immediately climbed the stairs to the first floor. WY was very happy while M was rather cool cum happy to see his friends. Haa……. They gathered at the comprehensive and comfortable reading corner. I was impressed to see abundance of good books on the shelves.
They greeted everyone and then, the teachers took some animal books for them to read. WY and JS glanced through very fast and did not show much interest in reading. JH, ZY, SYu, JN were attentive.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Mandarin session
Next, Teacher Hui Ping showed them animal pictures. They named them in Mandarin and could even recite the related riddles quite well. Then, she had a story telling session with them about a funny elephant. The kids enjoyed themselves except LX and JS who required some prompting to pay attention.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal skills)
(iv) English session
Then, I reinforced their English vocabulary on the animal pictures which they saw earlier. The words included, “tiger, lion, leopard, elephant, wolf and bear”. They required more help when it come to Bahasa Malaysia. ZY, SYu and Max were more independent.
Next, I asked them about the animals they could find in the sea. JN and JH said sharks, ZY said octopus, LX said Nemo fish. This led to our story-telling activity on the book “Octopus”. They learnt words including, “8 arms, shoots black ink, very big, very small, no bones, shrimps, crabs and protect”. JS actually gave a good answer on why the octopus shot black ink against the shark. JS said, “…so that the shark cannot see”. ZY, ZYg and JH contributed partial of the answers.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist skills)
(v) Food session
By then, it was 10.20 a.m. and the kids were very hungry. They ate “fried bihun”. The other dishes were steamed sausages, corn, fishball. There was also pineapple, watermelon, jelly and some kuih. I have a few kids which I always have to take note when it comes to food.
LX and JN would experiment on every dish and tend not to finish them. JS and JW have good appetite and can eat a lot. WY must always be careful not to consume oily and sweet food plus chocolate as it would affect his health. Thus, I gave WY fried bihun and some steamed sausages only. Surprisingly, JH could eat averagely compared to daily tea-break’s session. Meanwhile, M ate rather slow…. which I assumed he felt very happy and unbelievable to have his friends in his house. Then, the kids had some Milo packet drinks and water.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(vi) Toys
I am very impressed with M’s toys because they are very educational and fun! The kids enjoyed the “Bingo” game and actually learnt words from it. Lovely M’s mother actually gave one of the sets for us to bring back to school. Some kids preferred to play animal and car toys.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Linguistic skills)
(vii) Happy Birthday
Next, the kids gathered anxiously around his chocolate cake decorated with fruits. We sang the birthday song in three languages. Next, M gave everyone a piece of cake except WY who could only eat a piece of strawberry…..but that already made his day!
We then, gave M two presents made by his friends. One from the morning session which was an A5 sized tiger picture and their cute drawings. The other one was from the afternoon session which chained up their pieces of nice drawings. We thanked M and his mother and left for school. (MI: Interpersonal, Musical and Linguistic skills)
(i) A trip
The kids gathered for M’s home. They were excited.
Everyone except WY, SC, EG, SY arrived. WY’s mother fetched him there while the other three were absent. It was very kind of SR’s mother to give fetch us to and fro there. Half of the class boarded her car while the other half into Ms. Ng’s car. Three teachers went namely Teacher Hui Ping (afternoon session), Ms. Ng and myself.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Linguistic skills)
(ii) At M’s home
Upon arrival, they looked around the living room for M and couldn’t find him. M’s mother was in the kitchen. WY who arrived earlier, surprised us from the top floor. The kids immediately climbed the stairs to the first floor. WY was very happy while M was rather cool cum happy to see his friends. Haa……. They gathered at the comprehensive and comfortable reading corner. I was impressed to see abundance of good books on the shelves.
They greeted everyone and then, the teachers took some animal books for them to read. WY and JS glanced through very fast and did not show much interest in reading. JH, ZY, SYu, JN were attentive.
(MI: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Mandarin session
Next, Teacher Hui Ping showed them animal pictures. They named them in Mandarin and could even recite the related riddles quite well. Then, she had a story telling session with them about a funny elephant. The kids enjoyed themselves except LX and JS who required some prompting to pay attention.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal skills)
(iv) English session
Then, I reinforced their English vocabulary on the animal pictures which they saw earlier. The words included, “tiger, lion, leopard, elephant, wolf and bear”. They required more help when it come to Bahasa Malaysia. ZY, SYu and Max were more independent.
Next, I asked them about the animals they could find in the sea. JN and JH said sharks, ZY said octopus, LX said Nemo fish. This led to our story-telling activity on the book “Octopus”. They learnt words including, “8 arms, shoots black ink, very big, very small, no bones, shrimps, crabs and protect”. JS actually gave a good answer on why the octopus shot black ink against the shark. JS said, “…so that the shark cannot see”. ZY, ZYg and JH contributed partial of the answers.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist skills)
(v) Food session
By then, it was 10.20 a.m. and the kids were very hungry. They ate “fried bihun”. The other dishes were steamed sausages, corn, fishball. There was also pineapple, watermelon, jelly and some kuih. I have a few kids which I always have to take note when it comes to food.
LX and JN would experiment on every dish and tend not to finish them. JS and JW have good appetite and can eat a lot. WY must always be careful not to consume oily and sweet food plus chocolate as it would affect his health. Thus, I gave WY fried bihun and some steamed sausages only. Surprisingly, JH could eat averagely compared to daily tea-break’s session. Meanwhile, M ate rather slow…. which I assumed he felt very happy and unbelievable to have his friends in his house. Then, the kids had some Milo packet drinks and water.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(vi) Toys
I am very impressed with M’s toys because they are very educational and fun! The kids enjoyed the “Bingo” game and actually learnt words from it. Lovely M’s mother actually gave one of the sets for us to bring back to school. Some kids preferred to play animal and car toys.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Linguistic skills)
(vii) Happy Birthday
Next, the kids gathered anxiously around his chocolate cake decorated with fruits. We sang the birthday song in three languages. Next, M gave everyone a piece of cake except WY who could only eat a piece of strawberry…..but that already made his day!
We then, gave M two presents made by his friends. One from the morning session which was an A5 sized tiger picture and their cute drawings. The other one was from the afternoon session which chained up their pieces of nice drawings. We thanked M and his mother and left for school. (MI: Interpersonal, Musical and Linguistic skills)
Monday, March 10, 2008
A birthday present
10/03/08 (Monday)
(i) Corner Playing and Colouring
This morning at the playground, I played the game “Eagle after little chicks” with my kids. The active ones are JS, JN, LX, JW and kids from other classes. ZY preferred to stay indoor doing drawing.
In the classroom, we continued our colouring of “tiger” and “giraffe” which were brought forward from last Friday. ZY, ZJ, JW, JH, M and ZY chose to colour the tiger while JN, LX, SYu and SJ coloured the giraffe. Meanwhile, only JS opted for toys which I allowed. Today, he played with the train and enjoyed himself.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Song and Art
Next, they gathered in front to sing a song on “Hokey Pokey”.
They learnt about their left and right position. Most of them did not know their left and right position. They sang with actions and were jumping everywhere. The lyrics are as below:
Hokey Pokey
Put your left hand in,
Put your left hand out,
Put your left hand in,
And you shake it all about,
And do the hokey pokey,
And turn yourself around,
That is all about!
Then, I introduced them water colour, palette and brushes. They were excited because they often do colouring using colour pencils and crayons only. Each kid waited for their turn patiently so as to print their left and right hand on a cardboard. Their fingers were quite fragile as they were curious. Furthermore, they loved the feeling of cold wet paint being on their palms. The printed paper was to be given to M, whose birthday is tomorrow. While printing their palms, they learnt about the number of fingers they have. Immediately, they sang their favourite song, “Five Little Ducks” and “Five Little Monkeys jumping on the bed”. ZY, SYu, M, ZY, LX, JN, WY sang independently. Our new friend, SJ needed some guidance.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical, Spatial skills)
(iii) Phonics : “ed”
After tea-break, we did phonics on “ed” in the Computer Room. They learnt the sound of the letters and also the “ed”. Words learnt were “red, bed, Ted, fed and wed”. They also read the relevant. Sentences. Example: This is Ted. He has a red bed. Then, they sang the song. M, JN, SYu, ZY, JW, ZJ, YZ, WY were able to grasp faster while JH, ZYg, LX, SJ and JS needed some prompting.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Musical skills)
(iv) Birthday present: Animal pictures
Next, we drew animal pictures which were to be given to M as his present. To boost the kids’ confidence, I did the flash cards with them. They were independent with the English vocabulary while prompting was needed for Bahasa Malaysia’s names. The pictures gave them better ideas. They were also encouraged to look at posters and storybooks in the classroom.
JH required encouragement to start before he could proceed with drawing. Consistent encouragement will help him to perform better. LX has shown slight improvement by drawing other shapes besides circle. WY always loved “Ben Ten” but today, he added a tiger next to “Ben Ten” which was a good sign. He even coloured the pictures determinely. JW, ZY, ZYg, SYu were independent. Meanwhile, SJ, ZJ and JS needed some praise and guidance to continue drawing and colouring.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic and Linguistic skills)
(i) Corner Playing and Colouring
This morning at the playground, I played the game “Eagle after little chicks” with my kids. The active ones are JS, JN, LX, JW and kids from other classes. ZY preferred to stay indoor doing drawing.
In the classroom, we continued our colouring of “tiger” and “giraffe” which were brought forward from last Friday. ZY, ZJ, JW, JH, M and ZY chose to colour the tiger while JN, LX, SYu and SJ coloured the giraffe. Meanwhile, only JS opted for toys which I allowed. Today, he played with the train and enjoyed himself.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Song and Art
Next, they gathered in front to sing a song on “Hokey Pokey”.
They learnt about their left and right position. Most of them did not know their left and right position. They sang with actions and were jumping everywhere. The lyrics are as below:
Hokey Pokey
Put your left hand in,
Put your left hand out,
Put your left hand in,
And you shake it all about,
And do the hokey pokey,
And turn yourself around,
That is all about!
Then, I introduced them water colour, palette and brushes. They were excited because they often do colouring using colour pencils and crayons only. Each kid waited for their turn patiently so as to print their left and right hand on a cardboard. Their fingers were quite fragile as they were curious. Furthermore, they loved the feeling of cold wet paint being on their palms. The printed paper was to be given to M, whose birthday is tomorrow. While printing their palms, they learnt about the number of fingers they have. Immediately, they sang their favourite song, “Five Little Ducks” and “Five Little Monkeys jumping on the bed”. ZY, SYu, M, ZY, LX, JN, WY sang independently. Our new friend, SJ needed some guidance.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical, Spatial skills)
(iii) Phonics : “ed”
After tea-break, we did phonics on “ed” in the Computer Room. They learnt the sound of the letters and also the “ed”. Words learnt were “red, bed, Ted, fed and wed”. They also read the relevant. Sentences. Example: This is Ted. He has a red bed. Then, they sang the song. M, JN, SYu, ZY, JW, ZJ, YZ, WY were able to grasp faster while JH, ZYg, LX, SJ and JS needed some prompting.
(MI: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Musical skills)
(iv) Birthday present: Animal pictures
Next, we drew animal pictures which were to be given to M as his present. To boost the kids’ confidence, I did the flash cards with them. They were independent with the English vocabulary while prompting was needed for Bahasa Malaysia’s names. The pictures gave them better ideas. They were also encouraged to look at posters and storybooks in the classroom.
JH required encouragement to start before he could proceed with drawing. Consistent encouragement will help him to perform better. LX has shown slight improvement by drawing other shapes besides circle. WY always loved “Ben Ten” but today, he added a tiger next to “Ben Ten” which was a good sign. He even coloured the pictures determinely. JW, ZY, ZYg, SYu were independent. Meanwhile, SJ, ZJ and JS needed some praise and guidance to continue drawing and colouring.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic and Linguistic skills)
Story: Role –Play
07/03/08 (Friday)
(i) Colouring and Corner Playing
This morning, I gave the kids 2 pieces of A5 size animal picture namely tiger and giraffe. They were allowed to colour the pictures creatively. My objective was to assess the kids’ ability to co-operate. Currently, 50% of my kids could work in pairs but not in groups yet. That morning, ZY, ZYg, SYu and JS chose to colour the tiger while JN and LX coloured the giraffe. ZYg asked if the tiger’s stripes were black, I told him to observe the pictures on the wall. Then, he coloured black. The tiger’s group were co-operative. However, JN and LZ couldn’t get along quite well. LX coloured the giraffe “green” and JN screamed and pulled the paper away. Being the middle person, I asked them to negotiate. I asked them to look at the class giraffe picture as guidance. JN agreed to tolerate while LX is always trying to perform her best but tends to be impatient. It would take more effort and time to shape both their characters.
Meanwhile, JH, JW, EG and JS preferred to play with toys. Today, we had a new girl. Her name is SJ who is SYu’s younger sister. Initially, she joined her sister to do colouring and later, played toys. She is quite quiet but able to adapt herself well.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Song and Flash cards
Next, I recapped their favourite song, “The five little ducks”. YW and YZ who often missed our morning first session were excited to see their friends’ actions and expressions. YW is a fast learner. Instead of drawing, I used the “number” flash cards to assist in their singing.
Next, I assessed them on animals’ names using flashcards. Then, we repeated using Bahasa Malaysia’s vocabulary. They were very excited. Thus, I started speaking Bahasa Malaysia for the next 10 minutes with them. Among the phrases were, “Apakah makanan Zirafah? Mana satu lebih cepat, harimau atau gajah? Di manakah badak air tinggal?” We also sang a song on “Gelang, Si Paku Gelang” related to birds.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic,Musical skills)
(iii) Story telling
Today, the story’s title was “The Unfriendly Elephant”. Their favourite part was when the porcupine shot their spines towards the arrogant elephant. SY and ZY quickly grabbed a porcupine mould from our Safari layout. I smiled….. The morale of the story was not to be arrogant or we would have no friends. Besides that, they learnt some vocabulary including, “arrogant, push, stomp, rescue, friendly”.
(MI: Intrapersonal and Linguistic skills)
(iv) Tea break
They were given task based on their duty roster. Currently, only M, ZY and SY took the initiative to look at the duty roster independently. For the past one week, they learnt; “What day is today? Today is Friday……….How are you? I am fine, thank you.”
As today was JH’s birthday, we celebrated by singing “Happy Birthday” in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin.” After making his wish, he cut the cake. The kids learnt to wait patiently and passed the pieces of cake to their friends first. Later, SC wasn’t able to wipe the tables properly. I guided him the proper way and he did better.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(v) Role-Play
YZ asked the meaning of “role-play” and I told them, it is the acting out of a story similar to the television drama. Then, we recalled the characters in the story of “The Unfriendly Elephant”. ZY, JH, ZYg, JS, Eg, JN, JW, Lx were able to contribute. SYu, SJ, SC were rather shy to contribute.
As there were 9 characters, I placed 9 chairs in an open circle. Then, they chose for their favourite characters. The elephant was LX and ZYg, the squirrels were EG and JS, the ants were SC and ZJ, the birds were SYu and SJ, the deers were YW and YZ, the porcupine was WY and JN, the rat was JH and SR, the snake was JW and and the monkeys were ZY and SY.
Most of them were not able to start the role-play, so I prompted them with questions such as “Who was unfriendly? Who was pushing the fruit? Who shot its spines towards the elephant?” Most of them could answer. Then, we practiced slowly. Although they were not fluent in language but their gestures were quite good.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic,Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(i) Colouring and Corner Playing
This morning, I gave the kids 2 pieces of A5 size animal picture namely tiger and giraffe. They were allowed to colour the pictures creatively. My objective was to assess the kids’ ability to co-operate. Currently, 50% of my kids could work in pairs but not in groups yet. That morning, ZY, ZYg, SYu and JS chose to colour the tiger while JN and LX coloured the giraffe. ZYg asked if the tiger’s stripes were black, I told him to observe the pictures on the wall. Then, he coloured black. The tiger’s group were co-operative. However, JN and LZ couldn’t get along quite well. LX coloured the giraffe “green” and JN screamed and pulled the paper away. Being the middle person, I asked them to negotiate. I asked them to look at the class giraffe picture as guidance. JN agreed to tolerate while LX is always trying to perform her best but tends to be impatient. It would take more effort and time to shape both their characters.
Meanwhile, JH, JW, EG and JS preferred to play with toys. Today, we had a new girl. Her name is SJ who is SYu’s younger sister. Initially, she joined her sister to do colouring and later, played toys. She is quite quiet but able to adapt herself well.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Song and Flash cards
Next, I recapped their favourite song, “The five little ducks”. YW and YZ who often missed our morning first session were excited to see their friends’ actions and expressions. YW is a fast learner. Instead of drawing, I used the “number” flash cards to assist in their singing.
Next, I assessed them on animals’ names using flashcards. Then, we repeated using Bahasa Malaysia’s vocabulary. They were very excited. Thus, I started speaking Bahasa Malaysia for the next 10 minutes with them. Among the phrases were, “Apakah makanan Zirafah? Mana satu lebih cepat, harimau atau gajah? Di manakah badak air tinggal?” We also sang a song on “Gelang, Si Paku Gelang” related to birds.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic,Musical skills)
(iii) Story telling
Today, the story’s title was “The Unfriendly Elephant”. Their favourite part was when the porcupine shot their spines towards the arrogant elephant. SY and ZY quickly grabbed a porcupine mould from our Safari layout. I smiled….. The morale of the story was not to be arrogant or we would have no friends. Besides that, they learnt some vocabulary including, “arrogant, push, stomp, rescue, friendly”.
(MI: Intrapersonal and Linguistic skills)
(iv) Tea break
They were given task based on their duty roster. Currently, only M, ZY and SY took the initiative to look at the duty roster independently. For the past one week, they learnt; “What day is today? Today is Friday……….How are you? I am fine, thank you.”
As today was JH’s birthday, we celebrated by singing “Happy Birthday” in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin.” After making his wish, he cut the cake. The kids learnt to wait patiently and passed the pieces of cake to their friends first. Later, SC wasn’t able to wipe the tables properly. I guided him the proper way and he did better.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(v) Role-Play
YZ asked the meaning of “role-play” and I told them, it is the acting out of a story similar to the television drama. Then, we recalled the characters in the story of “The Unfriendly Elephant”. ZY, JH, ZYg, JS, Eg, JN, JW, Lx were able to contribute. SYu, SJ, SC were rather shy to contribute.
As there were 9 characters, I placed 9 chairs in an open circle. Then, they chose for their favourite characters. The elephant was LX and ZYg, the squirrels were EG and JS, the ants were SC and ZJ, the birds were SYu and SJ, the deers were YW and YZ, the porcupine was WY and JN, the rat was JH and SR, the snake was JW and and the monkeys were ZY and SY.
Most of them were not able to start the role-play, so I prompted them with questions such as “Who was unfriendly? Who was pushing the fruit? Who shot its spines towards the elephant?” Most of them could answer. Then, we practiced slowly. Although they were not fluent in language but their gestures were quite good.
(MI: Logical-Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic,Body-Kinesthetic skills)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Mammals
06/03/2008 (Thursday)
(i) Writing exercise: “o” and “a”
Before the class, I was actually in the field playing a traditional game; “Eagle after the chicks”. Most of my early kids joined me besides the other classes. Their screams and speed portrayed their imagination and the fun.
At the classroom, I gathered the kids to recap on the proper way of writing “o” and “a”. Then, we discussed one of the exercises to identify the pictures and their initial letters. The words included orange, octopus, ambulance, apple and ant. The kids who required more attention was ZJ, JH, ZYg and SR. LX and JN had some difficulties to write a proper “a”. JW had shown improvement to be more independent which indicated a sign of interest development. Some did colouring after that.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Story telling and songs
Next, I gathered the kids for a story called “The Black Cat”. Upon looking at the cat’s picture, they said it was ugly and dirty. In fact, the story captured their attention very well including my active ZY and LX. The lesson learnt was to respect every animal; even a not so beautiful cat. The black cat actually saved a dying old man by attracting its neighbour’s attention.
Then, we recap on the song “Five Little Ducks” and their favourite “No More Monkeys”. JS, ZYg, ZJ, JH, ZY, EG, YZ, SY, M and JN formed a queue and jumped along with the song. Meanwhile, SYu, LX and SC joined in the crowd a little later.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Musical skills)
(iii) Flash cards
When they were physically tired, I did flashcard sessions with them. These were the animals’ names: tortoise, horse, bear, lion, peacock, ostrich, snake and tiger. Next, we played a game. Its called, “Pick a card randomly”. Each individual closed their eyes and randomly pick a card from me. Then, he or she had to act like the chosen animal. M and SY were creative to include the sounds.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iv) Hello, hamster!
Next, was the kids’ most awaiting moment to watch Gwin, my hamster. Today was a good timing because all my kids were present except WY who was sick. Rules were set and accepted before watching the hamster. Gwin sniffed at my fingers (which puzzled the kids) and hopped onto my hand. YZ asked why it did that which led to my answer of sensing the owner.
JW was the first lucky kid to touch the hamster which then, scared him off onto the floor. There was chaos screaming at and chasing the hamster. I was frightened too….as to lose Gwin and that he might be hurt! After 1.5 minutes of chasing, I succeeded in rescuing him. Everyone was relieved and worried for Gwin except for EG. Being an enthusiastic kid, he asked me 3 times why I didn’t let him touch the hamster. I had to explain in detail for fear that it might not be a suitable time to socialize with the hamster at that moment. It was hiding at the corner resisting to see anyone…….phew!
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist skills)
(v) Safari layout: Train craft
After tea-break, we talked about the variety animal groups. YZ was puzzled to hear that and asked what I meant. Generally, they learnt that animals were divided into “Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Insects or Fish”. Asking them to recall on the hamster I brought to school, we classified that it:
i) has fur ii) gives birth iii) feeds its babies
iv) is warm – blooded and v) breathes through lungs.
Thus, a hamster belongs to the Mammal group just like rabbits and tigers or monkeys. People too are Mammals except with hair and not fur!
With those facts, ZY asked about penguin and could not accept my answer that a penguin belongs to the bird family. “Why, teacher…….ii has hair, doesn’t it?” Immediately, EG said the reason was because it lived in a cold place. I smiled and explained in detail. The penguin's wings are actually flippers that help it to swim well rather than fly. I asked them to touch their own neck and armpits. They also rubbed their hands to understand the meaning of “warm-blooded”. They were able to list me 12 animals which have these Mammals’ characteristics. They included dogs, rats, lions, giraffes, goats, kangaroos, lions, leopards and elephants.
These kids are fast learners and I enjoy seeing them grow and learn.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)
(i) Writing exercise: “o” and “a”
Before the class, I was actually in the field playing a traditional game; “Eagle after the chicks”. Most of my early kids joined me besides the other classes. Their screams and speed portrayed their imagination and the fun.
At the classroom, I gathered the kids to recap on the proper way of writing “o” and “a”. Then, we discussed one of the exercises to identify the pictures and their initial letters. The words included orange, octopus, ambulance, apple and ant. The kids who required more attention was ZJ, JH, ZYg and SR. LX and JN had some difficulties to write a proper “a”. JW had shown improvement to be more independent which indicated a sign of interest development. Some did colouring after that.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Story telling and songs
Next, I gathered the kids for a story called “The Black Cat”. Upon looking at the cat’s picture, they said it was ugly and dirty. In fact, the story captured their attention very well including my active ZY and LX. The lesson learnt was to respect every animal; even a not so beautiful cat. The black cat actually saved a dying old man by attracting its neighbour’s attention.
Then, we recap on the song “Five Little Ducks” and their favourite “No More Monkeys”. JS, ZYg, ZJ, JH, ZY, EG, YZ, SY, M and JN formed a queue and jumped along with the song. Meanwhile, SYu, LX and SC joined in the crowd a little later.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Musical skills)
(iii) Flash cards
When they were physically tired, I did flashcard sessions with them. These were the animals’ names: tortoise, horse, bear, lion, peacock, ostrich, snake and tiger. Next, we played a game. Its called, “Pick a card randomly”. Each individual closed their eyes and randomly pick a card from me. Then, he or she had to act like the chosen animal. M and SY were creative to include the sounds.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iv) Hello, hamster!
Next, was the kids’ most awaiting moment to watch Gwin, my hamster. Today was a good timing because all my kids were present except WY who was sick. Rules were set and accepted before watching the hamster. Gwin sniffed at my fingers (which puzzled the kids) and hopped onto my hand. YZ asked why it did that which led to my answer of sensing the owner.
JW was the first lucky kid to touch the hamster which then, scared him off onto the floor. There was chaos screaming at and chasing the hamster. I was frightened too….as to lose Gwin and that he might be hurt! After 1.5 minutes of chasing, I succeeded in rescuing him. Everyone was relieved and worried for Gwin except for EG. Being an enthusiastic kid, he asked me 3 times why I didn’t let him touch the hamster. I had to explain in detail for fear that it might not be a suitable time to socialize with the hamster at that moment. It was hiding at the corner resisting to see anyone…….phew!
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist skills)
(v) Safari layout: Train craft
After tea-break, we talked about the variety animal groups. YZ was puzzled to hear that and asked what I meant. Generally, they learnt that animals were divided into “Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Insects or Fish”. Asking them to recall on the hamster I brought to school, we classified that it:
i) has fur ii) gives birth iii) feeds its babies
iv) is warm – blooded and v) breathes through lungs.
Thus, a hamster belongs to the Mammal group just like rabbits and tigers or monkeys. People too are Mammals except with hair and not fur!
With those facts, ZY asked about penguin and could not accept my answer that a penguin belongs to the bird family. “Why, teacher…….ii has hair, doesn’t it?” Immediately, EG said the reason was because it lived in a cold place. I smiled and explained in detail. The penguin's wings are actually flippers that help it to swim well rather than fly. I asked them to touch their own neck and armpits. They also rubbed their hands to understand the meaning of “warm-blooded”. They were able to list me 12 animals which have these Mammals’ characteristics. They included dogs, rats, lions, giraffes, goats, kangaroos, lions, leopards and elephants.
These kids are fast learners and I enjoy seeing them grow and learn.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Naturalist skills)
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Safari In Progress (8)
05/03/2008 (Wednesday)
(i) Corner playing and individual focus
The joys of playing hide and seek has spreaded to most kids including my quiet kid, ZJ. Games are what these kids look forward every day; as they learn best through fun and interest!
By 9 a.m., I had only about 8 kids out of 17 which encouraged me to have either writing activity or corner playing. Today, the kids were allowed to do play-dough to form any moulds. However, JW, ZY and JN preferred toys which I allowed only at 1 table. I reminded them to be responsible for their play activities. SY glanced at our Safari layout and then made railway track. SYu added a tortoise mould while JS made some more roads. ZJ loved making pizzas for the shops. On the other hand, JW took his toy car to chase the horse and cow and ZY joined him.
Meanwhile, I had SR, JH, LX to practise their coin tracing and cutting. The other kids were called individually to highlight the signboards so as to look clearer and better. They learnt to read and pronounce the words too.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(ii) Song: Ten little monkeys jumping on a bed
Next, we formed a circle and recapped the song on “The Wheels on the Train”. They sang it with actions. Then, I started singing their favourite song…and they just sang it along with me. It was “No more monkeys”. They learnt it by listening to the CD while having tea break. I was surprised that the girls loved it too. My quiet SC and SYu joined the crowd and jumped around!
10 Little monkeys jumping on a bed,One jumped up and bumped his head,Mom called the Doctor and the doctor said........"No more monkeys jumping on a bed."
1 Little monkeys jumping on a bedOne jumped up and bumped his head.Mom called the Doctor and the Doctor said....."No more monkeys jumping on a bed."
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Musical skills)
(iii) “Gwin” the hamster
Their exciting moment came as I promised to show them a surprise. It was a hamster…..EG discovered my pet at a corner and looked at me amazed…..haaa! Despite my signal to keep quiet, he called ZY and well, no secrets can be buried in my class. The adorable kids gathered round my pet. I took 15 minutes to show them. They learnt that this is not a rat but a hamster which is usually kept as pets. The hamster was scared of them so they whispered in the circle and behaved rather well. ZY was surprised to see a water bottle at the cage while JW spotted a roller and asked what it was. My hamster, “Gwin” hid at the corner throughout the class and the kids realized that. So, they were rather quiet while having their tea break. What I stressed most was cleanliness when dealing with animals. They obeyed the rules. They learnt to observe the hamster; which I didn’t reveal much because I hope my coming lessons would let them assess their logical thinking.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist skills)
(iv) Safari layout: Train craft
After tea break, we continued the train craft. The one did earlier was for the class’s Safari layout. Today’s craft is for them.
Before making the craft, I asked if they could recap. ZY and M said the first step which was to fold the rectangle paper into 4 equal parts. Then, JN and SY said we must roll the paper after that. (The difference was today they would use double sided tape rather than I stapled for them. It trains the fingers better.) Next, JS recalled about the wheels to be pasted on the train. The wheels would involve the coin tracing again. Today, they were more independent and in fact, ZY, YZ, M, SC, SY, JH, EG, JS and SYu asked for more paper. ZY required encouragement to have more confidence. LX actually did the whole train by herself and was proud of her achievement. She just hugged and kissed me! I was speechless…..joyful and unforgettable indeed.
Well, the Safari is 80% done……we still have things to discuss about.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical Mathematical skills)
(i) Corner playing and individual focus
The joys of playing hide and seek has spreaded to most kids including my quiet kid, ZJ. Games are what these kids look forward every day; as they learn best through fun and interest!
By 9 a.m., I had only about 8 kids out of 17 which encouraged me to have either writing activity or corner playing. Today, the kids were allowed to do play-dough to form any moulds. However, JW, ZY and JN preferred toys which I allowed only at 1 table. I reminded them to be responsible for their play activities. SY glanced at our Safari layout and then made railway track. SYu added a tortoise mould while JS made some more roads. ZJ loved making pizzas for the shops. On the other hand, JW took his toy car to chase the horse and cow and ZY joined him.
Meanwhile, I had SR, JH, LX to practise their coin tracing and cutting. The other kids were called individually to highlight the signboards so as to look clearer and better. They learnt to read and pronounce the words too.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(ii) Song: Ten little monkeys jumping on a bed
Next, we formed a circle and recapped the song on “The Wheels on the Train”. They sang it with actions. Then, I started singing their favourite song…and they just sang it along with me. It was “No more monkeys”. They learnt it by listening to the CD while having tea break. I was surprised that the girls loved it too. My quiet SC and SYu joined the crowd and jumped around!
10 Little monkeys jumping on a bed,One jumped up and bumped his head,Mom called the Doctor and the doctor said........"No more monkeys jumping on a bed."
1 Little monkeys jumping on a bedOne jumped up and bumped his head.Mom called the Doctor and the Doctor said....."No more monkeys jumping on a bed."
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Musical skills)
(iii) “Gwin” the hamster
Their exciting moment came as I promised to show them a surprise. It was a hamster…..EG discovered my pet at a corner and looked at me amazed…..haaa! Despite my signal to keep quiet, he called ZY and well, no secrets can be buried in my class. The adorable kids gathered round my pet. I took 15 minutes to show them. They learnt that this is not a rat but a hamster which is usually kept as pets. The hamster was scared of them so they whispered in the circle and behaved rather well. ZY was surprised to see a water bottle at the cage while JW spotted a roller and asked what it was. My hamster, “Gwin” hid at the corner throughout the class and the kids realized that. So, they were rather quiet while having their tea break. What I stressed most was cleanliness when dealing with animals. They obeyed the rules. They learnt to observe the hamster; which I didn’t reveal much because I hope my coming lessons would let them assess their logical thinking.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist skills)
(iv) Safari layout: Train craft
After tea break, we continued the train craft. The one did earlier was for the class’s Safari layout. Today’s craft is for them.
Before making the craft, I asked if they could recap. ZY and M said the first step which was to fold the rectangle paper into 4 equal parts. Then, JN and SY said we must roll the paper after that. (The difference was today they would use double sided tape rather than I stapled for them. It trains the fingers better.) Next, JS recalled about the wheels to be pasted on the train. The wheels would involve the coin tracing again. Today, they were more independent and in fact, ZY, YZ, M, SC, SY, JH, EG, JS and SYu asked for more paper. ZY required encouragement to have more confidence. LX actually did the whole train by herself and was proud of her achievement. She just hugged and kissed me! I was speechless…..joyful and unforgettable indeed.
Well, the Safari is 80% done……we still have things to discuss about.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical Mathematical skills)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Safari In Progress (7): Shops
04/03/2008 (Tuesday)
(i) Pre-Writing Exercise
Most mornings as the kids arrived in the classroom, they would play hide and seek with me. “Teacher, can you find me? Where am I?” These simple game and sentences told me that these kids are intelligent. They used to speak in Mandarin and now they use proper English more often
After drinking water, they arranged their tables and chairs. They were given their Pre-Writing book to practice on writing “a”. The more independent kids were SY, SYu, JN, M, JW, EG, WY, M and ZY who later did some colouring. JH, LX, SR, JS, ZJ and ZYg required more guidance to write persistently. Normally, they would do writing with some nursery songs as background. They would sing or even hum along.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(ii) Song: The wheels on the train
Then, we gathered in a circle and asked them what they had learnt yesterday. Most of them remembered it was train. So, they queued in a row to form a train. ZYg said we must hold our friend’s t-shirt while JN said we can’t if we wanted to move our hands like wheels. So, majority decided to move our hands like wheels. Then, we sang and moved in a circle. As for the steamer, we used our right hand to act as if pulling it. They enjoyed themselves very much especially when we sang from slow to fast and from whispering to aloud!
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
(iii) Assessment: Animals vocabulary
To calm the kids, I took some soft toys to assess their animal vocabulary. They could name these animals independently: kangaroo, hippopotamus, leopard and cow. Some were unsure of these: frog, crab and koala bear. They related the kangaroo to its pouch and not pocket. They recalled that a cow is a female which produces milk while the male is ox. Meanwhile, the leopard could climb well and run very fast. What puzzled them was the female lion which looked like a leopard. Then, I took an Encyclopedia to show them the female lion which looked like the soft toy. Well, “seeing is believing”. They then realized that only a male lion has mane around its face and neck. The longer and darker the mane, the stronger the male lion is. At the same time, YZ, ZJ and ZY grabbed some storybooks to show me the male lion! The kids learnt so fast! I didn’t go into details about the features because we would be learning more in the coming lessons.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist skills)
(iv) Safari layout: Craft
Next, we continued our craft work. First, we talked about the shop and ticketing counter we intended to have. ZY and EG had already cut an ice-cream box at the earlier stage. I asked them if they would like the box original colour or create a pattern. 10 kids voted to have another colour. So, we did recap on the shapes learnt earlier. They could draw rectangles, triangles, ovals or even circles before colouring them.
Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to assess on their coin tracing. The coin tracing would create circles to be used for the trains wheels later. JS, ZYg, ZJ, LX, JH required more encouragement as they needed to balance their fingers. They were excited about the train but a little bit disappointed because we couldn’t complete the train craft yet. I told them, that they needed to have stronger fingers to make the craft step by step. Nevertheless, I praised them that their motor skills have shown improvement such as on LX, ZJ and JH. They smiled…..
(MI: Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical Mathematical skills)
(i) Pre-Writing Exercise
Most mornings as the kids arrived in the classroom, they would play hide and seek with me. “Teacher, can you find me? Where am I?” These simple game and sentences told me that these kids are intelligent. They used to speak in Mandarin and now they use proper English more often
After drinking water, they arranged their tables and chairs. They were given their Pre-Writing book to practice on writing “a”. The more independent kids were SY, SYu, JN, M, JW, EG, WY, M and ZY who later did some colouring. JH, LX, SR, JS, ZJ and ZYg required more guidance to write persistently. Normally, they would do writing with some nursery songs as background. They would sing or even hum along.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(ii) Song: The wheels on the train
Then, we gathered in a circle and asked them what they had learnt yesterday. Most of them remembered it was train. So, they queued in a row to form a train. ZYg said we must hold our friend’s t-shirt while JN said we can’t if we wanted to move our hands like wheels. So, majority decided to move our hands like wheels. Then, we sang and moved in a circle. As for the steamer, we used our right hand to act as if pulling it. They enjoyed themselves very much especially when we sang from slow to fast and from whispering to aloud!
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Musical skills)
(iii) Assessment: Animals vocabulary
To calm the kids, I took some soft toys to assess their animal vocabulary. They could name these animals independently: kangaroo, hippopotamus, leopard and cow. Some were unsure of these: frog, crab and koala bear. They related the kangaroo to its pouch and not pocket. They recalled that a cow is a female which produces milk while the male is ox. Meanwhile, the leopard could climb well and run very fast. What puzzled them was the female lion which looked like a leopard. Then, I took an Encyclopedia to show them the female lion which looked like the soft toy. Well, “seeing is believing”. They then realized that only a male lion has mane around its face and neck. The longer and darker the mane, the stronger the male lion is. At the same time, YZ, ZJ and ZY grabbed some storybooks to show me the male lion! The kids learnt so fast! I didn’t go into details about the features because we would be learning more in the coming lessons.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Naturalist skills)
(iv) Safari layout: Craft
Next, we continued our craft work. First, we talked about the shop and ticketing counter we intended to have. ZY and EG had already cut an ice-cream box at the earlier stage. I asked them if they would like the box original colour or create a pattern. 10 kids voted to have another colour. So, we did recap on the shapes learnt earlier. They could draw rectangles, triangles, ovals or even circles before colouring them.
Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to assess on their coin tracing. The coin tracing would create circles to be used for the trains wheels later. JS, ZYg, ZJ, LX, JH required more encouragement as they needed to balance their fingers. They were excited about the train but a little bit disappointed because we couldn’t complete the train craft yet. I told them, that they needed to have stronger fingers to make the craft step by step. Nevertheless, I praised them that their motor skills have shown improvement such as on LX, ZJ and JH. They smiled…..
(MI: Intrapersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical Mathematical skills)
Monday, March 3, 2008
Safari In Progress (6): Train craft
03/03/2008 (Monday)
(i) Corner playing and labelling
The kids were active at the playground such as JS and SY. As JN and EG looked still unawake; I encouraged them to be at outdoor rather than indoor. This is good as they were happier and less moody. SYu was able to socialize better with her classmates which helped her cope faster in her lessons too.
In the classroom, I allowed them for “corner playing”. The kids chose their favourable games or toys and eventually, there were four different corners. EG, ZY, JS and WY played with the straw games. WY was making a spider-web, while JS an umbrella. EG and ZY made a dragon dance……rather creative! SY, JN, SYu, ZYg and ZJ played blocks with some toy animals. Meanwhile, LX, JH and YW played with the marbles. I would encouraged English Language at most time.
At the same time, I called the kids individually to complete the unfinished signboards at the Animal Safari. They chose the titles they wanted to write from the list on the whiteboard. I was glad that JS, JW were able to write more independently and confidently. ZYg, ZJ, JHg needed more guidance while SY could write by herself. EG was prompted to be less careless. Then, the signboards were placed at the appropriate parts of the layout.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Everyday English and Duty Roster
Before tea-break, the kids would response to my everyday question. “What day is today?.....Today is Monday. How are you? I am fine, thank you.” ZJ, ZYg and LX needed more practice on this. Duties were segregated to them based on the duty roster. Today, we had doughnuts and sugar tend to scatter around the table. WY needed guidance to wipe the tables properly. It was SYu and JW’s turn to sweep the floor. SYu were guided the proper way of sweeping while JW did quite well.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iii) Safari Analysing
After tea-break, we looked at the Safari layout. M and EG insisted that there is train infrastructure in a Safari and not only the trucks. Then, we sang the song of a train entitled, “The wheels on the train” with actions. The lyrics were:
"The wheels on the train go round and round,
Go round and round, go round and round,
The wheels on the train go round and round,
So, early in the morning.
The steamer goes Choo Choo Chug,
Choo Choo Chug, Choo Choo Chug,
The steamer goes Choo Choo Chug,
So, early in the morning."
Then, we talked about the railway track. ZY said that some looks like roads (he was thinking of LRT railway). So, there were two; a) the original railway track or b) the Magnetic track. After voting, we decided to do the original track. This would also distinguish clearly the road from the railway track. They decided to use the toothpick for the function.
(MI: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(iv) Animal Safari In Progress: Train Craft
After the discussion, we did a train craft made from coloured paper. The steps included:
a) To fold a piece of rectangle paper into half, and then; into another half.
b) Open it again, to get 4 equal rectangle parts.
c) Cut the folded line using the scissors.
d) Roll the first part so that the beginning meets the ending. Staple.
e) Insert the second piece through the hole and roll it to precede the first role. Staple.
f) Eventually, there would be 4 rolls stapled.
Next, they did coin tracing as to cut for the wheels. Due to insufficient time, the train craft would be continued the next lesson.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical Mathematical skills)
(i) Corner playing and labelling
The kids were active at the playground such as JS and SY. As JN and EG looked still unawake; I encouraged them to be at outdoor rather than indoor. This is good as they were happier and less moody. SYu was able to socialize better with her classmates which helped her cope faster in her lessons too.
In the classroom, I allowed them for “corner playing”. The kids chose their favourable games or toys and eventually, there were four different corners. EG, ZY, JS and WY played with the straw games. WY was making a spider-web, while JS an umbrella. EG and ZY made a dragon dance……rather creative! SY, JN, SYu, ZYg and ZJ played blocks with some toy animals. Meanwhile, LX, JH and YW played with the marbles. I would encouraged English Language at most time.
At the same time, I called the kids individually to complete the unfinished signboards at the Animal Safari. They chose the titles they wanted to write from the list on the whiteboard. I was glad that JS, JW were able to write more independently and confidently. ZYg, ZJ, JHg needed more guidance while SY could write by herself. EG was prompted to be less careless. Then, the signboards were placed at the appropriate parts of the layout.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Intrapersonal Interpersonal, Linguistic, Spatial skills)
(ii) Everyday English and Duty Roster
Before tea-break, the kids would response to my everyday question. “What day is today?.....Today is Monday. How are you? I am fine, thank you.” ZJ, ZYg and LX needed more practice on this. Duties were segregated to them based on the duty roster. Today, we had doughnuts and sugar tend to scatter around the table. WY needed guidance to wipe the tables properly. It was SYu and JW’s turn to sweep the floor. SYu were guided the proper way of sweeping while JW did quite well.
(MI: Body-Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iii) Safari Analysing
After tea-break, we looked at the Safari layout. M and EG insisted that there is train infrastructure in a Safari and not only the trucks. Then, we sang the song of a train entitled, “The wheels on the train” with actions. The lyrics were:
"The wheels on the train go round and round,
Go round and round, go round and round,
The wheels on the train go round and round,
So, early in the morning.
The steamer goes Choo Choo Chug,
Choo Choo Chug, Choo Choo Chug,
The steamer goes Choo Choo Chug,
So, early in the morning."
Then, we talked about the railway track. ZY said that some looks like roads (he was thinking of LRT railway). So, there were two; a) the original railway track or b) the Magnetic track. After voting, we decided to do the original track. This would also distinguish clearly the road from the railway track. They decided to use the toothpick for the function.
(MI: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(iv) Animal Safari In Progress: Train Craft
After the discussion, we did a train craft made from coloured paper. The steps included:
a) To fold a piece of rectangle paper into half, and then; into another half.
b) Open it again, to get 4 equal rectangle parts.
c) Cut the folded line using the scissors.
d) Roll the first part so that the beginning meets the ending. Staple.
e) Insert the second piece through the hole and roll it to precede the first role. Staple.
f) Eventually, there would be 4 rolls stapled.
Next, they did coin tracing as to cut for the wheels. Due to insufficient time, the train craft would be continued the next lesson.
(MI: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Body-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical Mathematical skills)
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