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)