Help the Polar Bear!

17/04/08 (Thursday)

(i) Ikan Mas and Letter "M"
We started the day with a storybook entitled "Ikan Mas". It was actually in Bahass Malaysia. However, some kids insisted me to speak in English. Thus, I used English medium as to recap what they had learnt the past few lessons. The kids were thrilled to see the dead fish in the sea and how they affected a fisherman's life. They said that they wouldn't want to swim in that polluted water. This story taught us not to litter into the water as the consequences were terrifying. Then, we did some writing focusing on letter "m". The kids wrote in the air following my strokes. Then, they came forwardindividually to write on the whiteboard. They learnt about "moon, monkey, mouse, mountain". JH, LX, ZJ, WY and XR required more prompting to write properly.
(M/I: Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Naturalist, Logical-Mathematical skills)

(ii) The Hot Smoke (Greenhouse gases)
After tea break, we gathered to continue our discussion about 'Recycle". I asked, "Why do we need to recycle?" JW and JN said the world is sick. YZ said the world is getting hotter. Furthermore, we don't have enough trees anymore. Then, I drew the factories. ZY added that they give out smoke which is harmful for us! Then, I asked them; "Where does the smoke go to? Up into the sky or down?" Most kids said "up" as the black smoke goes up. We also discussed about things that produce smoke. YP said the lorry, LX said the aeroplane, J said mother's cooking...haaa. How creative and fast these kids were. I explained that this dangerous smoke will gather in the sky to form a thick blanket. That's the reason, the earth is getting hotter. Thus, we need to plant trees and reduce production to save the earth. We did an experiment. We switched off the fan, closed the window. I took out a candle and a spiral paper. I asked them, "Can you play with fire? I'm doing this to prove how the hot smoke affect us." They saw that the spiral paper spun above the hot heat. They now agreed that the smoke goes up into the sky.
(M/I: Linguistic,Interpersonal, Naturalist, Logical-Mathematical skills)

(iii) Video Clip: Polar Bear
Then, we did some recap. "How would the hot air affect us?" EG : We feel hot! JS : Fish will die. Teacher: What about polar bears' home on the ice? They looked at me feeling puzzled. The kids said that ice-cream will melt under hot sun but was unsure of the ice. Thus, we went to watch a video clip about Polar Bear and Global Warming.They loved the clip. They saw the happy mother and baby bear playing and skating. Suddenly, the ice broke and separated them.

JH : Why did the ice break?
YZ, YP: It's too hot.

They couldn't believe it. WE also watched a clip on "Don't litter". Hopefully, the next few lessons will influence them more. Only YZ brought newspaper while the others had forgotten. Thus, they promised to bring newspaper tomorrow so we could recycle.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist, Logical-Mathematical skills)