Rocket versus Spacecraft

04/06/2008 (Wednesday)

a) Game: Simon says.....
I replaced Hui Ping Teacher who wasn’t feeling well. I woke the kids up and after drinking water, we went downstairs. As it was raining, we did “Simon says play this……….play that”. This time, I got the kids to portray and his or her friends would imitate him or her. Everyone took part. YZ, M and J gave clear instructions.

b) Song: Rain, rain, go away.......
As it was raining, we talked about rain, sunlight and rainbow. Then we sang the song. We also substitued the underlined words with the kids' names.
“ Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day,
Little children want to play!”

c) Rocket versus Spacecraft
Next, I asked them if they could remember about “a rocket”. A standard rocket carries ‘satellite” and they drop their parts at two stages. The portion would fall to the ground or any open space which predicted by the Scientist. These portions will fall after their Oxygen is fully used up for fuel burning to assist rocket’s zooming. The satellite will go round the orbits.
Then, I introduced “ Spacecraft” . A Spacecraft consist of 2 small rockets, a big fuel tank and a spaceship. On the way zooming to the space, the 2 small rockets would fall and after another while, the bigger tank would fall. They would then be collected by the scientist to reuse. Now the spacecraft is lighter and can fly faster and more easily. Astronauts would be in the spaceship. Their working environment is very
rigid. Example: their food are all in packets to overcome the non-gravity in the space. Some kids thought that they wouldn't enjoy food that way. Example: J likes curry noodles which would unlikely be packed......ha ha ha. Then, the kids were given a colouring page on “Spacecraft”.

d) Story-telling: Two Silly Goats
After tea break, the kids gathered for a story session. The title was “Two Silly Goats”. YP asked the meaning of “silly” on behalf of the kids. They laughed when they know it's another word for “dumb or stupid”. The two goats wanted to cross a river using a narrow bridge. In the middle of the bridge, they didn't tolerate and started to quarrel and fight. They stamped their feet on the wooden old bridge. As they were very angry, they were not even aware that pieces of wood had fallen into the river. Eventually, they fell into the river. They screamed but it was too late. They drwoned as they couldn't swim.
Then I asked for the kids' opinions about the story. JS said, “We must not fight!”. ZYg said, “We must give way.” YZ said, “We cannot be angry!” The morale of the story was, “We must always think of others and not be selfish.”
I do hope that the kids learnt from this story. At times, they always argue and rarely tolerate. They like the phrase, “I am here first! I take first!”......