30/07/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Compsognathus
* We learnt about Compsognathus. It is as tall as a chicken. It’s only 60 metres. It is as heavy as a new born baby which is 3kg
ZY : Then, can it run faster than a Velociraptor.
T : Yes…..because it is lighter and smaller.
M : What does it eat?
T : It’s a meat-eater. Example: it eats lizards. Let’s learn a new song.
“The Compsognathus Song”.
The dinosaur went over the mountain (x3)
To see what he could see. (x3)
There was a new green jungle (x3)
Was all that he could see. (x3)
Was all that he could see (x2)
There was a new green jungle,
Was all that he could see.
b) Numbers
* We recap on numbers. I drew a table of 10 columns and 5 rows. Then, the kids came out to write the numbers. Each wrote 2 – 3 numbers. LX, XR needed more guidance. The kids learnt to say and write 1 – 50.
* I pointed the numbers randomly for them to read.
c) Unpleasant words
* Some kids were found to say some unpleasant words. This negative situation stopped for a while
and now it is back.
l Someone said “pian thai” and I they had no idea the meaning of it. In fact, the kid who started
saying this word, put up his hand thinking as if it was something “great”. I explained.
l I shard with them the stabbing case in a school recently. The 17 year-old student got mad and
acted violently against his 15 year-old friend who always scolded him unpleasant words!
l They promised to say more good words.
d) Homework: The Dinosaur Board Game.
* The kids played this big board game in the class before.
* The kids need to complete the numbers on the worksheet.
* Then they need to make a dice and 2 little people as indicators.
* If the player gets number “6” from the dice, they can play another round.
* When they reach 10/20/30/40/50, they need to add another 5 points.
* When the player reaches the head, they have to slide down to the tail.
*The winner is the first person to reach number “54”.
e) Colouring
* The kids coloured the picture of Ankylosaurus which they learnt 2 days ago.
* J asked permission to take an Anylosaurus toy to look at the colour. The other kids looked at the
class poster.
f) Water is important
* Yesterday afternoon, the kids said water prevent us from falling sick. However, they are still around 6 kids who were irresponsible to drink water. They needed Teacher’s consistent reminder.
* To avoid this, I shared with them a picture of our body and also our digestive system.
* Lack of water would cause improper digestive system. It would also affect our skin.
* The food we eat nowadays consist of chemical. Unhealthy food will create sickness. Some even would create small stones as out intestines were not properly cleaned.
* Water is very important.
Our Pomegranate friends！
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Balancing the Stegosaurus’s legs.
29/07/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Corner Playing
* Kids chose toys to play. Some preferred colouring. LX, SJ, ZYg,ZY preferred colouring while the others chose their play.
b) “Hello, how are you?”
* English Reciting Program:
A : Hello, how are you today?”
B : I am fine, thank you. And you?
A : How are your father, mother, brother and sister?
B : They are very well, thanks.
* We took a look at our Stegosaurus Craft. We discussed the placement of the legs. The kids worked as a team. Half went to read storybooks while the other half pasted the 2 legs. Then they exchanged roles to fix the other 2 legs.
c) Analysing the craft
ZYg: Teacher, the Stegosaurus can’t stand. (The class laughed!)
T : What can we do?
ZY : Let’s use my egg cartons to fix the end of the
legs.
T : Good idea!
The class agreed to make 2 trees for the hungry Stegosaurus. Thus, 3 leaders were chosen to guide the kids. ZY headed group one to make a tree. EG headed group 2 to make another tree. YP headed another group to continue with the Stegosaurus craft. YW said the dinosaur is too soft. So, we used more newspaper to wrap the Stegosaurus.They showed more team work and independence.
d) I don’t want to be your friend!
* Some kids tend to say, “If you don’t give me your pencil or biscuit, I don’t want to be your friend!”
* I asked the kids to be honest if they ever said that sentence before. Surprisingly, more than half of the class admitted. A few said, that was last time. Now, I don’t say that anymore.
* The kids promised that they wouldn’t do that again.
a) Corner Playing
* Kids chose toys to play. Some preferred colouring. LX, SJ, ZYg,ZY preferred colouring while the others chose their play.
b) “Hello, how are you?”
* English Reciting Program:
A : Hello, how are you today?”
B : I am fine, thank you. And you?
A : How are your father, mother, brother and sister?
B : They are very well, thanks.
* We took a look at our Stegosaurus Craft. We discussed the placement of the legs. The kids worked as a team. Half went to read storybooks while the other half pasted the 2 legs. Then they exchanged roles to fix the other 2 legs.
c) Analysing the craft
ZYg: Teacher, the Stegosaurus can’t stand. (The class laughed!)
T : What can we do?
ZY : Let’s use my egg cartons to fix the end of the
legs.
T : Good idea!
The class agreed to make 2 trees for the hungry Stegosaurus. Thus, 3 leaders were chosen to guide the kids. ZY headed group one to make a tree. EG headed group 2 to make another tree. YP headed another group to continue with the Stegosaurus craft. YW said the dinosaur is too soft. So, we used more newspaper to wrap the Stegosaurus.They showed more team work and independence.
d) I don’t want to be your friend!
* Some kids tend to say, “If you don’t give me your pencil or biscuit, I don’t want to be your friend!”
* I asked the kids to be honest if they ever said that sentence before. Surprisingly, more than half of the class admitted. A few said, that was last time. Now, I don’t say that anymore.
* The kids promised that they wouldn’t do that again.
Ankylosaurus
28/07/2008 (Monday)
a) JS’s pictures.
* The kids chose their favourite toys.
*JS excitedly showed me his various drawings of dinosaurs. Then, he told me their names. At one point, he realized his Spinosaurus did not have spines. As he had no more place to draw the spines, I suggested we changed it into Ankylosurus which he agreed. So, he and I drew spines. I gave him a cardboard and he determinely pasted them using glue. Other friends came to observe. Ahh……I could see his satisfaction.
* I called 2 kids for Space assessment.
* The kids were happy to see JW who had gone for a one week holiday.
b) About Ankylosaurus.
* They cleared the toys and sang their favourite song, “Dinosaurs!”
* Today we talked about Ankylosaurus, “the Armoured
Dinosaur”. They learnt the ways it protect itself
even from T-Rex. It had spikes at the side, bone
plates on its body surface and bony clubs at the end
of its tail. Some had 2 bony clubs while some only
one. However, if it overturned; it reveals its softer
body and would not be able to protect itself.
* Its height is only 1 metre and width of 2 metre.
YZ and ZY : We are taller than Ankylosaurus!
c) Stegosaurus’s legs
* We continued with our Stegosaurus craft.
T : Are the 4 legs able to help the Stegosaurus stand?
YZ : No, why don’t we combine 2 bottles together?
YP : But, we don’t have enough bottles. I can bring…..
ZY : No, Teacher. We can use boxes to paste the end of
the leg. It can stand then.
T : Alright, we shall colour the bottles first and
paste to the Stegosaurus tomorrow. We shall see
whose idea is more suitable.
d) Poster Colouring
The kids were divided into 7 small groups. Each with a brush, they learnt to paint together. Surprisingly, there was no complaints….all enjoying colouring. Now, we have 4 legs and 3 spikes altogether.
e) Sharing of story.
SYu and JN shared their story. JN said the Mother Triceratop laid eggs and the baby was born. Baby said she wanted to play outside but mother said, “Be careful; T-Rex is outside”.
SYu said her Triceratops were eating plants when a T-Rex came. The Mother Triceratop charged it and they won!
a) JS’s pictures.
* The kids chose their favourite toys.
*JS excitedly showed me his various drawings of dinosaurs. Then, he told me their names. At one point, he realized his Spinosaurus did not have spines. As he had no more place to draw the spines, I suggested we changed it into Ankylosurus which he agreed. So, he and I drew spines. I gave him a cardboard and he determinely pasted them using glue. Other friends came to observe. Ahh……I could see his satisfaction.
* I called 2 kids for Space assessment.
* The kids were happy to see JW who had gone for a one week holiday.
b) About Ankylosaurus.
* They cleared the toys and sang their favourite song, “Dinosaurs!”
* Today we talked about Ankylosaurus, “the Armoured
Dinosaur”. They learnt the ways it protect itself
even from T-Rex. It had spikes at the side, bone
plates on its body surface and bony clubs at the end
of its tail. Some had 2 bony clubs while some only
one. However, if it overturned; it reveals its softer
body and would not be able to protect itself.
* Its height is only 1 metre and width of 2 metre.
YZ and ZY : We are taller than Ankylosaurus!
c) Stegosaurus’s legs
* We continued with our Stegosaurus craft.
T : Are the 4 legs able to help the Stegosaurus stand?
YZ : No, why don’t we combine 2 bottles together?
YP : But, we don’t have enough bottles. I can bring…..
ZY : No, Teacher. We can use boxes to paste the end of
the leg. It can stand then.
T : Alright, we shall colour the bottles first and
paste to the Stegosaurus tomorrow. We shall see
whose idea is more suitable.
d) Poster Colouring
The kids were divided into 7 small groups. Each with a brush, they learnt to paint together. Surprisingly, there was no complaints….all enjoying colouring. Now, we have 4 legs and 3 spikes altogether.
e) Sharing of story.
SYu and JN shared their story. JN said the Mother Triceratop laid eggs and the baby was born. Baby said she wanted to play outside but mother said, “Be careful; T-Rex is outside”.
SYu said her Triceratops were eating plants when a T-Rex came. The Mother Triceratop charged it and they won!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Dinosaurs from lizards?
25/07/2008 (Friday)
a) Where did Dinosaurs come from?
* Kids looked at pictures involving the different stages of earth:
a) no life b) primitive animals such as jellyfish
and sponges in the sea.
c) Invertebrate backbones in the sea. d) Vertebrate
fishes
e) Frog-like animals that live in water and on land.
f) The first reptiles similar to frog-like creatures.
g) Triassic dinosaurs, Jurassic dinosaurs and
Cretaceous dinosaurs.
h) Caveman, mammals and birds.
* Dinosaurs probably developed from ‘thecodonts” an
early small and medium-sized reptiles. There were many
types and they mixed around to form different types of
dinosaurs.
* That explains why a mixture marriage between 2
different races produce unique looking babies
YP : “Maybe a big meat-eater married to another
meat-eater will get a T-Rex”…..that’s the
theory.
b) What’s next?
* The kids looked at their incomplete Stegosaurus. ZYg asked, ‘What about the legs?” ZY said, “Let’s
use small boxes.” T: “What about something stronger?” M: “What about plastic?” ZY: “Our
recycled plastic bottles!” T: Good idea.
T: What about the spikes?
YZ: We can use colour paper.
T : Anything stronger?
J : Smaller plastic bottles.
T : Good idea!
c) Reading time
* After tea-break, I allowed the kids 10 minutes to read books. They like reading while chatting and sharing information.
* SYu was complaining to me, “XR doesn’t want to befriend me.”
XR : “SYu doesn’t let me play with her.”
T : Is there such thing?
SYu : (silence) SJ asked me not to let her play.
* Thus, I drew 3 faces namely A,B and C. If A wants to play with B, who will fell sad? Class: “C will be sad!” YP : Then you cannot sleep well. ZY : Because you have hurt your friend. C might also asked somebody not play with A and B. Everyone will be very sad. Sad people usually has no friends. Hmm….throughout the next hour, there was no quarreling. Hm……let’s see next week.
d) Enough characters?
ZY: We want to have a performance for The Stegosaurus
story.
T: That will have to depend on your hard work and
responsibilities. Do we have enough characters
for all our 19 friends？
Class: No!
* So we added a few other characters including jelly fish and the frog-like creatures.
e) Stegosaurus craft.
* Today we focused on the dino’s legs. They were divided into groups. Altogether, there were 4 big bottles and 3 small bottles as legs and spikes.
* they tear the newspaper into bits of pieces. Then glued together as a team. They were quite efficient and the results were quite nice.
f) Afternoon session.
* They enjoyed themselves.
* They dug a long river which flows into a big sea. When the water couldn’t flow into the big sea, they learnt that the river should be from higher to lower level in order for the water to flow smoothly.
* We revised our phonics books on “A Dog and A Fox” and “Sim and Kim”. We read together. I got ZY to be a little helper.. After rewarding stickers, they continue colouring their unfinished workbook of “The Dinosaur World”.
a) Where did Dinosaurs come from?
* Kids looked at pictures involving the different stages of earth:
a) no life b) primitive animals such as jellyfish
and sponges in the sea.
c) Invertebrate backbones in the sea. d) Vertebrate
fishes
e) Frog-like animals that live in water and on land.
f) The first reptiles similar to frog-like creatures.
g) Triassic dinosaurs, Jurassic dinosaurs and
Cretaceous dinosaurs.
h) Caveman, mammals and birds.
* Dinosaurs probably developed from ‘thecodonts” an
early small and medium-sized reptiles. There were many
types and they mixed around to form different types of
dinosaurs.
* That explains why a mixture marriage between 2
different races produce unique looking babies
YP : “Maybe a big meat-eater married to another
meat-eater will get a T-Rex”…..that’s the
theory.
b) What’s next?
* The kids looked at their incomplete Stegosaurus. ZYg asked, ‘What about the legs?” ZY said, “Let’s
use small boxes.” T: “What about something stronger?” M: “What about plastic?” ZY: “Our
recycled plastic bottles!” T: Good idea.
T: What about the spikes?
YZ: We can use colour paper.
T : Anything stronger?
J : Smaller plastic bottles.
T : Good idea!
c) Reading time
* After tea-break, I allowed the kids 10 minutes to read books. They like reading while chatting and sharing information.
* SYu was complaining to me, “XR doesn’t want to befriend me.”
XR : “SYu doesn’t let me play with her.”
T : Is there such thing?
SYu : (silence) SJ asked me not to let her play.
* Thus, I drew 3 faces namely A,B and C. If A wants to play with B, who will fell sad? Class: “C will be sad!” YP : Then you cannot sleep well. ZY : Because you have hurt your friend. C might also asked somebody not play with A and B. Everyone will be very sad. Sad people usually has no friends. Hmm….throughout the next hour, there was no quarreling. Hm……let’s see next week.
d) Enough characters?
ZY: We want to have a performance for The Stegosaurus
story.
T: That will have to depend on your hard work and
responsibilities. Do we have enough characters
for all our 19 friends？
Class: No!
* So we added a few other characters including jelly fish and the frog-like creatures.
e) Stegosaurus craft.
* Today we focused on the dino’s legs. They were divided into groups. Altogether, there were 4 big bottles and 3 small bottles as legs and spikes.
* they tear the newspaper into bits of pieces. Then glued together as a team. They were quite efficient and the results were quite nice.
f) Afternoon session.
* They enjoyed themselves.
* They dug a long river which flows into a big sea. When the water couldn’t flow into the big sea, they learnt that the river should be from higher to lower level in order for the water to flow smoothly.
* We revised our phonics books on “A Dog and A Fox” and “Sim and Kim”. We read together. I got ZY to be a little helper.. After rewarding stickers, they continue colouring their unfinished workbook of “The Dinosaur World”.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Our Stegosaurus Story
24/07/2008 (Thursday)
a) Storybook: If Dogs Were Dinosaurs.
* After music class, the kids drank water.
* Then we had a story session on “If Dogs Were Dinosaurs”. The kids were very attentive and imaginative. YZ, M, ZYg, YP, LX, SYu, JS all gave their opinions.
* Imagine a dinosaur dog stepping onto your car or urinating; which you thought was the smelly rain…haaa!
* Imagine you had a sister dinosaur who could carry the moon. * Imagine you being the dinosaur and playing basenall in the Space. The ball would be the tiny Earth.
* Imagine you had spaghetti hair and everyone would like to eat your hair.
* Imagine your face was carved on the big mountain, how would you feel?
* They were able to apply words learnt from “Dinosaur thematic” such as plates, strong tail, roar and also charged!
b) I want to tell my story.
* 5 kids handed up their homework although the dateline is tomorrow.
* Eugene started sharing in front of the class.
“Baby Triceratop wanted to eat some grass. Mother took him to the field. Suddenly, Megalosaurus ran to eat baby Triceratop. Luckily, Mother Triceratop charged the Megalosaurus and it died. Both mother and baby Triceratop enjoyed the juicy grass!”
* Jin Shan shared.
* “Baby Triceratop said it’s hungry. Mother brought him to llok for plants. Suddenly, T-Rex came and attacked the baby. Mother Triceratop charged the T-Rex and it died. Lastly, they enjoyed the plants happily.”
* Justin shared eagerly.
“Baby Triceratops said he was hungry. Mother said they would look for plants. Suddenly T-Rex came and attacked them. Finally, they enjoyed their plants.”
* Le Xin shared.
“Baby Triceratop was hungry and mother asked what she wanted to eat. She wanted to eat grapes. Then they went to the “Alphabet Garden” to look for grapes.”
Their friends clapped and were happy.
c) A kind heart.
* After tea break, the kids would read storybooks together which
was fun to do.
Then, they gathered for the continuation of class.
YW’s chair accidentally hit JN’s foot. YW didn’t want to apologise. YW always needed more time to think of her actions.
We learnt, “When we do right things, our heart will shine and be happy. When we make mistakes and do not want to admit, our heart would feel restless or worried.” A good example was a thief and a police or a liar and a friend.
d) Our Stegosaurus Story.
I drew a Stegosaurus and the kids continued the story.
ZY : A Stegosaurus was eating some grass.
ZYg: It could hear some sound. A Velociraptor was eating the dead body of a Spinosaurus……Pitiful, said the Stegosaurus.
WY : Then came a hungry Megalosaurus. It wanted to eat Stegosaurus.
J : It hit the Megalosaurus with its spiky tail.
YP : It pumped its blood to its vein and the plates became really red. The Megalosaurus ran away.
JS : Then came a hungry T-Rex. It wanted to eat Stegosaurus.
EG : It bit Stegosauru’s leg and made it very angry.
SYu: Again, the plates became red and scared away the T-Rex.
J : Not far away, 3 people form the Earth accidentally fell through a Volcano tunnel and they arrived “The Dinosaur World”.
LX : Megalosaurus wanted to eat the three people.
ZY : Then, T-Rex saw Megalosaurus and wanted to eat it. Luckily, Megalosaurus died and T-Rex was enjoying its meat.
JH : They hopped onto Stegosaurus’s back and became friends. Stegosaurus brought them to the volcano and they climbed back to Earth.
T : They became good friends!
e) More Newspaper.
ZY brought some newspaper. We need more crumpled one for the Stegosaurus’s 3D-model.
The kids queued up to crumple more newspaper. They had to do it tightly and enjoyed the process.
f) Phonics: “og”.
In the afternoon, we had Phonics session of “og”. The kids did an exercise. Words: fog, pot, dog, fox, cot.
g) Corner Playing and Stegosaurus craft.
They were so excited of playing with the toys. J and M also played with the girls on cooking.
Meanwhile, some kids took turn to assist me doing the Stegosaurus craft. Example: YP, SJ, XR, LX, JK and JN. In fact, I awarded LX a sticker because LX helped JK to gain confidence. LX taught him how and where to paste the cellophane tape. LX was very happy.
As a small family, we prayed for Max’s grandmother who fell down and is now in the hospital. We closed our eyes and say some short English sentences to get blessing.
a) Storybook: If Dogs Were Dinosaurs.
* After music class, the kids drank water.
* Then we had a story session on “If Dogs Were Dinosaurs”. The kids were very attentive and imaginative. YZ, M, ZYg, YP, LX, SYu, JS all gave their opinions.
* Imagine a dinosaur dog stepping onto your car or urinating; which you thought was the smelly rain…haaa!
* Imagine you had a sister dinosaur who could carry the moon. * Imagine you being the dinosaur and playing basenall in the Space. The ball would be the tiny Earth.
* Imagine you had spaghetti hair and everyone would like to eat your hair.
* Imagine your face was carved on the big mountain, how would you feel?
* They were able to apply words learnt from “Dinosaur thematic” such as plates, strong tail, roar and also charged!
b) I want to tell my story.
* 5 kids handed up their homework although the dateline is tomorrow.
* Eugene started sharing in front of the class.
“Baby Triceratop wanted to eat some grass. Mother took him to the field. Suddenly, Megalosaurus ran to eat baby Triceratop. Luckily, Mother Triceratop charged the Megalosaurus and it died. Both mother and baby Triceratop enjoyed the juicy grass!”
* Jin Shan shared.
* “Baby Triceratop said it’s hungry. Mother brought him to llok for plants. Suddenly, T-Rex came and attacked the baby. Mother Triceratop charged the T-Rex and it died. Lastly, they enjoyed the plants happily.”
* Justin shared eagerly.
“Baby Triceratops said he was hungry. Mother said they would look for plants. Suddenly T-Rex came and attacked them. Finally, they enjoyed their plants.”
* Le Xin shared.
“Baby Triceratop was hungry and mother asked what she wanted to eat. She wanted to eat grapes. Then they went to the “Alphabet Garden” to look for grapes.”
Their friends clapped and were happy.
c) A kind heart.
* After tea break, the kids would read storybooks together which
was fun to do.
Then, they gathered for the continuation of class.
YW’s chair accidentally hit JN’s foot. YW didn’t want to apologise. YW always needed more time to think of her actions.
We learnt, “When we do right things, our heart will shine and be happy. When we make mistakes and do not want to admit, our heart would feel restless or worried.” A good example was a thief and a police or a liar and a friend.
d) Our Stegosaurus Story.
I drew a Stegosaurus and the kids continued the story.
ZY : A Stegosaurus was eating some grass.
ZYg: It could hear some sound. A Velociraptor was eating the dead body of a Spinosaurus……Pitiful, said the Stegosaurus.
WY : Then came a hungry Megalosaurus. It wanted to eat Stegosaurus.
J : It hit the Megalosaurus with its spiky tail.
YP : It pumped its blood to its vein and the plates became really red. The Megalosaurus ran away.
JS : Then came a hungry T-Rex. It wanted to eat Stegosaurus.
EG : It bit Stegosauru’s leg and made it very angry.
SYu: Again, the plates became red and scared away the T-Rex.
J : Not far away, 3 people form the Earth accidentally fell through a Volcano tunnel and they arrived “The Dinosaur World”.
LX : Megalosaurus wanted to eat the three people.
ZY : Then, T-Rex saw Megalosaurus and wanted to eat it. Luckily, Megalosaurus died and T-Rex was enjoying its meat.
JH : They hopped onto Stegosaurus’s back and became friends. Stegosaurus brought them to the volcano and they climbed back to Earth.
T : They became good friends!
e) More Newspaper.
ZY brought some newspaper. We need more crumpled one for the Stegosaurus’s 3D-model.
The kids queued up to crumple more newspaper. They had to do it tightly and enjoyed the process.
f) Phonics: “og”.
In the afternoon, we had Phonics session of “og”. The kids did an exercise. Words: fog, pot, dog, fox, cot.
g) Corner Playing and Stegosaurus craft.
They were so excited of playing with the toys. J and M also played with the girls on cooking.
Meanwhile, some kids took turn to assist me doing the Stegosaurus craft. Example: YP, SJ, XR, LX, JK and JN. In fact, I awarded LX a sticker because LX helped JK to gain confidence. LX taught him how and where to paste the cellophane tape. LX was very happy.
As a small family, we prayed for Max’s grandmother who fell down and is now in the hospital. We closed our eyes and say some short English sentences to get blessing.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
A fun homework!
23/07/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Morning music.
* After “lun yi” or Chinese Reciting Poems, the kids gathered to class and drank water. Then they attended Music class. My class begins at 9.15 a.m. effective from today.
b) Learn to play together.
* They asked for Corner Playing. I allowed. YZ and EG had a disagreement because EG’s dinosaur’s tail hit his hand lightly. YZ claimed that EG purposely hit him while EG said, I was only playing with the toys.
* Thus, I gathered the kids together. “We learnt to play together and not so rough.”
* The kids laid the various coloured cloths. I laid 2 baskets upside down.
* Once upon a time, there was a group og Plant-Eaters dinosaurs. They were Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops and also Ankylosaurus.” The dinosaurs grazed for plants.
* On the other land, there were 2 T-Rexes. One a male and a female. The female laid eggs while the male searched for food. He killed a Stegosaurus. Then he chased a young Triceratop. It screamed for help. The mother Triceratop came to charge the T-Rex. The T-Rex ran away.”
* The kids learnt to play carefully and intelligently.
* I mananged to do 3 Individual Space Assessment.
c) The Dinosaur Song and new vocabulary.
* After tea break, the kids sang another round of “The Dinosaurs” song. They loved it! Today, we focused on the vocabs. The vocabs were the underlined words.
The Dinosaur Song
Dinosaurs x 2,
D I N O S A U R,
Some were small and fast, Some were big and slow;
Some walked alone, Some walked in herds;
Some ate meat, Some ate plants;
Some were fierce, some were tame,
DINOSAURS! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
d) Triceratops
* We used ZJ’s book.
T : What’s the meaning of Tri?
JS : three…horns.
T : Does it move alone or in a herd? In a herd. Look at ZJ’s book.
YZ : The T-Rex is chasing the baby Triceratop.
T : Yes but it roared for help. The adult Triceratops quickly ran to charge the T-Rex.
ZYg : Wow! The Triceratops is so strong!
T : How does it protect itself?
YP : With the 3 horns and the big head.
T : It’s called the frill which also has bones and muscles.
T : What does it eat?
Class : Plants.
The height is twice an adult. It is heavy about 6-12,000 kg equals to 90 adults.
They are 9 metres long equals to 4.5 whiteboards. “Wow!”exclaimed the kids.
e) Homework: Teamwork with family
* It has 2 parts.
(i) Colour page 4 of “The Dinosaur World” Workbook. Then, the
kids had to tell about Triceratop to his or her family.
(ii) Triceratop paper craft: One for an adult while another one
for the kid. Learn to read instructions. Train your kid’s
cutting skill. Then, create a simple conversation so that the
kids will present to the class. Have fun!
f) Stegosaurus CD
* The kids finally got the chance to watch this CD brought over by ZYg. They
observed how a Stegosaurus hit its predator with its spikes. It also uses its
plates to scare away them. This was becauseit had blood veins in its plates. It
would pump blood from its heart to its plates.
g) Worksheet: Spot The Differences
* YZ said “difference” means what is not the same. Very good! They had to find
the 6 differences in the two pictures. Each difference was circled and numbered.
* At this year round, these kids already know how to argue when their friends said their answers were wrong. They even learnt to defend themselves with reasons.
a) Morning music.
* After “lun yi” or Chinese Reciting Poems, the kids gathered to class and drank water. Then they attended Music class. My class begins at 9.15 a.m. effective from today.
b) Learn to play together.
* They asked for Corner Playing. I allowed. YZ and EG had a disagreement because EG’s dinosaur’s tail hit his hand lightly. YZ claimed that EG purposely hit him while EG said, I was only playing with the toys.
* Thus, I gathered the kids together. “We learnt to play together and not so rough.”
* The kids laid the various coloured cloths. I laid 2 baskets upside down.
* Once upon a time, there was a group og Plant-Eaters dinosaurs. They were Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops and also Ankylosaurus.” The dinosaurs grazed for plants.
* On the other land, there were 2 T-Rexes. One a male and a female. The female laid eggs while the male searched for food. He killed a Stegosaurus. Then he chased a young Triceratop. It screamed for help. The mother Triceratop came to charge the T-Rex. The T-Rex ran away.”
* The kids learnt to play carefully and intelligently.
* I mananged to do 3 Individual Space Assessment.
c) The Dinosaur Song and new vocabulary.
* After tea break, the kids sang another round of “The Dinosaurs” song. They loved it! Today, we focused on the vocabs. The vocabs were the underlined words.
The Dinosaur Song
Dinosaurs x 2,
D I N O S A U R,
Some were small and fast, Some were big and slow;
Some walked alone, Some walked in herds;
Some ate meat, Some ate plants;
Some were fierce, some were tame,
DINOSAURS! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
d) Triceratops
* We used ZJ’s book.
T : What’s the meaning of Tri?
JS : three…horns.
T : Does it move alone or in a herd? In a herd. Look at ZJ’s book.
YZ : The T-Rex is chasing the baby Triceratop.
T : Yes but it roared for help. The adult Triceratops quickly ran to charge the T-Rex.
ZYg : Wow! The Triceratops is so strong!
T : How does it protect itself?
YP : With the 3 horns and the big head.
T : It’s called the frill which also has bones and muscles.
T : What does it eat?
Class : Plants.
The height is twice an adult. It is heavy about 6-12,000 kg equals to 90 adults.
They are 9 metres long equals to 4.5 whiteboards. “Wow!”exclaimed the kids.
e) Homework: Teamwork with family
* It has 2 parts.
(i) Colour page 4 of “The Dinosaur World” Workbook. Then, the
kids had to tell about Triceratop to his or her family.
(ii) Triceratop paper craft: One for an adult while another one
for the kid. Learn to read instructions. Train your kid’s
cutting skill. Then, create a simple conversation so that the
kids will present to the class. Have fun!
f) Stegosaurus CD
* The kids finally got the chance to watch this CD brought over by ZYg. They
observed how a Stegosaurus hit its predator with its spikes. It also uses its
plates to scare away them. This was becauseit had blood veins in its plates. It
would pump blood from its heart to its plates.
g) Worksheet: Spot The Differences
* YZ said “difference” means what is not the same. Very good! They had to find
the 6 differences in the two pictures. Each difference was circled and numbered.
* At this year round, these kids already know how to argue when their friends said their answers were wrong. They even learnt to defend themselves with reasons.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Dinosaur Board Game
22/07/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Corner playing and assessment.
*The kids chose their playing included J, JH, EG and ZYg. Some preferred to colour. The colouring kids included LX, SJ, SYu, YP, ZY and JS. ZJ and XR assisted me to paste the crumpled newspaper onto the paperbox. Later, Yp also came to assist.
* I called 3 kids for The Space assessment.
b) Song: The Dinosaurs
* The kids learnt some new words such as fast, slow, alone, herds and roar.
* First, they listened. Then they followed the tune and sang along. Thirdly, they walked around the class to sing with actions. Take a look at the lyrics.
The Dinosaur Song
Dinosaurs x 2,
D I N O S A U R,
Some were small and fast, Some were big and slow;
Some walked alone, Some walked in herds;
Some ate meat, Some ate plants;
Some were fierce, some were tame,
DINOSAURS! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
c) The Dinosaur Board Game
* I introduced a board game. Each kid would be represented by an object. First, they will throw the dice. They will move according to the number shown on the dice. If they get “6”, then they can throw another time. If they reach any of the dinosaur’s head, they will have to slide down the body to the tail.
* Anyone who reaches numbers “10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80” they will automatically get extra 5 points. So, they will move further upwards.
* The kids were divided into 3 groups. Each group has a board game with a dice and the objects. They were very happy with it although there were some misunderstandings at times.
d) Stegosaurus Craft
* While 2 groups were playing, the other group assisted me with the Stegosaurus craft. They pasted the crumpled paper onto its paperbox body. The paper must be compact so that the dinosaur look compact and solid. They added more crumpled paper in the middle of the dinosaur to represent the stomach.
* They had to tolerate with friends when doing this activity. Example: becareful not to brush glue onto their friends’ hands…haaa!
a) Corner playing and assessment.
*The kids chose their playing included J, JH, EG and ZYg. Some preferred to colour. The colouring kids included LX, SJ, SYu, YP, ZY and JS. ZJ and XR assisted me to paste the crumpled newspaper onto the paperbox. Later, Yp also came to assist.
* I called 3 kids for The Space assessment.
b) Song: The Dinosaurs
* The kids learnt some new words such as fast, slow, alone, herds and roar.
* First, they listened. Then they followed the tune and sang along. Thirdly, they walked around the class to sing with actions. Take a look at the lyrics.
The Dinosaur Song
Dinosaurs x 2,
D I N O S A U R,
Some were small and fast, Some were big and slow;
Some walked alone, Some walked in herds;
Some ate meat, Some ate plants;
Some were fierce, some were tame,
DINOSAURS! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
c) The Dinosaur Board Game
* I introduced a board game. Each kid would be represented by an object. First, they will throw the dice. They will move according to the number shown on the dice. If they get “6”, then they can throw another time. If they reach any of the dinosaur’s head, they will have to slide down the body to the tail.
* Anyone who reaches numbers “10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80” they will automatically get extra 5 points. So, they will move further upwards.
* The kids were divided into 3 groups. Each group has a board game with a dice and the objects. They were very happy with it although there were some misunderstandings at times.
d) Stegosaurus Craft
* While 2 groups were playing, the other group assisted me with the Stegosaurus craft. They pasted the crumpled paper onto its paperbox body. The paper must be compact so that the dinosaur look compact and solid. They added more crumpled paper in the middle of the dinosaur to represent the stomach.
* They had to tolerate with friends when doing this activity. Example: becareful not to brush glue onto their friends’ hands…haaa!
Monday, July 21, 2008
What’s a Protoceratop?
21/07/2008 (Monday)
a) The Space Assessment
* The children hid as Protoceratops today and again I hunted for them either under the table or behind the chairs.
* They chose their play. Some did colouring such as LX, JN, SYu, SJ and ZJ.
* I did “The Space Assessment” with the kids individually. 4 kids were called. ZYg surprised me as he was able to read names of planets rather than some common words. True enough, he was really interested in “Space”.
b) JN’s birthday wish
* JN came in excitedly to announce that, “Teacher, today is my birthday”. Everyone was happy especially seeing the party packs.
* We revised words from the “ABCs’ Reciting program”. I includede JN as she was so excited. The words introduced included: king, queen, father, mother, horse, lion and a dinosaur called Protoceratops.
* JN celebrated her birthday at the garden with her father and mother. Her wish was that she could meet the great King and Queen. A “Protoceratops” dinosaur heard her wish and sent the message to the King and Queen. The King and Queen were very happy to visit her. They rode on their pet lion and presented a little horse as a “present” to JN. Along the storyline, the kids helped me with it. In fact, YZ asked that we perform this story as a drama. I said we would perform another drama but of a longer storyline. We would perform a darma related to the “Dinosaur World”.
c)Protoceratop looked like a parrot!
* After celebrating JN’s birthday, the kids gathered to learn more about Proceratops from Eugene’s book.
* It has the beak of a parrot and without teeth. It’s a plant-eater and has a frill on its head. The frill was actually a very short horn. Its length was 2metres and weighed 400kgs. YZ said, “Wow, it’s as long as the whiteboard!” The weight of 400kg is similar of the weight of all the children together with Teacher Jen and Teacher Yap. ZY said, “Then, we can ride on a Protoceratops”.
* YP said it was also clever because after laying an egg, it would move slightly forward to lay another egg. JN added that the eggs would not cracked!
* The babies could already walk once hatched from the eggs.
* So, the kids did colouring on their worksheet of “Protoceratops”.
d)Craft: Stegosaurus’s body
* Meanwhile, I called the kids to paste the crumpled newspaper onto the dinosaur’s body. They took turn to apply some glue onto the paper boxed-Stegosaurus dinosaur. Then they pressed the crumpled newspaper so that they look compact. Each kid pasted about 4 balls of paper. EG and ZJ showed great excitement.
a) The Space Assessment
* The children hid as Protoceratops today and again I hunted for them either under the table or behind the chairs.
* They chose their play. Some did colouring such as LX, JN, SYu, SJ and ZJ.
* I did “The Space Assessment” with the kids individually. 4 kids were called. ZYg surprised me as he was able to read names of planets rather than some common words. True enough, he was really interested in “Space”.
b) JN’s birthday wish
* JN came in excitedly to announce that, “Teacher, today is my birthday”. Everyone was happy especially seeing the party packs.
* We revised words from the “ABCs’ Reciting program”. I includede JN as she was so excited. The words introduced included: king, queen, father, mother, horse, lion and a dinosaur called Protoceratops.
* JN celebrated her birthday at the garden with her father and mother. Her wish was that she could meet the great King and Queen. A “Protoceratops” dinosaur heard her wish and sent the message to the King and Queen. The King and Queen were very happy to visit her. They rode on their pet lion and presented a little horse as a “present” to JN. Along the storyline, the kids helped me with it. In fact, YZ asked that we perform this story as a drama. I said we would perform another drama but of a longer storyline. We would perform a darma related to the “Dinosaur World”.
c)Protoceratop looked like a parrot!
* After celebrating JN’s birthday, the kids gathered to learn more about Proceratops from Eugene’s book.
* It has the beak of a parrot and without teeth. It’s a plant-eater and has a frill on its head. The frill was actually a very short horn. Its length was 2metres and weighed 400kgs. YZ said, “Wow, it’s as long as the whiteboard!” The weight of 400kg is similar of the weight of all the children together with Teacher Jen and Teacher Yap. ZY said, “Then, we can ride on a Protoceratops”.
* YP said it was also clever because after laying an egg, it would move slightly forward to lay another egg. JN added that the eggs would not cracked!
* The babies could already walk once hatched from the eggs.
* So, the kids did colouring on their worksheet of “Protoceratops”.
d)Craft: Stegosaurus’s body
* Meanwhile, I called the kids to paste the crumpled newspaper onto the dinosaur’s body. They took turn to apply some glue onto the paper boxed-Stegosaurus dinosaur. Then they pressed the crumpled newspaper so that they look compact. Each kid pasted about 4 balls of paper. EG and ZJ showed great excitement.
Friday, July 18, 2008
He is not “action”!
08/07/2008 (Friday)
a) Yun Zhe and origami
* Everyone was playing with toys. Today everyone seemed to play with one another. However, Justin, Le Xin, Zi Jun, Wen Yue and Eugene always needed me to remind them to quickly put their bags on the rack before drinking water. They had been told that water might spilt onto their bags and there will be less place to play and walk around.
* Yun Zhe cried as he wanted his mother. I got him down from the car. As he was holding an origami book; I asked him whose book was that. He stopped crying and showed me his interest page. As we had another 15 minutes before the next period, I guided him to fold the “frog”. Wen Yue was interested and joined us. Yun Zhe suggested that I used that as a puppet to talk to children……haaa!
b) Story: The Little Triceratop
* The kids gathered to hear a story. It was the courtesy of Jin Shan. I used the frog to assist me in story telling. It was a very funny story that made all the children laughed!!
* Title “The Little Triceratop”. The baby triceratops was called Bee Bee. One sunny morning, he was walking. Suddenly, he saw a black monster. He screamed, “Argghhhh!!!! Monster!!” He started running. The monster kept chasing him. Suddenly, Bee Bee tripped and fell down. He cried….but the monster is missing! Then, his mother came. “Bee Bee, that is only your SHADOW”. All the children laughed! They learnt the word “shadow”.
* Under the sunlight or bright moonlight, we can see our shadow.
Craft: Our Stegosaurus
* We continued with our “Stegosaurus” craft. As we did not have enough plates, each kid made a few more. Today, they coloured the plates red as a Stegosaurus’s plates contained blood veins!
* 5 kids checked the crumpled newspaper. They ensured that the papers are properly crumpled; so that they would make nicer dinosaur.
* Zi Jun, Jin Shan and Justin assisted me to cut the gigantic Stegosaurus which I drew on the paperbox. Actually, we recycled from their spoilt SpaceCraft. They agreed to do that. I disallowed the kids to handle the blade as it is dangerous.
* Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Justin said, “Wow,…we are geologists!” Jin Shan said, “I am a geologist.” Justin said, “No, we are all geologist. Teacher too!” Wow….friends’ influence!
c) Mathematics Workbook
* We did Mathematics. We did Exercise 1 and 2. Exercise 1 required the kids to match the same number in the square box. Then, they had to circle the matched number.Most of them could do. Justin and Le xin needed some guidance.
* Exercise 2 required the kids to fill in the empty space. It’s a page about numbers 1 until 9. Eugene said it was simple. Ze Yan said he was action! Hmmm……It’s impolite to say that people are bold or action. So, we asked Eugene to write the answers on the whiteboard.
* He could write easily…….I told them, “This is an easy exercise as most of you had already knew numbers 1 until 10.” They smiled. Everyone clapped for Eugene and themselves.
d) The bread seller.
* As Song Chuan was the bread seller yesterday; today he brought 4 slices of raisin bread. Usually, he didn’t bring any food. He said he wanted to share with his friends in the afternoon tea break.
* Ze Yan sold the breads today to the kids. Well…..they were having fun. They learnt to count and even learnt that every little food cause money. They will learn to appreciate more.
* When noboy wanted the bread anymore, Eugene, Zi Yang and Ze Yan said, “Free bread! Free bread!” Jian Wei said, “Wow…discount time!”…….Haaaa！
e) Craft: Our Stegosaurus
* We continued with our “Stegosaurus” craft. As we did not have enough plates, each kid made a few more. Today, they coloured the plates red as a Stegosaurus’s plates contained blood veins!
* 5 kids checked the crumpled newspaper. They ensured that the papers are properly crumpled; so that they would make nicer dinosaur.
* Zi Jun, Jin Shan and Justin assisted me to cut the gigantic Stegosaurus which I drew on the paperbox. Actually, we recycled from their spoilt SpaceCraft. They agreed to do that. I disallowed the kids to handle the blade as it is dangerous.
* Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Justin said, “Wow,…we are geologists!” Jin Shan said, “I am a geologist.” Justin said, “No, we are all geologist. Teacher too!” Wow….friends’ influence!
f) Colouring
* The kids did a colouring page on Stegosaurus. Most of them coloured the plates red except a few who preferred other colours.
* This activity will reinforce their learning of ‘Stegosaurus”.
a) Yun Zhe and origami
* Everyone was playing with toys. Today everyone seemed to play with one another. However, Justin, Le Xin, Zi Jun, Wen Yue and Eugene always needed me to remind them to quickly put their bags on the rack before drinking water. They had been told that water might spilt onto their bags and there will be less place to play and walk around.
* Yun Zhe cried as he wanted his mother. I got him down from the car. As he was holding an origami book; I asked him whose book was that. He stopped crying and showed me his interest page. As we had another 15 minutes before the next period, I guided him to fold the “frog”. Wen Yue was interested and joined us. Yun Zhe suggested that I used that as a puppet to talk to children……haaa!
b) Story: The Little Triceratop
* The kids gathered to hear a story. It was the courtesy of Jin Shan. I used the frog to assist me in story telling. It was a very funny story that made all the children laughed!!
* Title “The Little Triceratop”. The baby triceratops was called Bee Bee. One sunny morning, he was walking. Suddenly, he saw a black monster. He screamed, “Argghhhh!!!! Monster!!” He started running. The monster kept chasing him. Suddenly, Bee Bee tripped and fell down. He cried….but the monster is missing! Then, his mother came. “Bee Bee, that is only your SHADOW”. All the children laughed! They learnt the word “shadow”.
* Under the sunlight or bright moonlight, we can see our shadow.
Craft: Our Stegosaurus
* We continued with our “Stegosaurus” craft. As we did not have enough plates, each kid made a few more. Today, they coloured the plates red as a Stegosaurus’s plates contained blood veins!
* 5 kids checked the crumpled newspaper. They ensured that the papers are properly crumpled; so that they would make nicer dinosaur.
* Zi Jun, Jin Shan and Justin assisted me to cut the gigantic Stegosaurus which I drew on the paperbox. Actually, we recycled from their spoilt SpaceCraft. They agreed to do that. I disallowed the kids to handle the blade as it is dangerous.
* Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Justin said, “Wow,…we are geologists!” Jin Shan said, “I am a geologist.” Justin said, “No, we are all geologist. Teacher too!” Wow….friends’ influence!
c) Mathematics Workbook
* We did Mathematics. We did Exercise 1 and 2. Exercise 1 required the kids to match the same number in the square box. Then, they had to circle the matched number.Most of them could do. Justin and Le xin needed some guidance.
* Exercise 2 required the kids to fill in the empty space. It’s a page about numbers 1 until 9. Eugene said it was simple. Ze Yan said he was action! Hmmm……It’s impolite to say that people are bold or action. So, we asked Eugene to write the answers on the whiteboard.
* He could write easily…….I told them, “This is an easy exercise as most of you had already knew numbers 1 until 10.” They smiled. Everyone clapped for Eugene and themselves.
d) The bread seller.
* As Song Chuan was the bread seller yesterday; today he brought 4 slices of raisin bread. Usually, he didn’t bring any food. He said he wanted to share with his friends in the afternoon tea break.
* Ze Yan sold the breads today to the kids. Well…..they were having fun. They learnt to count and even learnt that every little food cause money. They will learn to appreciate more.
* When noboy wanted the bread anymore, Eugene, Zi Yang and Ze Yan said, “Free bread! Free bread!” Jian Wei said, “Wow…discount time!”…….Haaaa！
e) Craft: Our Stegosaurus
* We continued with our “Stegosaurus” craft. As we did not have enough plates, each kid made a few more. Today, they coloured the plates red as a Stegosaurus’s plates contained blood veins!
* 5 kids checked the crumpled newspaper. They ensured that the papers are properly crumpled; so that they would make nicer dinosaur.
* Zi Jun, Jin Shan and Justin assisted me to cut the gigantic Stegosaurus which I drew on the paperbox. Actually, we recycled from their spoilt SpaceCraft. They agreed to do that. I disallowed the kids to handle the blade as it is dangerous.
* Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Justin said, “Wow,…we are geologists!” Jin Shan said, “I am a geologist.” Justin said, “No, we are all geologist. Teacher too!” Wow….friends’ influence!
f) Colouring
* The kids did a colouring page on Stegosaurus. Most of them coloured the plates red except a few who preferred other colours.
* This activity will reinforce their learning of ‘Stegosaurus”.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Our Stegosaurus!
17/07/2008 (Thursday)
a) Our loving parents.
* The kid chose their toys and played. Again, the girls preferred cooking tools while the boys preferred dinosaurs. However, JN loved playing with dinosaurs. Again, some kids did not want to share. Example: EG asked JN to share but she said NO! So, EG came to me as they couldn’t solve the problem. Reminding her those are schools’ toys; so she lent EG play for a while. They took turns. YZ and ZY just snatched away JW’s dinosaurs. JW complained. So, YZ and ZY learnt to ask properly from JW. JW as always a nice boy said, “Yes, you can have it!”.
* The kids passed up their homework. The dateline is tomorrow. I enjoyed looking at how some parents guide their kids creatively. Example, SC pasted short and long straws. SJ pasted pictures from magazines. ZYg’s father guided him to draw a car. WY’s mother guided him to draw the spiders and their webs. WY likes Spiderman.
* Some kids did not do. So, I guided XR who later drew the leaves by herself. I guided ZYg to write the words.
b) Our body’s skeleton.
* The kids gathered to see me draw a human’s body and skeleton. I asked them to touch their jaw. Open and close mouth a few times. “Children, that is a joint.” I drew the head skull on the board. Some laughed and ZY said, “It looks like an alien”.
“Where else can we find joints?”
Zyg, “Our legs; at our knees”. JS said, “Our back”……which is called backbone. I also said the shoulders and elbows. They learnt that these bones would be broken or dislocated if we had accident or fell. Then, we might need to wear cast.
JS, “Like my grandmother”. If worst, some might not walk if injured the backbone!
c) Playing Safe At The Playground.
* YW shared with everyone her story of how she fell down from the slide on Monday after school; at the playground.
“I stood on the slide. I was holding some pencils in one hand. Her friends who were also standing accidentally pushed her and now she had minor scars on her face. Luckily, she was not badly injured!
* This morning, I saw J held a harmonica while climbing the slide. I quickly took it away from him and now he knows why I did that! In fact, he wanted me to blow a song….….haaa!.
* So, they promised to play safely. They would also ensure their friends play safely.
d) Let’s vote!
* At tea break, SC pretended to be the bread seller. He collected one ringgit each for a piece of bread. He charged 50 cents for half a piece……haaaa!
* The kids have always wanted to make a dinosaur.
Teacher: “Do you want a big or a small dinosaur?” Only LX and XR wanted a small one.
Teacher: “Let’s vote. Who wants to make a T-Rex dinosaur?”
10 kids chose Stegosaurus, 2 kids chose Spinosaurus, 0 kids chose Triceratops, 5 kids chose Camarasaurus and 2 kids voted for Ankylosaurus. So, they cheered…although ZYg said he wanted a Spinosaurus. I said, “Maybe we could do one if we had extra time.”
* I drew a huge Stegosaurus. We labeled each part. “Plates, spikes and tail”. We divided the class to 4 groups. (i) Group 1 who will make the plates. (ii) Group 2 who will make the scales. (iii) Group 3 who will handle the newspaper. (iv) Every day, 2 kids would be chosen to assist me. Everyone will colour together.
e) Making Our Stegosaurus.
* Most kids were able to work as a team. JS, JN, SYu, SJ, JW, YW, LX, XR were the kids who were very attentive. The others were so enthusiastic that they couldn’t stop talking..haaaa! Seeing them enjoying their work…is really great!
* They drew circles for the scales and cut them. They also drew a curvy triangle for the plates. The others crumpled the newspaper to be pasted as the dinosaur’s body.
a) Our loving parents.
* The kid chose their toys and played. Again, the girls preferred cooking tools while the boys preferred dinosaurs. However, JN loved playing with dinosaurs. Again, some kids did not want to share. Example: EG asked JN to share but she said NO! So, EG came to me as they couldn’t solve the problem. Reminding her those are schools’ toys; so she lent EG play for a while. They took turns. YZ and ZY just snatched away JW’s dinosaurs. JW complained. So, YZ and ZY learnt to ask properly from JW. JW as always a nice boy said, “Yes, you can have it!”.
* The kids passed up their homework. The dateline is tomorrow. I enjoyed looking at how some parents guide their kids creatively. Example, SC pasted short and long straws. SJ pasted pictures from magazines. ZYg’s father guided him to draw a car. WY’s mother guided him to draw the spiders and their webs. WY likes Spiderman.
* Some kids did not do. So, I guided XR who later drew the leaves by herself. I guided ZYg to write the words.
b) Our body’s skeleton.
* The kids gathered to see me draw a human’s body and skeleton. I asked them to touch their jaw. Open and close mouth a few times. “Children, that is a joint.” I drew the head skull on the board. Some laughed and ZY said, “It looks like an alien”.
“Where else can we find joints?”
Zyg, “Our legs; at our knees”. JS said, “Our back”……which is called backbone. I also said the shoulders and elbows. They learnt that these bones would be broken or dislocated if we had accident or fell. Then, we might need to wear cast.
JS, “Like my grandmother”. If worst, some might not walk if injured the backbone!
c) Playing Safe At The Playground.
* YW shared with everyone her story of how she fell down from the slide on Monday after school; at the playground.
“I stood on the slide. I was holding some pencils in one hand. Her friends who were also standing accidentally pushed her and now she had minor scars on her face. Luckily, she was not badly injured!
* This morning, I saw J held a harmonica while climbing the slide. I quickly took it away from him and now he knows why I did that! In fact, he wanted me to blow a song….….haaa!.
* So, they promised to play safely. They would also ensure their friends play safely.
d) Let’s vote!
* At tea break, SC pretended to be the bread seller. He collected one ringgit each for a piece of bread. He charged 50 cents for half a piece……haaaa!
* The kids have always wanted to make a dinosaur.
Teacher: “Do you want a big or a small dinosaur?” Only LX and XR wanted a small one.
Teacher: “Let’s vote. Who wants to make a T-Rex dinosaur?”
10 kids chose Stegosaurus, 2 kids chose Spinosaurus, 0 kids chose Triceratops, 5 kids chose Camarasaurus and 2 kids voted for Ankylosaurus. So, they cheered…although ZYg said he wanted a Spinosaurus. I said, “Maybe we could do one if we had extra time.”
* I drew a huge Stegosaurus. We labeled each part. “Plates, spikes and tail”. We divided the class to 4 groups. (i) Group 1 who will make the plates. (ii) Group 2 who will make the scales. (iii) Group 3 who will handle the newspaper. (iv) Every day, 2 kids would be chosen to assist me. Everyone will colour together.
e) Making Our Stegosaurus.
* Most kids were able to work as a team. JS, JN, SYu, SJ, JW, YW, LX, XR were the kids who were very attentive. The others were so enthusiastic that they couldn’t stop talking..haaaa! Seeing them enjoying their work…is really great!
* They drew circles for the scales and cut them. They also drew a curvy triangle for the plates. The others crumpled the newspaper to be pasted as the dinosaur’s body.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Was Stegosaurus a dragon?
16/07/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Questions from playing.
* Some kids already knew the names of toy dinosaurs by this round. ZY, ZYg, JS and JW were among them. Previously, they only knew about T-Rex. Now, they know Stegosaurus, Triceratops and also Camarasaurus.
* ZYg asked me the name of a toy dinosaur. It had spines, so it is called “Spinosaurus”. He couldn’t accept my answer saying that it should stand and not crawl. I smiled and showed him the Encyclopedia. I highlighted that “Spinosaurus” or any same type dinosaur of different area or country would look a little different. He accepted.
* Some kids helped me with the assembled toy dinosaur. Some parts were loose. So, we tighten them together.
* M showed us his drawing. He said it was T-Rex. I pasted on the Notice board. The other kids went to look at it. “Wow...it’s so nice!”
b) Comparison
* The kids wanted me to talk about Eugene’s book. I chose “Stegosaurus”. First of all, I showed them my “odd Stegosaurus” made by myself. They laughed. I asked them to compare the differences between my craft and the picture in the book.
ZY: Yours has no plates/
JS: Yours has no spikes.
YP: Yours has no tail.
Teacher: Yes, I do but it’s shorter.
M: Yours has no eyes.
Teacher: Yes but small eyes.
JW: Yours has no legs.
Teacher: Haaa…..very good.
So, the kids learnt a better way to make a dinosaur craft in the near future.
c) Stegosaurus’s awesome plates.
* Teacher: “How many rows of plates does a Stegosaurus have?”
M, ZY: 2 rows.
Teacher: How does it use the plates?
YZ: To cool itself.
Teacher: Good. But how?.........They were quiet.
* Stegosaurus would lower its plates on a hot day so as to reduce the heat. When it’s cold, it would straighten its plates to keep itself warmer.
* JS: The spikes on its tail is to attack the meat-eaters.
Their spikes had blood veins. When the meat-eaters approached them, the plates would turn red so as to scare away the predators.
YZ: The red plates looked like fire and scared away the meat-eaters.
d) Vocabulary and homework.
* Vocabulary: short and long.
T-Rex is 12 metres long while Diplodocus is 27metres long. Meanwhile a Velociraptor is only about 2 metres long. The kids learnt to differentiate “short” from “long”.
*Vocabulary: small and big.
We talked about the small and big things. There could be small leaves or big leaves. Also small circle or big circle.
* Homework:
The kids had to discuss with their parents what they want to do with their homework. Example: they can paste a short or long leaf. They can also paste a short strip and long strip of newspaper or even thread.
As for small and big, they can have parents and their fingerprint. Or they can just trace their fingers. Or they could draw small and big shapes. YZ asked if he could draw small and big dinosaurs. Of course, they could.
e) Film: Dinosaur – A happy ending.
* We continued watching. The kids were happy to see Camarasaurus together with the old Diplodocus and Triceraptors pushing away the heavy cave rock into a new green home. The kids laughed at the funny Anklyosaurus. All the while, the herd of dinosaurs couldn’t find their way because they were blocked by hug high rocks. Realizing that, Camarasaurus quickly risk his safety to tell the other lost dinosaurs.
* The kids learnt a few moral values:
i) Working together gives good results.
ii) helping one another is a good character.
iii) Never make an enemy. Treat your enemies well and they will be your good friends
too!
iv) Even animals need a loving and healthy home.
NOTE: Any feedback is mostly appreciated.
a) Questions from playing.
* Some kids already knew the names of toy dinosaurs by this round. ZY, ZYg, JS and JW were among them. Previously, they only knew about T-Rex. Now, they know Stegosaurus, Triceratops and also Camarasaurus.
* ZYg asked me the name of a toy dinosaur. It had spines, so it is called “Spinosaurus”. He couldn’t accept my answer saying that it should stand and not crawl. I smiled and showed him the Encyclopedia. I highlighted that “Spinosaurus” or any same type dinosaur of different area or country would look a little different. He accepted.
* Some kids helped me with the assembled toy dinosaur. Some parts were loose. So, we tighten them together.
* M showed us his drawing. He said it was T-Rex. I pasted on the Notice board. The other kids went to look at it. “Wow...it’s so nice!”
b) Comparison
* The kids wanted me to talk about Eugene’s book. I chose “Stegosaurus”. First of all, I showed them my “odd Stegosaurus” made by myself. They laughed. I asked them to compare the differences between my craft and the picture in the book.
ZY: Yours has no plates/
JS: Yours has no spikes.
YP: Yours has no tail.
Teacher: Yes, I do but it’s shorter.
M: Yours has no eyes.
Teacher: Yes but small eyes.
JW: Yours has no legs.
Teacher: Haaa…..very good.
So, the kids learnt a better way to make a dinosaur craft in the near future.
c) Stegosaurus’s awesome plates.
* Teacher: “How many rows of plates does a Stegosaurus have?”
M, ZY: 2 rows.
Teacher: How does it use the plates?
YZ: To cool itself.
Teacher: Good. But how?.........They were quiet.
* Stegosaurus would lower its plates on a hot day so as to reduce the heat. When it’s cold, it would straighten its plates to keep itself warmer.
* JS: The spikes on its tail is to attack the meat-eaters.
Their spikes had blood veins. When the meat-eaters approached them, the plates would turn red so as to scare away the predators.
YZ: The red plates looked like fire and scared away the meat-eaters.
d) Vocabulary and homework.
* Vocabulary: short and long.
T-Rex is 12 metres long while Diplodocus is 27metres long. Meanwhile a Velociraptor is only about 2 metres long. The kids learnt to differentiate “short” from “long”.
*Vocabulary: small and big.
We talked about the small and big things. There could be small leaves or big leaves. Also small circle or big circle.
* Homework:
The kids had to discuss with their parents what they want to do with their homework. Example: they can paste a short or long leaf. They can also paste a short strip and long strip of newspaper or even thread.
As for small and big, they can have parents and their fingerprint. Or they can just trace their fingers. Or they could draw small and big shapes. YZ asked if he could draw small and big dinosaurs. Of course, they could.
e) Film: Dinosaur – A happy ending.
* We continued watching. The kids were happy to see Camarasaurus together with the old Diplodocus and Triceraptors pushing away the heavy cave rock into a new green home. The kids laughed at the funny Anklyosaurus. All the while, the herd of dinosaurs couldn’t find their way because they were blocked by hug high rocks. Realizing that, Camarasaurus quickly risk his safety to tell the other lost dinosaurs.
* The kids learnt a few moral values:
i) Working together gives good results.
ii) helping one another is a good character.
iii) Never make an enemy. Treat your enemies well and they will be your good friends
too!
iv) Even animals need a loving and healthy home.
NOTE: Any feedback is mostly appreciated.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
How did the geologists know……?
15/07/2008 (Tuesday)
a) I learnt to share.
* LX brought a dinosaur book and shared with her friends. Initially, she didn’t want to share with JS and JW. LX said, “I don’t want to share.” I said, “Well, maybe you should keep it at home or pass it to the teacher; so that I can share with everyone. Otherwise, you should share because that makes you a more generous person.” She chose to share. In fact; ZYg, and JS shared her book to draw dinosaurs. They were happier. SJ and ZY also drew pictures.
* Meanwhile, Yz, EG, WY, JH made dinosaurs’ nest. They said they want more dinosaurs in the class…haaaa!
* XR, YP and ZJ helped me with the class decoration. We pasted the letters which the kids cut the other day. They gave me cellophane tape and pasted onto colour papers. Now the class has a big title of “DINOSAUR”.
(b) Poem and English Reciting Program
* We recap on the poem on “The Dinosaur”. They quickly asked that someone be a dinosaur. So,
JH became a dinosaur and stood by the door.
Would you open your door
To a Dinosaur?
Would you open it wide and say, “Hi”?
Would you welcome him in?
Would you say with a smile,
“I’m so very happy you came by".
* Next, we recited the “ABCs”. This time, they focused from letter A to M. Among the words learnt were
A: apple C: cat D: dog F: father, flower
G: garden H: horse M: mother
Then the kids took turns to draw the pictures individually. They enjoyed looking at ZY’s “mother” picture. They said, she looks like a skeleton. YP’s father was also funny and cute.
The storyline: “The father and mother were in the garden of flowers. They had a cat. Suddenly, a horse neighed. Where did the horse come from?” We shall continue the story in the next lesson.
c) A plant-eater’s protections
* After tea break, I asked, “how did a meat-eater dinosaur kill for the meat?” ZYg said, “They had sharp teeth.” M said, “They had sharp claws.” I asked, “How did a plant-eater dinosaur protect itself?” ZY answered, “They used their tails and heads.”
* We read through a storybook entitled, “DINOSAURS’. There were short sentences. The kids learnt sentences like:
“They had plates. Some had spikes. Their tails were very strong. Some had strong jaws.”
* The kids recapped on some dinosaurs’ names included “Sterosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, T-Rex and Camarasaurus”.
d) Excuse me, Teacher……..?
* M asked, “How did the geologist know the dinosaurs’ names?”
YZ asked, “Why are the geologist so clever?”
Teacher, “The dinosaurs’ names were given based on their features. Example: triceratops had three horns. So, “Tri” means three. Ankylosaurus looked like an army. So, the name was related to the army. Some dinosaurs names were given based on where their bones were found. They also follow the names of places.”
* M asked, “How did they know that Diplodocus were so tall?”
Teacher, “From the fossils or bone found from the underground. Some were taller than jaya Jusco, Bukit Tinggi. In fact, their eggs were as big as footballs.”
* Most dinosaurs did not take care of their children. Thus, the babies would walked immediately after hatched.
d) Team work: Jurassic Park.
* There were 20 pictures of different dinosaurs. The kids chose their favourite to colour them. After colouring, they had to write their names on a small colour paper. The plant eaters were green paper while the meat eaters were pink paper.
* Objective: i)Kids take the effort to find the dinosaurs’ colour from books.
ii) Kids learnt to look at words “plant-eaters” or “meat-eaters”.
iii) Kids learnt to observe the dinosaurs’ features.
iv) Kids learnt to write the dinosaurs’ names. Those who were unready, they cut the
names and pasted on the dinosaur.
* M was enthusiastic. He kept asking me the pronunciation of “Megalosaurus, Velociraptor”. Zyg, YP, JN, ZY, JS, JW, J, SC, SYu, SJ were among the more independent kids. I was happy to see the improvement in WY and XR. They are now more focused and able to understand instructions more! Good work!
* Then, the kids pasted the dinosaurs on the notice board. If they come early in the morning, They can play with the dinosaurs!
a) I learnt to share.
* LX brought a dinosaur book and shared with her friends. Initially, she didn’t want to share with JS and JW. LX said, “I don’t want to share.” I said, “Well, maybe you should keep it at home or pass it to the teacher; so that I can share with everyone. Otherwise, you should share because that makes you a more generous person.” She chose to share. In fact; ZYg, and JS shared her book to draw dinosaurs. They were happier. SJ and ZY also drew pictures.
* Meanwhile, Yz, EG, WY, JH made dinosaurs’ nest. They said they want more dinosaurs in the class…haaaa!
* XR, YP and ZJ helped me with the class decoration. We pasted the letters which the kids cut the other day. They gave me cellophane tape and pasted onto colour papers. Now the class has a big title of “DINOSAUR”.
(b) Poem and English Reciting Program
* We recap on the poem on “The Dinosaur”. They quickly asked that someone be a dinosaur. So,
JH became a dinosaur and stood by the door.
Would you open your door
To a Dinosaur?
Would you open it wide and say, “Hi”?
Would you welcome him in?
Would you say with a smile,
“I’m so very happy you came by".
* Next, we recited the “ABCs”. This time, they focused from letter A to M. Among the words learnt were
A: apple C: cat D: dog F: father, flower
G: garden H: horse M: mother
Then the kids took turns to draw the pictures individually. They enjoyed looking at ZY’s “mother” picture. They said, she looks like a skeleton. YP’s father was also funny and cute.
The storyline: “The father and mother were in the garden of flowers. They had a cat. Suddenly, a horse neighed. Where did the horse come from?” We shall continue the story in the next lesson.
c) A plant-eater’s protections
* After tea break, I asked, “how did a meat-eater dinosaur kill for the meat?” ZYg said, “They had sharp teeth.” M said, “They had sharp claws.” I asked, “How did a plant-eater dinosaur protect itself?” ZY answered, “They used their tails and heads.”
* We read through a storybook entitled, “DINOSAURS’. There were short sentences. The kids learnt sentences like:
“They had plates. Some had spikes. Their tails were very strong. Some had strong jaws.”
* The kids recapped on some dinosaurs’ names included “Sterosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, T-Rex and Camarasaurus”.
d) Excuse me, Teacher……..?
* M asked, “How did the geologist know the dinosaurs’ names?”
YZ asked, “Why are the geologist so clever?”
Teacher, “The dinosaurs’ names were given based on their features. Example: triceratops had three horns. So, “Tri” means three. Ankylosaurus looked like an army. So, the name was related to the army. Some dinosaurs names were given based on where their bones were found. They also follow the names of places.”
* M asked, “How did they know that Diplodocus were so tall?”
Teacher, “From the fossils or bone found from the underground. Some were taller than jaya Jusco, Bukit Tinggi. In fact, their eggs were as big as footballs.”
* Most dinosaurs did not take care of their children. Thus, the babies would walked immediately after hatched.
d) Team work: Jurassic Park.
* There were 20 pictures of different dinosaurs. The kids chose their favourite to colour them. After colouring, they had to write their names on a small colour paper. The plant eaters were green paper while the meat eaters were pink paper.
* Objective: i)Kids take the effort to find the dinosaurs’ colour from books.
ii) Kids learnt to look at words “plant-eaters” or “meat-eaters”.
iii) Kids learnt to observe the dinosaurs’ features.
iv) Kids learnt to write the dinosaurs’ names. Those who were unready, they cut the
names and pasted on the dinosaur.
* M was enthusiastic. He kept asking me the pronunciation of “Megalosaurus, Velociraptor”. Zyg, YP, JN, ZY, JS, JW, J, SC, SYu, SJ were among the more independent kids. I was happy to see the improvement in WY and XR. They are now more focused and able to understand instructions more! Good work!
* Then, the kids pasted the dinosaurs on the notice board. If they come early in the morning, They can play with the dinosaurs!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Team work: Jurassic Park
14/07/2008 (Monday)
a) Oviraptors at Corner Playing.
* The kids hid everywhere in the class waiting eagerly for me. They always asked me to stay outside while they hide. Today, I caught the 6 hidden Oviraptor….the eggs stealer. YP said she likes eggs…..haa!
* They laid out the different colours of cloth, arranged their dinosaurs and played together. YZ complaint that JW didn’t want to play with him. Jw didn’t want to give him the toys because YZ didn’t ask properly. So, I taught YZ to ask properly. “May I have that toy dinosaur?”
* Sj, LX and XR preferred colouring dinosaurs. Manwhile, I called the kids individually to check on their homework..
b) English Reciting Poem: ABCs
* Next, was English Reciting Poem. They gathered to look at the laminated copies of “ABCs’ words”. They read along with the radio. They were quite attentive. I challenge them. I said, “Every day when you drink your water; look up here. Try to learn 3 new words every day. If you can’t read, ask your friends. If they don’t know, ask me.” My objective was to encourage them to identify common words and ask me questions.
c) Features: Plant-eaters or meat-eaters?
* I drew a sketched “Jurassic park” on the whiteboard. There were many trees. In fact there wasn’t grass at that time. Mostly, Conifer trees which look like Christmas trees. The kids said there were also volcanoes and mountains. I also drew river as the dinosaurs needed water to survive.
* Next, I took out a few dinosaurs pictures. The kids were able to divide them into either the “Plant-eaters” or “Meat-eaters”. There were 2 ways. Firstly, the kids may READ to identify the type. Secondly, the kids may look at the features.
* ZYg: “Meat eaters had sharp claws.” I fact, some would spring their claws when they see their prey. JS: “Meat eaters also had sharp teeth.” Then I showed them two pictures of skulls. They saw the teeth differences between the meat and plat-eaters.
* People eat both meat and plants. However, SYu, JS and EG said they eat only plants. ZYg said he preferred meat. YZ and ZY said they eat both.
d) Working together: Jurassic Park
* The kids continued with their Jurassic Park. The class was divided into 3 groups. Group A did the Conifer trees. Group B did the mountains and volcanoes. Group C did the river. They chose the task they were interested in.
*M, WY, SC, JW did the Conifer trees. In fact, WY and JW drew the dinosaurs before adding the trees.
* YZ, YW, SYu, SJ and XR did the mountains and volcanoes. They were very excited!
* ZY, JS, ZJ, LX did the river. They added the fish.
* SC wrote the word “tree”, M wrote “Conifer tree”, ZY wrote “river”, YP wrote “mountain” and YZ wrote “volcano”. Together, we put the pictures on the big notice board. We shall continue tomorrow.
a) Oviraptors at Corner Playing.
* The kids hid everywhere in the class waiting eagerly for me. They always asked me to stay outside while they hide. Today, I caught the 6 hidden Oviraptor….the eggs stealer. YP said she likes eggs…..haa!
* They laid out the different colours of cloth, arranged their dinosaurs and played together. YZ complaint that JW didn’t want to play with him. Jw didn’t want to give him the toys because YZ didn’t ask properly. So, I taught YZ to ask properly. “May I have that toy dinosaur?”
* Sj, LX and XR preferred colouring dinosaurs. Manwhile, I called the kids individually to check on their homework..
b) English Reciting Poem: ABCs
* Next, was English Reciting Poem. They gathered to look at the laminated copies of “ABCs’ words”. They read along with the radio. They were quite attentive. I challenge them. I said, “Every day when you drink your water; look up here. Try to learn 3 new words every day. If you can’t read, ask your friends. If they don’t know, ask me.” My objective was to encourage them to identify common words and ask me questions.
c) Features: Plant-eaters or meat-eaters?
* I drew a sketched “Jurassic park” on the whiteboard. There were many trees. In fact there wasn’t grass at that time. Mostly, Conifer trees which look like Christmas trees. The kids said there were also volcanoes and mountains. I also drew river as the dinosaurs needed water to survive.
* Next, I took out a few dinosaurs pictures. The kids were able to divide them into either the “Plant-eaters” or “Meat-eaters”. There were 2 ways. Firstly, the kids may READ to identify the type. Secondly, the kids may look at the features.
* ZYg: “Meat eaters had sharp claws.” I fact, some would spring their claws when they see their prey. JS: “Meat eaters also had sharp teeth.” Then I showed them two pictures of skulls. They saw the teeth differences between the meat and plat-eaters.
* People eat both meat and plants. However, SYu, JS and EG said they eat only plants. ZYg said he preferred meat. YZ and ZY said they eat both.
d) Working together: Jurassic Park
* The kids continued with their Jurassic Park. The class was divided into 3 groups. Group A did the Conifer trees. Group B did the mountains and volcanoes. Group C did the river. They chose the task they were interested in.
*M, WY, SC, JW did the Conifer trees. In fact, WY and JW drew the dinosaurs before adding the trees.
* YZ, YW, SYu, SJ and XR did the mountains and volcanoes. They were very excited!
* ZY, JS, ZJ, LX did the river. They added the fish.
* SC wrote the word “tree”, M wrote “Conifer tree”, ZY wrote “river”, YP wrote “mountain” and YZ wrote “volcano”. Together, we put the pictures on the big notice board. We shall continue tomorrow.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A tree for our Camarasaurus
11/07/2208 (Friday)
a) We learnt to play together.
* Before 8.30a.m. today, the kids played sand at the sand pit. They were very happy.
* Kids went into the classroom. Played hide and seek; pretending to be “Camarasaurus” dinosaur.
* Everyone played with dinosaurs. Again, J, XR, SYu and SJ preferred cooking for everyone. In fact, I overheard that SC, SJ and YW called SYu “mama”. Haaa….!
* Less complaints of “not sharing”. JW and ZJ snatched JN’s dinosaurs. She was having so many and didn’t want to share. I told her to involve the JW and ZJ in her play. She was okay after that. Some pretended to be plant-eaters. Some as meat-eaters.
* I checked their homework. M and ZJ didn’t bring back to school. YP brought but forgot to do. LX didn’t do the second page. So, I guided LX. YP had to do her work rather than playing. Both ZJ and M were forfeited to arrange the tables, chairs and sweep the floor. They learnt the word, “responsible” today.
b) Poem: A Dinosaur At The Door
* We did a short poem. First, they listened to me. Then, they read along. The third time, they read independently without my guidance. Along the way, they asked me questions about the words.
Would you open your door
To a Dinosaur?
Would you open it wide and say, “Hi”?
Would you welcome him in?
Would you say with a smile,
“I’m so very happy you came by”?
* All the kids sad they would welcome the dinosaur except LX…ha! YZ said, “How can a tall dinosaur come into the house?” Teacher said, “Maybe, it’s a small dinosaur.” Zyg, “What f it eats people?” Teacher, “It’s a Camarasaurus, a plant eater.” They laughed.
* I invited a 6-year old boy to be the dinosaur. He knocked the door. We opened the door ajar. We recited the poem with actions while looking at the dinosaur at the door.
c) Our Jurassic Park
* ZJ was the only kid who brought leaves today. The kids were divided into groups to do different tasks.
* YZ, M, JS, ZYg coloured the tree trunk. SC, SYu, JW cut the letters of “D I N O S A U R” to decorate the class. YP, JN and ZY drew leaves as we didn’t have enough leaves. The others cut the leaves.
* Then, they assisted me to put on cellophane tape. I pasted it on the high wall. The kids queued uo to put on cellophanetape onto the green leaves while I pasted them onto the tree branches. JH said, “Wow, it’s so beautiful”. I also pasted ZJ’s real leaves onto the wall. It looked like the “Camarasaurus” is really eating the leaves…..wow!
d) A special leaf.
* I introduced a type of leaf. It grows roots by its side when kept within pages of a book. I am still searching for its English name. I couldn’t find it on the website. Anyway, the kids were excited. ZY quickly put into his Dinosaur Encyclopedia which he lent to me. The others kept in their bags. They would observe the leaves in ten days time.
e) Stickers and awards.
* As we had insufficient time, we didn’t continue watching the “Dinosaur” movie. So, we talked a little about our Jurassic Park. We would add some mountains and volcanoes onto the park. We would also place the meat and plant - eaters’ dinosaurs.
* Next, I awarded the kids with dinosaurs’ stickers. They were responsive with their chairs after tea-break. More responsible. They were very excited. However, I would only give the stckers to M, YW, JW and JH at 5.30 p.m. as they were quite playful in the class.
a) We learnt to play together.
* Before 8.30a.m. today, the kids played sand at the sand pit. They were very happy.
* Kids went into the classroom. Played hide and seek; pretending to be “Camarasaurus” dinosaur.
* Everyone played with dinosaurs. Again, J, XR, SYu and SJ preferred cooking for everyone. In fact, I overheard that SC, SJ and YW called SYu “mama”. Haaa….!
* Less complaints of “not sharing”. JW and ZJ snatched JN’s dinosaurs. She was having so many and didn’t want to share. I told her to involve the JW and ZJ in her play. She was okay after that. Some pretended to be plant-eaters. Some as meat-eaters.
* I checked their homework. M and ZJ didn’t bring back to school. YP brought but forgot to do. LX didn’t do the second page. So, I guided LX. YP had to do her work rather than playing. Both ZJ and M were forfeited to arrange the tables, chairs and sweep the floor. They learnt the word, “responsible” today.
b) Poem: A Dinosaur At The Door
* We did a short poem. First, they listened to me. Then, they read along. The third time, they read independently without my guidance. Along the way, they asked me questions about the words.
Would you open your door
To a Dinosaur?
Would you open it wide and say, “Hi”?
Would you welcome him in?
Would you say with a smile,
“I’m so very happy you came by”?
* All the kids sad they would welcome the dinosaur except LX…ha! YZ said, “How can a tall dinosaur come into the house?” Teacher said, “Maybe, it’s a small dinosaur.” Zyg, “What f it eats people?” Teacher, “It’s a Camarasaurus, a plant eater.” They laughed.
* I invited a 6-year old boy to be the dinosaur. He knocked the door. We opened the door ajar. We recited the poem with actions while looking at the dinosaur at the door.
c) Our Jurassic Park
* ZJ was the only kid who brought leaves today. The kids were divided into groups to do different tasks.
* YZ, M, JS, ZYg coloured the tree trunk. SC, SYu, JW cut the letters of “D I N O S A U R” to decorate the class. YP, JN and ZY drew leaves as we didn’t have enough leaves. The others cut the leaves.
* Then, they assisted me to put on cellophane tape. I pasted it on the high wall. The kids queued uo to put on cellophanetape onto the green leaves while I pasted them onto the tree branches. JH said, “Wow, it’s so beautiful”. I also pasted ZJ’s real leaves onto the wall. It looked like the “Camarasaurus” is really eating the leaves…..wow!
d) A special leaf.
* I introduced a type of leaf. It grows roots by its side when kept within pages of a book. I am still searching for its English name. I couldn’t find it on the website. Anyway, the kids were excited. ZY quickly put into his Dinosaur Encyclopedia which he lent to me. The others kept in their bags. They would observe the leaves in ten days time.
e) Stickers and awards.
* As we had insufficient time, we didn’t continue watching the “Dinosaur” movie. So, we talked a little about our Jurassic Park. We would add some mountains and volcanoes onto the park. We would also place the meat and plant - eaters’ dinosaurs.
* Next, I awarded the kids with dinosaurs’ stickers. They were responsive with their chairs after tea-break. More responsible. They were very excited. However, I would only give the stckers to M, YW, JW and JH at 5.30 p.m. as they were quite playful in the class.
Our imaginary friend, Camarasaurus
10/07/2008 (Thursday)
a) I have finished my homework.
* The kids hid behind the boxes, the chairs and also under the tables. This time, they pretended to be T-Rex……and of course, I am the T-rex catcher…haaaa!
* Today SYu, SJ and XR preferred playing with blocks. The others were excited with the dinosaur toys. EG labeled his little dino toys. He shared with his friends.
* Some passed up their homework. JN’s colouring was effortlessly done. After a little encouragement, she said she wanted to finish colouring it. Cheers for her…she completed it! XR did not finish the second page. I guided her a little. She finished it rather independently. WY’s homework was interesting. His mother wrote WY’s thoughts below the page. WY did it along with his mum’s encouragement. SC, ZY, JW and EG handed in their homework. The dateline is tomorrow. The objective of homework is to encourage the positive growth of a kid with the guidance of parents and teachers.
b) Plant or Meat-eaters?
* I brought in “Camarasaurus” as my imaginary guest. He asked questions and also shared information with the kids. There are 2 types. Plant-eaters or meat-eaters. ZYg said, “look at the sharp teeth. That will be a meat-eater.” JS said, “They have sharp claws.” Examples: T-Rex, Spinosaurus and Megalosaurus.
* “Plant eaters had no sharp teeth”, said JN. In fact they protected themselves through many ways. Examples: Camarasurus with its strong tail, Anklyosaurus with its sharp spines (similar to porcupines) and also Triceratops with its horns.
* What about our teeth? They looked at each other. ZY, “We eat plants and meat.” Thus, we have nice teeth.” YP said, ‘I like meat. I am a T-Rex.” Ha….!
c) Our “Jurassic Park”.
* None of the kids remembered to bring leaves for our “Jurassic Park”. JN, SYu, Zy were among the others who said they had no leaves. Some such as M forgot. Thus, we focused on the trunk and branches. We took some boxes. I drew the outlines as to guide the kids. However, we would only work on it tomorrow.
* We had a ready-made stick on Camarasaurus. So, the kids assisted me to assemble the puzzle. Some cut the double side tape for me. Then we pasted it on the wall. Now, we have a huge dino in our class. We will making more!
d) Be responsible
* The kids were very unco-operative after tea-break. They forgot to put back their chairs and arrange tables even after a few reminders. I gathered them and told them that I was very disappointed. 70% of the kids were responsible while the others were very playful. They were shameful. With my disappointed tone, I said, “Next time, anybody who forgets without a good reason, would have to stay out of the class for the whole day.” Responsible kids will learn more efficiently.
e) Continuation of “Dinosaurs” movie.
* They marched down to continue watching their movie, “Dinosaurs”.
* Camarasaurus helped the weaker dinosaurs and tried to be brave all the time. We must be helpful.
* It helped the proud dinosaur who was injured. They rest in a cave to shelter from the storm.
* Megalosaurus found them and attacked them. The injured proud dinosaur saved them.
* Triceratops, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus worked together to hit the cave wall down. Eventually, they found a brand new world with plenty of trees and water. The kids were exclaiming, “Wow!! What happened next?!”
* I let them imagine about it. We shall continue tomorrow.
a) I have finished my homework.
* The kids hid behind the boxes, the chairs and also under the tables. This time, they pretended to be T-Rex……and of course, I am the T-rex catcher…haaaa!
* Today SYu, SJ and XR preferred playing with blocks. The others were excited with the dinosaur toys. EG labeled his little dino toys. He shared with his friends.
* Some passed up their homework. JN’s colouring was effortlessly done. After a little encouragement, she said she wanted to finish colouring it. Cheers for her…she completed it! XR did not finish the second page. I guided her a little. She finished it rather independently. WY’s homework was interesting. His mother wrote WY’s thoughts below the page. WY did it along with his mum’s encouragement. SC, ZY, JW and EG handed in their homework. The dateline is tomorrow. The objective of homework is to encourage the positive growth of a kid with the guidance of parents and teachers.
b) Plant or Meat-eaters?
* I brought in “Camarasaurus” as my imaginary guest. He asked questions and also shared information with the kids. There are 2 types. Plant-eaters or meat-eaters. ZYg said, “look at the sharp teeth. That will be a meat-eater.” JS said, “They have sharp claws.” Examples: T-Rex, Spinosaurus and Megalosaurus.
* “Plant eaters had no sharp teeth”, said JN. In fact they protected themselves through many ways. Examples: Camarasurus with its strong tail, Anklyosaurus with its sharp spines (similar to porcupines) and also Triceratops with its horns.
* What about our teeth? They looked at each other. ZY, “We eat plants and meat.” Thus, we have nice teeth.” YP said, ‘I like meat. I am a T-Rex.” Ha….!
c) Our “Jurassic Park”.
* None of the kids remembered to bring leaves for our “Jurassic Park”. JN, SYu, Zy were among the others who said they had no leaves. Some such as M forgot. Thus, we focused on the trunk and branches. We took some boxes. I drew the outlines as to guide the kids. However, we would only work on it tomorrow.
* We had a ready-made stick on Camarasaurus. So, the kids assisted me to assemble the puzzle. Some cut the double side tape for me. Then we pasted it on the wall. Now, we have a huge dino in our class. We will making more!
d) Be responsible
* The kids were very unco-operative after tea-break. They forgot to put back their chairs and arrange tables even after a few reminders. I gathered them and told them that I was very disappointed. 70% of the kids were responsible while the others were very playful. They were shameful. With my disappointed tone, I said, “Next time, anybody who forgets without a good reason, would have to stay out of the class for the whole day.” Responsible kids will learn more efficiently.
e) Continuation of “Dinosaurs” movie.
* They marched down to continue watching their movie, “Dinosaurs”.
* Camarasaurus helped the weaker dinosaurs and tried to be brave all the time. We must be helpful.
* It helped the proud dinosaur who was injured. They rest in a cave to shelter from the storm.
* Megalosaurus found them and attacked them. The injured proud dinosaur saved them.
* Triceratops, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus worked together to hit the cave wall down. Eventually, they found a brand new world with plenty of trees and water. The kids were exclaiming, “Wow!! What happened next?!”
* I let them imagine about it. We shall continue tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
A geologist
09 – 07 – 2008 (Wednesday)
a) Teacher joined us!
* It was amazing that I had 10 kids by 8.45 a.m. They were very excited because they could play
with more friends. Everyone played with Dinosaurs except SYu, SJ and XR who preferred
cooking toys again.
* I played together with them. We spread the green cloth as grass, brown cloth to cover the baskets as mountains and blue cloth as sea. They divided the herbivores from the carnivores and placed them separately.
b) The characteristics.
* We talked about the dinosaur’s characteristics. They lay eggs. However, the eggs inner layer protect the baby from the heat and cold.
* They had rough skin or scales. SC said like snakes. YZ said like crocodiles. ZJ said lizards. ZJ said last time he was scared by a lizard. These animals including dinosaurs belong to the “Reptile” family.
Dinosaur means “Terrible Lizards”.
* Some ate plants. Some ate meat. Thus; meat-eaters had sharp teeth and powerful claws. ZYg said, “T-Rex”. We focused on “Triceratops and Stegosaurus”.
c) A geologist
* The kids said nobody ever saw a dinosaur. Thus, geologists worked very hard to dig for the bones / skeletons / bones and assembled into a dinosaur. I showed them different pictures of dinosaurs’ skeleton.
* YZ asked, “What is assemble?” Assemble means to combine the different parts of bones into a complete dinosaur. They thought that the Triceratops’ skeletons were amazing.
d) English Reciting Poem: Alphabet.
* The kids practiced their ears by listening to the CD. Meanwhile, they read the words on the board. It included A till Z. Other words included: A “apple”, C “candy”, G “garden”, N “newspaper” and V “vegetable”.
e) Film “Dinosaur”.
* The kids excitedly went down to watch the continuation of the film. They learnt that the egg-stealer was called “Oviraptor”. The baby dinosaur who grew up and befriended the monkeys was “Camarasaurus”. They agreed that it was a group of Velociraptor that wanted to eat Camarasaurus.
* The group of dinosaurs running along the desert were plant-eaters. They were looking for a new home with water and plants. Some died because of no water.
* The kids enjoyed seeing the different types of dinosaurs working together. They argued about their names. They agreed that the tallest dinosaur in the movie was Diplodocus. They also saw Triceratops and Stegosaurus.
* YZ asked, “What is the meaning of “Keep Moving!”?” It means to continue the journey.
f) My parents and I
* The kids were given a homework. They had to work together with their parents to think of 2 other animals that lay eggs. Examples: tortoise, snakes and hens. They may label if possible. They will have to pass up on Friday. We hope that this activity will enhance the kids’ interest in this topic.
a) Teacher joined us!
* It was amazing that I had 10 kids by 8.45 a.m. They were very excited because they could play
with more friends. Everyone played with Dinosaurs except SYu, SJ and XR who preferred
cooking toys again.
* I played together with them. We spread the green cloth as grass, brown cloth to cover the baskets as mountains and blue cloth as sea. They divided the herbivores from the carnivores and placed them separately.
b) The characteristics.
* We talked about the dinosaur’s characteristics. They lay eggs. However, the eggs inner layer protect the baby from the heat and cold.
* They had rough skin or scales. SC said like snakes. YZ said like crocodiles. ZJ said lizards. ZJ said last time he was scared by a lizard. These animals including dinosaurs belong to the “Reptile” family.
Dinosaur means “Terrible Lizards”.
* Some ate plants. Some ate meat. Thus; meat-eaters had sharp teeth and powerful claws. ZYg said, “T-Rex”. We focused on “Triceratops and Stegosaurus”.
c) A geologist
* The kids said nobody ever saw a dinosaur. Thus, geologists worked very hard to dig for the bones / skeletons / bones and assembled into a dinosaur. I showed them different pictures of dinosaurs’ skeleton.
* YZ asked, “What is assemble?” Assemble means to combine the different parts of bones into a complete dinosaur. They thought that the Triceratops’ skeletons were amazing.
d) English Reciting Poem: Alphabet.
* The kids practiced their ears by listening to the CD. Meanwhile, they read the words on the board. It included A till Z. Other words included: A “apple”, C “candy”, G “garden”, N “newspaper” and V “vegetable”.
e) Film “Dinosaur”.
* The kids excitedly went down to watch the continuation of the film. They learnt that the egg-stealer was called “Oviraptor”. The baby dinosaur who grew up and befriended the monkeys was “Camarasaurus”. They agreed that it was a group of Velociraptor that wanted to eat Camarasaurus.
* The group of dinosaurs running along the desert were plant-eaters. They were looking for a new home with water and plants. Some died because of no water.
* The kids enjoyed seeing the different types of dinosaurs working together. They argued about their names. They agreed that the tallest dinosaur in the movie was Diplodocus. They also saw Triceratops and Stegosaurus.
* YZ asked, “What is the meaning of “Keep Moving!”?” It means to continue the journey.
f) My parents and I
* The kids were given a homework. They had to work together with their parents to think of 2 other animals that lay eggs. Examples: tortoise, snakes and hens. They may label if possible. They will have to pass up on Friday. We hope that this activity will enhance the kids’ interest in this topic.
The Dinosaur Film
08/07/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Let’s play dinosaurs!
The kids got excited with the dinosaur toys. They shared among themselves. Today I also brought in picture puzzles for them. ZY and YP tried fixing them. XR, SYu and SJ still prefer playing with cooking tools. Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to complete their incomplete exercises from The Space Book. These kids required more personal attention.
b) The Dinosaur Dance.
Then, we sang a song and created the dinosaurs’ dance movements. Take a look:
“Dinosaurs are dancing,
“d”, “d”, “d”……..
“Dinosaurs are dancing,
“d”, “d”, “d”……..
“d” is the sound of D.
Sometimes, we hopped; we ran and we crawled. They also created the sounds.
c) Toy: The Hatching Egg.
I introduced a new toy called “The Hatching Egg”. They had to put many tiny dinosaurs in the egg. Then closed the egg with its top part. Next, they turned the egg slowly. The egg started hatching and opened up slowly. They continued turning until a tiny dinosaur fell. Then its another person’s turn. I asked them, “What do you think is the colour of a dinosaur’s egg?” They were quiet. “Has anyone seen the egg?” ZY, JN, EG, “Nobody”. Thus, the egg can be of any colour!
d) More dinosaurs!
After tea break, the kids read some dinosaurs’ names. As they read, they discussed the Chinese names. YZ asked, “Why are most of their names end with saurus?” I answered, “It is related to dinosaur……saur”.They enjoyed looking at the pictures and laughed at the fuuny names. Their favourites were Camarsaurus, Ankylosaurus, T-Rex and Stegosaurus.
e) The Dinosaur Film.
The kids gathered down to watch the “Dinosaur” film. They were very excited. They kept discussing while watching. I allowed them as long as they did not interrupt the others. Example:
Zyg : The dinosaur egg broke because many dinosaurs tried stealing it.
Teacher : No, the egg is ready to hatch.
YZ : Why did the male monkey dislike the baby dinosaur?
YW : Now, the baby dinosaur has grown up. His friends are the monkeys.
ZY : The comets exploded.
M : The land is too hot. No more trees and animals. They are dead.
JN : That is a meat-eater dinosaur!
As they watched, they identified the plants and animals found at that time. This is useful as we will be making a Jurassic Park in the class very soon. We will continue watching tomorrow.
a) Let’s play dinosaurs!
The kids got excited with the dinosaur toys. They shared among themselves. Today I also brought in picture puzzles for them. ZY and YP tried fixing them. XR, SYu and SJ still prefer playing with cooking tools. Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to complete their incomplete exercises from The Space Book. These kids required more personal attention.
b) The Dinosaur Dance.
Then, we sang a song and created the dinosaurs’ dance movements. Take a look:
“Dinosaurs are dancing,
“d”, “d”, “d”……..
“Dinosaurs are dancing,
“d”, “d”, “d”……..
“d” is the sound of D.
Sometimes, we hopped; we ran and we crawled. They also created the sounds.
c) Toy: The Hatching Egg.
I introduced a new toy called “The Hatching Egg”. They had to put many tiny dinosaurs in the egg. Then closed the egg with its top part. Next, they turned the egg slowly. The egg started hatching and opened up slowly. They continued turning until a tiny dinosaur fell. Then its another person’s turn. I asked them, “What do you think is the colour of a dinosaur’s egg?” They were quiet. “Has anyone seen the egg?” ZY, JN, EG, “Nobody”. Thus, the egg can be of any colour!
d) More dinosaurs!
After tea break, the kids read some dinosaurs’ names. As they read, they discussed the Chinese names. YZ asked, “Why are most of their names end with saurus?” I answered, “It is related to dinosaur……saur”.They enjoyed looking at the pictures and laughed at the fuuny names. Their favourites were Camarsaurus, Ankylosaurus, T-Rex and Stegosaurus.
e) The Dinosaur Film.
The kids gathered down to watch the “Dinosaur” film. They were very excited. They kept discussing while watching. I allowed them as long as they did not interrupt the others. Example:
Zyg : The dinosaur egg broke because many dinosaurs tried stealing it.
Teacher : No, the egg is ready to hatch.
YZ : Why did the male monkey dislike the baby dinosaur?
YW : Now, the baby dinosaur has grown up. His friends are the monkeys.
ZY : The comets exploded.
M : The land is too hot. No more trees and animals. They are dead.
JN : That is a meat-eater dinosaur!
As they watched, they identified the plants and animals found at that time. This is useful as we will be making a Jurassic Park in the class very soon. We will continue watching tomorrow.
The Dinosaur World
07/07/2008 (Monday)
a) New toys!
We had new dinosaur toys. I brought 2 baskets. We calculated the amout of toys in each basket and labelled. Then they started playing with friends. They arranged the dinosaurs in a row; figuring which are meat eaters or plant eaters. They had a race competition. They were saying their names but in Chinese. I hope in days to come, they could recognise their English names….which are longer.
b) Story: Dinosaurs Roar
We gathered to read a book on “Dinosaurs Roar” by Scholastic. The pictures were big and colourful. Generally, it is a book of “comparisons”. Among some lines were:
· Dinosaurs roar, dinosaurs squeak.
· Dinoasaurs tall, dinosaurs short.
· Dinosaurs big, dinosaurs tiny.
· Dinoasurs fast, dinosaurs slow.
YP pointed to me guessing the bigger dinosaurs that eat the smaller ones. ZY disagreed. I asked their opinions. I hinted them. “Look at the sharp teeth and claws. These are the meat-eaters. But how then do the plant-eaters protect themselves from them?”
Zyg said, “Look at their body.”
Teacher continued, “Yes, some dinosaurs had sharp plates behind their back. Some had spikes on their legs. Some had strong tails to protect themselves.”
c) Whereabouts of Dinosaurs
After tea break, we formed a circle time.
Teacher : “Has anyone ever seen a dinosaur before?”
Children : “No!”
Teacher : “How then did they know about the existence?”
YP : “They imagined.”
JS : “They read from books.”
Teacher : “But who drew on the books?”
I introduced geologist whose work is to search for fossils. The fossils gave them ideas of the dinosaurs’ skeletons and their characteristics.
EG, YZ : Dinosaurs were borned many million years ago.
I wrote a figure with many zeros. “Wow!” they said. So long ago before people were born. Dinosaurs came in 3 Ages. i) Triassic Period (245 to 208 million years ago), ii) Jurassic Period (208 to 145 million years ago), iii) Cretaceous Period (145 million to 65 million years ago).
We looked at the Earth’s surface during these 3 periods. During Triassic Period, there was only a huge land with dinosaurs everywhere. Example: there was Plateosaurus. Its mouth hinted the kids that it ate plants.
During Jurassic Period, the climate had caused the land to break into 2 smaller pieces. There were more dinosaurs and they were fiercer! Examples: Stegosaurus with plates to protect itself from meat-eaters. Camarasaurus….and NOT Camerasaurus! The kids laughed! The kids were amazed that it weighed up to 28,000 kg!
During Cretaceous Period, the climate caued the land to break up to even smaller pieces. The Earth looked similar to what we have in the map today! Example: T-Rex. Some kids already knew their names such as J! It was “The King of Dinosaurs”! It was a great meat-eater.
d) The “Dinosaur” movie.
We gathered to march downstairs. We were going to watch the DVD on “Dinosaur”…a really informative cartoon movie. JN brought and shared with us. The computer was rather slow. While waiting, the kids recited the poem on “Fruit Salad”. We even had some questions on what they had learnt earlier. Unfortunately, we couldn’t watch the movie. I promised them tomorrow as I would check the computer and DVD. As they marched up the stairs, some had already imitated walking like dinosaurs……haaaaa!
a) New toys!
We had new dinosaur toys. I brought 2 baskets. We calculated the amout of toys in each basket and labelled. Then they started playing with friends. They arranged the dinosaurs in a row; figuring which are meat eaters or plant eaters. They had a race competition. They were saying their names but in Chinese. I hope in days to come, they could recognise their English names….which are longer.
b) Story: Dinosaurs Roar
We gathered to read a book on “Dinosaurs Roar” by Scholastic. The pictures were big and colourful. Generally, it is a book of “comparisons”. Among some lines were:
· Dinosaurs roar, dinosaurs squeak.
· Dinoasaurs tall, dinosaurs short.
· Dinosaurs big, dinosaurs tiny.
· Dinoasurs fast, dinosaurs slow.
YP pointed to me guessing the bigger dinosaurs that eat the smaller ones. ZY disagreed. I asked their opinions. I hinted them. “Look at the sharp teeth and claws. These are the meat-eaters. But how then do the plant-eaters protect themselves from them?”
Zyg said, “Look at their body.”
Teacher continued, “Yes, some dinosaurs had sharp plates behind their back. Some had spikes on their legs. Some had strong tails to protect themselves.”
c) Whereabouts of Dinosaurs
After tea break, we formed a circle time.
Teacher : “Has anyone ever seen a dinosaur before?”
Children : “No!”
Teacher : “How then did they know about the existence?”
YP : “They imagined.”
JS : “They read from books.”
Teacher : “But who drew on the books?”
I introduced geologist whose work is to search for fossils. The fossils gave them ideas of the dinosaurs’ skeletons and their characteristics.
EG, YZ : Dinosaurs were borned many million years ago.
I wrote a figure with many zeros. “Wow!” they said. So long ago before people were born. Dinosaurs came in 3 Ages. i) Triassic Period (245 to 208 million years ago), ii) Jurassic Period (208 to 145 million years ago), iii) Cretaceous Period (145 million to 65 million years ago).
We looked at the Earth’s surface during these 3 periods. During Triassic Period, there was only a huge land with dinosaurs everywhere. Example: there was Plateosaurus. Its mouth hinted the kids that it ate plants.
During Jurassic Period, the climate had caused the land to break into 2 smaller pieces. There were more dinosaurs and they were fiercer! Examples: Stegosaurus with plates to protect itself from meat-eaters. Camarasaurus….and NOT Camerasaurus! The kids laughed! The kids were amazed that it weighed up to 28,000 kg!
During Cretaceous Period, the climate caued the land to break up to even smaller pieces. The Earth looked similar to what we have in the map today! Example: T-Rex. Some kids already knew their names such as J! It was “The King of Dinosaurs”! It was a great meat-eater.
d) The “Dinosaur” movie.
We gathered to march downstairs. We were going to watch the DVD on “Dinosaur”…a really informative cartoon movie. JN brought and shared with us. The computer was rather slow. While waiting, the kids recited the poem on “Fruit Salad”. We even had some questions on what they had learnt earlier. Unfortunately, we couldn’t watch the movie. I promised them tomorrow as I would check the computer and DVD. As they marched up the stairs, some had already imitated walking like dinosaurs……haaaaa!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Our Fruit Salad
04/07/2008 (Friday)
a) We brought some fruits!
A few kids brought the fruits. They took them to me feeling excitedly. ZJ and ZY with their apples, LX with her kiwis, SYu and Sj with their apples and myself with oranges and papayas. Then they brought in the spacecraft and rocket to play with. Meanwhile, I checked the kids homework and got them to finish the work if unfinished.
b) Dinosaur World
Then, the kids gathered to take a look at M’s Dinosaur Book. YZ has the same book which he brought a few days ago. The kids learnt to observe the various dinosaurs and learnt the total as in the book. There are 102 types. I read the names for them. They giggled at the funny names. We would be watching JN’s CD in the afternoon. They are very excited about it.
c) Making fruit salad
Next, the kids recited the poem: Fruit Salad. We gathered to learn about the related items to make a fruit salad. The vocabulary learnt included: fruit salad sauce or mayonnaise, knife, bowls, forks, apples, oranges, papaya, kiwis and lemon.
The kids got to choose the fruits they wanted to handle. 8 kids handled the oranges. They peeled the skin with their fingers. The others watched at how I peeled away the papaya skin. The moment I cut open the papaya, they said, “Wow…! Look at the seeds!” They touched the seeds to feel them. Then I cut the papaya into a few slices. The kids used the forks to cut the soft papaya. They placed the oranges and papayas in the bowls.
Then, they felt the kiwis skin. The kiwis brought by LX were yellow in colour rather than green. The kids observed how I sliced the kiwis. Then we peeled the apples and cut into small pieces.
Next, we poured the fruits into a big bowl. I unsealed the mayonnaise and let each kid taste. EG said it’s like candy……they loved it! I poured the sauce into the bowl and mixed with the fruit slices. I also added some lemon to make it more tasty.
d) Let’s taste it!
The kids lined up to taste their fruit salad. They ate non-stop. Some wanted even more. I reminded to share and take care of the others. We couldn’t finish the balance. So, we would be continuing enjoying the salad in the afternoon…….yahoo!
a) We brought some fruits!
A few kids brought the fruits. They took them to me feeling excitedly. ZJ and ZY with their apples, LX with her kiwis, SYu and Sj with their apples and myself with oranges and papayas. Then they brought in the spacecraft and rocket to play with. Meanwhile, I checked the kids homework and got them to finish the work if unfinished.
b) Dinosaur World
Then, the kids gathered to take a look at M’s Dinosaur Book. YZ has the same book which he brought a few days ago. The kids learnt to observe the various dinosaurs and learnt the total as in the book. There are 102 types. I read the names for them. They giggled at the funny names. We would be watching JN’s CD in the afternoon. They are very excited about it.
c) Making fruit salad
Next, the kids recited the poem: Fruit Salad. We gathered to learn about the related items to make a fruit salad. The vocabulary learnt included: fruit salad sauce or mayonnaise, knife, bowls, forks, apples, oranges, papaya, kiwis and lemon.
The kids got to choose the fruits they wanted to handle. 8 kids handled the oranges. They peeled the skin with their fingers. The others watched at how I peeled away the papaya skin. The moment I cut open the papaya, they said, “Wow…! Look at the seeds!” They touched the seeds to feel them. Then I cut the papaya into a few slices. The kids used the forks to cut the soft papaya. They placed the oranges and papayas in the bowls.
Then, they felt the kiwis skin. The kiwis brought by LX were yellow in colour rather than green. The kids observed how I sliced the kiwis. Then we peeled the apples and cut into small pieces.
Next, we poured the fruits into a big bowl. I unsealed the mayonnaise and let each kid taste. EG said it’s like candy……they loved it! I poured the sauce into the bowl and mixed with the fruit slices. I also added some lemon to make it more tasty.
d) Let’s taste it!
The kids lined up to taste their fruit salad. They ate non-stop. Some wanted even more. I reminded to share and take care of the others. We couldn’t finish the balance. So, we would be continuing enjoying the salad in the afternoon…….yahoo!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Sunlight and its importance
03/07/2008 (Thursday)
a) Reciting CD and Individual Attention
The children marched up into their classroom and chose their play. While playing, they listened to the CD on English Reciting Poems. Unrealizingly, the kids actually said out the poem, “Fruit Salad” along with the CD………without my guidance or instruction! I did one – to – one Phonics Exercise with the kids. The sentences involved were “A tin in a tin”, “A tin in a bin”, “A bin in a bin” and “A tin and a bin in a bin”.
b) SYu’s harmonica and Doe, Ray, Mi
SYu brought a harmonica to class today. Hers was a little different from JS because hers has got a filter. I explained the usage to the kids. The kids wanted to sing the song, “Doe, Ray, Mi”. They learnt to listen, understand and also recognize the words. Take a look:
“Doe a deer, a female deer;
Ray a drop of golden sun,
Mi a name I call myself,
Fa a long long way to run,
So I need a pulling thread,
La a note to follow so,
Ti a drink with jam and bread,
That will bring us back to Doe…..oh…oh…oh……
Doe Ray Mi Fa So La Ti Doe……So Doe !”
We sang the song again with actions. Next, they sang themselves while I blew the harmonica.
c) Who is bringing what?
Next, we recited on the “Fruit Salad”. M said I did not show the class tangerines as promised yesterday. I went to Giant yesterday but couldn’t find any. I guess it is not the season now. I drew the pictures and told them that tangerines are actually small Mandarin Oranges.
Next, I showed them the “fruit salad dressing or mayonnaise” needed to make fruit salad. We will be making a fruit salad tomorrow. ZY, SYu and SJ will be bringing apples, J and YP will be bringing bananas. They are required only to bring the extra fruits from their homes, if they have any. I have oranges at home. Let’s see how responsible these kids are…..merely words or really putting into actions? We hope to share with family members and teachers.
d) Sunlight and its importance
Next, we talked about things that needed sunlight. The kids looked at their workbook, “My Space Book”. They identified the pictures which need sunlight. These included: people, plants, trees, birds, salty fish, wet clothes and even polar bears. They learnt to say in proper sentences: “Plants need sunlight. People need sunlight.” The kids say even bats need sunlight. I disagree because they are blind. YP asked, “How can they fly then?” Teacher, “That is because they have sharp hearing and smelling senses”. Then they did their colourings independently. YZ, YW and LX brought big boxes of colouring tools. They shared with their friends.
a) Reciting CD and Individual Attention
The children marched up into their classroom and chose their play. While playing, they listened to the CD on English Reciting Poems. Unrealizingly, the kids actually said out the poem, “Fruit Salad” along with the CD………without my guidance or instruction! I did one – to – one Phonics Exercise with the kids. The sentences involved were “A tin in a tin”, “A tin in a bin”, “A bin in a bin” and “A tin and a bin in a bin”.
b) SYu’s harmonica and Doe, Ray, Mi
SYu brought a harmonica to class today. Hers was a little different from JS because hers has got a filter. I explained the usage to the kids. The kids wanted to sing the song, “Doe, Ray, Mi”. They learnt to listen, understand and also recognize the words. Take a look:
“Doe a deer, a female deer;
Ray a drop of golden sun,
Mi a name I call myself,
Fa a long long way to run,
So I need a pulling thread,
La a note to follow so,
Ti a drink with jam and bread,
That will bring us back to Doe…..oh…oh…oh……
Doe Ray Mi Fa So La Ti Doe……So Doe !”
We sang the song again with actions. Next, they sang themselves while I blew the harmonica.
c) Who is bringing what?
Next, we recited on the “Fruit Salad”. M said I did not show the class tangerines as promised yesterday. I went to Giant yesterday but couldn’t find any. I guess it is not the season now. I drew the pictures and told them that tangerines are actually small Mandarin Oranges.
Next, I showed them the “fruit salad dressing or mayonnaise” needed to make fruit salad. We will be making a fruit salad tomorrow. ZY, SYu and SJ will be bringing apples, J and YP will be bringing bananas. They are required only to bring the extra fruits from their homes, if they have any. I have oranges at home. Let’s see how responsible these kids are…..merely words or really putting into actions? We hope to share with family members and teachers.
d) Sunlight and its importance
Next, we talked about things that needed sunlight. The kids looked at their workbook, “My Space Book”. They identified the pictures which need sunlight. These included: people, plants, trees, birds, salty fish, wet clothes and even polar bears. They learnt to say in proper sentences: “Plants need sunlight. People need sunlight.” The kids say even bats need sunlight. I disagree because they are blind. YP asked, “How can they fly then?” Teacher, “That is because they have sharp hearing and smelling senses”. Then they did their colourings independently. YZ, YW and LX brought big boxes of colouring tools. They shared with their friends.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Space Monster
02/07/2008 (Wednesday)
a) Corner playing
The excited kids marched to the classroom and gathered to play. Surprisingly, they didn’t bring in the Spaceship today. They were playing with blocks, cooking toys and the cloths. Meanwhile, I checked their homework. The Corner playing was shortened today because I believe these kids are more ready for more knowledge after the first half year. Besides that, more kids were coming before 9.15a.m. Kids who wanted to play; I advised them to come earlier.
b) Story: The Space Monster
To channel their focus, I did a story on “The Space Monster”. I asked them if they could remember the word, “alien”? “Is there an alien or monster in the space?” The kids were quiet. Until today, there are no concrete proof to highlight it as a fact. However, scientists are still dong research. If really there were Aliens or living beings out there, maybe they could help us in some ways. Example: finding of new resources. I said, “Cartoons and movies show Aliens because these are only their imaginations.”
They liked this short story on how the Spaceship fight against the Monster which then disappeared into the Sun. Then they read along the story with me. The Spaceship made the sound, “ZAP…..ZAP….ZAP” as they shot the aliens.
c) Saying More Good Words
Recently, I found that some kids like saying words like “bengkak” or “wah, lau!” We talked about these unhealthy words. Some said, why then their parents can use the words? My answer was: “Maybe nobody told them about it.”
My suggestion was to use words like “Oh, Gosh!” or “Oh, Zap!” these words can be used when we are surprised, excited or even angry……and they are merely RHYMES! The kids agreed to practice this better habit.
d) Reciting Poems: Fruit Salad
We recapped on “Fruit Salad”. Today I continued the story whereby the monkey came to take my fruits. The verse is as follows:
“My monkey likes to eat fruits especially bananas, watermelon, grapes and tangerines.”
They learnt by listening and also by reading. Then as they did the actions, they recited from their memories. Today they were plucking fruits from me…….ha ha ha!
e) Worksheet
We talked about our workbook, “My Space book”. The kids were able to read most words independently. They included: space, stars, earth, comet, planets. Then the kids came forward individually to match the words to the drawn pictures on the board. Another five kids came to write the words on the board. They were rather independent.
f) Rocket craft
Then the kids continued with their ROCKET craft. They cut their coloured triangle into 2 small triangles. Then they learned to insert or put them through the cut bottles. Then they cellotaped the triangles to the bottle. They really enjoyed this activity. Tomorrow, they should be able to complete the whole rocket!
a) Corner playing
The excited kids marched to the classroom and gathered to play. Surprisingly, they didn’t bring in the Spaceship today. They were playing with blocks, cooking toys and the cloths. Meanwhile, I checked their homework. The Corner playing was shortened today because I believe these kids are more ready for more knowledge after the first half year. Besides that, more kids were coming before 9.15a.m. Kids who wanted to play; I advised them to come earlier.
b) Story: The Space Monster
To channel their focus, I did a story on “The Space Monster”. I asked them if they could remember the word, “alien”? “Is there an alien or monster in the space?” The kids were quiet. Until today, there are no concrete proof to highlight it as a fact. However, scientists are still dong research. If really there were Aliens or living beings out there, maybe they could help us in some ways. Example: finding of new resources. I said, “Cartoons and movies show Aliens because these are only their imaginations.”
They liked this short story on how the Spaceship fight against the Monster which then disappeared into the Sun. Then they read along the story with me. The Spaceship made the sound, “ZAP…..ZAP….ZAP” as they shot the aliens.
c) Saying More Good Words
Recently, I found that some kids like saying words like “bengkak” or “wah, lau!” We talked about these unhealthy words. Some said, why then their parents can use the words? My answer was: “Maybe nobody told them about it.”
My suggestion was to use words like “Oh, Gosh!” or “Oh, Zap!” these words can be used when we are surprised, excited or even angry……and they are merely RHYMES! The kids agreed to practice this better habit.
d) Reciting Poems: Fruit Salad
We recapped on “Fruit Salad”. Today I continued the story whereby the monkey came to take my fruits. The verse is as follows:
“My monkey likes to eat fruits especially bananas, watermelon, grapes and tangerines.”
They learnt by listening and also by reading. Then as they did the actions, they recited from their memories. Today they were plucking fruits from me…….ha ha ha!
e) Worksheet
We talked about our workbook, “My Space book”. The kids were able to read most words independently. They included: space, stars, earth, comet, planets. Then the kids came forward individually to match the words to the drawn pictures on the board. Another five kids came to write the words on the board. They were rather independent.
f) Rocket craft
Then the kids continued with their ROCKET craft. They cut their coloured triangle into 2 small triangles. Then they learned to insert or put them through the cut bottles. Then they cellotaped the triangles to the bottle. They really enjoyed this activity. Tomorrow, they should be able to complete the whole rocket!
Harmonica and our own rocket!
02/07/2008 (Tuesday)
a) Making a “Cone”
The kids gathered at the hall to read “lun yi” or “Reciting Poems”. Then they went into the classroom. They chose their favourite play. Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to make the “cone” for their rockets. They realized that they had to be careful to avoid the big hole at the folding. JN pretended to drink from that cone. The other kids pretended them to be big hats.
b) JS’s harmonica and Poem
JS brought a harmonica. The kids learnt this new word. They wanted to blow but I disallowed. I told them that they can share only if they wash it properly before using. Then I blew the harmonica following the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or “London Bridge” or “ABC”. Then, they asked for their favourite song, “The Space Song”. They clapped their hands and enjoyed themselves.
Next, we recapped on our Reciting Poem, “Fruit Salad”. They listened to the CD twice and then recited independently. Again,…I was the fruit tree.
c) Workbook: Differences
At tea break, JN brought some “Chee Cheong Fun” to share with her friends. They thanked her.
Then we talked about an exercise from their workbook, “My Space Book”. They had to find 6 differences between the two astronauts. The differences were the helmet, the antenna, the watch, the object, the flag and the shoes. Before doing this exercise, we talked about the meaning of differences. I drew 2 different people. One bald while the other one with hair. They said he is “Botak head!” I said, it is better to say, “He is bald”. Botak is a Bahasa Melayu word. Kids asked, “Teacher, why can a person be bald?” I said, “A few reasons. Maybe he is sick. Or maybe he is too clever. Or maybe is a trend.” YZ said, “I don’t want to be clever then.” I said, “It is very rare for very clever people to lose hair.”
d) Our rockets are ready!
Then, the kids lined up to paste their Cones to their bottle rockets. They took the cellophane tape and pasted at the top of their bottles. They were so excited….that I felt they were the rockets themselves….ha ha ha!
a) Making a “Cone”
The kids gathered at the hall to read “lun yi” or “Reciting Poems”. Then they went into the classroom. They chose their favourite play. Meanwhile, I called the kids individually to make the “cone” for their rockets. They realized that they had to be careful to avoid the big hole at the folding. JN pretended to drink from that cone. The other kids pretended them to be big hats.
b) JS’s harmonica and Poem
JS brought a harmonica. The kids learnt this new word. They wanted to blow but I disallowed. I told them that they can share only if they wash it properly before using. Then I blew the harmonica following the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or “London Bridge” or “ABC”. Then, they asked for their favourite song, “The Space Song”. They clapped their hands and enjoyed themselves.
Next, we recapped on our Reciting Poem, “Fruit Salad”. They listened to the CD twice and then recited independently. Again,…I was the fruit tree.
c) Workbook: Differences
At tea break, JN brought some “Chee Cheong Fun” to share with her friends. They thanked her.
Then we talked about an exercise from their workbook, “My Space Book”. They had to find 6 differences between the two astronauts. The differences were the helmet, the antenna, the watch, the object, the flag and the shoes. Before doing this exercise, we talked about the meaning of differences. I drew 2 different people. One bald while the other one with hair. They said he is “Botak head!” I said, it is better to say, “He is bald”. Botak is a Bahasa Melayu word. Kids asked, “Teacher, why can a person be bald?” I said, “A few reasons. Maybe he is sick. Or maybe he is too clever. Or maybe is a trend.” YZ said, “I don’t want to be clever then.” I said, “It is very rare for very clever people to lose hair.”
d) Our rockets are ready!
Then, the kids lined up to paste their Cones to their bottle rockets. They took the cellophane tape and pasted at the top of their bottles. They were so excited….that I felt they were the rockets themselves….ha ha ha!
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