Film: Finding Nemo

Friday (27/03/2009)

a) New vocabulary words
We learnt new words. Jelly fish, crab, lobster, octopus.
Questions beforehand.
I wrote 4 questions for the kids. They have to look for the answer while watching the film.
(1). Where is Nemo now? (2). Where is the aquarium? (3). Who helps Marlin and Dory to search for Nemo? (4). Who wanted to eat Marlin and Dory?

b) Film continuation: Finding Nemo.
Luckily, the diver dropped his oxygen mask. It had his address. The mask was near the the sharks’ home. Those were good sharks who pledged not to eat fishes. However, Dory accidentally injured himself and Bruce; the Great White Shark sniffed his blood and started chasing the fishes for his meal…haaaaa! Hilarious and frightening. They escaped but the mask fell into the fifth level of the ocean which was totally dark. Wohh…….until they saw a light which actually belonged to an Anglerfish! It looked very scary with huge sharp teeth. Both Dory and Marlin were so lucky to escape. Fortunately, Dory could read and he read out the address for marlin. Despite being forgetful, Dory could remember the address amazingly……..so blessing!
Meanwhile, they asked for direction and swam eagerly to Sydney. Then they encountered millions of jellyfish which stung Dory and nemo too got stung in order to rescue Dory. The kids got fascinated to know that Clown Fish are not afraid of jellyfish as they are use to Sea Anenome which is poisonous. However, too much jellyfish could still harm any fish.
Nemo was actually taken to Sydney. He now lived in an aquarium togetehr with other fishes including a starfish. He was to be a birthday present for the diver’s niece. The diver was actually a dentist. Thus, the aquarium was now in the dentist’s. They planned to escape but it failed and they just gave up. (To be continued).

The Beach Sand and Finding Nemo

Thurday (26/03/2009)

a) Flash Cards Revision.

b) Where does the beach sand come from?
Ze Yan asked this question yesterday while we were watching the sharks’ video clips.
Today, I brought some seashells for the kids to examine. Some were good, some broken while the others were broken into grains of sand.
I posed the same question to the other kids. Their answers:
Shu Wei: The beach was around all the while.
Yun Zhe: No! It comes from the rocks under the sea.
Jian Wei : Teacher, it comes from the mountains just like the book you showed us yesterday.
Jin Nan : The rocks inside will break and then, they become sand.
Teacher: How does that happen?
Eugene: Because the waves are so strong and break the rocks. Then they flow to the beach.
Teacher: Where is there wave?......One of the reasons is because of the strong wind.
So, its true. The broken rocks, corals and broken shells eventually become so fine that they form beach sand. The strong waves also carry the empty shells to the sand.
The kids queued up to listen to the big shell. They could hear the sound of the ocean.

c) Film : Finding Nemo
From this film, the kids could see the actual ocean that we had been talking about. Types of sea creature including: Clown Fish, Blue Tag, Sting Ray and of course, Great White Shark and hammerhead shark that we learnt earlier. The kids were very excited and they would ask questions for any doubts as we watched the film in English medium. Some other friends would answer on behalf of me.
Summary: Bigger fish eat smaller fish or even their eggs and babies. Nemo was still an egg together with 399 other eggs in a small cave. His parents live in the Sea Anenome which is just above the cave. Unfortunately, Nemo’s mother and siblings died when eaten by a bigger fierce fish. Nemo’s ftaher brought up Nemo until he was ready for school. All the while, they live in their home, the Sea Anemone. Sea Anemone would protect Clown Fish as it has tentacles that would sting other sea creatures and cause poisonous. At school, Nemo made a few friends. As Nemo had unusual fins, his father was really worried of Nemo’s safety. When Nemo swam to the open sea just to prove to his father he was a good swimmer, a diver caught Nemo and separated from his father. Nemo’s father; Marlin made a new friend; the blue tag called Dory who helped him to search for Nemo. (We stopped here to continue tomorrow).
Morale: The kids learnt that being angry would not help us at good thinking. Thus, its better to control our anger and emotion before makinga decision.

Underwater Volcano

Wednesday (25/03/2009)

a) Volcano
There are land volcanoes as well as underwater volcanoes. Malaysia does not have volcanoes.
Jen Ning: My maid’s country has got volcanoes.
Teacher: What are the effects of a volcano explosion.?
Ze Yan: For Underwater Volcano, the sea animals will die.
Sharlene: Just like the dolphins.
Eugene: I don’t think all the sea animals will die.
Foo Soon: The thick smoke is black…..
Jun Shan: Just like the factories.
Justin: Oh, no…the water is dirty.
The kids learnt that the smoke caused air pollution and also acid rain which is unhealthy for us.
However, the hot red lava is very useful for planting after a few years.
Usually, a volcano explosion will give other consequences. Example: Earthquake and ice melting.
No doubt, they have advantages and disadvantages.
Yun Zhe: So, where are the volcanoes in the ocean?

b) Encyclopedia: Ocean
It contains eleven levels from the bright surface right into the dark ocean which lots of mysteries are still unrevealed. Starting from the fifth level, the ocean becomes dark and that is where, Submarines are used to explore them.
Level 1 is where people go picnicking and collecting seashells. Seagulls are also busy hunting for their food. Level 2 has some snails, bigger fish, sea otters and lobsters.
Level 3 has dolphins and lots of jellyfish.
Level 4 has turtles, sying rays, swordfish, whales, krills and also planktons.
Level 5 has Sperm Whales and Giant squids. Besides that, There are many sea creatures with lightings in them…wow!
Level 6 has monster fishes with lighting stucking out from their head. These are actually the fish bacteria. It’s totally dark here. If you happened to be in here, don’t be tricked. They are not fish!
Level 7 starts to have lots of rocks and mountains. Some funny looking horseshoe crabs are here.
Level 8 has got strange water spiders, strange dragon-looking fish…..woh! And lots of bacteria.
Level 9 is the land of coral…..a beautiful and colourful area with lots of colourful fish. Sting-Rays, Starfish, sharks….etc. Watch Finding Nemo and you will see them.
Level 10 has got lots of volcanoes with funny looking lobstaers and clams. Some strange plants that eat bacteria.
Finally, Level 11 has got some anemone plants with funny looking tentacled sea creatures. It’s very rocky here.

c) Experiment: Volcano.
We filled a jar with tap water.
Then, we filled s small water with red colouring and add in hot water. We then closed the cap.
We placed the small colouring bottle into the jar. I quickly opened the cap and suddenly, the read colouring exploded out. Of course, they all screamed….Wow!
Ze Yan: The water is hot.
Yes, similar to evaporation. Hot water or air rises. An actual volcano’s lava is also hot and the volcano exploded. Similar theory.

d) Video Clip
There was an underwater volcano explosion last Saturday in Tonga, a place below Australia.
The kids watched the video clip and saw the thick black smoke rose unto the air. In fact, the fisherman in the boat had to reverse its boat to avoid any effect.
We watched what the Volcanologist said, “It has great impact on the sea creatures”.
Planting Crystal Apple Tree.
As agreed earlier, the kids wanted to plant this fruit and hope to eat the fruits in a year’s time.
We dug some fertilized soil and planted 4 seeds into a recycled bottle.

Water Filtration

Friday (13/03/2009)

(a) Maths: Taps.
How many taps are there in this school?
The kids chose their friends in each group. They took turns to go around, first floor, ground floor and garden to check this out.
Then, we calculated the numbers. 4 on the first floor, 5 on ground floor and finally 8 in the garden. Finally, there are altogether 17 taps.
(b) Where did the water come from?
There is a big tank in the garden. It collects rain water from the roof top.
However, the water from the tap comes from lake or even underground.
Can we drink this water immediately?
(c)Video clip: Water Filtration
The kids watched a video clip on our drinking water and realised that our drinking water is contaminated. Pollution is in the river, lake, sea or even ocean. The clean underground water is eventually mixing with them. Thus, the kids said: “Its not safe to drink”.
We saw how a water treatment house filtered the water with permission of safe chemical.
(d) Experiment: Water Filter
The kids gathered some soil from the garden. They also took turns to place these items in the filter.
I cut the water bottle into 2 parts. The mouth part would be placed against the bottom part so that we could collect the cleaner water.
Place a paper cone, rocks, stones and pebbles into the filter mouth.
We mixed some soil with water to get the dirty water.
Finally, we filtered the dirty water and found that this water was a little bit cleaner than before. We filtered for two more times to get the cleaner water.
The cleaner water represent drinking water.
(e) Recording
The kids were really serious at recording what they saw. They also labeled what they observed.
* As they drew, they observe the water which was still dripping from the filter.....:)

Colour Printing

Thursday (12/03/2009)

(a) Word games
This time, I paired the kids. I want them to take care of everyone in the class, not only their good friends.
Then, they took turns to read the 10 words from the 5 colourful cups. Those who could read well would teach the other partner. I hope they would be more caring.
(b) Colour printing
The kids learnt that some materials could do colour printing. Example: onion and leaves beside fingers.
The kids used the onions to make up the snails' shell. Some preferred to paint using water colour.
Some painted a picture of snails eating the leaves.
Some painted pictures of snails by the river side near the mountain.
Some drew the snails beside the waterfall as they said: “Snails like wet place”.

Garbage Enzyme

Wednesday (11/03/2009)

(a) Adult Snails
Eugene brought 2 snails while Wen Yue brought 1. We placed them immediatelyinto a big container so that they could move around freely. They were fed with leaves.
We talked about the main charcteristics of a snail. Vocabulary: tentacles, eyes, foot, mouth and shell.
Each has 2 long tentacles and 2 short ones. The eyes are on the long tentacles. It really eats fast. Different species eat different types of leaves similar to caterpillar. We fed them with bamboo leaves but they didn’t like it.
Wen Yue’s snail passed motion and the kids said it was long, black and smelly…haaaa!
Everyone queued up to touch te snails. They loved touching the shell and seeing the tentacles shrunk…….:) Gee……there was also a cute mouth. We placed the snails on the table and the kids tried to be very quiet as not to scare the snails. Otherwise, their tentacles would sense danger around and they would dide in the shell. Each snails leaves a silver trail. Immediately, Eugene pointed at the trail along the container lid.

(b) Poem: The Snail
We recited and moved really slow like snails.
“ Slowly, slowly, very slowly;
Creeps the Garden Snail,
Slowly, slowly, very slowly,
Leaves a silver trail.”

(c) Quiz session
There were 8 questions. Among them:
How many tentacles does a snail have?
Does it drink water?
Does its foot have bones?
Why does a snail have a shell?
Water and daily usage.
The kids brainstormed many good answers.
Jian Wei: To bathe.
Xin Ru : To wash our face.
Sharlene: To wash dishes.
Justin : To drink.
Foo Soon : To mop.
Shi Jie : To wash the car.
Yun Wen : To cook.
Yun Zhe : For experiments.
I shared a wonderful storybook about water, thanks to Zi Jun and his mother.
Other uses: To put out fire, to wash clothes, to bathe dogs and to play with.

(d) Enzyme.
Jia Yun and Shu wei suggested that we recycle the orange skin when we were making orange juice previously. Eugene said his father did garbage enzyme too.
Every garbage that we throw would decompose or destroy by itself. This produces Carbon Monoxide which causes global warming, among them. In fact, garbage enzyme avoids mosquitoes and bacteria. Some fruit enzyme even help cancer and gastric patients.
Each kid took part at making our Enzyme. It would need to be shake often and would be ready in 3 months time.
Steps: - 3 cups of orange skin. -1 cup of brown sugar. -10 cups of water. Shake them well.

Snails, snails, snails

Tuesday (10/03/2009)

(a) They are snails not shells.
How did the baby snails got into our pot?
Nobody went took the flower pot down to the garden. Then we talked about snails.
Snails bury their eggs under the soil surface which usually take 2-4 weeks to hatch.
They eat leaves and destroy plants and leaves. Birds and lizards usually eat them.
However, people in Arab breed snails for medicine and use their intestines to make into perfume. Wow! Some Arabian children own them as pet.
People in Asia eat water snails because there are a few types of different snails.
However, the two baby snails didn’t move after a while……which means that they are dead. The kids just felt strange and hope to see them grow up.
Not giving up, we went to the garden looking for snails. We found one but already dead with black ants surrounding them. There was another one which Wen Yue held it bravely to show us. It was empty inside. Nop……it was just an empty shell.
Eugene said he has seen snails in his garden as well as Wen Yue. Their friends would like to see the adult snails. Do they also drink water?

(b) Replanting our Japanese Flower.
We brought down our flower pot. We took out the dying plants and replanted with new ones. This time, we hope that they will grow as they need lots of sunlight.

Fungus
We saw mushrooms on the tree trunk? How did they get there? The kids said because the trunk has got water…..
Yun Zhe did mention before that he saw the pomelo skin full with fungus....yuks..disgusting! But how did the fungus get on there?
We took a piece of bread and tore into half. One was kept properly. The other one we kept in a plastic bag with holes. Let’s see what happen after a few days.

Our Wonderful Trip

Friday (06/03/2009)

a) Checking our celery
We analysed the celery before and after the experiment. Before, it was totally green. After, it became yellowish, reddish and a little green. The kids summarised that the plant had absorped the colour. In fact, Jian Wei said, the level of water had also reduced and this was due to evaporation.
My question: Why are some flowers so colourful? Example, how could there be yellow sunflowers?
Eugene said: Because of the absorption. Just like our celery experiment. They would like to present their mothers with colourful flowers by using this method.

b) Our Japanese Flower
Strange, strange, strange. The flower never bloom since a week ago. It only bloomed once.
Question: Why do you think is like that?
Yun Zhe : Too much water, teacher.
Ze Yan : No sunlight.
Teacher : Well, the sunlight comes through the windows. We watered twice a day with little water, this might not be the reason.
Even with fertilizer, it didn't help the plants. So, we decided to bring the pot out. Perhaps, Japanese Flower id an outdoor plant rather than indoor.
As we looked carefully in it, we saw two little white shells. How could there be shells in the soil? Sea-shells live in the ocean.
I dug them out and placed onto a small container. “Ohh......they are snails!” exclaimed Sharlene!!
How could there be snails in the pot of soil?? The pot was already in the class for two weeks. The kids got excited and Jin Nan said to me, “Pluck some leaves for them”. Let's see what happens a few days later.

c) Worksheet: The Blue Whale.
* The kids read the short paragraph together and tried explaining to me. As we read the paragraph, I asked them questions to reinforce their earlier knowledge on whales.
They were excited to know that the length of a blue whale is around 29m which probably is equivalent to the ize of 3 huge school bus.....wow!
They are the loudest animal which are louder than jet aeroplanes.
They had to jot the dots and colour the Blue Whale as homework.

d) Our Swimming Pool Trip
The kids talked about their favourite part at the trip.
Among them:
- Teacher Hoo exercising with them during the warm-up.
- Sliding down the slides in the swimming pool.
- Playing with water guns.
- Playing with floats.
- Pulling me as if I was a yacht.
- Playing balls.
The kids drew their favourite pictures and labelled them.
Some kids said they would ask their parents to bring them to Shah Alam swimming pool next time:)

Our Aqua Land

Tuesday (03/03/2009)

a) Flashcards
Recapping yesterday’s lesson: stream, river, waterfall, sea, ocean, mountains, lakes, houses and hotels.
Fish, octopus, shark, whale, dolphin, crab, starfish and seagull.

b) Group activities
The kids chose the activities they were interested.
Among them: Jen Ning, Le Xin, Jing Kai and Sharlene were in-charged of building mountain.
River: Foo Soon, Justin, Jian Wei.
Sea: Max, Song Chuan, Jin Shan, Jin Nan
Ocean: Eugene, Yun Zhe, Ze Yan, Wen Yue, Guan Yi.
Lake: Shu Wei, Yun Wen, Xin Ru, Shi Jie

c) The Sandpit
Each came to collect their tools. Some argued of who took them first. They had to compromise before allowing to begin the activity. Usually, they would end up giggling because they found it silly to argue over a small matter.
Jen Ning insisted to make a really big mountain. Le Xin exclaimed that, “It’s beautiful!” Jing kai could only smiled and kept himself busy with each group.
Justin, “Teacher Jenny, Foo Soon and I made a long river, hooray! Can we make our class into ocean?”
Max: “Why is the sea and ocean same size? The ocean must be bigger!”
Eugene: “Haaa! Come, Wen Yue…let’s dig deeper!”
Song Chuan: “Teacher, look! There’s another stream from this smallhigh hill!”
Yun Zhe: “No….we can make another one, Song Chuan. Look!”
Jin Nan: Teacher, I can help them to dig the lake.
Jian Wei: Teacher, look! We can have another stream from the mountain to their lake……!
Yun Wen: I can help you make the hotels.
Le Xin: I put a flower on this mountain.
“Learning is fun!” was what I could described. Guan Yi too lent a helping hand.

d) Our Polystrene Boat.
As Justin suggested, we made boats yesterday but not paper ones but polystrene ones. All were excited, the lake got congested until Jen Ning sailed hers in the small stream. Then, the other kids started to sail in the river. The boat loooked as if flaoting……..:)
We tidied the sandpit and went into the class to clean ourselves.

e) Book Sharing
Wen Yue brought a book of blue whales. As we already learnt earlier. Ther are 2 types of whales. Tooth whales have teeth bnut baleen whales have no teeth.
We found out that a whale’s tail is different from fish. When a blue whale blows through its 2 blowholes, the air stinks just like rotten fish. Actually, they only eat shrimps or small prawns. Their baleens will filter the food before entering its stomach.
Meanwhile a sperm whale is a tooth whale. It’s smaller than blue whales. However, its tooth can be as long as 5metres…..”wow!” exclaimed the kids.
Orca or killer whale attacks whales…similar to cookiecutter sharks.
The kids are interested in sharks and dolphins. We might learn about them soon,

The Body Of Water

Monday (02/03/2009)

a) The Body Of Water
Water has a few origins. One of the most common ones is from the cold mountain. The melting ice gives fresh clean water. It flows down as “stream”. Some streams venture into “waterfall”. Some streams venture into the calm “lakes”. Some streams flow faster, wider and deeper which form “river”. A few rivers form the “sea”. When a few seas meet up, oceans are formed.
We talked about the common activities at these different areas. People go fishing at the sea. They go swimming at the sea (similar to Port Dickson; the sea water which we compared against Klang River). People do paragliding and go boating. In the ocean, there are big ships, ferries and also the lighthouse.
As we discussed about this at the playground, we compared the clouds in the sky to the clouds I drew on the cardboard. Wow……the kids thought that they saw faces. One side was grey, another was white and another blue sky. Yun Wen quickly said that the wind blew the clouds.

b) Quizzes
(1) Which water is calm?
Jen Ning: The lake. You can find frogs and ducks there.
(2) Which is bigger? Stream or waterfall?
Song Chuan: The waterfall. You can find small fish at the waterfall.
(3) Which is deeper? Sea or the ocean?
Jin Nan : Ocean.
(4) Which is the saltiest?
Eugene, Ze Yan, Sharlene: The ocean.
(5) Where did the water get the salt?
Jian Wei, Justin : From the stones and rocks.
(6) Which animals live in the river?
Foo Soon: Frogs and small fish.
(7) What about the sea?
Yun Zhe: Squids, crabs.
Song Chuan: Electrical eel.
(8) What about sharks?
Le Xin: In the sea.
Ze Yan: No, ocean!
Teacher: Usually in the ocean. However, sharks do swim in the sea unlike whales because their bodies are smaller and lighter.
(9) Anymore ocean animals?
Wen Yue: Dolphins.
Eugene: Whales.
Jin Shan: Lobsters.

(c) Labelling the water chart.
* We read through some aquatic animals’ names. The kids were confused about “lala” and “oyster”.
Ze yan insisted that oyster is lala. I told them to find out the answers. Anyway, I gave them a clue that oysters produce pearls. The older it is, the bigger it becomes. Some kids said their mother has pearl necklaces such as Jin Nan, Jen Ning, Sharlene, Justin and Le Xin’s mother.
We learnt about “sting-ray”. From the discussion, the kids were interested at sharks. We might learn about it soon.
Other vocabulary: pelicans, seagull, squids and shells.

(d) Discussion: Project.
* Ze Yan, Eugene, Sharlene and also Yun Zhe gave their opinions to do this project. Sharlene suggested clays. Yun Zhe said blue cloth. Eugene said using blue papers. Ze Yan said blue cardboards. They wanted to decorate the class…….Ehhmmmmm. I told them that since it’s related to water, let’s try it outdoor first. Song Chuan, Jin Shan and Foo Soon thought of the sand pit. A good choice!
* Justin said “Hooray!” We can play paper boat. Eugene said, “I can bring toys”……haaaa!
* However, I asked them if paper boat is a good idea. The other time, they got torn easily in the paper. Thus, we finally used polystrne cups as boats. They decorated using crayons as they are water proof.
Some kids looked at the Aqua Animals’ pictures. Some searched for books such as Eugene, Wen Yue and Shu Wei.
Then, they chose straws to be the boats pole. They pasted them onto the cups.
how much u know……map……the whale song……….trees

Our Orange Juice

Friday (27/02/2009)

a) Oranges
We thanked the kids who brought the oranges including Ze yan, Shu Wei, Foo Soon and also Jian Wei.
Justin said we couldn't plant oranges or apples in Malaysia. Eugene said, “It's hot”. Jin Shan said, “Let's plant in Cameron Highlands then”.
We had to thank those kids because their parents paid the oranges. For each orange, many people are required to work on it before gaining the fruits. The farmers, workers, lorry drivers, fruit sellers and finally us.
We had 7 oranges altogether and we imagined that the main fruit seller bought from the farmer at 20 cents each. The kids added this sum to get RM1.40 as total.
The second level fruit seller bought from the main fruit seller at 50 cents. The total would be RM3.50.
Finally, parents buy from night market and shopping centres for about 80 cents. That equals to RM5.60.

b) Orange juice.
The kids took turn to wash the oranges. I cut each orange into 2 pieces. Altogether there are 14
pieces now. Each kid looked for their pairs and they worked together to squeeze the oranges.
As we only had 1 squeezer, the kids took turn to squeeze the fruit. The others squeezed using their hands. Hygiene was highlighted.
The fresh orange juice has got more fiber and no sugar is added. Fiber is healthy for us.
Next, we poured them into an ice mould. They are excited to taste the frozen one. Before putting in the fridge, the kids each tasted some of the orange juice, Most said it was sour and sweet.

c) Plants and water
Plants drink using roots. After every rainfall, 35% goes underground. That's how we obtained bottled water. 15% goes to the roots. Balance would evaporate or goes into the sources such as rivers, ponds etc.
Plants would reduce flood. Many unsystematic development has caused land erosion. This would affect the environment such as global warming, wildlife animals and the water we drink.

d) Poster: Plant trees
The kids thought that putting up posters would be one way to help the Earth and their land.
They pasted the origami tree onto a colour a paper. I encouraged them to decorate it meaningfully.
Foo Soon drew buses and trees, Song Chuan drew the tree and the ground while the others also drew factories surrounding the tree.
Trees make our Earth cooler, prevent flood and also absorp heta and CO2 and Carbon Monoxide.

The Whale

Wednesday (25/02/2009)

a) Storybook: The Whale
The kids listened attentively of how a stranded whale lied helplessly on the beach. Immediately, some loving kids and a dad threw buckets of water onto the hot whale. Then, it got hotter but they continued splashing water to the whale. Finally, the sea level rose and the waves covered the whale. The strong waves brought the whale into the sea. The children and dad helped to push the whale.

b) Whale’s anatomy
The kids learnt some information. They also loved sharing what they already knew of.
Every year, thousands of whales would lie on the beach and most died. Scientists could only guess the reason of this sad phenomenon. Probably due the sudden change of strong wind and waves. The kids learnt that the hot and cold wind caused Earth pressures and affected waves to rise…similar to tornado….as Justin said. Another reason was because the whales responded to a single whale’s signal or call. When one crashes onto the beach, the others would automatically follow.
They are mammals, give birth, has little hair, breathe using lungs and has 1 or 2 blowholes. They feed their babies with milk and their hearts are similar to ours. They are the largest mammal in sea. The kids at first thought that whales are fish.
They can dive, jump high, swim fast or slow and they sing to talk to one another. Some songs are happy while some are as warnings.
A blue whale can be 29 metre long and 9 storey high.

c) We are losing whales.
Reasons: oil pollution, global warming and also humans. People kill whales to sell their meat, to take their fat and make into candles or also margerine. Baleens are also taken out for factory usgae. Its intestines can be made into perfume.
So, we are putting up posters: Save whales!

d) Posters: Save whales.
The kids decided on their designs. Then, they pasted theb whale origami they made yesterday. They learn to write “Save Whales”.
Our land.
Sharlene started by sketching the mountain followed by the stream, river and etc. Foo Soon drew a ship in the sea. Yun Zhe came to draw schools and shops beside the mountain. More and more kids came to lend a hand. It was fun!

Water Has Energy

Tuesday (24/02/2009)

a) Experiment: Can water move?
Each kid folded a flower craft. The petals were closed. They then took their individual bowl and filled with water. The petals poened slowly due to the water force or energy.
The kids then linked this to a plant’s absorption water using root. Is this true? A few thought so. Thus, we soaked a celery into a coloured water to leave it for a few days. Originally, a celery is green in colour? What will happen after soaking into red water?

b) Recap: water sources and video clips
The moment I drew the mountain, the kids remebered “stream, river, waterfall, sea and ocean”.
Relating to yesterday’s video clip, Ze yan said I should add a black duck due to the oil pollution.
We also drew sick fish. Jian Wei recalled the flood. Jin nan immediately said it was because we have chopped down many trees.
Justin recalled how people threw rubbish into the sea. Song Chuan said our drinking water is very dirty.

c) Owning our own land.
We imagined having own own polluted land. Thus, we had to do something. Putting up posters is one way. So, the kids chose to deal with animals first. Foo Soon suggest that we should call our sea as “Genting Sea”…haaaa…….the others agreed.

d) An origami whale
They learnt to see my folding instructions. They observed “rectangle, triangle, circle”.
Then, they wrote “whale” onto the origami paper. They decorated the whale.

The Melting Ice

Monday (23/02/2009)

a) Evaporated salt
* Finally, we saw the evaporated salt from the sea water which we left it outdoor for almost a week. Ours was from Klang River. It was really dirty and the kids could see brown crystalised salt instead.
* We were lucky because Jin Fong from downstairs brought some sea water from Port Dickson which was very clean. Thus, the kids realized that the water from Klang is polluted compared to the sea water from Port Dickson. That explains why the bech there is beautiful and clean.

b) Experiment: Melting Ice.
* The kids each held an ice cube and felt the coldness. They laughed and were happy to see it melting just like raining.
* Next, we prepared 2 containers. We added an ice cube into each container. Container A contains tap water while Container B contains hot water. The ice in Container B melted faster.

c) Video Clip.
* We watched how the melting ice caused the sea level to increase. That causes flood in many areas. In fact penguins and polar bears are dying.
?* There was also oil spill which affected many sea animals. The white duck became totally black……..and the people used their hands to clean the sea. The earth is sick.

d) Song: The Water Cycle Song
* We sang together, encouraged kids to explain and did movement actions.

Rain and Snow Come Down,
And They Hit The Ground,
To the puddles or rivers,
Or into the ground,
They evaporate.
Into the clouds,
Where they condensate.
Rain…tip tap..tip tap……., Rain…tip tap..tip tap…….,
Where they condensate.

Boy, it’s cold up there,
And they grab some dust,
And return to us,
As rain and snow,
Into puddles or rivers,
Or sea and pond,
It’s the water cycle.
Rain…tip tap..tip tap……., Rain…tip tap..tip tap…….,
Where they condensate.

Water and Oil

Friday (20/02/2009)

a) The Oil Tanker
Unnecessary oil spill would affect the sea animals’ lives.
We did an experiment and saw that the oil layer floats on top of the water.
The oil layer would disallow the sea animals and sea plants to beathe sufficient Oxygen form the air. Furthermore, some fish eat insects on the water surface.
Some fish survive while some died. The unhealthy sea animals would be our food which then causes sickness among people.
The kids saw the Encyclopaedia of how people clean flamingoes feathers by hands.
Sometimes, helicopters spray chemical to solidify the oil so that they easier to be cleaned.

b) The water and oil experiment.
We filled the bottle with tap water. Next, we added a toy fish and seaweed into it. It’s like a big sea. We shaked the bottle like waves.
Then, oil spilled onto it and covered the sea animals and plants.

c) Rubbish
Sharlene said that people also throw rubbish into the sea. This too affects sea living things. They then recalled about “pollution and recycle”.
Ze Yan said that maybe we should clean the river. It’s a great idea. We would talk about environment rather soon.

d) River sources.
The kids learnt in a glance about the different stages.
Usually a stream originates from the mountain, they expanded into bigger rivers and then forming waterfalls. The flow increases and then goes into the sea and finally the big ocean.
Thus, Song Chuan said; the oil pollution and rubbish also affect our drinking water.

Clouds and Lightning

Thursday (19/02/2009)
a) A glance of the weather
* The kids kept telling me, "It's raining". It wasn't very heavy and the sky was not dark. We hoped for a rainbow. However, there wasn't any.

b) Kids : Questions and Answers
* Ze Yan: Why are the clouds dark?
* When the clouds are thinner, the sunlight could shine through. However, as water evaporates, the clouds get thicker and the sunlight gets difficult to shine through....that's the reason.
* Ze yan: Not because of the factory smoke?
* Teacher: No.c) The Lightning.Justin, Jin Shan: Why is there lightning then?
* I drew picture of cars caught in traffic jam.
* Similar to the clouds, when there are more clouds; they tend to rub against one another especially when the wind starts to blow.
* Then, I got two kids pretending to be clouds. They banged into one another.......(acting)....they giggled and imagined the loud sound of thunder and flashes of lightnings!

d) Safety
* We saw pictures of places we should avoid when it rains. We should avoid tall trees, big spaces like a field and also in the swimming pool.
* We should take shelter in a safe building.
* Song Chuan and Eugene said that, there's a rod that will channel the lightning electrons to the ground.
* For this, I showed them a plug. I unscrewed it and showed them the colours of the three wires.Then, we learned about the Earth wire (green and yellow) which will channel the electrons to the Earth.

e) Experiment: Static Electricity
* This is similar to the concept that clouds when rubbed against one another, would produce ectricity and causes LIGHTNING.
* We took a plastic ruler, a cloth and some aluminium foil. We rubbed the ruler with the dry cloth. We counted until 50 seconds. The kids then saw how it attracted the aluminium foil.* Similar to magnet.

f) Our blooming flower.
* Yes! It has bloomed. It's purple and small. The kids could remember to water the plant. However, I reminded them to be cautious as too much water would cause overflow.

The Floating Ship

Wednesday (18/02/2009)

a) Reason of a floating ship.
* Eugene and Sharlene said it was because of the air a ship has within.* Jin Nan said it was the powerful sea that causes a ship to float.
* Ze Yan said it must be the evaporation.

b) Experiment: a clay ship.
* We decided to try Sharlene's idea. Each kid was given a clay. They had to be creative at forming a clay ship.
* The ball of clay sank. However, it was tough for them to make a clay ship. They tried and tried.* Finally only Jin Nan was successful. It floated for a moment. * However, it sank when some kids accidentaly touched the pail of water.
* As the clay ship sank, the kids started shouting" Not successful! Not successful!"* I was furious not because of the volume but because of the team sirit.

c) Detention
* The good news was some kids cheered for Jin Nan. They were Jen Ning, Le Xin, Jen Ning, Justin, Foo Soon and Shu Wei. They were allowed to continue with the experiment while the others only watched from the corner.
* I explained that Jin Nan was the only successful kid at this experiment. However, as the detented kids accidentally pushed the pail of water, they caused some water to go into the ship. Thus, less air cause the ship to sink easily.
* They were quite ashamed of themselves and apologised to Jin Nan. I am so glad with Jin Nan as she was able to handle the situation calmly! An improvement.

d) Book: Sinking and Floating
* We read about things that sink and float and their importance.
* Some boats float such as rubber boat, cargo ship and also ferry. Submarines sink.
* Jen Ning said that the submarine sinks due to the engine. I added it's also because of its programmed structure and model.
* Floats and life jackets help us to float.* When a ship needs to stop, it will throw down an anchor.
* Immediately, Yun Zhe said..."anchor" sounds like "ankle"...haaaa! The class laughed!
* A fishing rod and its thread liner is light. Thus, we need a sinker to sink the bait.
* The class thought of fishing the fish in our school pond.
* Sharlene and Jin nan disagree as the fish might die.
* Thus, I asked the kids to think of suitable activities if they wanna fish!