Gardeners can save the Earth

Thursday (23/04/2009)

a) We are gardeners.
The kids pretended to be gardeners. I pretended to be a person with no gardening experience.
Recalling back our yesterday’s planting vegetable planting, I asked them why some of my plants bended?
Jien Wei: Not enough water. Ze Yan: Not enough sunlight.
Sharlene: Not enough enzyme. Teacher: I think we have everything.
Eugene: Not enough soil. Teacher: Good! The soil in our pots was too little.
Sufficient soil is important to hold the vegetable and fruit when they are growing big.

b) New labels.
Shu Wei: what is a label?
Teacher: A label is to write important information such as your name, vegetable name and also the
date we first planted the vegetables and fruit.
Our little lable has already faded. So, its very important to have new labels!
Discussion: A gift for Qian Thong’s parents.
We were lucky that Qian Thong’s parents presented us the pots and soil for free. We must give them in return.
Jen Ning: We can write them a letter thanking their kindess.
Wen Yue: We can draw pictures.
Yun Zhe: Just like our gift to Mr. Hoo who came and teach us Dragon Dance.
Teacher: What can we draw? Foo Soon: We drew dragons for Mr. Hoo.
Sharlene: We can draw plants and beautiful flowers for them.
Wen Yue: Can we draw sharks?
Teacher: Of course! Anything that trees can save…! Just like…..the Earth Day!
Yun Zhe: We can also give Qian Thong’s parents some of our vegetable and watermelon.
Teacher: Hmm….we have to work very hard, then! Good idea!

c) Gardening.
Thus, we pasted our labels. We topped up the soil. We watered them as well as spraying the emzyme.
Ze Yan: We have taken more than 2 weeks to plant our vegetables.
Jin Shan: But….some grew….some didn’t.
Teacher: So, it is easy to be a farmer? Class: No!!
Teacher: Appreciate your food, okay. Those plants which didn’t grow, we would pray hard and work hard that the seeds are of good quality this time.
We transferred the pots near to the fence beside the garden.

d) Recording.
They enjoyed planting and of course they enjoyed drawing their thoughts.
Each kid drew pictures on “Earth Day”.
Some drew themselves planting vegetables. Some drew how dolphins could be saved when the ocean is cleaner or when the water is not too hot due to global warming.
Some drew sharks. Some came to ask me to write short sentences of their thoughts on the whiteboard. Then they wrote them down onto their paper.
I thought to myself, “If only these kids could colour as well as they draw!” maybe its time they do that in next lesson….after all “my body is magic”!

Happy Birthday, Earth!

Wednesday (22/04/2009)

a) Earth Day.
* We did a poem on "seed".
Teacher: So, why is today speacial?
Jen Ning: Is th Earth’s birthday….(all giggle).
Teacher: It’s true. How is the earth today?
Everyone knows that the earth is sick….relating it to our previous topic; Pollution of last year.
Last year we gave each kid a plant. More than 10 kids’ plants are still at home, growing. About 4 kids’ plants are not growing. So, I explained to them that some of these plants are more for decoration purposes. They would not grow tall. Some died! Some disappeared.

b) How do plants help?
Yun Zhe: They give us clean Oxygen. Teacher: That’s good!
Kids learnt about O2 and CO2. We breathe in O2 and breathe out CO2. Meanwhile, in the day, trees breathe in O2 and CO2.
If there is too much CO2 in the Earth, global warming would be more serious. It’s like a blanket covering the sky and all the hot and poisonous gas is trapped.
Jian Wei: The fish would die.
That’s true. Every year, the water temperature increases. As in Antartica, Polar Bears are losing their glacier homes. Some died of waether change, some died of searching for a new home. Some died of being unable to look for sufficient food!
What we can do is to plant more trees and use paper wisely.

c) How do vegetables help?
Vegetables keep growing and play the same role as trees.
Ze Yan: Hee…teacher! Can the green toys give out CO2 and take in O2? The class giggled…….!
Teacher: Well…..only if they have roots, Ze Yan!
Commercial vegetables used chemicals to provide fresh and beautiful plants. These chemicals would flow into the Body of Water when the rain washed away the leaves. Of course, they are harmful to water animals also to our underground water.
Furthermore, too much pesticides spraying would also contribute to poisonous air to our Earth.
We would be different! We use garbage enzyme as the fertilizer. It is recycled from fruit and vegetable wate and skin.

d) Transferring our vegetables!
We had earlier planted Red lady Fingers, Cherry Tomatoes and watermelon. This is the third week.
A few plants are already about 6 cm. Some are still sprouts. A few did not even grow.
We were so lucky that the pots and soil were presents from Qian Thong’s father who operates a Nursery Shop! Qian Thong is a 6-year old kid from another class.
Thus, each kid took a pot and washed them clean. Then they used the spades to scoop the earth and fertilised soil. They mixed them together.
I showed them how to transfer the already grown little plants into the new pots. They were so serious and excited. We watered them. Then, we labelled our names.
We would talk about some important team work on “planting” tomorrow to ensure our plants bear fruits and vegetables.

How much do I know?

Tuesday (21/04/2009)

a) Game: Treasure Hunt
Max: What’s treasure?
Eugene: Something valuable.
Teacher: People believed some treasures were buried undersea.
We talked very briefly about pirates just as happened in Somalia recently.
Procedure: They made a circle. A chosen person sat in the middle. He / she would be looking for the treasure stealer. Meanwhile, the others learnt to pass around a coin very very quietly……(Something difficult for them but they tried their very best…haa!) While passing, they chant this rhyme.
“Treasure hunt! Treasure hunt! Where is my treasure? Who took my treasure?”
The first 4 rounds were confusing and messy because they kept calling the person who held the coin. Definitely, the person seated in the middle could hear. Second mistake was, their eyes would look at the person who held the coin…….haa! Thirdly, the person who held the coin put their hands behind their back…….unlike the others!  The BEST part was to see how they held themselves…seriously….while waiting for the seated person to guess the tresure stealer!

b) Our title
We recapped on yesterday’s lesson. Jen Ning was the first to share about it. So, we had to vote for our new thematic name.
Among discussed: I can move my body? You’ve got to move it? Let’s move our body! My fun body?
Finally, 14 kids opted “My Magical Body”.
Teacher: What do you mean by “magical”? Can we perform magic?
Jen Ning: Yes, teacher! When we sleep, our body still works. It helps us to grow.
Teacher: Good! When we are injured, our body will help the healing process.
Can a happy person makes the other sad people happy?
I left the class. Meanwhile, the kids pretended crying. Then, I knocked at the door and exclaimed, “ I have a surprise!!” Suddenly they looked up and started smiling…..!
Our body is indeed a magical place!

c) How much do I know?
We chose Le Xin to lie down on a piece of white paper. The kids took turn to trace her body. We also traced her 2 bunches of hair……haa!
Then, the kids pretended to be teachers and explained to me. I would ask them questions hoping them to give me an answer. They started by sketching from the body top. Their sharings:
Song Chuan: We need hair.
Eugene: hair protects our heads from hot sun!
Teacher: Does that mean, a person with no hair feels hotter??....(Class was unsure).
Jin Shan: We use eyes to see.
Jen Ning: A blind person uses a stick to help them move around.
Teacher: Does that mean they cannot go to school? (Class was unsure).
Jin Nan: We use our nose to smell. We have 2 nostrils on our nose.
Teacher: Why do I have nose blocks sometimes? (Class was unsure).
Yun Zhe: We use our mouth to eat?
Teacher: Why must we eat?
Foo Soon: We will die? Teacher: So, if I don’t eat for a day, will I die?
Jen Ning: No…….you will not. But…..if you don’t eat for many days, you will die.
Eugene: This is our neck.
Teacher: What is underneath the neck?
Ze Yan: Our throat. Our food goes down here.
Max: Our heart is here. It is as big as our heart.
Teacher: Why do we need a heart?
Jien Wei: If no heart, we cannot move? Teacher: I don’t understand.
Jen Ning: No heart, no blood!
Teacher: Are you sure? (Class was unsure).
The class shall be continued.

Let’s move our body!

Monday (20/04/2009)

a) Brainstorming
Teacher: What are the things that can move?
Yun Zhe: wheels.
Wen Yue: Anglerfish.
Foo Soon: dolphin.
un Wen: hands.
Jien Wei: legs.
Eugene : cars.
Jen Ning: wind.
Jin Nan: water.
Ze Yan: clouds.
Song Chuan: door…………!
Class: Yes! The door is moving now because the wind is blowing it…..haaa!
Teacher: Our new theme would be related to our body…..!

b) Song: Head, shoulders, knees and toes.
First we sang it slowly. Then, pretending to be an old person, we sang it very very slowly. The kids giggled…of course! Then, we sang it very very fast, pretending to be a jet! All the kids were able to sing this simple song well.

c) Game: Touch your body parts.
We gathered in a big circle.I called out each kid and they listened to my instructions. Among them:Touch your hair. Touch your eyes. Touch your mouth, your eyebrows, your forehead, your chin, your ears, your elbows, your knees, your ankles, your toes, your feet, your fingers, your hands, your arms, your armpits, yout stomach and your thighs.Some kids were confused of forehead, chin, elbows, thighs and also ankles.

d) Outdoor: Move it and touch your body part.
Instructions: Every kid must move following the clockwise route. Kids who failed to follow this rule, will be omitted from the game.
Fly like a butterfly………stop!
Touch your stomach!
Swim like an Anglerfish………stop!
Touch your ankles.
Float like a cloud……….stop!
Touch your elbows.
Run like a dinosaur……..stop!
Touch your fingers.
Walk like an old man….stop!
Touch your forehead!

d) Mind-mapping
We thought of the things we would be learning for this theme.
Among the kids’ ideas were: 1) Body organs: heart and brain. 2) The coordination of body parts.Skeleton and postures. 3) To be healthy, good food is important.Sports: bowling, baseball, handball. 5) Emotional: feelings6) Spiritual: Yoga / meditation. 7) Activities: Le Xin – will share with us ballet. Eugene - will share with us yoga. 8) Project – maybe to open up a store ( providing service / selling products).So, what’s our new title?Justin: Magic Body! Yun Zhe: Move it! Move it!Class: Let’s move our body!

The “Thank You” Card.

Thursday ( 16/04/2009)

(a) Listen and Move!
the kids gathered in a circle. They had to move in a circle. They listened to my instructions carefully and then when I hit the tambourine, they had to stop!
Example: Walk like an old man. Crawl like a baby. Fly like a bird. Swim like a fish. They enjoyed it so much.

(b) Our Heart Rate
We felt our heart rate. We placed it under near the neck. We counted the first time which was 13 times per ten seconds.
A minute is equals to 72 beats for a healthy person. I took the clock and showed them. As a minute has 60 seconds, therefore their heartbeat after playing is about 78.
After resting and talking for about 10 minutes, the kids counted the beat again. This time it was 12 times per ten seconds. Thus, a minute is equals to 72 beat. They were happy to know that they are fit children.

(c) The “Thank You” Card.
For this theme, a few kids brought books and stuffs to share with the class. Thus, we made “Thank You” card to thank them.
I pasted the 8 cards on the tables. Everyone took turn to write their name and draw on the card.
Some kids were excited to get their friends to write their names on the card. Some kids didn’t understand initially. Thus, I explained it again until they could understand and participated.

(d) My Belongings
The kids took their crafts and their work and ensure they are all in the plastic folders.
Some took time to look at their work and they shared with friends…..haaa!
They loved their crowns and Foo Soon kept asking me when they can act again?
Song Chuan asked me when we can play percussion again?

The Percussion Play

Wednesday (15/04/2009)

(a) Percussion
I introduced the different names: tambourine, bells, triangle, cymbal, maracas and castanet.
They chose their favourite percussion.
First, I tried out the percussions to play different songs. The kids guessed. Yun Zhe was able to catch the rhythm and guessed the song correctly.
Then we tried out a few songs. These included “London Bridge”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and also “Ten Green Bootles”.
Next, we tried on “The Rainbow Song”. They were giggling away.
The class was divided into 3 groups to perform any song of their choice.
Group 1 chose “London Bridge”. The same goes to Group 3. However, Group 3 included the “bridge” by themselves.
Group 2 did “The Rainbow Song”.

(b) Our drama: Drippy, Droppy and Drappy.
The kids put on their crowns, got ready at their positions. Most of them were quite attentive at their roles. They could remember where to come into the play. These attentive kids were: Shi Jie, Jin Shan, Max, Eugene, Song Chuan, Ze yan, Jian Wei, Shu Wei, Le Xin, Foo Soon, Yun Zhe and Jen Ning. The others needed some prompting.

The Silver Conch

Tuesday (14/04/2009)

(a) "Tongue Twister”
We repeated the twister. “She sells seashells on the seashore”.
They enjoyed the speed of it!

(b) Flash Card games
As a revision.
Each picked a card randomly. They walked around as they hear the music. When I stopped, they chose a partner. The shorter one would start by reading the card. The other partner must read after him or her. Next, it’s the taller partner’s turn.
Then, they wrote down their word and drew. The second word would be any word they liked. They could choose amongst their friends.

(c) The Silver Conch Shell
We learnt about it. These are the facts:
They have a foot and also a pair of tentacles and eyes…..similar to a snail.
The shell is actually their skeleton. They sticky body is due to its mantle similar to saliva. It would build the shell. To do this, it needs to eat lots of food. It eats algae and small tiny sea animals.
People from Sepanyol and European countries eat them. However, it is against the law to export these creatures. Traders used their shells as crafts.
A Silver Conch also produces pearl. The kids then lined up to listen to the Conch. They could hear a sound similar to the wave.
That is actually the sound of their flowing blood in their ears. Eugene, “Take any empty container, you can also hear it”. He’s right. However, because the Conch has a beautiful spiral, therefore; the sound is different.

The King Crab

Monday (13/04/2009)

(a) Tongue twister
“ She sells sea-shells on the sea shore.
The shelss that she sells are sea-shells, I’m sure.”
The kids explained the meaning. Then, they read it from the speed of slow to medium and very fast.
They enjoyed it as they almost twisted their tongues.

(b) Flash cards
We recapped some of the key words learnt throughout this topic. Some included: float, clean water, starfish, ship, ice-cream and etc.

(c) The King Crab
Known also as Horshoe Crab. However, the kids preferred it to be called King Crab.
It is not a crab but related to scorpions and land siders.
The shell is very tough which protects it from predators.
They existed about 250 million years ago before dinosaurs.
It has 2 compound eyes, 2 median eyes (light receptor), 10 legs (plus 2 claws; if males) and a tail.
The tail is similar to steering that would determine its swimming and moving direction.
In the ocean, it can swim upside down. It breathes through its gills.
It also walks on the seabed eating worms and mollusks such as clams.
It is so tough that it can survive without eating for a year.
During high tide, the waves would wash them to the sand. The females would dig holes and lay 20,000 pearly green eggs. The males would hatched the eggs.
Just like crabs, it molts. Each time it molts, it gets larger. However, the new molt King Crab are usually the food of fish.
People and also Migratory birds eat their eggs.
Chinese medication uses its shell to help blood clog.
Some use them as fertilizer and slao poultry food.

Our Souvenir

Friday (10/04/2009)

a) Decorating our hats.
The kids drew their favourite sea animals and pasted on their hats.
Most importantly, they learnt to label the pictures. Thus, they would recognize the words better.

b) Souvenirs.
Some kids brought their containers while some used the school’s.
The materials we used: glitter, colourful beads and also colourful crystal balls.
First, they chose their favourite sea-shells. Then, we pasted into the containers.
Next, they filled it in with water.
Then, they added the materials they like. They saw that glitter float while the beads and crystal balls sink.
Max: “Why can’t I see the colourful crystal balls?”
Yun Zhe: “Maybe because some are white and you can’t see them in the water.”
Jen Ning: “This is so fun”.
Some kids found that their containers had leakage. Thus, they wrapped them with cellophanetape.

c) Preparing for Parents’ Day.
The kids worked together to clean the class. Some arranged the books. Some arranged the pencils. Some pasted their craft work onto the table.
They were very excited and asked me if they could come tomorrow….haaaa!

Crabby Crabs

Thursday (02/04/2009)

a) Crabby Crabs
Our class and 5-year-old gathered to see the two crabs which just died in the afternoon.
Teacher Huang brought the female crab. The kids recalled the facts about crabs while listening to Teacher Huang’s explanation.
They saw that when a crab is dissected, both left and right are similar. This is a symmetrical animal.
It was very smelly and the kids kept saying it. Why? Firstly, one should not eat a dead crab as it is poisonous. Secondly, a lived crab eat almost anything it can find. It likes eating dead animals too.

b)Facts: Crab
It has a shell and has 10 legs. 2 of which are swimming legs, 6 are walking legs whereas the 2 front legs are the claws. They are use to clam food as well as protection. Males use them to fight with other males to attract the females.
When crabs grow, they will molt. During this time, they will hide between rocks or anywhere safe as their body is very soft. They need to drink lots of water to restore the shell. Usually after 2 hours of drinking water, their shells will be more firmed.
They molt about 5 times a year.
A female adult can lay up to hundreds of eggs. After delivering the eggs, she would die in about 2 weeks.

c) Craft
They each trace their left and right hand. They learnt to trace for their friends when they couldn’t do so.
Then, they cut the pieces and attached them together. They learnt to write the word “crab” on the paper crab.

Creating Our Story

Wednesday (01/04/2009)

a) Storybook: Tiddler
It’s a story of the ocean. Lots of fishes and sea creatures.
Tiddler was a grey and plain small fish but who told tall tales.
Everyday, he would be late for school and then he would tell his classmates about his tales that caused him late for school.
Either he was riding a seahorse, flying with a ray, diving with a dolphin or even trapped in a shipwreck and saved by a mermaid. Nobody believed him except Little Johnny Dory who told the tale to his Grandmother and it spreaded around the neighbourhood.
However, one day Tiddler was caught by fishermen who then let him free as he was just a little fish. Tiddler landed in the middle of ocean with Anglerfish and other sea creatures.
Suddenly, he heard a group of anchovies saying his story………”Tiddler rode on a seahorse. Tiddler rode on a Sting Ray….” Tiddler tracked down the story from anchovies who brought him to other sea animals including the Blue Whale, eel, lobster, plaice and finally Little Johnny Dory’s Grandmother.
So, it was Johnny Dory who told the story. Excitedly, Tiddler went home and he told everyone of his adventure. Of course, only Little Johnny Dory believed him. Finally, Johnny Dory met a diver writer who wrote the story for you and me…

b) Creating our story
I started the first short paragraph and the kids continued them. Along the way, they gave their ideas and sometimes, I prompted them with questions as a guide. This is their story. Please enjoy yourself.
Drippy is a little water drop while Doppy is the mother who live in the water tank. They spurted out from the hose into the garden. Beautiful flowers everywhere. Drippy thought that he could stay on the flower forever which his mother corrected him with “The Water Cycle” lesson.
The Sun causes evaporation and condensated in the clouds. The wind blew them and the clouds got thicker and thicker. Finally, it rained and Drappy explained about Rainbow to Drippy. They slid down the rainbow and into the ocean…just as Drippy wished for. They wished to look for Drippy’s father who is Drappy.
In the ocean, Drippy screamed seeing big fishes like sharks. Droppy explained that water is not eatable and they need not worry. Suddenly, they absorped into Anglerfish’s gills into its dark and smelly body. The smell is because Anglerfish usually eat dead bodies and any food that they can find as they live in Level 5 of the ocean….which is totally DARK! They escaped when Anglerfish swallowed a clown fish. Then, they saw dolphins. Droppy explained that dolphins are friendly and intelligent. They asked dolphins to help them search for their father, Drappy who is now living in the clam, beside the oyster. The dolphin helped them and they found Drappy. They were very happy.
The next day, fishermen caught the clams and when the fishermen opened the clam, Drippy, Drappy and Droopy evaporated into the clouds. And…they lived happily ever after…

Illustration of Nemo

Tuesday (31/03/2009)

a) Rainbow Song
We sang the song to recap the meaning.
The kids were getting better at this song.
Justin’s “Finding Nemo” Book.
Justin was so enthusiastic about this book. It has the same story as the DVD we are yet to finish watching.
The difference is the book potrays people disguising as sea animals. The kids loved the most seeing the people disguising as Clown Fish. Haaa……the fish have legs! Le Xin insisted that they were Nemos and not Clown Fish. Jen Ning and Song Chuan immediately said that nemo was just the name of the fish. Similar to “You are a girl and your name is Susan”.
It was a colourful book with Starfish, the Moon Fish, Sting Ray, Octopuses, Jellyfish and the Shark of course.
Foo Soon asked if the shark was also disguised by people as it was so big with no legs. Well, most probably not. It might use the concept of hot air balloon to blow up the Great White Shark.
At the end, Nemo met his father, Marlin.

b) Continuation of Nemo
From the blow holes of the blue whale, marlin and Dory were now in the sea of Sydney. Seagulls were everywhere chasing to eat them. Luckily, the Pelican which were friend to the Aquarium Gang heard Marlin saying about Nemo. He saved them and quickly brought them to the dentist's. Meanwhile, Nemo was put in a plastic bag to be given to the dentist's niece. Nemo pretnded to die. That very moment, the pelican came with Marlin and Dory. They the unmovable Nemo. They gave up thinking that Nemo was dead. They flew away. Meanwhile, aquarium leader, Gill helped Nemo into the toilet bowl which led water into the drain, rivers, seas and oceans. When the pelican freed Marlin and Dory into the sea, they both eventually found Nemo and were overjoyed. Suddenly, Dory was trap in a big net together with a lot of fish. Marlin permitted Nemo to go into the net and motivated all fishes to throw themselves down against the net. They were freed because of Nemo.....wow! They return t their homes and lived happily ever after.
Along the movie, the kids learnt more about the whale and the water channeling.

c) Drawing: Finding Nemo.
* The kids drew their favourite pictures from the cartoon film. I thought that their drawings were amazing. Kids really absorp fast. The kids also learnt to label their sea animals.

The Rainbow

Friday (27/03/09)

a) New vocabulary
Our new words are jellyfish, octopus and starfish.

b) Dehydration
Human beings without water would die off on the tenth day. Thus, water is so important because they cleanse our body and also builds healthy skin and body.
leaving a fresh apple in the class for two weeks, we saw how the skin crumpled and the weigh even got lighter.
I brought in a fresh apple. We recorded the weigh of each apple.
Fresh apple = 150 gram. Evaporated apple = 120gram.
Total = 270 gram.
The kids learnt that fresh food must be properly kept to avoid fungus as well as unhealthy for eating.
The reason for the weigh difference was “evaporation”.

c) The Rainbow Song
We learnt new song about rainbow.
There are 7 colours in a rainbow. The colours accordingly are:
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet.
However, the song lyrics were different. The kids were aware of it saying that the lyric was wrong.
As this song is accompanied by music, the kids said its okay to follow the original lyrics....haaa!
Then, Jen Ning found that the sentence “Listen With Your Eyes” is wrong. She said it should be “ See With Your Eyes”. Max agreed and the other kids all agreed too.
They loved this song.

d) Continuation of Finding Nemo
When marlin and Dory awoke from the jeelyfish attcak, they found themselves with a group of turtles who migrate to lay eggs.
They turtles were kind enough to guide both Marlin and Dory the direction to Australia Sea.
While at the Australia Sea, they were swallowed by a Blue Whale. Dory claimed that he could speak whale's language.....the kids laughed heartedly........haaaa!
Luckily, they escaped through the Whale's Blowhole.....hooray!
The water splashed them to Sydney, Australia.......not far from Nemo and the Aquarium Tank.