Tuesday (23/02/2010)
a) Simon Says, b) Flashcards game, c) Sharing
a) Game: Simon Says
· To gain the kids’s attention and focus after the Chinese New Year break.
· They would copy my actions as long as it follows with the instruction, “Simon says do this……”. However, if it is followed by “Simon says do that…….”, the kids must not copy the actions. Otherwise, he or she will lose their turns.
· They were quite honest and enjoyed it!
b) Flashcards game
· It was to reinforce words we have learnt since January. After reading, the kids matched each word to the correct picture. Hmm.. they were very co-operative at assisting their friends.
· Among: fire, fire truck, fire station, fire extinguisher, hydrant, fire fighters, matches, axe, ladder, hose, charity, society, town, monster, cookies, Chinese New Year and rescue dog. Zheng Yuan: Teacher, you forgot Haiti!
Devin: What is a fire extinguisher?
Jun Hong: What is society?
Foo Soon: We have learnt about society. It’s about people helping one another.
Shi Jie: Matches…….ah…..I have them at home.
c) My Wonderful Chinese New Year
Teacher: Welcome back, everyone! Please share about yourChinese New Year.
Devin: I helped my mother to bake a cake for our friends. Then, we visited them.
Jun Hong: I also baked cake with my mother. I was happy because my father comes back for holidays. I also got to play computer…..Hooray!
Jun Yu: I went to Port Dickson and stayed in a hotel. There was swimming pool. There was also the beautiful sea.
Yun Wen: I went there with my family and Kung Lao Shi. We swam there.
Zhe Qing: I went to Genting Highlands. I played the Merry-Go-Round.
Little Xing Tong: Me too! My family and I also went to Genting and I also rode on Merry-Go-Round.
Yun Xin: My family took me to IOI Mall and I also rode on the Merry-Go-Round……..haaa!
Chun Kit: I went to many friends’ home and was happy to collect Ang Pows.
Wei Jeen: I saw Lion Dance. There were 3 of them.
Foo Soon: We went to Penang, stopped by Ipoh and went to Port Dickson. It was very fun!
Zhi Feng: My family brought me to a hotel and stay. I swam there!
Kwoong Yong: My family brought me to shopping centres to buy things.
Zheng Yuan: I went to Bali with my family. I swam there. There were mirrors Inside the ship.
· Then, the kids started drawing their favourable Chinese New Year moment.
· Wow, lots of challenges! They needed lots of pictures to guide them to draw. Some were lack of confident to try. Thus, lots of encouragement was needed.
Our Pomegranate friends！
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Fire Station trip
Thursday (11/02/2010)
a) Introduction.
* Our class went together with Red Bean class. We reached Taman Rakyat Fire Station about 9.30 a.m. We were greeted by the Chief, Mr. Subramaniam and 2 strong firefighters. We were all so excited. We greeted our heroes happily!
* They introduced us to their Fire Truck. Mr. Subra said that the emergency number 994 was no longer in used when he saw our kids’ craft hat having that number 994. I hah triple confirmed the number from the internet, Telekom and also a firefighter who said 994 or 999 is okay. Thus, I highlighted to the kids that we should remember 999 for emergency.
b) Apparatus.
The firefighters opened the side doors of its Fire Truck or Fire Engine. He introduced a few:
* The saws. The smaller ones are for sawing wood while the chain saws are to saw metals. These are important especially when victims caught trapped within vehicles.
* The jack is used to raise victims from the vehicles or anything heavy.
* Meanwhile, the airbag is the stronger version of a jack. It can raise a lorry of 3,000 tonne.
* Then, he showed us the normal ladder behind the Fire Truck and a machine operated ladder at the top which could rise until 3 storey.
* Then, he showed us a mask which is attached to a B.A. cylinder. It contains normal gas and a firefighter wears it into a building that has smoke caused by bigger fire.
Teacher: Why can’t we inhale the smoke.
Mr. Subra: It would cause difficulty of breathing and most people die because of smoke and not fire. Thus, we should get low and crawl. Why? Because the black smoke is hot and lighter; thus it rises.
* Hmmm….that was what we had learnt before….I hope the kids could understand better.
* Then, he showed us the hoses in the truck. There are so many. The truck has some water within it. They got the water from SYABAS company. It could be from the river or any other sources. If there was a fire, the firefighters would first use the tank water. Meanwhile, they would search for hydrants or water from other sources.
* As they were explaining, there was a sudden announcement of “FIRE” at a nearby place. Everyone was shocked and 4 firefighters hopped quickly into that fire truck from the office inside. Mr. Subra said that it was a small fire. As the fire truck left to rescue the fire, we did a demonstration to put out fire. There are 2 types of fire extinguisher. The red consists of CO2 gas while the blue one consists of chemical powder. The blue one is more powerful as it can put out fire of any degree (wood, liquid and gas). They needed to be refill after using.
* They set up a fire from fuel and Teacher Yap, Teacher Kai Li and myself were taught how to extinguish the fire. Wow……it must be very challenging in a real fire.
c) Water demonstration
* After a while, the Fire Truck came back and Mr. Subra showed us how to spray the hose towards the fire. There are 2 types of hose nozzles. The flexible one enables us to control the distance of the water spray. Foo Soon and Yun Wen were so lucky to be chosen to wear the firefighter’s uniform while spraying the water. There is a pump engine in the truck which can pump the water very far.
d) Fire Truck Ride
* Next, the kids were divided into 5 groups to ride in the Fire Truck. We heard the 2 different sirens which were to get peoples’ attention. Of course, the kids enjoyed so much!
e) Questions, questions, questions!
* Along the trip, the kids and I have asked a few questions.
Teacher: Does Malaysian Fire Brigade have rescue dogs?
Mr. Subra: Yes, we do but only in Old Klang Road centre. They are called K-9 dogs and are from London. They are only used to sniff for victims in collapsed buildings. They are also used to detect the reasons of a fire such as was it caused by explosion or electrical equipments.
Teacher: How do you make sure all your equipments are in good condition?
Mr. Subra: We check them every day.
Devin: Do firefighters need to be fit?
Mr. Subra: Of course! We do our exercise routine every morning. We have people working around the clock.
Teacher: So, what shall we dial when there’s a fire?
Mr. Subra: Call 999. Do not play for fun.
Teacher: Are the sirens for every emergency vehicle the same?
Mr. Subra: No, they are different.
Teacher: What is that tall building?
Mr. Subra: The firefighters do regular training by climbing up the tall tower and coming down again….like Spiderman.
Firefighter: Our school is in Terengganu. We do lots of training there for about 6 months.
Mr. Subra: A qualified firefighter must have good eyesight.
* We felt so lucky to be at the Fire Station. We thanked them and went back to school. J
f) Charity Sale.
* In the afternoon, the kids handed over their cookies and hand-made Tiger Puppet to the 6-year old class. At 5 pm, the kids went down to buy the items that they like.
* We were seling the cookies for RM1.00 a packet (of 3 pieces) and a Tiger Puppet of RM10.00.
* Surprise! We sold 75% of the cookies. We also sold all the 5 puppets….Hooray! It was a really thrilling day!
a) Introduction.
* Our class went together with Red Bean class. We reached Taman Rakyat Fire Station about 9.30 a.m. We were greeted by the Chief, Mr. Subramaniam and 2 strong firefighters. We were all so excited. We greeted our heroes happily!
* They introduced us to their Fire Truck. Mr. Subra said that the emergency number 994 was no longer in used when he saw our kids’ craft hat having that number 994. I hah triple confirmed the number from the internet, Telekom and also a firefighter who said 994 or 999 is okay. Thus, I highlighted to the kids that we should remember 999 for emergency.
b) Apparatus.
The firefighters opened the side doors of its Fire Truck or Fire Engine. He introduced a few:
* The saws. The smaller ones are for sawing wood while the chain saws are to saw metals. These are important especially when victims caught trapped within vehicles.
* The jack is used to raise victims from the vehicles or anything heavy.
* Meanwhile, the airbag is the stronger version of a jack. It can raise a lorry of 3,000 tonne.
* Then, he showed us the normal ladder behind the Fire Truck and a machine operated ladder at the top which could rise until 3 storey.
* Then, he showed us a mask which is attached to a B.A. cylinder. It contains normal gas and a firefighter wears it into a building that has smoke caused by bigger fire.
Teacher: Why can’t we inhale the smoke.
Mr. Subra: It would cause difficulty of breathing and most people die because of smoke and not fire. Thus, we should get low and crawl. Why? Because the black smoke is hot and lighter; thus it rises.
* Hmmm….that was what we had learnt before….I hope the kids could understand better.
* Then, he showed us the hoses in the truck. There are so many. The truck has some water within it. They got the water from SYABAS company. It could be from the river or any other sources. If there was a fire, the firefighters would first use the tank water. Meanwhile, they would search for hydrants or water from other sources.
* As they were explaining, there was a sudden announcement of “FIRE” at a nearby place. Everyone was shocked and 4 firefighters hopped quickly into that fire truck from the office inside. Mr. Subra said that it was a small fire. As the fire truck left to rescue the fire, we did a demonstration to put out fire. There are 2 types of fire extinguisher. The red consists of CO2 gas while the blue one consists of chemical powder. The blue one is more powerful as it can put out fire of any degree (wood, liquid and gas). They needed to be refill after using.
* They set up a fire from fuel and Teacher Yap, Teacher Kai Li and myself were taught how to extinguish the fire. Wow……it must be very challenging in a real fire.
c) Water demonstration
* After a while, the Fire Truck came back and Mr. Subra showed us how to spray the hose towards the fire. There are 2 types of hose nozzles. The flexible one enables us to control the distance of the water spray. Foo Soon and Yun Wen were so lucky to be chosen to wear the firefighter’s uniform while spraying the water. There is a pump engine in the truck which can pump the water very far.
d) Fire Truck Ride
* Next, the kids were divided into 5 groups to ride in the Fire Truck. We heard the 2 different sirens which were to get peoples’ attention. Of course, the kids enjoyed so much!
e) Questions, questions, questions!
* Along the trip, the kids and I have asked a few questions.
Teacher: Does Malaysian Fire Brigade have rescue dogs?
Mr. Subra: Yes, we do but only in Old Klang Road centre. They are called K-9 dogs and are from London. They are only used to sniff for victims in collapsed buildings. They are also used to detect the reasons of a fire such as was it caused by explosion or electrical equipments.
Teacher: How do you make sure all your equipments are in good condition?
Mr. Subra: We check them every day.
Devin: Do firefighters need to be fit?
Mr. Subra: Of course! We do our exercise routine every morning. We have people working around the clock.
Teacher: So, what shall we dial when there’s a fire?
Mr. Subra: Call 999. Do not play for fun.
Teacher: Are the sirens for every emergency vehicle the same?
Mr. Subra: No, they are different.
Teacher: What is that tall building?
Mr. Subra: The firefighters do regular training by climbing up the tall tower and coming down again….like Spiderman.
Firefighter: Our school is in Terengganu. We do lots of training there for about 6 months.
Mr. Subra: A qualified firefighter must have good eyesight.
* We felt so lucky to be at the Fire Station. We thanked them and went back to school. J
f) Charity Sale.
* In the afternoon, the kids handed over their cookies and hand-made Tiger Puppet to the 6-year old class. At 5 pm, the kids went down to buy the items that they like.
* We were seling the cookies for RM1.00 a packet (of 3 pieces) and a Tiger Puppet of RM10.00.
* Surprise! We sold 75% of the cookies. We also sold all the 5 puppets….Hooray! It was a really thrilling day!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Craft: The Firefighter’s Hat
Wednesday (10/01/2010)
a) Questions, questions, questions!
l As we are going to the Fire Station tomorrow, we thought of questions to ask them. Altogether, the kids thought of 14 questions. They came upfront individually to pose their questions. I guided them with the English translations.
l Among:
Jun Hong: Where did they get the hydrant water?
Zheng Yuan: Is the axe heavy?
Jun Yu: What happened when some irresponsible people call 994 for fun?!
Foo Soon: Do they work together with the police officers?
Xing Tong: What happened if our homes have no smoke alarm?
Chun Kit: What can our family do?
Devin: What do firefighters do?
Shi Jie: Do they have rescue dogs?
Qian Joe: What other things are there in the Fire Truck?
Yun Xin: What must we say when we call the firefighters?
b) Firefighters’ cd
* We need to learn about fire safety. What are the things that cause fire?
Class: Never play with matches. Fire crackers too!
* We watched Jun Hong’s CD. Fire can be caused by gas explosion. When the gas cylinder leak, the gas would cause explosion. They saw how Firefighters rushed to the burnt building and save the people. When victims inhale too much smoke, they might die. Thus, they can cover their nose with wet * Cigarette butts can also cause fire.
* Jun Yu’s mother made a firefighter’s hat for him and he showed us the example. That was quite a few weeks a ago. Today, we made the hat together for ourselves. We hoped to wear for our Fire Station trip tomorrow as a surprise for the firefighters!:)
* Each kid took an orange colour paper. Then they folded the paper equally into half. Then, they tested on their head. Each kid then took a small piece of white paper with a badge pattern. They wrote the telephone number 994. Then they cut and pasted onto their orange paper hat.
d) About Haiti
* We watched a video clip on Haiti. Most people were injured and the buildings also collapsed. Many people around the world came to aid them. Example: social workers, firefighters, First Aid Helpers, policemen and people around the area.
Yun Wen: Teacher, Haitians are black. I thought only Indians are black.
* We also have black Americans and people around the world come in many colours.
* We also watched how firefighters did Car Wash Charity to aid fund raising.
* As for us, we baked cookies, made Tiger Puppet Dance, made ice-cream and also sandwiches to raise fund. We know that many people around the world are still raising money to assist the Haitians.
d) Nien Story.
* There are many versions of Nien Story. We watched a video clip from YouTube. The kids saw the scary look of the monster. The story was almost the same as our version (last few lessons) except that the monster was first imprisoned by the God. Then, it escaped and attacked the villagers again. A wise old man advised them that the Nien was afraid of bright red colourand loud noise such as Lion Dance. That was why, until today we continue the tradition of Chinese new year celebration. Some said, the Nien died. Some said, it escaped and would return again.
e) Musical Chair
* The kids formed a circle. Then, a chair was taken away. They had to walk quickly but not run or play foul. Otherwise, they would be disqualified from the game. We sang our English version song and when I stopped, they had to grab a seat. They just loved the game!
“Happy Chinese New Year, We are all so happy, Fire crackers, Red Ang Pow, Tiger, Lion, Dragon dance! Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni! Aii! Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni!
* After the activity, the kids continue with their colouring on “Stop, Drop and Roll” and “Get Low and Crawl”.
a) Questions, questions, questions!
l As we are going to the Fire Station tomorrow, we thought of questions to ask them. Altogether, the kids thought of 14 questions. They came upfront individually to pose their questions. I guided them with the English translations.
l Among:
Jun Hong: Where did they get the hydrant water?
Zheng Yuan: Is the axe heavy?
Jun Yu: What happened when some irresponsible people call 994 for fun?!
Foo Soon: Do they work together with the police officers?
Xing Tong: What happened if our homes have no smoke alarm?
Chun Kit: What can our family do?
Devin: What do firefighters do?
Shi Jie: Do they have rescue dogs?
Qian Joe: What other things are there in the Fire Truck?
Yun Xin: What must we say when we call the firefighters?
b) Firefighters’ cd
* We need to learn about fire safety. What are the things that cause fire?
Class: Never play with matches. Fire crackers too!
* We watched Jun Hong’s CD. Fire can be caused by gas explosion. When the gas cylinder leak, the gas would cause explosion. They saw how Firefighters rushed to the burnt building and save the people. When victims inhale too much smoke, they might die. Thus, they can cover their nose with wet * Cigarette butts can also cause fire.
* Jun Yu’s mother made a firefighter’s hat for him and he showed us the example. That was quite a few weeks a ago. Today, we made the hat together for ourselves. We hoped to wear for our Fire Station trip tomorrow as a surprise for the firefighters!:)
* Each kid took an orange colour paper. Then they folded the paper equally into half. Then, they tested on their head. Each kid then took a small piece of white paper with a badge pattern. They wrote the telephone number 994. Then they cut and pasted onto their orange paper hat.
d) About Haiti
* We watched a video clip on Haiti. Most people were injured and the buildings also collapsed. Many people around the world came to aid them. Example: social workers, firefighters, First Aid Helpers, policemen and people around the area.
Yun Wen: Teacher, Haitians are black. I thought only Indians are black.
* We also have black Americans and people around the world come in many colours.
* We also watched how firefighters did Car Wash Charity to aid fund raising.
* As for us, we baked cookies, made Tiger Puppet Dance, made ice-cream and also sandwiches to raise fund. We know that many people around the world are still raising money to assist the Haitians.
d) Nien Story.
* There are many versions of Nien Story. We watched a video clip from YouTube. The kids saw the scary look of the monster. The story was almost the same as our version (last few lessons) except that the monster was first imprisoned by the God. Then, it escaped and attacked the villagers again. A wise old man advised them that the Nien was afraid of bright red colourand loud noise such as Lion Dance. That was why, until today we continue the tradition of Chinese new year celebration. Some said, the Nien died. Some said, it escaped and would return again.
e) Musical Chair
* The kids formed a circle. Then, a chair was taken away. They had to walk quickly but not run or play foul. Otherwise, they would be disqualified from the game. We sang our English version song and when I stopped, they had to grab a seat. They just loved the game!
“Happy Chinese New Year, We are all so happy, Fire crackers, Red Ang Pow, Tiger, Lion, Dragon dance! Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni! Aii! Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Gong Xi Ni!
* After the activity, the kids continue with their colouring on “Stop, Drop and Roll” and “Get Low and Crawl”.
Packing
Tuesday (09/01/2010)
a) A BIG family. b) Cookies c) The smoke alarm d) Recap…..colouring
a) A BIG family.
· As Chinese New Year approaches, the kids were so excited. Every kid in school was busy preparing for their “Tuan Nien Fan”. This morning, I assisted the kids at preparing their “Tuan Nien” Steamboat. Some cut the fishballs, some washed the vegetables and then cut them into slices. Some cut the crabmeat. Jing kai liked handling the sweet corns. Then the ingredients were poured into the 2 hot rice cooker to boil. Finally, each kid was given a bowl of noodles which was then added with the boiled soup and dishes. Hmmm….. just simply delicious!
b) Packing
· I explained about the charity sale to be held this coming Thursday. The 6-year old kids would be the seller and also cashiers. Meanwhile, the other kids had already contributed in many ways to assist the sale. Among them: cookies, tiger dance puppets, lion dance models and ornaments.
· The school agreed that we are selling 3 pieces of cookies for RM1.00. Thus, the kids took the empty plastic packets and packed 3 pieces into it; very carefully. Then, they folded and we cellophanetaped together. Altogether, there are 36 packets which means if we sell all of them, we can collect RM36.00. Meanwhile, we discussed about the price for our Tiger Dance puppet. Most agreed at RM10.00 while some at RM5.00 and 2 people at RM2.00. A real Tiger Puppet Toy is sold for RM40.00 at Jaya Jusco. Ours are hand-made by kids and myself. I shall discuss with the Principal and let the kids know the finalised price for the puppet. J
c) The Smoke Alarm.
· The kids are very excited about the Fire Station trip scheduled on this Thursday. I borrowed a Smoke Alarm circuit from a parent. Then, each kid got to look closely and touch it. I pressed the switch and the bell started ringing very loudly just like a real fire drill. Chun Kit and Jun Hong said some smoke alarms would spurt water when they detect heat or smoke. There are different types of smoke alarm. However, they would automatically warn us if there was fire.
d) Demonstration
· Foo soon volunteered to demonstrate the steps we should so if our clothes caught fire. “Stop, Drop and Roll”. Then when there is smoke, get low and crawl to a safe door. Look for the word “EXIT” or “KELUAR” if they were at public places and go quickly to a safe place. Xing Tong said, “But we don’t have smoke alarms in our houses.” This is an interesting thought which we would discuss very soon as well as we get the chance to ask the Firefighters. J
· The kids were given 2 different worksheets to colour and read the vocabulary. They were on “Stop, Drop and Roll” and “Get Low”.
a) A BIG family. b) Cookies c) The smoke alarm d) Recap…..colouring
a) A BIG family.
· As Chinese New Year approaches, the kids were so excited. Every kid in school was busy preparing for their “Tuan Nien Fan”. This morning, I assisted the kids at preparing their “Tuan Nien” Steamboat. Some cut the fishballs, some washed the vegetables and then cut them into slices. Some cut the crabmeat. Jing kai liked handling the sweet corns. Then the ingredients were poured into the 2 hot rice cooker to boil. Finally, each kid was given a bowl of noodles which was then added with the boiled soup and dishes. Hmmm….. just simply delicious!
b) Packing
· I explained about the charity sale to be held this coming Thursday. The 6-year old kids would be the seller and also cashiers. Meanwhile, the other kids had already contributed in many ways to assist the sale. Among them: cookies, tiger dance puppets, lion dance models and ornaments.
· The school agreed that we are selling 3 pieces of cookies for RM1.00. Thus, the kids took the empty plastic packets and packed 3 pieces into it; very carefully. Then, they folded and we cellophanetaped together. Altogether, there are 36 packets which means if we sell all of them, we can collect RM36.00. Meanwhile, we discussed about the price for our Tiger Dance puppet. Most agreed at RM10.00 while some at RM5.00 and 2 people at RM2.00. A real Tiger Puppet Toy is sold for RM40.00 at Jaya Jusco. Ours are hand-made by kids and myself. I shall discuss with the Principal and let the kids know the finalised price for the puppet. J
c) The Smoke Alarm.
· The kids are very excited about the Fire Station trip scheduled on this Thursday. I borrowed a Smoke Alarm circuit from a parent. Then, each kid got to look closely and touch it. I pressed the switch and the bell started ringing very loudly just like a real fire drill. Chun Kit and Jun Hong said some smoke alarms would spurt water when they detect heat or smoke. There are different types of smoke alarm. However, they would automatically warn us if there was fire.
d) Demonstration
· Foo soon volunteered to demonstrate the steps we should so if our clothes caught fire. “Stop, Drop and Roll”. Then when there is smoke, get low and crawl to a safe door. Look for the word “EXIT” or “KELUAR” if they were at public places and go quickly to a safe place. Xing Tong said, “But we don’t have smoke alarms in our houses.” This is an interesting thought which we would discuss very soon as well as we get the chance to ask the Firefighters. J
· The kids were given 2 different worksheets to colour and read the vocabulary. They were on “Stop, Drop and Roll” and “Get Low”.
Melon Seed Cookies
Monday (08/01/2010)
a) Welcome, Aunty Khoo. b) Steps of the process. c) Recording.
a) Welcome, Aunty Khoo!
· We greeted Mrs. Khoo, Zheng Yuan’s mother. We were very lucky and happy to have her as she bakes very well.
· We were making “Melon Seed” cookies. She introduced the ingredients. They are the flour, an egg, sugar, melon seeds, vanilla essence and butter. Tools used were the mixer, oven, trays, bowls, spoons, filter and also the forks.
b) Steps of the process.
*First, the butter was mixed into the flour. Fine sugar was added. Then, they were mixed together and blended with an egg, melon seeds and also some vanilla essence. They were mixed for about 6 minutes. The colour changed from golden yellow to almost creamy white.
Chun Kit: “Why do we need to blend them?”
Aunty Khoo: So that they will be smooth and taste delicious.
· When it was ready, each kid was given a bowl and a spoonful of the mixture. Aunty Khoo explained to them how to roll and round the dough into small balls. Ecah kid could make at least 5 rounds. Then, they used a fork to press on the dough surface; as to make patterns. They really enjoyed themselves. Aunty Khoo reminded them not to make the dough to big as they will rise and become bigger upon heating in the oven.
· While baking, we sang our favourite song, “The Thinking Song”. We also sang Chinese New Year song of English version. J
c) Recording.
· The kids recapped the ingredients used and the steps involved. Thus, I drew the pictures on the whiteboard and labelled them properly. About half of the kids could copy quite well from the whiteboard despite mirror-imaged letters.
· Then, they came to tell me about their pictures. They coloured them. Finally, we thanked Aunty Khoo who had helped us a lot for the Haiti Fund Raising Sale. Bravo!
a) Welcome, Aunty Khoo. b) Steps of the process. c) Recording.
a) Welcome, Aunty Khoo!
· We greeted Mrs. Khoo, Zheng Yuan’s mother. We were very lucky and happy to have her as she bakes very well.
· We were making “Melon Seed” cookies. She introduced the ingredients. They are the flour, an egg, sugar, melon seeds, vanilla essence and butter. Tools used were the mixer, oven, trays, bowls, spoons, filter and also the forks.
b) Steps of the process.
*First, the butter was mixed into the flour. Fine sugar was added. Then, they were mixed together and blended with an egg, melon seeds and also some vanilla essence. They were mixed for about 6 minutes. The colour changed from golden yellow to almost creamy white.
Chun Kit: “Why do we need to blend them?”
Aunty Khoo: So that they will be smooth and taste delicious.
· When it was ready, each kid was given a bowl and a spoonful of the mixture. Aunty Khoo explained to them how to roll and round the dough into small balls. Ecah kid could make at least 5 rounds. Then, they used a fork to press on the dough surface; as to make patterns. They really enjoyed themselves. Aunty Khoo reminded them not to make the dough to big as they will rise and become bigger upon heating in the oven.
· While baking, we sang our favourite song, “The Thinking Song”. We also sang Chinese New Year song of English version. J
c) Recording.
· The kids recapped the ingredients used and the steps involved. Thus, I drew the pictures on the whiteboard and labelled them properly. About half of the kids could copy quite well from the whiteboard despite mirror-imaged letters.
· Then, they came to tell me about their pictures. They coloured them. Finally, we thanked Aunty Khoo who had helped us a lot for the Haiti Fund Raising Sale. Bravo!
The Chinese New Year Legend
Friday (05/01/2010)
a) Why Chinese New Year? b) Tiger puppet legs.
a) Why Chinese New Year?
Teacher: Why do we celebrate Chinese new Year?
Qian Joe: Because everyone is happy.
Yan Shan: Everyone get to eat cookies.
Foo Soon: There are lots of Ang Pows.
Teacher: haaa…… but why do people play fire crackers and wear red?
Yun Wen: I know……to scare away the Nien Monster!
Kids: What is that?
· I introduced a puppet theatre on the tables. I brought in a doll, a frog, a horse, a green Monster, a toy firefighter (as an ordinary man) and of course our hand-made tiger puppet.
· Long ago, the people in China lived happily. The Spring season has always been beautiful with growing flowers and leaves. Rivers and ponds were full of colourful fish and also animals such as frogs. However, one day; came a hungry “Nien” Monster who attacked the villagers and ate most of them. It said, it would return again for his meal. The worried villagers prayed hard and soon a wise man came saying that monsters are afraid of red colour and loud noise. The villagers worked hard immediately to paint almost everything red, made fire crackers and also practiced tiger, lion and dragon dances.
· When, the “Nien” came, it was horrified and ran away. Some said it died. Some said, it would return the next year for revenge. Thus, we celebrate CNY yearly due to this legend. Hmm… the kids loved the story and couldn’t stop pretending being a monster!
· Thus, I wrote “chun” on the board. I showed them how to cut. Each kid would make a decoration item to decorate their homes for CNY. J
· I asked the kids to think of suitable English lyrics for our CNY song; now that they know why we celebrate CNY.
b) Tiger puppet legs.
· As they were cutting the word, I got the kids by turn; to make the tiger puppet legs from straws and newspapers. Then, they painted them orange.
a) Why Chinese New Year? b) Tiger puppet legs.
a) Why Chinese New Year?
Teacher: Why do we celebrate Chinese new Year?
Qian Joe: Because everyone is happy.
Yan Shan: Everyone get to eat cookies.
Foo Soon: There are lots of Ang Pows.
Teacher: haaa…… but why do people play fire crackers and wear red?
Yun Wen: I know……to scare away the Nien Monster!
Kids: What is that?
· I introduced a puppet theatre on the tables. I brought in a doll, a frog, a horse, a green Monster, a toy firefighter (as an ordinary man) and of course our hand-made tiger puppet.
· Long ago, the people in China lived happily. The Spring season has always been beautiful with growing flowers and leaves. Rivers and ponds were full of colourful fish and also animals such as frogs. However, one day; came a hungry “Nien” Monster who attacked the villagers and ate most of them. It said, it would return again for his meal. The worried villagers prayed hard and soon a wise man came saying that monsters are afraid of red colour and loud noise. The villagers worked hard immediately to paint almost everything red, made fire crackers and also practiced tiger, lion and dragon dances.
· When, the “Nien” came, it was horrified and ran away. Some said it died. Some said, it would return the next year for revenge. Thus, we celebrate CNY yearly due to this legend. Hmm… the kids loved the story and couldn’t stop pretending being a monster!
· Thus, I wrote “chun” on the board. I showed them how to cut. Each kid would make a decoration item to decorate their homes for CNY. J
· I asked the kids to think of suitable English lyrics for our CNY song; now that they know why we celebrate CNY.
b) Tiger puppet legs.
· As they were cutting the word, I got the kids by turn; to make the tiger puppet legs from straws and newspapers. Then, they painted them orange.
Painting of Tiger Puppet
Thursday (04/01/2010)
a) Tiger heads and body. b) The puppet holders. c) Recording activities.
a) Tiger heads and body.
· The crumpled round paper balls are the tiger heads. The kids took turn to paint them in orange. They were excited but when they had to paint the other side, some bravely held with their hands. Some just roll them on the newspaper so that they could paint the other side….haaaaa!
· Then, the kids who were in-charged of decorating the body (namely the cloth) was called individually to glue the glitterings. I used the glue gun while they held the glitterings and pressed them to the cloth. Some other kids volunteered to assist.
· Wei Hong was creative at bending the glitterings into other shapes such as “love” and “stars”…….wow! the other kids started imitating from him. Soon, we had so many patterns to choose from.
b) The puppet holders.
· Yun Wen suggested that each puppet has 2 holders rather than 1 as in the sample model. This would avoid the strings or threads from being tangled.
· Thus, we pasted 2 pieces of cardboard as one to make them stronger. Then, the kids took turn to paint them black on both sides.
· Meanwhile, the others cut the black stripes for the tigers’ face.
c) Recording activities.
· We recapped what the kids had done for this puppet activity. Thus, we had to draw and label them into our record book.
· Some remembered that Wei Jun, Zhi Feng, Shi Jie, Xing Tong, Zheng Yuan, Jun Hong, Foo Soon, Jing kai and also Shi Jie crumpled the newspaper for making the heads. Binding them with masking tape was the challenging part….:)
· We remembered how Zhe Qing, Devin and Jun Yu decorated the cloth. Then, some other friends including Wee Hong, Kwong Yong and Devin came to assist the design.
· Then, there was the painting. Not forgetting how some friends cut the word, “chun”.
· Each kid recorded what they could remember the most and they were encouraged to write the words.
· The labeling needed more time to establish proper handwriting. Hopefully, when their drawings got better, so will their handwriting.
a) Tiger heads and body. b) The puppet holders. c) Recording activities.
a) Tiger heads and body.
· The crumpled round paper balls are the tiger heads. The kids took turn to paint them in orange. They were excited but when they had to paint the other side, some bravely held with their hands. Some just roll them on the newspaper so that they could paint the other side….haaaaa!
· Then, the kids who were in-charged of decorating the body (namely the cloth) was called individually to glue the glitterings. I used the glue gun while they held the glitterings and pressed them to the cloth. Some other kids volunteered to assist.
· Wei Hong was creative at bending the glitterings into other shapes such as “love” and “stars”…….wow! the other kids started imitating from him. Soon, we had so many patterns to choose from.
b) The puppet holders.
· Yun Wen suggested that each puppet has 2 holders rather than 1 as in the sample model. This would avoid the strings or threads from being tangled.
· Thus, we pasted 2 pieces of cardboard as one to make them stronger. Then, the kids took turn to paint them black on both sides.
· Meanwhile, the others cut the black stripes for the tigers’ face.
c) Recording activities.
· We recapped what the kids had done for this puppet activity. Thus, we had to draw and label them into our record book.
· Some remembered that Wei Jun, Zhi Feng, Shi Jie, Xing Tong, Zheng Yuan, Jun Hong, Foo Soon, Jing kai and also Shi Jie crumpled the newspaper for making the heads. Binding them with masking tape was the challenging part….:)
· We remembered how Zhe Qing, Devin and Jun Yu decorated the cloth. Then, some other friends including Wee Hong, Kwong Yong and Devin came to assist the design.
· Then, there was the painting. Not forgetting how some friends cut the word, “chun”.
· Each kid recorded what they could remember the most and they were encouraged to write the words.
· The labeling needed more time to establish proper handwriting. Hopefully, when their drawings got better, so will their handwriting.
The “Tiger Puppet Model”
Wednesday (03/02/2010)
a) Fire station news, the binding of letter card
b) Explanation
c) Team work: Inventors
a) Great News!
· Yes….! We are going to the Fire Station next Thursday. We counted the number of days together. That will be anther 7 days or 1 week. Hooray! We shall go with Yue Lao Shi’s class.
· Then, I showed them their drawings for Mrs. Khoo, our invited chef for next Monday. They just love them as Zheng Yuan had added a straw ladder to the cover!
b) Explanation.
· Today, we focused at making our charity items, the “Tiger Puppet Model”. I asked and explained the making process.
· Parts involved: the head (with nose, eyes, stripes and ears – all made from newspaper), the body ( using cloth – to add glitterings creatively), the legs (using newspaper and straws), the holder (using cardboard – with the “chun” word”) and the strings.
· They were divided into four groups with a 6-year old in each group as my Assistant. Each kid chose the part they wanted to make.
c) Team work: Inventors.
· Most kids were too excited to crumple the newspaper and wrap them with masking tape without seeing how I did it. I had to show them in small groups a few times. Paste the masking tape on the table first and then wrap around the nespaper ball.Zheng Yuan, Xing Tong, Yun Xin were quite good while Chun Kit neede prompting. Shi Jie, Foo Soon, Jing Kai and Jun Hong assisted the other kids….whic was very helpful! J
· Devin, Jun Yu, Zhe Qing assisted at decorating cloth. They had to think creatively. They pasted the glitterings on the cloth so that tomorrow I can call them individually to stick them using glue gun. Chun Kit was curious about the glue gun…haaa! Yan Shan, Wei Hong and also Wei Jun cut the Chinese word, “chun”. The other kids made the legs with nespaper and straws.
· Teacher: Why must we crumple the newspaper tightly?
· Shi Jie: So that it will not open easily.
· Teacher: Why must we wrap with masking tape?
· Foo Soon: So that they can last long.
· Teacher: Good….! Besides that, we will get nice paint when we paint on the masking tape tomorrow rather than painting on the newspaper.
· The kids did quite well. Most importantly, most of them were determined. Prompting was needed for Yan Shan and Wei Jun. We shall continue today.
a) Fire station news, the binding of letter card
b) Explanation
c) Team work: Inventors
a) Great News!
· Yes….! We are going to the Fire Station next Thursday. We counted the number of days together. That will be anther 7 days or 1 week. Hooray! We shall go with Yue Lao Shi’s class.
· Then, I showed them their drawings for Mrs. Khoo, our invited chef for next Monday. They just love them as Zheng Yuan had added a straw ladder to the cover!
b) Explanation.
· Today, we focused at making our charity items, the “Tiger Puppet Model”. I asked and explained the making process.
· Parts involved: the head (with nose, eyes, stripes and ears – all made from newspaper), the body ( using cloth – to add glitterings creatively), the legs (using newspaper and straws), the holder (using cardboard – with the “chun” word”) and the strings.
· They were divided into four groups with a 6-year old in each group as my Assistant. Each kid chose the part they wanted to make.
c) Team work: Inventors.
· Most kids were too excited to crumple the newspaper and wrap them with masking tape without seeing how I did it. I had to show them in small groups a few times. Paste the masking tape on the table first and then wrap around the nespaper ball.Zheng Yuan, Xing Tong, Yun Xin were quite good while Chun Kit neede prompting. Shi Jie, Foo Soon, Jing Kai and Jun Hong assisted the other kids….whic was very helpful! J
· Devin, Jun Yu, Zhe Qing assisted at decorating cloth. They had to think creatively. They pasted the glitterings on the cloth so that tomorrow I can call them individually to stick them using glue gun. Chun Kit was curious about the glue gun…haaa! Yan Shan, Wei Hong and also Wei Jun cut the Chinese word, “chun”. The other kids made the legs with nespaper and straws.
· Teacher: Why must we crumple the newspaper tightly?
· Shi Jie: So that it will not open easily.
· Teacher: Why must we wrap with masking tape?
· Foo Soon: So that they can last long.
· Teacher: Good….! Besides that, we will get nice paint when we paint on the masking tape tomorrow rather than painting on the newspaper.
· The kids did quite well. Most importantly, most of them were determined. Prompting was needed for Yan Shan and Wei Jun. We shall continue today.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Charity Letter
Tuesday (02/02/2010)
a) Firefighter toys
b) The Charity Letter
c) Drawing
a) Firefighter toys
* Teacher Huang bought some toys for us. So, I introduced them to the kids and everyone started imagining what they could do with them. The tools were: axe, compass, watch, fire extinguisher, whistle and steel.
* Devin said the axe is for opening the stuck door. The steel can also be used to open doors and windows that trapped victims. They can also be used for accident victims.
* Shi Jie explained that compass can be used if firefighters are trapped in the burning house. Yun Wen asked how they could see in the dark smoke. They might have torchlight for emergency. Compass would guide them with directions such as North, South, West or East. Their watches are the glowing type.
* Devin asked again, “Where is Haiti?” I drew the map again and explain the earthquake situation. Wee Hong said, “Isn’t it too late to save them. They are dead!”
Teacher: We can always help the rescued victims in terms of food or water.
b) The Charity letter.
* We discussed the contents of the letter to Zheng Yuan’s mother. The content was:
Dear Mrs. Khoo,
We are children from Pomegranate Class. We know that you bake delicious cookies. Can you teach us bake cookies? We will sell the cookies for charity.
Thank you.
Love,
Pomegranate Class,
2010.
* Zheng Yuan said his mother loves Sunflowers. So, I drew some on the board. I also drew a baker as she would teach us to bake. Thus, the kids decide what to draw for her. Some drew a fire house, firefighters, a garden, happy homes and also bakers.
* Shi Jie, Jing Kai and Jun Hong assisted at writing. Zheng Yuan said his mother likes any nice drawings. He decided to draw a big fire truck and make a ladder for her.
c)Charity activities
* Some started cutting patterns for the charity activities. Example: “春” which means spring and some tiger stripes.
a) Firefighter toys
b) The Charity Letter
c) Drawing
a) Firefighter toys
* Teacher Huang bought some toys for us. So, I introduced them to the kids and everyone started imagining what they could do with them. The tools were: axe, compass, watch, fire extinguisher, whistle and steel.
* Devin said the axe is for opening the stuck door. The steel can also be used to open doors and windows that trapped victims. They can also be used for accident victims.
* Shi Jie explained that compass can be used if firefighters are trapped in the burning house. Yun Wen asked how they could see in the dark smoke. They might have torchlight for emergency. Compass would guide them with directions such as North, South, West or East. Their watches are the glowing type.
* Devin asked again, “Where is Haiti?” I drew the map again and explain the earthquake situation. Wee Hong said, “Isn’t it too late to save them. They are dead!”
Teacher: We can always help the rescued victims in terms of food or water.
b) The Charity letter.
* We discussed the contents of the letter to Zheng Yuan’s mother. The content was:
Dear Mrs. Khoo,
We are children from Pomegranate Class. We know that you bake delicious cookies. Can you teach us bake cookies? We will sell the cookies for charity.
Thank you.
Love,
Pomegranate Class,
2010.
* Zheng Yuan said his mother loves Sunflowers. So, I drew some on the board. I also drew a baker as she would teach us to bake. Thus, the kids decide what to draw for her. Some drew a fire house, firefighters, a garden, happy homes and also bakers.
* Shi Jie, Jing Kai and Jun Hong assisted at writing. Zheng Yuan said his mother likes any nice drawings. He decided to draw a big fire truck and make a ladder for her.
c)Charity activities
* Some started cutting patterns for the charity activities. Example: “春” which means spring and some tiger stripes.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Fire Drill
Monday (01/02/2010)
a) Flashcards and song
b) Charity sales: Zheng Yuan’s mother!
c) Rescue escape.
a) Vocabulary recognition
* To revise words related to this theme.
* Fire, firefighters, siren, fire truck, smoke alarm, stop, drop and roll, get low and crawl, hydrant, hose, gloves, fire extinguisher and others.
* Yun Wen brought a toy hydrant to show us. Devin was curious at how the firefighters turn it on so that water flows through the hose. All we saw from books were using a plumbing tool. We marked that down as a question for our fire station trip. Jun Hong said that the water might come from the sea. Actually it could be any water source which is reserved in the reservoir. Just as how we got our tap water.
* We sang our favourite song: The Thinking Song. This time, the kids were much independent without even looking at the cardboard.
b) Charity sales: Zheng Yuan’s mother!
* Last week, we thought that we would not be baking anymore cookies which was our initial plan. Thus, we decided to make decoration items. From my window shopping, I thought it would be great to make tiger models and puppets. After making one, I showed the kids and they loved them. Well, we agreed to make some for sales but it needs lots of team work.
* This morning, Chun Kit and then Zheng Yuan said that their mothers agreed to come to school to teach us bake Chinese new Year cookies. It turned out that Chun Kit made up the story and I told his mum its okay. We are so lucky to have Zheng Yuan’s mother’s participation. Thank you so much. Somehow, parents’ involvement contribute different results besides helping the kids to understand the duties of different occupations. Thank you so much. We will have her as our BAKER this coming Friday. All sales will be channeled for charity purpose.
c) Rescue Escape
* We continued with our Firefighter lessons. Today is similar to fire drill or rescue escape. If there was a fire, a family or anyone should immediately leave the dangerous place to a safe place. Then, when one reach outside safely, only should they phone up 994 or 999 for Fire Station.
* Teacher: But……how can you call if you forgot to bring your handphone?
* Xing Tong: Go and buy a handphone.
* Class: Isn’t it too late? What if you didn’t have enough money at that time?
* Jun Hong: I know! We borrow from somebody.
* Then, we recapped the proper steps. FIRST, they were sleeping. Then, the smoke alarm went off. If their clothes were on fire, they had to do STOP, DROP and DROLL. Then if there was smoke blocking their way, they should get low and crawl. Foo Soon said smoke is lighter which is why it floats. Then, make sure we crawl to a safe door. Then, quickly escape to a safe place outside the house.
a) Flashcards and song
b) Charity sales: Zheng Yuan’s mother!
c) Rescue escape.
a) Vocabulary recognition
* To revise words related to this theme.
* Fire, firefighters, siren, fire truck, smoke alarm, stop, drop and roll, get low and crawl, hydrant, hose, gloves, fire extinguisher and others.
* Yun Wen brought a toy hydrant to show us. Devin was curious at how the firefighters turn it on so that water flows through the hose. All we saw from books were using a plumbing tool. We marked that down as a question for our fire station trip. Jun Hong said that the water might come from the sea. Actually it could be any water source which is reserved in the reservoir. Just as how we got our tap water.
* We sang our favourite song: The Thinking Song. This time, the kids were much independent without even looking at the cardboard.
b) Charity sales: Zheng Yuan’s mother!
* Last week, we thought that we would not be baking anymore cookies which was our initial plan. Thus, we decided to make decoration items. From my window shopping, I thought it would be great to make tiger models and puppets. After making one, I showed the kids and they loved them. Well, we agreed to make some for sales but it needs lots of team work.
* This morning, Chun Kit and then Zheng Yuan said that their mothers agreed to come to school to teach us bake Chinese new Year cookies. It turned out that Chun Kit made up the story and I told his mum its okay. We are so lucky to have Zheng Yuan’s mother’s participation. Thank you so much. Somehow, parents’ involvement contribute different results besides helping the kids to understand the duties of different occupations. Thank you so much. We will have her as our BAKER this coming Friday. All sales will be channeled for charity purpose.
c) Rescue Escape
* We continued with our Firefighter lessons. Today is similar to fire drill or rescue escape. If there was a fire, a family or anyone should immediately leave the dangerous place to a safe place. Then, when one reach outside safely, only should they phone up 994 or 999 for Fire Station.
* Teacher: But……how can you call if you forgot to bring your handphone?
* Xing Tong: Go and buy a handphone.
* Class: Isn’t it too late? What if you didn’t have enough money at that time?
* Jun Hong: I know! We borrow from somebody.
* Then, we recapped the proper steps. FIRST, they were sleeping. Then, the smoke alarm went off. If their clothes were on fire, they had to do STOP, DROP and DROLL. Then if there was smoke blocking their way, they should get low and crawl. Foo Soon said smoke is lighter which is why it floats. Then, make sure we crawl to a safe door. Then, quickly escape to a safe place outside the house.
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