Craft: Ear Trumpet.

Friday (14/05/2010)
a) The Song : Echolocation
* First, we read the lyrics together. The lyrics are as follows:
Echo, echo, echolocation,
I see my prey,
I find my way,
Echolocation.
I'm a little brown bat,
Sleeping all day,
Hanging Upside down,
Whoop......whoop.....
(Chorus) : Echolocation

* It was a fast song and the kids loved the chorus a lot but the other part was very challenging.
Yun Xin: It doesn't really have the music.
* I agreed because it is sort of a rap song. Hmmm.....I guess we have to do some amendments.......easier version......haaa!

b) The winter bats.
* What happens during winter?
- They either fly to a warmer place or hibernate for 3 months. Before sleeping for 3 months, they have to eat a lot and thus be fat bats. The kids were amazed!
* Shi Jie: I guess Polar Bears do not do that as they have very thick fur.
* Yun Wen: Some rabbits also don't sleep in winter.
* Who is stronger? Bats or spiders?
- They thought for a while and most of them said bats except Qian Joe.
* Well, it depends on the situation. If the bats fly in the dark and didn't use echolocation to detect the spider web, they would get stuck there. Spiders would spin more silk to go against them......ahhh!

c) Craft: Ear Trumpet.
* Each kid was given a cardboard paer. First, they drew a bat. Soem wanted to draw 2 and more. The challenge was to draw the wings as they had to fit in all the 5 fingers on each wing. Somehow, they just drew well and cute bats are everywhere. My advice was, "Just try because there are 1000 types of bats. They all look different and special.
* After that, I guided them to roll the cardboard into a cone. They pasted with cellophanetape. I cut the end of the cone so that they can hear well; by pitting near the ears. Lastly, they pasted the label "Echolocation: Ear Trumpet".

d) Pleasant and Unpleasant words.
* Today, we observed an experiment done by another class. 3 containers of cooked rice.
First, was left in the tight container for about 3 weeks. Second was left also left for 3 weeks but labelled with "pleasant words on it. The third, was pasted with "unpleasant words". It's amazing. Similar to the result of the fozen ice that I showed the kids a few days ago.
First, was still white. Second was nicer than the first. The third had fungus and yucks......it was brown and became muddy.
* Similarly, 2 days ago, we did an experiment. 4 green beans in Container "A" labelled with good pleasant words. Container "B" labelled with unpleasant words. Today, Container A started growing. Kids could see the roots and sprouts. However, only one bean from Container "B" grew roots. Strange......
* Shi Jie: Pleasant words make us beautiful.
* Qian Joe: Bad words make us look ugly and terrible.
Thus, we recited a short rhyme:
"Say pleasant words, I will be beautiful, I will be clever, I have many friends.
Say unpleasant words, I will be ugly, I will be foolish, I have no friends."