Our little “Submarine”

Thursday (24/03/2011) a) A Hermit Crab Storybook • A story of how a hermit crab grows and has to leave its shell looking for a bigger shell. It keeps growing and keeps looking for a bigger shell. During the interval searching for shells might be dangerous for the crab as it has no protection. It only relies on is claws. • Unlike a crab, a hermit crab does not molt. b) What’s a submarine? • We had been singing the song, “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles. Heee……it’s a nce song but we modified it. I drew a huge submarine and asked the kids what could they possibly find in a submarine. Yun Xin: An office to place the computers and to do important things there. Xing Tong: a toilet. Zhi Feg: A bedroom. Rei: A kitchen. Weei Xiang: Toilets. Qian Joe: A playground. Wee Hong: A small store room. Jun Yu: An experiment place. Class: Engine, windows, air-cond, the steering for captain to drive, small boats, some emergency buttons, fire extinguisher. Qian Joe: Water will come in if the submarine door is opened. • Err……the class was quiet for a while thinking of a solution. Rei: I know. Channel that water into a bottle so it can be the experiment place. Kwong Yong: I’ll bring a fan to blow the water out. Qian Joe: Make an engine that can blow the water that come in. • Of course, there is also periscope, computer screen, compass and etc. Well…….for a moment I really felt that these explorers are thinking like scientists. c) Discussion: submarine craft. • The class decided to make more than 1. So, I divided the class into 2 groups. This time, I didn’t mix because I want the 6 years old to work among themselves and think out of the box. The other group is the 5 year-old group. A great appreciation to Alisa for bringing big boxes and also to Tzen Yu and weei Xiand and Wee Xuan for boxes contribution. We discussed for the submarine pattern and thought of a few ways. We can’t close the box entirely because kids will find it difficult to breathe. Furthermore, they might feel uncomfortable in the box. The groups chose their colour. • Finally, 6 year-old painted yellow and blue while 5 year-old painted black and red. When their boxes became dry, the painting was not smooth. I taught them to repaint with only one stroke which is; up to down or down to upwards rather than scribbling. d) How to move? Qian Joe: We can bring in metals to make as wheels. Zhe Qing: We can make wheels using cardboard paper. Xing Tong: I have a skateboard at home. We can try that. • Thus, one step at a time. We shall continue with our craft tomorrow. 