Autumn Season.

   Thursday (31/05/2012)

a)      Autumn Season.

l       Yesterday was supposed to be the last day of Spring for most Northern countries. Tomorrow will be Summer for most countries.

l       Autumn is a season with plenty of food. Most farmers would be harvesting plants such as corns, pumpkins, wheat and so on. Animals too will be busy collecting food the winter season.

l       Suddenly, kids recalled about the story of the lazy grasshopper and the hardworking ants which were busy collecting food in Autumn.

l       After harvesting, the corn fields are usually transformed into a big maze and it can really be fun and thrilling.

l       The leaves will change colour as the weather becomes colder and leaves will wilt and eventually, most trees will not survive in the winter season.

b)      Art: Tracing and Colouring.

* The kids were told to choose leaves that have rough surface of veins. Thus, the kids went to the garden choosing 2 types of leaves. In the class, we traced under the paper using crayons. Initially, some kids needed guidance to trace as the leaves would move about if not pressed properly. After a while, they got hold of the method and started sketching more leaves. They added pictures to their tree such as butterflies, sun and farmer. Their output were really beautiful….:)

Summer

Wednesday (30/05/2012)

a)       Flashcards.

l       We did revision on vocabulary. The words included vocabulary associated with weather and seasons.

b)       Summer.

l       Summer happens due to the Earth tilting towards the Sun; or similarly nearer to the Sun. The Northern hemisphere is Summer while the Southern hemisphere is Autumn. It is usually around from June, July till August. It is a hot and also sunny weather allowing people to do many activities. As for Malaysians, we can do these summer activities at anytime because it’s always hot, sunny and rainy here.

l       We discussed about activities that people do in Summer. These included swimming, picnicking, building sandcastles, surfboarding, boating, fishing, playing badminton, enjoying ice-cream and any body movement actions.

c)       Body Movement Actions.

l       First, we walked like a bear. Shawn said he pretended being a Brown Bear which stood up as well as a Panda which sat down. The others walked with hands and legs on the floor. Then, we became a crab, a frog and finally a wheelbarrow. Wheelbarrow was the most difficult because it needs balancing. 2 hands walking on the floor while 2 legs being carried by a friend up in the air. If a kid’s arms are not strong, he or she is unlikely to walk.

d) Summer Tent.

* People go camping or some even join their schools’ Holiday Camp. They set up the tents, do some hiking and learn basic things such as setting up a fire, fishing and cooking.

* We tried setting up our school tent but unfortunately, the tent was faulty. It couldn’t stand by itself thus, a few kids held the tent while the kids took turn to go inside and experience it.

d)       Summer Hammock.

l       Some people would rest on a hammock tied to 2 poles or trees. Thus, in the class, I took a huge and long cloth to make as a hammock. The kids took turn to lie on the hammock and even cradled their friends. Summer is indeed fun!

The Weather Song.

Tuesday (29/05/2012)

a) The Weather Song.

l       After Wushu class, the class had tea-break and continued with thematic lesson for about 30 minutes.

l       We learnt a new song entitled “How’s the weather?”.

It's Sunny It's Sunny It's Cloudy It's Cloudy It's Windy It's Windy How's the weather is it cloudy? (no, no) How's the weather is it windy? (no, no) How's the weather is it sunny? (yes, yes) It's sunny today, let's go out and play!

It's rainy It's rainy It's snowy It's snowy    How's the weather is it raining? (no, no)     How's the weather is it snowing? (no, no)   How's the weather is it sunny? (yes, yes) I    It's sunny today, It's sunny today Let's      Let’s go out and play! Let's go out and play!

l       The kids loved it. We then learnt some weather actions and the kids tried guessing them!

b) Worksheets.

* It’s a Secret Puzzle Message whereby the kids guessed what did each picture represent. Each picture represents a letter which was denoted in a table. Kids had to write the message down based on the pictures given. At the end, the message was; “IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB”.

* The kids wanted to know the meaning. Of course, many baby animals are born in Spring after Winter. All types animals including lions and lambs.

We played a short game whereby a kid is a lamb while another kid is a lion. The lamb ran into a cave due to the rain but it is the home of a lion; who then chased after the lamb as food!

Flower Arrangement.

Monday (28/05/2012)

a)      Flowers.

l       Venus Flytrap is a carnivore plant that traps insects to death. They are green in colour and have got thorns on its opening of the mouth. When insects touch their opening, they would immediately close their mouth to trap. They would close for 12 months before spitting out the insect again.

l       Rafflesia is world’s biggest flower; bigger than an adult. It is stinky as it produces the smell of a corpse. Its bud take 10 months to open into a flower which will last for only 7 days. Its petal is as long as 1m.

b)      Flower Festival.

l       It’s a parade of floats decorated with flowers of various designs. Sometimes, people competed at flower arranging. It’s a festival celebrated in many countries.

c)       Picking Flowers.

l       We went round the garden, picking flowers and leaves. We have already asked permission from the Principal, beforehand. The kids searched for plants that they wanted to arrange. I would cut as not to damage the plant roots. Meanwhile some of them plucked the grass leaves and flowers. All were put in a container.

d)      Arranging Flowers.

* We cut a water bottle to make into a vase. The class was divided into 2 groups and they arranged into 2 different vases. There was a shorter vase and a taller vase. Some longer plants were arranged in shorter vase while shorter ones in a taller vase. Thus, after finished arranging; we discussed how to improve the arrangement. We poured out everything. We added long leaves first, then some shorter plants and finally some Ixora flowers.

Spring Season.

Tuesday ( 22/05/2012)

a)      Enquiries.

l       Yesterday, kids asked about spiders and leopards. Spiders’ blood have got anti-freeze enzyme in its blood. Thus, during winter, it can protect itself. They don’t hibernate but will stay in holes or homes covered with their webs as protection. They would lay eggs at winter to be hatched in Spring. However, some spiders which are not strong enough will die.

l       Tigers and leopards are only in Equator countries. Only Snow Leopards and Siberian or Snow Tigers are in seasonal countries. Snow Leopards live in Snow Mountains and they don’t hibernate.

b)      Winter Disaster.

l       Winter is fun but also drastic. The bad weather include snow slide or Avalanche, and snow storms.

l       The change of season to Spring will cause the snow to melt and thus; flood is a problem.

c)       Spring Season.

l       The Earth is nearer to the Sun and it’s a new life for many plants. Insects and animals become active and pollination is everywhere. Farmers and Gardeners are busy. Lots of vegetables grow and harvested. Other plants such as corns and wheat will be harvested in Autumn.

d)      Video Clips.

l       We watched clips on winter animals’ protection during winter.

l       Geese and other birds would migrate to a warmer place. Geese show good unity spirit. They fly in a “V” shape. When the leader is tired, it will fly behind and replaced by others.

l       We watched Spring video clips on learning various flowers. We also watched pollination by insects and birds.

e)      School Garden.

l       We explored the school garden and discovered that we have lots of plants some with flowers and some without. Among: sugarcane, pandan, vegetables and others. 

Winter decoration.

Monday (21/05/2012)



a) Vocabulary.

 We recapped words learnt. These included: season, winter, spring, summer, autumn, snowman, skating, skiing and Aurora.



b) Jun Qian’s book.

 He brought a book on animals. Thus, we tried identifying winter animals. We saw Polar Bear, Moose, Brown Bear, Goose, whale and many more.

 We learnt “migration” namely moving from a place to another. Birds would migrate from cold to warm place. Some squirrels and mousedoors would hide in their homes at winter.

 Some animals such as bears would hibernate; namely sleeping for almost 3 months. Their heartbeat at this period is very slow as they don’t consume food or move around. Thus a huge big bear would slim down when they wake up for Spring.

 Kids asked me, “What about spiders or insects or leopard? Do they hibernate?” I told them that I would check info about that.



c) Winter decoration.

 Kids made eyes, nose, mouth, buttons and scarf for the snowman using colour paper.

 Then, they coloured the sky with many colours to represent “Aurora” or the magical Northern Lights which can be found only in the cold Arctic and Antarctica Poles.

 They also labeled the pictures.

Games For All.

Tuesday  (15/05/2012)

a)      Opening Ceremony

·         We  were very happy  that we have added a corner for the school; namely “The magical castle”. We invited Teacher Huang to do the launching as she supplied us with the materials. Teacher  Hoo and Pik Xia who assisted us at the building were busy and unavailable. We shall be making appreciation gifts for them soon.

·         Then, we invited Teacher Huang and Yap to play together. The kids explained some rules for them.

a)      Year 6 guests.

·         6 year-old kids were curious and excited about the game session. However, their class teacher asked more questions to enable them knowing about the castle. A castle usually protects the King and Queen. Thus, they are equipped with equipments such as binoculars. We added on telescope to make it more interesting. We shared with kids that they can see various images from them.

·         Kids marched out neatly introducing games and rules. Today, they were very united and disciplined. Well done! First, they introduced Circle Games, then Happy Faces game and finally; Snake and Ladder game! Next, kids were divided into groups to try playing those games. It’s fun as kids had to focus to throw the sticky ball to get high points!

·         We thanked Year 6 kids and treated them with some food.

b)      Year 4 guests.

·         They even more exciting. They experimented with the binoculars and telescopes. Some even pretended to drink from the recycled cup….haaaa!

·         A few of them were very focused at aiming the ball. Qi Jie and Le Jing were very focused….amazing!  They even happier with our food treat!

 

It’s Snowing!

Monday (14/05/2012)

a)      Wushu Lesson.

* Our Wushu lesson is every Monday until 4.30p.m. followed by tea-break. Then, we would have a short lesson on thematic.

a)       Invitation to year 4.

l  We haven’t invited 4 year-old kids as they had activities last week. Thus, we marched to their classroom and invited them for our games tomorrow about 4.45 p.m. They were excited about it!

b)      Winter Season!

l  Kids were cutting newspaper into pieces but they didn’t know the reason. I told them it was a surprise though I gave them clue that we are learning about winter. So, they were anxious and curious about it!

l  We went upstairs to Phonics classroom and who….it was so cold as I have turned on the air-cond earlier. Kids were so happy and none of them felt too cold! Then, it got even excited when I turned on the standing fan and blew the bits of newspaper towards them and of course, joy was everywhere! Oops….hold on, kids! Those are snowflakes!

l  As we don’t have 4 seasons in Malaysia, it’s a challenge to teach seasons here!

c)       About Winter.

l  The Earth is divided into 2 hemispheres or parts. The Northern and Southern. Previously, we learnt that countries located on Equator or middle line have got only hot and rainy weather. However, countries above and below Equator line, would have 4 seasons.

l  Some winter countries which further to the north and south; have got shorter days as it’s difficult seeing a bright day. Nights are much longer than days. Some have slightly longer days. However, I stressed that when, it’s summer in Southern hemisphere; it’ll be winter in Northen. Kids were wondering why? We shall continue tomorrow.

 

The Magical Castle Games

Friday (11/05/2012)

a)      Invitation Poster.

l       In the morning, we took a few minutes to invite the school children to our Magical castle Games. Five years old would attend this evening, 6 and 4 years old attend on Tuesday evening.

b)      The Magical Castle Games.

l       We arranged chairs for the 5-year old kids. We welcomed them. Then, the kids took turns to explain about games and the rules.

l       We had the “Binocular Group”, “Telescope Group”, “Circle Group”, “Happy Faces Group” and finally “Snake and Ladder Group”.

l       Surprisingly, they were independent without my help at explaining the games. However, it was a little messy due to the space constraint. The kids and I would have to improve on that for next Tuesday.

c)       Participation.

l       Most 5-year old kids loved the “Circle and Happy Faces” games, as they get to throw the sticky ball to the chart!

d)      A baby’s growth.

l       After we have finished, we took the extra time to watch a video clip on Mother’s womb where the baby grows. It is very informative for the kids.

l       A baby’s heart starts to beat the 22^nd. Day. Week 3 sees the development of eyes and ears; week 6 sees the development of fingers and toes. At week 6 – 11, she grows 5 times in size, By 11^th. week, she can smile or frown and even sucks her thumb. At this point, she wpould determine to use left or right hand. At week 13, her ears start to hear clearly. The baby is comforted with a mother’s heart beat. At the 6^th. month; the baby has fully developed except for the heart. At about week 42, the baby is born!

My Mother is The Best!

Wednesday（09/05/2012）

a) My Mother is The Best!

* Every kid stood in front to share with friends about their mother! Among:

Yee Xuan: I love my mum because she cooks well.

Wei Lok: My mum cooks delicious rice.

Ying Qiao: My mother’s beautiful!

Hiro: I help my mum to was plates.      Yi Han: Me too!

Jia Jia: I love mum because she reads stories for me!

Yu Xi: I live my mum because she teaches me to make crafst.

Xiang Wei: I make robots for my mother!

l       Everyone wants to celebrate Mother’s Day because she is the most important person in our life besides father. However, as we grow; people tend to forget due to busy work or selfishness.

Teacher: How would you treat your parents when they grow old?

l       Most kids said they would still love them. However, I highlighted that many youngsters today were too busy to care for their parents. They even sent them to Old Folks’ Homes! The kids visited an Old Folks’ Homes and they understood how lonely those old people were. After sharing session, kids promised they would not abandon their responsibility as good children. Our actions are observed by our children. If we treat our parents badly, our kids will do the same upon us!

b) A Gift: The Magical Words.

* We are making a gift for mothers. It’s magical bag that consists of many pieces of magical words. This present was decided by the class. They hope that when mothers miss them, just open the bag to remember those sweet memories. Or….when mothers are feeling sad, just open the magical bag for some inspiration. J Thus, we brainstormed the magical phrases together. Among:

1) I love you!        2) You are the BEST!           3) You cook well.          4) A Happy family.

5) You tell stories!         6) You are beautiful!             7) No Old Folk’s Home!                              8) You are clever!

* Kids took small pieces of paper of different colours to write those phrases down! We shall continue with the bag tomorrow。

The Rubber Band Tricks.

Tuesday(08/05/2012)

a)      The Rubber band Trick.

l       Shawn shared his magic rubber band trick with his friends.

l       First, take a rubber band and make it into an “8” figure when inserting into two hands.

l       Then, place a small piece of square paper on the left palm on the rubberband. Close both palms. Blow softly into the palms (as if a magical spell) and open the palms facing slightly downwards before facing upwards again. The piece of paper will beon the right palm. Hiro and Wei Lok manage to learn the trick well!

l       I shared with them another rubber band trick. Choose either hand. For me I chose my right hand. Make into “peace” fingers i.e.….number 2. Insert a rubber band into those 2 fingers. Pull it away with the other hand. Now, there is a big “O”. Inset all 4 fingers of the right into the hole. Then, let go your left hand so that the rubber band now envelopes the 4 fingers on your right. Open all the four fingers. If successfully, the rubber band is on the fourth and fifth finger of your right. A number of kids were able to do this trick!

b)      Rehearsing Instructions.

l       This time, we rehearsed game instructions at the Magical Castle itself. We had the “Happy Face Poster” and “Snake and Ladder game” almost ready. Later, after rehearsing, the kids helped at writing the numbers and also drawing snakes on the ladder!

c)       The Story Of Holland: Hans Brinker

l       This is one famous story of Holland. Some believed is a true story while some said it was a folktale. Holland is a city in Netherlands. Netherlands is known as the land below sea level. Thus, a long time ago, the wall built to protect people from the sea was very important.

l       A boy went visiting his good friend and he came back almost late at night. He was so happy spending time with his friend that he forgot about the time. He quickly walked and ran home along the quiet street. He could hear the winds and ……something else! It was water dripping from a very small hole though the brick wall! There was nobody to ask help from but he realized that the hole would be bigger and eventually, Holland will be flooded! He quickly inserted his lttle finger through the hole stopping the leak! He was there the whole midnight until early morning. He groaned not because of pain but because of the coldness! A passeby heard his graon and quickly rescued him in that morning! From that day onwards, people have called him a “hero”!

A Gift.

Monday (07/05/2012)

a) A gift.

*After a year or two in the school, kids have learnt to choose and decide on activities or lessons to learn. We discussed about gifts that kids would like to give to parents. We thought of a few options. Among: cards, flowers, necklace, magical bag. The kids voted and decided to go for………. (secret….not to be revealed until Mothers’ Day)!

* Shawn suggested that we perform a magic trick for mother and later, she has to learn from us. If she succeeded, she is almost winning our gift for her! Rei suggested that we could also have a “Mirror-imaged word” trick. Mothers would have to guessed the words and later rewrite them correctly! They have already thought of the word. Finally, te third game is “Scissors, Rock, Cloth” game. The loser has got to sing a song of any language. So, mum…..be prepared!

* Shawn tried performing the rubber band trick but has forgotten about it. Not to worry, he would go home and ask his father’s guidance and share with us tomorrow.

b) Rehearsing Games Rules.

* Most kids went home to learn and memorise the sentences we discussed in school. Thus, they were much better and confident! The improved ones included Xing En, Hiro and Wei Lok. Well done! Kids and I decided that we have to prepare an invitation poster for each class for his even of “Magical Castle Games”.

c) Vocabulary Recap.

* We recapped some words. Monday is always Wushu day. Thus, our lessons are about 40 minutes only.

Recycling Lorry.

Monday (02/05/2012)



a) Sorting the rubbish.

 The school have called the Amitabha Recycling lorry to collect recycled items brought by kids to school. Before the arrival, kids have took turns to go to the car porch and segregate the items accordingly to the different sections. The sections were: paper, tins, aluminum, books, boxes, Styrofoam and waste bins (for those can’t be recycled).

 The kids were rather serious at sorting them. After a few rounds of guidance, they became better and even guided their friends. Pomegranate class sorted together with 4 year old kids and some of them even guided their younger friends.



b) Vocabulary Recap.

 Among words: reduce, reuse, recycle, rubbish, save, plastic, tin, aluminum cans, glass and paper.



c) Group duties.

 Kids get to play the 3 games in the classroom. Then, we sat down to discuss the game introduction to other friends. We would like to introduce them so that they know how to play the games in our magical Castle.

 We have 5 groups altogether. They were “Binoculars”, “Telescopes”, “Happy Game”, “Circle Game” and “Snake and Ladder game”.

 The whole class discussed on the sentences to introduce each game. The kids were rather serious and grasp well. Each kids speaks at least 2 sentences. We would practise the introduction again today.