14/04/2008 (Monday)
(i) Corner Playing and Individual Focus
ZY invited me to run with him. The other kids joined immediately and they just loved it. Today in the classroom, everyone hid except our new friend, Justin. After drinking water, they played with their desired games. The boys went for animals. They spread the different colour cloth before placing the toys. Meanwhile, LX is back and she did writing on her own “Alphabet” book. ZYun coloured her colouring book while SJ also asked for drawing. Meanwhile, I called the kids individually for “Alphabets” reading. I discovered that some kids are quite independent as they could recognize the letter randomly. These included YP, SYun, JN, ZY, EG and J. WY, LX, ZJ and ZYg required more encouragement to try.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
(ii) The Natural Elements
We started with “ABC” singing. Then, we did some flashcards on the following words: earth, water, sun, trees, air, animals and people. We defined them as a class. I asked them questions; “What is an earth?”, “Who are people?”.
Earth - ZY said it is where we can find our country. They learnt that Malaysia is our country and is only a small portion of the earth. We are currently living in Klang and not “Pa Sen”. They also learnt the day and night and the rotation of earth,
Water - JN said water is important for people. LX said it enables us to wash the floor. Without water, people and plants will die.
Sun - They learnt that it is hot and gives sunlight. It enables us to see things around.
Trees - Trees decorate our earth beautifully. Trees can be made into paper and also furniture. We can also get fruits from trees.
Air - We need air to breathe or we will die. Even, astronauts need air in the space to breathe, thus; they carry Oxygen tank.
Animals - Animals include mammals, reptiles and also birds and insects.PeopleThese include everyone of us.
(M/I: Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
(iii) Why are they important?
I did the flashcards again to recap the 7 words learnt earlier. This time, I listed them on the whiteboard and asked them the same question for each word. Example: “Why is earth important?”, “Why is air important?” and so on. These were some of their answers.
Earth:(YZ)-We live on earth. (ZYg)-Where’s my house, then? (Teacher)- All our houses are in this dot, Klang. (J)- Earth is important because it has trees and flowers.
Water:(YP)- When we don’t drink water, we fall sick. (Teacher) – We may also die. (J)- Yes, because our body is dried. (ZY)-Trees also drink water. (Teacher)- However, what will happen when there is too much water? (Children) – Flood. (M) – Then, water is not important.
Sun(JW)- Sun gives us sunlight to see. (XR)- It dries our clothes. (JS)- We wash our father’s cars. (Teacher)- However, too much sunlight can cause skin problems. So, which is more important than Sun?
Trees(EG) We need trees to make into paper. (YZ) Also to make furniture. (ZY) Trees drink water. (Teacher) So, less trees means more flood. (JN) I prefer to stand under the big tree for shade. (XR and SJ) My house has trees.
Air(WY) We need air to breathe. If not we will die. (Teacher) What about the haze? What about the open burning?
Animals(EG) Animals are not important. (Teacher) What about milk and yoghurt? We get it from cows. (JH) We also get it from goats. (ZY) Earthworms are also important. They make your plants healthy.
People(Children) People are important. (Teacher) How are they important. (Children)……..quiet. (Teacher) Who is cleverer; animals or people? People because they invented fans, telephones and many more things.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
(iv) Pair Work: Which is the most important?
Then I asked the kids, "Which is the most important Natural Element?" They had to choose a partner to decide their answers. These were their interesting choices and reasons....haaaa
Earth: YW and YP said that Earth is important because our houses are there.
Sun: M and WY chose the sun as they give sunlight. Without sunlight, we cannot dry clothes. JW and ZJ said that plants cannot grow too.
Trees: YZ and J said trees are important because we can make paper and furniture.
Animal: EG and ZYG opted for animals because cows can produce yoghurt and milk.
People: ZY, JN and SJ said people are the most important because they can make things. They are also cleverer than animals.
Air: JH and JS said air is important because we need to breathe it to live.
Water: JN and SYu said water will make us healthy. We can also bathe with water. Animals like dolphins live in the water. Eventually, I told the kids my opinion. I said that all are equally important as they depend on one another. Example: Beautiful earth is due to plants planted by people. Trees would absorp water and chopping down of trees will cause ugly earth and flood. Animals that eat our crops are also unhealthy for the earth. The kids would have to decide on my statement through the activities we are going through. From this understanding, I hope that they can see why 3Rs (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse) is needed for the unhealthy earth.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist, Linguistic, Interpersonal skills)
Our Pomegranate friends！
Monday, April 14, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
I am a well-behaved child!
11/04/2008 (Friday)
(i) Playground
Today’s garden was wet. So, we walked briskly along the pathway. Surprisingly, a lot of my kids were early including ZYg, M, SYu and SJ. Thus, they joined their friends for the brisked walk. Kim Lun and some other kids also joined us. It was fun!
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(ii) Blindfold again!
Well, today they hid behind the door while some under the table. Obviously, I was the hunter hunting for the hidden animals…haaa. ZJ would prefer to hide outside the class. Then, we played the “blindfold” game. Before playing, we highlighted the rules again. A) Be very quiet. B) The kids cannot hide under the table. C) Everyone gets to play. The first person chose randomly was YP and she managed to grab SYu. Of course, the kids tend to get excited and were not able to follow rule (A). At least, they were better today then yesterday.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(iii) Manners: Story book “Say, Please”
I introduced them 4 new vocabulary: Please, Thank you, Excuse me and Sorry. We talked about when to use the words. I drew a child on the board. I asked, “What does he want to eat?” YZ said, “He wants roti canai”. ZYg said biscuits and JN said strawberries. Then, we practiced saying, “Please give me some bread. Please give me some strawberries.” The saying would followed by “Thank you” and “You are welcome”. We took turn to do the role-play. The mother or father wore scarves around them. Of course, giggling was everywhere.Child : Please give me some bread.Mother : here you are.Child : Thank you, mother.Mother : You are welcome.
Then they also practised saying “Excuse Me” especially when they sneeze, cough, hiccup or passing by a crowd of people. Whereas “Sorry” was used when they made mistakes.I read a story entitled “Say, Please”. They were very attentive and were puzzled that animals too are well-mannered. They loved the part when the fat pig said, “Please scratch my back. It’s itchy”. Of course, the boy helped the pig which then said, “Thank You”.
(M/I: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(iv) Rubbish and dustbin.
I showed them a big picture of two scenes. The first scene showed how a girl throws rubbish everywhere although the dustbin is just beside her. The kids said that it was not right!Scene two showed how a boy comes and tells the girl to throw into the dustbin. I asked the kids to think of a proper sentence to tell the girl to throw the rubbish into the dustbin. Most of them said, “Throw……” I hinted them “Please”. YP then said, “Please throw into the dustbin”. Then, we had a short role-play. They took turn. The dialogue was as follows:
Boy : Please throw the rubbish into the dustbin.
Girl : Oh, I am sorry.
Boy : Thank you.
Girl : You are welcome.
We also did a role-play where the boy scolded the girl rudely without using “Please”. So, they realized that two rude and angry people will cause problem! So, manners is important.
(M/I: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(v) Keychain craft.
I gave each a yellow paper with their names behind. They had to write 2 rows of their names. Then they had to collect the Magic Words from me to paste nicely on the front page. I told them that the paper would be laminated and made into keychain to hang on their bags. Hopefully, they can read the words independently and bear in mind practising them!
(M/I: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(i) Playground
Today’s garden was wet. So, we walked briskly along the pathway. Surprisingly, a lot of my kids were early including ZYg, M, SYu and SJ. Thus, they joined their friends for the brisked walk. Kim Lun and some other kids also joined us. It was fun!
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(ii) Blindfold again!
Well, today they hid behind the door while some under the table. Obviously, I was the hunter hunting for the hidden animals…haaa. ZJ would prefer to hide outside the class. Then, we played the “blindfold” game. Before playing, we highlighted the rules again. A) Be very quiet. B) The kids cannot hide under the table. C) Everyone gets to play. The first person chose randomly was YP and she managed to grab SYu. Of course, the kids tend to get excited and were not able to follow rule (A). At least, they were better today then yesterday.
(M/I: Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(iii) Manners: Story book “Say, Please”
I introduced them 4 new vocabulary: Please, Thank you, Excuse me and Sorry. We talked about when to use the words. I drew a child on the board. I asked, “What does he want to eat?” YZ said, “He wants roti canai”. ZYg said biscuits and JN said strawberries. Then, we practiced saying, “Please give me some bread. Please give me some strawberries.” The saying would followed by “Thank you” and “You are welcome”. We took turn to do the role-play. The mother or father wore scarves around them. Of course, giggling was everywhere.Child : Please give me some bread.Mother : here you are.Child : Thank you, mother.Mother : You are welcome.
Then they also practised saying “Excuse Me” especially when they sneeze, cough, hiccup or passing by a crowd of people. Whereas “Sorry” was used when they made mistakes.I read a story entitled “Say, Please”. They were very attentive and were puzzled that animals too are well-mannered. They loved the part when the fat pig said, “Please scratch my back. It’s itchy”. Of course, the boy helped the pig which then said, “Thank You”.
(M/I: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(iv) Rubbish and dustbin.
I showed them a big picture of two scenes. The first scene showed how a girl throws rubbish everywhere although the dustbin is just beside her. The kids said that it was not right!Scene two showed how a boy comes and tells the girl to throw into the dustbin. I asked the kids to think of a proper sentence to tell the girl to throw the rubbish into the dustbin. Most of them said, “Throw……” I hinted them “Please”. YP then said, “Please throw into the dustbin”. Then, we had a short role-play. They took turn. The dialogue was as follows:
Boy : Please throw the rubbish into the dustbin.
Girl : Oh, I am sorry.
Boy : Thank you.
Girl : You are welcome.
We also did a role-play where the boy scolded the girl rudely without using “Please”. So, they realized that two rude and angry people will cause problem! So, manners is important.
(M/I: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
(v) Keychain craft.
I gave each a yellow paper with their names behind. They had to write 2 rows of their names. Then they had to collect the Magic Words from me to paste nicely on the front page. I told them that the paper would be laminated and made into keychain to hang on their bags. Hopefully, they can read the words independently and bear in mind practising them!
(M/I: Linguistic, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Body-Kinesthetic skills)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Manners and Riddles
10/04/08 (Thursday)
(i) Playground
These days, the kids would ask for 3 rounds of running whenever they see me. However, I told them to go for fewer rounds if they were tired. Then, they fed the fish and played with the other playground equipment. I was very happy to see M came early. In fact, he joined us for the run and was enjoying himself.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical skills)
(ii) The Blindfolded Game
They drank their water after hiding under the table. Then, they asked to play with toys I checked their homework. After 15 minutes, I introduced the “blindfold” game. I first chose JN and blindfolded her. She turned 5 rounds The other kids scattered around quietly. Once JN grabbed a friend, she had to guess what his or her name is. JN would ask, “Who are you?” and she will listen carefully.. If she guesses correctly, she will pass the blindfolded cloth to that particular friend. Otherwise, she has to play another round until she guesses correctly. They enjoyed the game.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iii) Poem: “A Good Word”
We recited a poem on “A Good Word”. Let’s take a look:
When we say a good word,
The flower will bloom,
When we say a bad word,
The snake’s tongue will hiss out,
How horrible is that!
A few of my kids like saying some unpleasant words including: “Mine is nicer” and “stupid”. Luckily, those words are rarely spoken. But if ignored, I fear that it will worsen! In fact, I had a role-play; whereby I asked JH to perform. I pretended to scold him “stupid” and he was very angry. He scolded me back and the quarrel never ended. In fact, in most cases, they would end up hitting or crying.
The objective was to let them know that it’s hurtful to be scolded. So, when we say good words; people will not scold us. In fact, they love us more.
M/I: Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, , Intrpaersonal. Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iv) Riddles
We had the last part of riddles. They listened to me and then read together with me. I underlined the key words so that they could understand the riddles even better.
The two riddles were:
“I am small and cute,
I have brownish fur,
I eat grains and worms, I will bite when I am scared,
What am I?”
“I can run fast,
I roar and have sharp claws,
I am a good hunter,
I have orange and black stripes,
What am I?”
In the first riddle, they thought of cute animals. JN said “rabbit”, EG said “hamster”and XR said “cat”. I said it looks like a mouse but doesn’t like cheese. Most of them got the answer, “hamster”.
In the second riddle, they learnt words including roar, hunter and stripes. ZYg said a cheetah cannot roar but ZY and M said they can roar. I explained that cheetahs can roar and in fact are faster runner than tigers. The phrase “orange and black stripes” was a good clue. Immediately, they said “tiger”.
Then, I gave them their worksheets and they cut and pasted the pictures.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Naturalist and Logical-Mathematical skills)
(i) Playground
These days, the kids would ask for 3 rounds of running whenever they see me. However, I told them to go for fewer rounds if they were tired. Then, they fed the fish and played with the other playground equipment. I was very happy to see M came early. In fact, he joined us for the run and was enjoying himself.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical skills)
(ii) The Blindfolded Game
They drank their water after hiding under the table. Then, they asked to play with toys I checked their homework. After 15 minutes, I introduced the “blindfold” game. I first chose JN and blindfolded her. She turned 5 rounds The other kids scattered around quietly. Once JN grabbed a friend, she had to guess what his or her name is. JN would ask, “Who are you?” and she will listen carefully.. If she guesses correctly, she will pass the blindfolded cloth to that particular friend. Otherwise, she has to play another round until she guesses correctly. They enjoyed the game.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iii) Poem: “A Good Word”
We recited a poem on “A Good Word”. Let’s take a look:
When we say a good word,
The flower will bloom,
When we say a bad word,
The snake’s tongue will hiss out,
How horrible is that!
A few of my kids like saying some unpleasant words including: “Mine is nicer” and “stupid”. Luckily, those words are rarely spoken. But if ignored, I fear that it will worsen! In fact, I had a role-play; whereby I asked JH to perform. I pretended to scold him “stupid” and he was very angry. He scolded me back and the quarrel never ended. In fact, in most cases, they would end up hitting or crying.
The objective was to let them know that it’s hurtful to be scolded. So, when we say good words; people will not scold us. In fact, they love us more.
M/I: Linguistic, Body-Kinesthetic, , Intrpaersonal. Interpersonal and Logical-Mathematical skills)
(iv) Riddles
We had the last part of riddles. They listened to me and then read together with me. I underlined the key words so that they could understand the riddles even better.
The two riddles were:
“I am small and cute,
I have brownish fur,
I eat grains and worms, I will bite when I am scared,
What am I?”
“I can run fast,
I roar and have sharp claws,
I am a good hunter,
I have orange and black stripes,
What am I?”
In the first riddle, they thought of cute animals. JN said “rabbit”, EG said “hamster”and XR said “cat”. I said it looks like a mouse but doesn’t like cheese. Most of them got the answer, “hamster”.
In the second riddle, they learnt words including roar, hunter and stripes. ZYg said a cheetah cannot roar but ZY and M said they can roar. I explained that cheetahs can roar and in fact are faster runner than tigers. The phrase “orange and black stripes” was a good clue. Immediately, they said “tiger”.
Then, I gave them their worksheets and they cut and pasted the pictures.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Naturalist and Logical-Mathematical skills)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Revision and File Organization
09/04/08 (Thursday)
(i) Playground, Hide And Seek.
This morning, the grass was wet. So, the kids played the slides and fed the fish. If they couldn’t ask properly, I would not give them any fish food. So, they learnt to ask, “Please can I have some?”
As usual they hid under the table, while I followed them from behind. Thus, I suggested that they could hide behind the door, chairs or even cover themselves with cloth.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(ii) Corner Playing, Drawing and Individual Reading.
They did corner playing. ZY, JS, YP, JW, JH, ZJ and JW played with the toys. JS was reluctant to share the trains with YP. Thus, I asked him if the toys were his or the school. As it was the school, he had to share. I advised YP to ask politely and JS agreed to share.
The other girls included SY, SYu, SJ, JN, XR preferred to do writing and colouring. SY learnt from SYu on how to draw a Kitty Cat. Then, I asked SYu to write the letters A until Z which she could refer to the Alphabet Chart.
Meanwhile, I did individual reading. I recapped on one of their exercises focusing on English and Bahasa Malaysia’s animals’ vocabulary. The words were as follows:
tiger --- harimau,
lion --- singa,
zebra --- kuda belang,
elephant --- gajah,
snake --- ular.
They were attentive. JW, SYu and ZYg were more independent.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(iii) Group Revision
Then, I wrote the words into their “sukakata” form and “phonics” form. They used these sentences. “Harimau itu tiger”. “Tiger itu harimau”. Then, I chose sukukata “ha” to form these words: haba, hati, hari, habis. Then we made a few sentences:
1. Air saya sudah habis.
2. Hati saya sakit melihat budak nakal itu.
3. Hari ini har Rabu.
4. Matahari memberi haba.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical Mathematical skills)
(iv) Phonics “ed”, “en”
After tea break, we gathered into the Phonics Classroom. First, they sang their favourite song, “I have a bed”. Then, they read the phonics sounds. Next, they read the story about Ted. The sentences included as follows:
1. I am Ted
2. This is my bed.
3. Ted has a red bed.
4. My bed is red.
5. This is Ken.
6. Ken has ten hens.
7. The hen has a big pen.
Then, they brought home the book for homework.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(v) Organizing files.
I gave the kids their plastic file. Then, I distributed their worksheets to them so that they file them properly. They were quite excited to see their work and actually showed their concern to keep properly. Some kids couldn’t find some worksheets which showed that they had kept them at home. So, I told them to bring to school.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Intrapersonal skills)
(i) Playground, Hide And Seek.
This morning, the grass was wet. So, the kids played the slides and fed the fish. If they couldn’t ask properly, I would not give them any fish food. So, they learnt to ask, “Please can I have some?”
As usual they hid under the table, while I followed them from behind. Thus, I suggested that they could hide behind the door, chairs or even cover themselves with cloth.
(M/I: Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal skills)
(ii) Corner Playing, Drawing and Individual Reading.
They did corner playing. ZY, JS, YP, JW, JH, ZJ and JW played with the toys. JS was reluctant to share the trains with YP. Thus, I asked him if the toys were his or the school. As it was the school, he had to share. I advised YP to ask politely and JS agreed to share.
The other girls included SY, SYu, SJ, JN, XR preferred to do writing and colouring. SY learnt from SYu on how to draw a Kitty Cat. Then, I asked SYu to write the letters A until Z which she could refer to the Alphabet Chart.
Meanwhile, I did individual reading. I recapped on one of their exercises focusing on English and Bahasa Malaysia’s animals’ vocabulary. The words were as follows:
tiger --- harimau,
lion --- singa,
zebra --- kuda belang,
elephant --- gajah,
snake --- ular.
They were attentive. JW, SYu and ZYg were more independent.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(iii) Group Revision
Then, I wrote the words into their “sukakata” form and “phonics” form. They used these sentences. “Harimau itu tiger”. “Tiger itu harimau”. Then, I chose sukukata “ha” to form these words: haba, hati, hari, habis. Then we made a few sentences:
1. Air saya sudah habis.
2. Hati saya sakit melihat budak nakal itu.
3. Hari ini har Rabu.
4. Matahari memberi haba.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical Mathematical skills)
(iv) Phonics “ed”, “en”
After tea break, we gathered into the Phonics Classroom. First, they sang their favourite song, “I have a bed”. Then, they read the phonics sounds. Next, they read the story about Ted. The sentences included as follows:
1. I am Ted
2. This is my bed.
3. Ted has a red bed.
4. My bed is red.
5. This is Ken.
6. Ken has ten hens.
7. The hen has a big pen.
Then, they brought home the book for homework.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Musical skills)
(v) Organizing files.
I gave the kids their plastic file. Then, I distributed their worksheets to them so that they file them properly. They were quite excited to see their work and actually showed their concern to keep properly. Some kids couldn’t find some worksheets which showed that they had kept them at home. So, I told them to bring to school.
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Intrapersonal skills)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Riddles and Story
08/04/08 (Tuesday)
(i) All work and no play makes Jack a “dull” boy.
We ran around the kindergarten for a few rounds. ZY, JS and even XR loved it. Then, they got into the classroom. As usual, they would play hide and seek with me. They could only think of “under the table”. No other places….haaa…perhaps, I should really play a game of “Hide and Seek” with them.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical skill)
(ii) Writing: Letter “r”
After drinking water, we did some circle time. The kids raise their “magic finger” to follow my stroke of “r”. As I write on the board, they wrote in the air. Then, I got most of the kids to write individually on the whiteboard. The words learnt included “rat, rope, road, rose, rain and runner”. We talked about the differences of a rat and a mouse. Then, we talked about roses for people especially mother. I asked them, “What can we do with a rope?” YP said, “We can catch a horse”. So, I pretended to be a cowgirl and catch the horse. Of course, they laughed. Besides that, thieves use them to tie their victims. As for road, I asked them what would happen after rain? YZ said it would be slippery. So, we learnt to say the sentence,” Father, please drive carefully., The road is wet.” Rain…….”Can you play in the rain?” No, ZYg said we would fall sick. Then we sang a song:“Rain, rain, go away,Come again another day,Little Johnny wants to play.”They enjoyed the song when we substituted “Johnny” with their names. Runner……, “Children, what do you play at the playground in the morning?” ZY and JN replied, “We ran 3 rounds”. I replied, “So, you are a runner”.
Then, they did individual writing. They were all independent today with little prompting from me. After writing the “r”, they coloured the pictures.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Musical skill)
(iii) Riddles
After tea break, I gave the kids some two riddles. First, they listen; then they looked at the words on the whiteboard. Then, they read together with me. I underlined the key words. Let's take a look:
"I eat a lot and I am fat, I am a mammal, I give birth to many babies,
Think of ham, think of me, What am I?"
At this moment, only YZ would ask me for interpretation of words. “Teacher Jen, what is a lot? What is fat?” ZY then asked me what is “give birth”. They guessed many animals. However, I strictly encouraged proper questions. “Excuse me, teacher. Is it a hippopotamus?” WY guessed it was a porcupine, YP guessed it was a horse, SYu guessed it was a bear. JS guessed it was a giraffe. Nobody asked me about “ham”. When I explained about ham, immediately they got the answer. Yes, it is a pig. The second riddle:
"I have hair all over my body, I have paws to hunt, I love honey, fish and meat,
I like sleeping in the cave, What am I?"
JW guessed it was a lion, XR guessed it was a lion, ZJ guessed it was a cat. Then, I asked, “Which animal likes honey and has hair?” Immediately, SYu said “bear”. Indeed it is the bear. If the kids had asked me what honey is, they would have got the answer fast. Then, the kids took a worksheet each. They looked for the relevant pictures and pasted into the columns.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Musical skill)
(iv) Story telling: “Godilocks and the Three Bears”.
I chose this story because I knew they were familiar with it. Thus, I wanted them to speak their ideas in English. I told the beginning of the story, then at times; I paused so that they could continue. Among their short phrases included, “three bears, girl, chairs, beds, walk, sad, angry, run”. I reinforced these sentences with them. "She could see three bowls. One big bowl of porridge, one medium bowl of porridge and one small bowl of porridge.” “The big hard chair was not comfortable. The medium soft chair not comfortable. The small chair was very comfortable.” “They were shocked to see a girl sleeping.” They learnt fast. So, my next step is to ensure that they use these words regularly.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical skill)
(i) All work and no play makes Jack a “dull” boy.
We ran around the kindergarten for a few rounds. ZY, JS and even XR loved it. Then, they got into the classroom. As usual, they would play hide and seek with me. They could only think of “under the table”. No other places….haaa…perhaps, I should really play a game of “Hide and Seek” with them.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical skill)
(ii) Writing: Letter “r”
After drinking water, we did some circle time. The kids raise their “magic finger” to follow my stroke of “r”. As I write on the board, they wrote in the air. Then, I got most of the kids to write individually on the whiteboard. The words learnt included “rat, rope, road, rose, rain and runner”. We talked about the differences of a rat and a mouse. Then, we talked about roses for people especially mother. I asked them, “What can we do with a rope?” YP said, “We can catch a horse”. So, I pretended to be a cowgirl and catch the horse. Of course, they laughed. Besides that, thieves use them to tie their victims. As for road, I asked them what would happen after rain? YZ said it would be slippery. So, we learnt to say the sentence,” Father, please drive carefully., The road is wet.” Rain…….”Can you play in the rain?” No, ZYg said we would fall sick. Then we sang a song:“Rain, rain, go away,Come again another day,Little Johnny wants to play.”They enjoyed the song when we substituted “Johnny” with their names. Runner……, “Children, what do you play at the playground in the morning?” ZY and JN replied, “We ran 3 rounds”. I replied, “So, you are a runner”.
Then, they did individual writing. They were all independent today with little prompting from me. After writing the “r”, they coloured the pictures.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Musical skill)
(iii) Riddles
After tea break, I gave the kids some two riddles. First, they listen; then they looked at the words on the whiteboard. Then, they read together with me. I underlined the key words. Let's take a look:
"I eat a lot and I am fat, I am a mammal, I give birth to many babies,
Think of ham, think of me, What am I?"
At this moment, only YZ would ask me for interpretation of words. “Teacher Jen, what is a lot? What is fat?” ZY then asked me what is “give birth”. They guessed many animals. However, I strictly encouraged proper questions. “Excuse me, teacher. Is it a hippopotamus?” WY guessed it was a porcupine, YP guessed it was a horse, SYu guessed it was a bear. JS guessed it was a giraffe. Nobody asked me about “ham”. When I explained about ham, immediately they got the answer. Yes, it is a pig. The second riddle:
"I have hair all over my body, I have paws to hunt, I love honey, fish and meat,
I like sleeping in the cave, What am I?"
JW guessed it was a lion, XR guessed it was a lion, ZJ guessed it was a cat. Then, I asked, “Which animal likes honey and has hair?” Immediately, SYu said “bear”. Indeed it is the bear. If the kids had asked me what honey is, they would have got the answer fast. Then, the kids took a worksheet each. They looked for the relevant pictures and pasted into the columns.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical, Musical skill)
(iv) Story telling: “Godilocks and the Three Bears”.
I chose this story because I knew they were familiar with it. Thus, I wanted them to speak their ideas in English. I told the beginning of the story, then at times; I paused so that they could continue. Among their short phrases included, “three bears, girl, chairs, beds, walk, sad, angry, run”. I reinforced these sentences with them. "She could see three bowls. One big bowl of porridge, one medium bowl of porridge and one small bowl of porridge.” “The big hard chair was not comfortable. The medium soft chair not comfortable. The small chair was very comfortable.” “They were shocked to see a girl sleeping.” They learnt fast. So, my next step is to ensure that they use these words regularly.
(M/I: Linguistic, Interpersonal, Logical-mathematical skill)
Monday, April 7, 2008
Memory: A Zoo Trip
07/04/08 (Monday)
(i) Dot-to-dot Octopus and Corner Playing
Before entering the classroom, I got my kids to run around the kindergarten. They ran for three r
rounds averagely. Tired but excited! They drank water and marched to the classroom. I gave them the
choice of corner playing. JN, TP and EG started with the animal toys. WY and JS played the train and its
railway. The late comers including M, JH and ZYg also chose to play with the train.
However, SYu asked for drawing. That influenced SY, SJ, JN, XR, ZY and EG to come to me. I gave them copies of dot-to-dot octopus. This time, EG, ZY, SY, JN were independent and didn’t ask for my help. XR and SJ needed more guidance but had shown improvement.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
(ii) Bahasa
They were all very excited because most of them already heard or watched the story in Mandarin or English. When I started conversed in Bahasa, they listened attentively. They would asked me any unfamiliar words. YZ, ZY and JN were those who asked often. During their feedback, I encouraged them to use Bahasa. They tried but at this moment it was a mixture of various languages. However, they enjoyed Bahasa very much!
(M/I: Interpersonal, Linguistic, Intrapersonal skills)
(iii) Tea break
Today, the kids had donuts. While waiting for JN to pour, we sang “The Elephant song again”.
This time round, the kids were able to sing while reading the chart. Wonderful……I was just there for little
prompting. I taught SYu the proper way to sweep the floor. Meanwhile, the others read through the Big
Pinocchio book which we heard just now.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical skills)
(iv) A Zoo Trip
We recalled back the unforgettable zoo trip last Thursday. During this process, they learnt some vocabulary including “National Zoo, mini train, lunch, rain and home”. YP and ZYg couldn't forget the rhinocerous. Most of the kids couldn’t forget when they saw the hippopotamus passed urine. They just sprayed out their urine like a water tap…..haaaaa. WY remembered the sea lion while EG remembered the beautiful porcupines. JS recalled back the snakes. SYu talked about the “Sun” Bear which could walk around like people. We also talked about other animals including the monkeys, iguanas, parrots and frogs. Then, they had to draw pictures into the relevant column. The six columns included “ABC Kindergarten, bus, National Zoo, McDonalds’ lunch, rain / bus and home”. They took their pencils and started drawing. XR required encouragement to start. These kids needed some prompting: JS, ZYg and WY. JS and WY couldn’t understand the instructions. JH had shown improvement. He would ask to clarify any doubts. “Teacher, what is this? What can I draw here?” Then, he went and draw independently. The other kids were more independent. They were SY, SYu, JN, JW, EG, ZY and M. During the drawing process, a parent and a teacher can see a child’s progress and their thoughts. It’s not what we see but what the kids interpret about the pictures.
(M/I: Body Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial skills)
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Mask and Puppet
Cast: The crocodiles and eagle.
"Hooray! We have killed the Giant Anaconda!"
ZJ: "This is my porcupine puppet".
Cast: The chameleons
Cast: The porcupine
YP: "This is my chameleon puppet".
ZY: "These are my porcupine and crocodile puppets".
04/04/08 (Friday)
(i) Mask and drawing
We started by doing a mask. As the puppet performers would be behind the table, the mask would disguise them as the trees or flowers of jungles. So, we talked of the possible patterns on the mask. ZY talked about animals' sharp teeth and ZYg talked about the zebra's black and white stripes. I drew some spots as leopard or cheetahs. YP preferred to make it as colourful as the rainbow. Then, they cut them. Then, I punched a hole each on the left and right. they inserted the long rubber bands through the holes. Most of them needed help to tie a knot especially using the elastic rubber band. ZY, YP and EG were more independent and started wearing their mask. After that, I gave them their drawing book to draw their unforgettable experience at the zoo. Meanwhile, I called the others to guide them individually at making the mask.
(M/I : Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(ii) Tea break
Eugene brought extra three packets of "Nasi Lemak" for his good friends. They were YZ, M and Justin from another class. So, they ate happily and shared some with the other friends.
(M/I : Body-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
(iii) Puppet Rehearsal
I gave everyone their puppets. We did with the seven casts rather than involving all. We started the rehearsal. Upon my instruction and tambourine, everyone said a line to introduce themselves and their one puppet. After that, they sat at the side of the table. Only 7 people performed. The casts included the Narrator, the Giant Anaconda, the lion, the crocodile, the eagle, the porcupine and the chameleon. So, the 7 casts went to their positions. YP and ZY were more independent. The others were very dependent. Generally, they forgot their lines. The others were rather playful. Then, I asked them; how would spectators behave at the cinema? They said "quiet". So, we tried another rehearsal. However, the situation was still unfavourable. Finally, I told them that we required more time and commitment to perform well. I believe that they would perform a better puppet show in the future when most of them could conversed better and independently. Thus, I got YZ to bring the camera. They performed in the class while I photographed their acts.
(M/I : Body-Kinesthetic, Logical Mathematical, Interpersonal, Linguistic skills)
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