Car Wash

Friday (15/06/2012)

a)          Engine parts.

·             The kids observed 2 cars. My car; MYvi and Teacher Pik Xia’s; Proton Wira.

·             I introduced the external parts included: car hood, boot, windscreen, wipers, headlights, plate number, signal lights, wheels, tyres, rims and the petrol cover area.

·            
We opened both car hoods to compare the engines. Mine was smaller engine of 1.0 while Teacher Pik Xia’s was of 1.6. Her car could speed faster and more powerful compared to mine. We also learnt about the air-cond compartment, its fan, the wipers’ water among others. Kids were excited; some started talking about their parents’ car.

b)          Car Wash.

·             We voted and the boys washed my Myvi while the girls washed Teacher Pik Xia’s Wira.

·             First round, the car has to be wet. Thus, kids fill up the pail with water. I used to hose to wet both cars. They thought that it looked like waterfall.

·            
Second round, a little car shampoo was poured into second pail of water. We shouldn’t use detergent or dishes soap to wash the car as it harms the paint. Kids used a cloth to soak into the pail and washed the car. They were so serious at cleaning the car. As washing, they started talking about their experience on car washing.

·             Third round, another pail of clean water. Kids had to wash and rinse their cloth clean so that there’s no more soap. They soak in the third pail and rinse the cloth. They washed the car.

·             Fourth round, they rinsed their wet cloth as dry as possible. Then, they wiped the wet car to dry. Overall, both cars were very clean! The kids were proud of themselves!

c)           Video Clip.

·             We watched clips on car wash. Petrol Station machine car wash. In Klang, the price is about RM4. We washed another clip on manual car wash by hands. A normal wash is about RM8.00. With polishing, it costs more.  

The “Pop-Up” Car Card.

Thursday (14/06/2012)

a)      Better strategy.

l       When I entered the classroom, I saw kids playing with the toy cars; so excitedly as if they were having a race! It was rather noisy and messy.

T: Do you think it’s a good idea to play this way?

l       Firstly, the cars didn’t race in proper road lanes. Secondly, the ending line is not the same (due to bookshelves, boxes, tables and chairs in the classroom). Thirdly, it would be more challenging if kids could build a roller coaster lane just like the marble roller-coaster toy. I asked the kids to think about the idea and share with the class. Meanwhile, we continue with Father Day’s pop up card gift.

b)      The pop-up card.

l       Kids observed and listened to step-by-step instructions. Fold a colour paper into half. Now, we have the open ends and closed ends. Fold the closed ends about 2cm width. Creased it to get a line. Cut 2 vertical 2cm lines in the middle. This will be area to paste the pop up picture.

l       To make the pop up picture, kids take a small piece of cardboard and draw pictures of their choice. It could be their father, a house or anything that their father love. Then, they paste it with double sided tape.

c)       Decorating the card.

l       Kids drew more pictures.

Yi Han: I don’t know what my father likes except the computer. So, she drew a computer. Kai Song did the same too. Hiro said his father loves cars!

l       Kids pasted the lyrics of “Father’s Day” and also a felt cloth of a heart shape. Then, we dropped 1 to 2 drops of fragrance on the felt heart. Lastly, I punched the card at the middle top. Then, the kids inserted a ribbon through the hole and tried tying it.

l       Thus, the gift could be a fragrance card to be hung in the car or anywhere around the home. “Happy Father’s Day”!

My father’s the BEST!

Thursday (14/06/2012)

a)      My father.

TJ: Whose father is the BEST?

Kids: Mine! (Everyone raised their hands).

TJ: Why do we need to celebrate Father’s Day?

Ying Qiao: He feeds us to grow big!           

Rei: He takes good care of us since a baby in mother’s womb.

Wei Lok: He brings go camping!

Alisa: He buys us things!

Yi Han: He makes sure we are healthy!

Hiro: He is funny and makes me happy!

b)      Wei Lok’s car collection!

l       Wei Lok stood in front of the classroom sharing his car collection. “This is a sports car! ….”Among: racing car, van, mini cooper, 4-door car, 2-door car and sports car.

c)       A gift.

l       Earlier, we have discussed to give our father a picture card which could be hung at home or in his car. It will take 2 days to complete.

l       I sketched 4 types of car and kids can choose to a car of their favourite. I sketched a Beetle car, a 4-door car, a racing car and a mini-cooper!

l       Kids really enjoyed drawing and colouring. Yi Han needed some encouragement to start while some needed prompting at colouring nicely. We shall continue tomorrow for the pop-up card!

d)      Notice: Car Wash.

l       We are having car wash activity on Friday. Objective: To learn more about car parts and ways to take car of family’s car.

 

Henry Ford

Tuesday (12/06/2012)

a)      Animal Carts.

·         Animal carts and wagons were invented to transport goods from a place to another; crossing the mountains, rivers and fields. Kai Song: horses! Alisa: cows! Jia Xun: donkeys! Hiro: Monkeys….the class laughed but it was a good try as kids rationalized that monkeys are not strong enough. Yee Xuan: Orang Utan. Well, Orang Utan can be rather dangerous animals as they are aggressive if threatened.

b)      Horses everywhere!

* Horse carts were everywhere on streets. Policemen rode on horses too. Thus, it was very noisy and streets were dirty. Positively, they were still very important to people.

c)       Henry Ford.

·         He was the Father of Automobiles….He loved doing experiments with machines and invented “engine” which was used in his invention of “Quadricycle” which had 4 wheels, an engine and a comfortable seat. Animals were not required! It immediately attracted peoples’ attention because the streets were quieter with less horses’ sounds and cleaner  with no feces discharge or poo. Henry kept improving his cras and produced the famous Model T. He had introduced the systematic installation that influenced the industrialization world. In fact, some information said that he had so many happy workers that they produced a car in less than a minute…….unbelievable! Even today’s market can’t do that.

·         Henry was the sixth in the family of a rich farmer. He preferred being a mechanic than a farmer. As he grew up, Henry worked as a part-time mechanic learning about machines.  He did lots of experiments and invented Model T car which was very popular. He passed away at the age 84 but his knowledge had been passed to enable production of better and improved cars!

d)      Video Clips.

l       It was so nice to see the evolution of cars from 1900 till today. Lots of beautiful and trendy cars!

l       We also watched clip on Henry Ford and heard a song of Transportation.

Wheels Invention.

Monday (11/06/2012)

a)      Pre-Transportation Period.

·         People as early as the Cavemen just lived in caves and hunt animals for food and their basic wear. They also eat plants and fruits and drink water. As they lived, they discovered many new things which had improved humans’ lives. Discoveries such as fire (by Jia Xun) and knife (Alisa).

·         People started living in village exchanging goods they want with neighbours.

·        


Peoples’ needs grew and it was very difficult to carry those goods.

Teacher: So, how can they carry those heavy goods?

b)      Wheels.

·         The class was divided into boys and girls groups. 2 tables were stack together. Kids had to think of ideas to move them from the front right to the end of classroom.

Way 1: Obviously, kids pushed together and thought it was easy.

Way 2: A kid had to lie in between the 2 tables. Now, the kids had a harder time to push. They said pushing in a team makes the task easy.

TJ: Are you going to push those fruits on the ground and dirty road all the way across mountains and rivers, seas etc?

Way 3: Wheels were introduced. Earlier wheels were made of wood. We placed some “mushroom cans” as wheels. Why are the shapes; cylinder or round? (Kids: Because they are round? Because cans last a long time?)

Finally, they got the answer….wheels can be pushed and they can transport goods! So, kids took turns to push the heavy tables. 6 cans were placed underneath. Kids worked in team. As the table moved, the cans would be left behind. To continue the movement like a car, the kids quickly took the cans at behind row and placed them in front again! The process goes on.

TJ: Are these good wheels?           Kids: No! Because real tyres are attached to vehicles!

c)       Father’s Day gift discussion.

Kids: Can we give our father a card? We can draw car pictures!

·         Thus, kids would have to learn practising drawing cars the better way! Vroom…vroom..kids! 

The “Thank You” Gift.

Tuesday (05/06/2012)

a)      The Gift.

l  We have yet to present our Magical Castle builders with a present. We really appreciate their help. Kids and I discussed the gift for both Mr. Hoo and Teacher Pik Xia. They suggested that we made a card which can be hung on the wall. They chose heart shape for Teacher Pik Xia and star shape for Mr. Hoo. Each kid drew pictures on small pieces of paper and ensured that they labeled their names on them. They hoped that these guests could recognize their drawings. J

b)      Video Clips.

l  Kids kept asking me to show them clips on Tornado. Then, we compared between Hurricane and Tornado. We saw how the wind changes colour and blew the plants. A cow was lucky to miss the Tornado. We also watch the Earthquake situation in Italy. Finally, we watched the famous Olympics Opening Ceremony in China of year 2008. As we learnt about China earlier on, China is famous for its culture such as Kung Fu, drums, operas and many more. We saw their culture in the Opening Ceremony. However, as this year’s Olympics is in London, we would see a different culture. 

Monday (04/06/2012)

a)      Flashcards vocab.

l  We recapped words that we learnt throughout the lessons. Kids were more confident at recognizing and reading them.

b)      Worksheet: Animals Around The World.

l  As some kids were on holidays, thus; I thought it would be better if we do some worksheets and organized our files. We are ending our thematic lessons but I hope all the kids could be around to vote their choices!

l  This worksheet has got a few animals and kids were to label them. American Ox, Arctic Fox, Kangaroo, Orang Utan, Penguin. Finally, kids had to draw a Panda which originates from China. They had fun drawing the Panda!

c)       Autumn Maze.

l  As we already learnt, most farmers would convert their corn fileds and etc. into a maze after harvest. The maze could be so big and taller than us! Thus, people sometimes find it challenging to walk through the maze.

d)      Organising the worksheets.

l  Kids were given their worksheets and they must ensure that they had labeled their names on each paper. We compiled them into a book. J