A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. 千里之行，始於足下。
Chinese Proverb
March 28-April 1
Transitional Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class this week we learned and sang the lessons, 小丑魚 and 鸚鵡. We first learned to read and then we sang and dance to the tunes. We played catch the ball game to practice reading the two lessons. This week we learned to write the characters, 魚 and 馬. We took home the two lessons to read to our moms and dads. In addition, we reviewed the characters that we learned by reading previous lessons, playing matching games and write with calligraphy pens. Most importantly, we learned to sing 好孩子懂禮帽, a song that teaches us to say nice words to others.
In Chinese Culture class, we made sunflower 向日葵 art. We learned to say sunflower in Chinese and described the colors, shapes, and parts of a sunflower. We first cut a paper cup into the petals and color them bright yellow color. Through this activity, students learned not only the Mandarin but also practiced using their fine motor skills and developed the concepts of colors. Next, we did paper foloding. This time we made a yellow dog 小黃狗. We then added eyes, nose, and mouth to our dogs
In Math, we continued to work on math skills. We can count forward and backward, hopping and skipping!
English: This week in English, the students read the story, “Pet Time at School”. Through this story, the students were introduced to /oo/ phonetic concepts. The students recognized the two different sounds double “o” can make just like in the word books and noon. The class practice other words from the story such as - six, yes, shop, shreds, good, look and too. We also created a our own “Pet Time at School" where students can bring in their own pet stuff animals to share with the class.
In Art, students did pom pom flower painting using clothespins. Everyone was allow to explore and experiment what they can do with their pom pom paint brushes. After their paintings have dried, the students used their creativity and decorated their flowers using bees, stems and vine.
This week in Science class, the students observe the result of the egg in vinegar. The shell of the boil egg had disappear leaving the egg shell less. The students were amaze at what vinegar can do. They learn that vinegar is a form of acid that dissolved through the egg’s shell which produced carbon dioxide (bubbles around the egg shell). Also, the class learned about solar energy and how the sun’s light can create many things such as our shadows. We did an experiment with nature sun sensitive paper. Taking the special paper, we place an object ( ex. leaf ), which blocked the light and turn white. The remaining area stayed blue. After placing water on the paper, it darken the image of the leaf.
Our after school children were on
spring break this week!
March 21-25
Transitional Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class this week we learned and sang the lessons, 下課了 and 騎馬. We first learned to read and then we sang and dance to the tunes. This week we learned to write the characters, 家 and 馬. We took home the two lessons to read to our moms and dad. Most importantly, we reviewed the characters that we learned by reading previous lessons, playing matching games and write with calligraphy pens.
In Chinese Culture class, we learned to tie our shoelaces because many of us had difficulty tying our shoelaces. We then created a picture to remind us of how to tie shoelaces. In addition, we did paper folding. This week we learned to fold a woodpecker or 啄木鳥 in Chinese. Do you know why woodpeckers like to peck on wood?
In Math, we continued to work on math skills. We can count forward and backward, hopping and skipping!
English: This week in English, the students read the story “Be Safe on Your Bike”. Through this story, the class were introduced to contractions. The students practiced recognizing contractions and creating contractions. Some contractions the class worked on are - we’ll (we will), he’ll (he will), I’ll (I will), and we’ll (we will). They also reviewed long vowel words - safe, those, use, like and these. Other high frequency words the students practice are - came, here, home, like, same, name and nine.
In Art, students made windsocks. The class decorated their windsock however they like. Some students drew flowers, hearts, and clouds. Later, the class was able to glue tissue strings to their windsock. This allow them to see which direction the wind was blowing. The class were excited to take their windsocks home so they can hang it outside their house!
This week in science, the students focussed on predictions and observations. We worked on an experiment called, “The Disappearing Egg”. Before the class got started on the experiment, the students made predictions, including“The egg will become rotten”, “The egg will be harder to break” and “The egg will easily break”. The next few days, the students observed the egg in vinegar. They noticed bubbles forming around the eggs. Further, they noticed the egg appearing softer. The class will continue to observe the egg in vinegar and determine the outcome next week.
Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class we reread the lesson 小嘴巴 and moved on the next lesson 鏡子. We practiced the vocabulary from the lessons including 哭，笑，叫，唱，走， 巴 and sentence patterns ...叫...,...了...,...走...This week we also learned to talk about words such as 彩蛋，籃子，糖果， 花朵 to describe Easter. Most importantly, we sang and danced the song 彩虹的約定 and learned a new song 歡樂谷－螢火蟲.
First Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we reread lesson 8, 十二生肖 and moved on to lesson 9 以共有幾本書 and 小雪中的一枝筆. We worked on making sentences and phrases for these words: 游，黑，飛， 怎，會，蛙. This week we also learned to talk about words such as 彩蛋，籃子，糖果， 花朵 to describe Easter. Most importantly, we sang and danced the song 星星的心 and learned a new song 歡樂谷－螢火蟲.
Second Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we read the story, 不起眼的鹿角 and completed the story map. From the story, we learned that we should not judge others by appearance. In addition, we read the story 我要幫助爺爺 to practice reading aloud and recognizing the words and phrases we learned last week.
Third/Fourth Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we read the story 北極星和指南針. We learned that the compass was invented by the Chinese over 2000 years ago. Because of the compass, the transportation across the ocean began to thrive. From reading aloud the lesson, we recognized the words and phrases as well as became fluent in reading.
March 14-18
Transitional Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class this week we learned and sang the lessons, 螢火蟲 and 小牛. This week we learned to write the characters, 蟲 and 牛. We reviewed the characters that we learned by reading previous lessons, playing matching games and write with calligraphy pens.
In Chinese Culture class, we extended the Chinese lessons by looking at other bugs 蟲. We then chose bee 蜜蜂 and snail 蝸牛 for our projects. We learned to say their names in Chinese and had fun doing the projects. Check us out!
In Math, we continued to work on math skills. We add and subtract all by ourselves!
English: This week in English, the students read the story “The Picnic at the Pond”. Through this story, the class practice constant blend - sw (swam) and tw(tweet). They have also practiced words that begin with the “w” sound like - want, we, well, went, will, win and with. Further, the students reviewed and practiced short “u” words, such as - much, must, run, up, cut, but, us, and put.
This week in art, the students made a leprechaun. First, the students were introduced to leprechaun and learned about how they enjoy gold, are very sneaky people and not as big as us! The class made the leprechaun’s hat first and then drew their faces on. The students followed step - by - step directions in this activity and used their creativity to decorate their leprechaun. The students enjoyed drawing silly faces on their leprechaun as well.
In Science, the students learned about clouds. They learned about the different types of clouds. The three types of clouds the class were introduced to are Cumulus, Cirrus and Stratus. The class favorite were the cumulus clouds. Cumulus clouds are very white and puffy. They can also turn into storm clouds. Next, the class learned about Cirrus and Stratus clouds. Cirrus clouds are thin and feathery like. Stratus clouds cover the sky, like a “blanket” and can bring in rain or snow. The students made their own pet cloud and enjoyed their pet cloud very much! Some students made their clouds big and some made it very small.
Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class we read the lesson 小嘴巴. The lesson uses metaphor to compare our mouth to trumphet when cry, to flower when smile, to duck when yell, and to frog when sing. We learned to read and write the words: 哭，笑，叫，唱，走，巴，了. We added the new song, 彩虹的約定 to 星星的心 and 在一起就好.
First Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we reviewed vocabulary related to weather and season to prepare for the assessment at our day school. We practiced describing the weather and charactersitics of the four seasons, We also reread lesson 8 十二生肖 and vacabulary from the lesson. We added the new song, 彩虹的約定 to 星星的心 and 在一起就好.
Second Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we learned to make phrases and sentences using the words: 皮帶， 全家，奇怪，一吋，這次，怪別人 and 好像. We read the story, 愛依賴的小山羊 and completed the story map. Fom the story the students learned to become independent and not to depend on others.
Third/Fourth Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we learned to make phrases 阿嬌的sentences using the words: 這些，一顆星，清楚，有趣，道理，古代，代替，and 取名字。 We also decomposed and composed these words to make new words. From the activity we became better at remembering these characters.
March7-11
Transitional Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class this week we learned and sang the lessons, 螢火蟲 and 小牛. This week we learned to write the characters, 蟲 and 牛. We reviewed the characters that we learned by reading previous lessons, playing matching games and write with calligraphy pens.
In Chinese Culture class, we extended the Chinese lessons by looking at other bugs 蟲. We then chose bee 蜜蜂 and snail 蝸牛 for our projects. We learned to say their names in Chinese and had fun doing the projects. Check us out!
In Math, we continued to work on math skills. We add and subtract all by ourselves!
English: This week in English, the class read the story called, "A Big Thank You". In this story, the students learned th(three), ing(thing) and ed (helped). The class reviewed the "th" sounds and learned about word endings. The two word endings we have learned are -ing and -ed. The students learned -ing ending words such as - wing, ring, thing, sing, king, coloring, painting, and making. They have also learned word that ends with -ed like - bed, helped, colored, and played. The class learned these phonetic concepts with the help of the phonic songs the class has been dancing and singing to.
In art this week, students worked on two art projects. The first art project we worked on is creating a hot air balloon for their paper. The class used coffee filter and watercolor. Each students sprayed the coffee filter with 2-3 different colors of watercolor. Later, we cut the coffee filter into a hot air balloon, and the students were able to decorate their paper as they like. The next art project we worked on was creating a seahorse. Each student had half a paper plate and were able to decorate the body of the seahorse using different color tissue papers.
In Science this week, we experimented making red play dough. The class learned the term ingredients in depth and how ingredients are important when it comes to creating something like "Mac N' Cheese". It wouldn't be Mac N' Cheese without the cheese correct? :) We gather the ingredients and experimented with "sea salt" instead of regular, iodine salt. The outcome was amazing and they were able to touch and feel the texture of the play dough. It was not smooth as the class thought it would been. The sea salt gave the play dough texture.
Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class we read the lesson 眉毛搬家. The lesson taught us that work together cooperatively. We also reviewed 雪人怎麼不見了 and 小狗和小雞. We also reviewed the word list for identification and writing assessment from College Park. We also reviewed the characters 雪，地，竹，你，他，看，見. We sang and danced to the tune of 178在一起就好 and 星星的心.
First Grade
Chinese: This week in Chinese class, we focused on the upcoming assessment at our school. We reviewed sight words identification and writing them in stroke orders. We reread lesson 8 怎麼回家 and practiced the words, 爬，跑，跳，跟，起，妹. In addition, we practiced answering questions about weather. We sang and danced to the tune of 178在一起就好 and 星星的心.
Second Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we reviewed words from last week and practiced making phrases and sentences with them. We read and analyzed the story 鹿和葡萄園 by identifying the main characters, setting, problem, solutions and the ending to the story. From the story, we learned to be grateful and thankful.
Third/Fourth Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we reviewed words from last week and practiced making phrases and sentences with them. We applied high frequency phrases 靠近，非常，極 and 最近 in sentences. We reread the story 美麗的行星. We became really good at reading the lessons and learned the names of the planets.
February 29-March 4
Transitional Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class this week we learned the lessons, 娃娃去看花 and 種瓜. This week we learned to write the characters, 花 and 瓜. We played games to reinforce the words we have learned. We wrote on our Chinese character book everyday to keep the words we learned. We became really good at writing and reading the sight words as well as the lessons.
In Chinese Culture class, we read the Very Hungry Caterpillar in Chinese and then we made our hungry caterpillars on the leaves. We also did paper folding. We fold fish!
In Math, we were proud of our math skills. Some of us were doing two digits with carrying over while some of us were doing addition within the sum of 10. This was because we were learning at our own pace.
English: In English this week, students read the story, “They Help Me”. Through this story, the students reviewed and learned new phonetic concepts. The phonetic concepts that the class have been practicing on are - m(mess), sm(smile), e(fell) and ck(Rick). The class also practiced high frequency words such as - am, back, be, best, black, get, he, help, him, let, man, men, pick, red, set, spell, tell and ten.
In art class.the class made Dr. Seuss’s thing 1 and thing 2 masks to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. The class had fun making this face mask as they laughed at how their friend was either thing 1 or thing 2. The next art project we worked on was creating a Dr. Seuss bookmark. The students decorated their picture for the bookmark and waited for it to completely dry to begin using it. Many students has brought in Dr. Seuss’s books to share and they were able to use the bookmark to mark the place where they last ended at!
In science class, the class wanted to go back to chemical reaction. We experimented using baking soda and vinegar, but instead, adding in glitter this time. We used cookies cut out and placed it on the tray so students were able to see the reaction up front. The students took turn pouring in the vinegar to the baking soda and seeing it react, especially when the glitter rises. The class also learned about the solar system. We practicing singing the “Solar System Song” to help us remember the orders of each planet and their names.
Kindergarten
Chinese: In Chinese class we reviewed Lesson 12 雪人怎麼不見了. We also reviewed the word list for identification and writing assessment from College Park. We then moved on to discuss about the weather and names of important cities which included 舊金山，台北，上海，雪梨，東京，多雲，雨天， 晴天， 下雪. For Calligraphy class, we wrote 大海撈針 which literally means to search for something small in the big ocean. Most importantly , we loved singing and dancing 魔法健康操 and 在一起就好.
First Grade
Chinese: This week in Chinese class, we read lesson 8 怎麼回家 and practiced using the word 會 in sentences. We then moved on to the story on Lesson 8, 十二生肖. We continued to practiced the CP word list for trimester 2 assessment.We practiced singing and dancing to the tune of the songs, 魔法健康操 and 在一起就好.
Second Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we focused on the key skills: to make phrases using vocabulary, 快樂，樣子， 做事，晚飯，天氣，完成 and 校車. We read the story 龜兔賽跑 and completed the sotry map to identify the main characters, setting, problem, solution and the ending of the story.
Third/Fourth Grade
Chinese: In Chinese class this week, we focused on the key skills: to make phrases using vocabulary, 閃電，北極，食指，靠近，排隊 and星球. We read the story 美麗的行星. The read aloud activity help us to recognize words, phrases and most importantly the pronunciation. From the story, we learned the names of the planets and the origin of their names.
