Weekly News:
September 19-23, 2016
Transitional Kindergarten:
In Chinese this week，we learned new the characters：水 and 火！We learned words about 水：水果，喝水，水母；火：火車，火柴 and 火山. We read aloud a story 賣火柴的小女孩. From the story, we better understood the meaning of the word, 火柴. More importantly, we learned a new song 火車快飛.
In English this week, the students practiced the phonetic concepts /r/ and /s/. The class learned the constant letter /r/, and how it sounds like "AR". Words that they have learned are ring, rake, rainbow, and ruler. The students further learned the letter /s/ sound. In addition, words that they learned that begin with the letter /s/ sound are sun, saw, soap, sock, and sandwich. The class has also finished reading the story "Fiesta" and began to practice reading their new story called "Follow Me".
In art this week, the students made paper plate leaves for autumn. They practiced their cutting skills by cutting out their leaves shaped like a football and another shaped with curved triangles. After, we used red and orange squared tissue paper and glued them to the leaves. The students chose colors to represent the new season. Lastly, we finished the leaves off by using construction paper stems. In this art project, the students used shapes and patterns.
In Science class, the students learned about their five senses. The five senses are touch, sight, hear, smell, and taste. The students gave examples of how they used their five senses on a daily basis. Some students said they use their nose to smell food when their parents are cooking. Others said they use their eyes to watch experiments like when we do science experiments in class. The class learned that they are always using their senses for everything they do.
Kindergarten: This week in Chinese class, we reviewed 拍拍手 and 一年有幾個月. We practiced writing Chinese numbers, arranging numbers in the order of big to small and small to big. This is the extension from the CP lesson. We also practiced words learned from CP to prep us for upcoming assessment. We sang and danced the two songs, 長高精靈 and 忍者龜. For art, we drew Mayflower to celebrate the Columbus Day.
First Grade: This week we learned lesson 2, Little Lamb Wants to Eat the Flower 小羊要吃花兒. We highlighted the key words, 朵，想，要，請， 言，找，黃，就，說 and applied them in sentences. We used flashcards to continue to practice identifying the word list from CP. We sang and danced to 你是我的花朵 and 忍者龜. For art, we drew Mayflower to celebrate the Columbus Day.
Second Grade: We read the story, Rose 薔薇花. This is a love story between Qiang Wei and Xiao Kang. From the story we learned be truthful to ourselves and to our friends. In addition, we completed the story map to show the setting, characters, events and the ending of the story. We wrapped up lesson 1 and previewed lesson 2, The Egg Disappeared! 鳥媽媽的彈不見了!
Third Grade:This week we read the short story, I am a small apple 我是一個小蘋果 from the MeiZhou Chinese textbook. The students read out lot and paid attention to the pronunciation and intonation. From the lesson, we realized that the small red apple does bring us a variety of healthy benefits. In addition, we learned about the varying temperatures for each month of the year.
Fourth/Fifth Grade: This week we emphasized on the reading comprehension from lesson 2, The Frog in the Well 井底之蛙 from the MeiZhou Chinese textbook. We answered questions relevant to the story and learned that we shouldn’t be narrow mided and be self-satisfied about our knowledge or experience in life just like the frog in the well.
September 19-23, 2016
Transitional Kindergarten:
In Chinese this week，we learned characters 口, 早, 上, 下 and words 早安，早上，上午，下午. To reinforce the characters we learned, we played matching game 拼字遊戲: taking 早 apart into 口+一=日，日+十=早. We also watched video the Story of Chinese characters 漢字的故事 ：上和下 to have a better undersranding of the characters.
This week in English, the students practiced the letter /p/ consonant. A few of the words that the class has learned are pig, pencil, and penguin. The class has also practiced writing phrases with words that begin with the letter /p/ such as – “puppy plays” and “pretty pool”. Furthermore, the class was introduced to the consonant digraph /qu/. The class practiced words such as quilt, queen, quarter and quiet. This week, students have begun reading the story called “Fiesta”.
In Science class, the students worked with their groups on the volcano experiment. The class has gone over the procedures and ingredients needed for this experiment. The ingredients we have used were baking soda, vinegar and the volcanoes that we built last week. The students were very excited to watch their volcano exploded as the baking soda and vinegar were mix in.
In art this week, the students played around with watercolor paint and coffee filters. They used the colors green, yellow, orange, and red to represent the fall colors. In fall, the leaves on the trees change colors. Therefore, the students used these colors on their own trees. The class had fun mixing the paints together on their tree.
Kindergarten: This week in Chinese class, we reviewed lessons 1, 2 and the story, A Donkey is Missing 少了一頭驢. In addition to numbers in Chinese, we also learned shapes, 三角形, 正方形, 長方形, 圓形. We continued to review the words from CP. We sang and danced the two songs, 星星的心 and 忍者龜. For art, we drew owls using different lines to create the texture for our owls.
First Grade: This week we learned to combine two words into one, such as 女 and 馬 is 媽八, 刀 is 分 and扌and 巴 is 把. We began reading lesson 2 Little Lamb Wants to Eat the Flower 小羊要吃花兒. The characters we learned this week were 朵, 想, 要, 青, 吃, 羊. We continued to practice identifying the word list from CP. We sang and danced to 快樂崇拜 and 忍者龜.
Second Grade: We read the story, the Fly and the Lion 文字和獅子. From the story we learned not to brag and look down upon others. In addition, we completed the story map to show the setting, characters, events and the ending of the story. We read and dscussed the lesson 寫字很有用. We reread lesson 1 to gain fluency and recognition of the vocabulary.
Third Grade: This week we learned new vocabulary words including 照, 溫, 使, 運, 員, 充,滿. We applied these vocabularies to make new phrases, such as 照亮,溫暖,使用,運動,店員,充滿 and 滿意. We also used two high frequency vocabulary words 滿 and 使 to make new sentences to improve our writing skills. We reread the story,You are All Geniuses, 你們都是天才.
Fourth/Fifth Grade: We learned new phrases including 談天, 整理, 報紙, 電視, 底下井底之蛙 and 故事. We applied these phrases to make new sentences. In addition, we read out loud the sample sentences in the textbook and paid extra attention to how each phrase is applied in a different context in conversation. We reread the story, May I ask you? 我想請問妳？from MeiZhou Chinese textbook.
September 12-16, 2016
Happy Moon Festival
中秋節快樂
Transitional Kindergarten:
In Chinese class, we learned a new character, sky 天 and expanded the word 天 to include 天空，天氣，春天，夏天，秋天，冬天. For circle time, we talked about What's in the sky? 天空裡有什麼，What's the weather like today?今天天氣怎麼樣. We also learned about the four seasons 四季: 春天，夏天，秋天，冬天. We learned two new songs 小星星and 四季的歌 to expand our understanding of the sky.
In English, the students practiced words that have long /o/ sound. Last week, the students were introduced to short /o/ sounds and words. The class reviewed short /o/ and compared it to words with long /o/. They also practiced the phonetic concept of ow, oa, and o_e. Words that they have practiced are bow, row, mow, road goat, coat, bowl, and soap. The class also finished reading the story. “Feet are Neat”!
In art this week, the students made pattern leaves. Everyone had gotten his or her own leaf template. They have practiced coloring inside the line and created patterns with the color they have chosen. Each and every leaf is different and unique in there own ways.
In science, the class learned about volcanoes. The students learned that volcanoes could be found almost everywhere and even under ice! They have also learned that when volcano erupts, lava comes out along with other gases. Inside the volcano, it has magma; that is what we call lava when it has not erupted yet. The students built a model of volcano.
Kindergarten: This week in Chinese class, we began lesson 2, 一顆樹上十樣果 and 握握手. We played bingo games to review the numbers we learned in lesson 1. We sang and danced the two songs, 體操變奏曲 and 暖和和的太陽. We listened to the moon festival story and did art work on the moon cake. Our art work were awesome!
First Grade: We first reviewed lesson 1 倉頡造字, 中中教中文 and vocabulary list from CP. We focused on the lesson 1 words: 媽， 兒， 分， 把，又， 合. We learned about the story of the moon festival and did art work on the moon cake. We sang and danced to 快樂崇拜 and 不要睡懶覺.
Second Grade: We read the story, the Horse and the Donkey 馬和驢子. From the story we learned to become compassionate and show kindness to others. We completed the story map to show the setting, characters, events and the ending of the story. We practiced 年，級，新，孩，筆，問，教，書 for the dictation test on Friday. We reread lesson 1 to gain fluency and recognition of the vocabulary.
Third Grade: This week we focused on reading comprehension of the story, You are All Geniuses, 你們都是天才. We read the story out loud and highlighted the words and phrases we learned. The story taught us how to be creative about learning words/phrases in the sentences. We also learned the meaning of an idiom, 學一反三 which means to learn and apply it to different context. We then practiced using the idiom in our own words.
Fourth/Fifth Grade: We read the story, May I ask you? 我想請問妳？from MeiZhou Chinese textbook. We read the story out loud and pay attention to the pronunciation and intonation. We learned that pronouncing words/phrases accurately in a conversation is crucial to prevent misunderstanding. We then answered the relevant questions about the story.
September 6-9, 2016
Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Pablo Picasso
Transitional Kindergarten:
In Mandarin, we learned the characters 日and 月. We learned the stories 嫦娥奔月and 后羿射日. We learned the poem ''靜夜思''. We also make craft lanterns to celebrate the Moon Festival.
In English, we practiced the short /o/ sound. We have learned to sound out short /o/ words by breaking down the CVC words. The class was also introduced to words that begin with the short vowel /o/ which include ostrich, octopus, olive, ox, dog, frog, and log.
In Art this week, students were grouped into 5 groups. Each person in the group had their own task to fulfilled. As a team they cut and put together a cupcake. The cupcakes represent different months of the year. They then glued on their candles to the cupcake that is their birthday month. This project allowed students to work together while practicing their fine motor skill.
In Science this week, students did the float and sink experiment which allowed students to understand the term "density". The class picked objects for this experiment. They used pencils, one thin and one thick, eraser, dinosaur figure, minie mouse figure and yellow bouncy ball. We also added red fool coloring into the water to make things more interesting. The results were suprising. Do you know which ones float and which ones sink?
Kindergarten: This week we reread the lesson 上山找老虎 and 少了一頭驢. We learned to write numbers 1 to 10, 百 and 千 in Chinese. We previewed lesson 2 一棵樹上十樣果. For singing and dancing, we loved the songs, 體操變奏曲 and 暖和和的太陽.
First Grade: We reread the lesson, 倉頡造字. We highlighted the key vocabulaies and practiced using them in sentences. Each week we practiced 10-15 CP word from the list so that we won't be overwhelmed by the T1 assessment. For this week, we focused on 校服，春天，醫院，郊遊，外婆，棒球，海洋，非洲，舅舅.
Second Grade: This week we learned the story 青蛙和老鼠. The story teaches us not to think of harming others because bad luck will fall upon you. We read the story together, discussed the story elements, highlight the key vocabularies, and complete the story map. We reread the lesson, 標點符號很重要 to gain fluency and intonation.
Third Grade: This is a short week but we have made great progress. We learned new vocabularies including 帽，弓，反，冒，孝 and 更。 We applied these vocabularies to make new phrases, such as 帽子，弓箭，反對，方式，感冒， 孝順， and 更好. We then used these phrases to make sentences, putting words in order. Furthermore, we used the sentence structure 因為。。。所以 to make three sentences. This will help them with writing skills.
Fourth/Fifth Grade: The key skills for this week is to apply phrases we learned in sentences. These phrases include 發展，容許，容易，珍惜， 並且，電影， 兒童 and 注音. We also practiced selecting the most appropriate words to complete the sentences. Lastly, we learned the idiom, 三言兩語, and applied it into sentences.
August 22-26, 2016
We love to share with you what we have learned this week.... and to let you know that we will stay late on Back to School Night, Tuesday 8/30 for our CP students. Please sign up so we can have enough pizza for everyone!
The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
--Leonardo da Vinc
Transitional Kindergarten: In Chinese Class this week, we learned the numbers, 一二三四五六七八九十 and the character人. We sang the songs 我的朋友在哪裡? and 一二三木頭人. We had a lot of fun playing the game 一二三木頭人. We watched a short video called 漢字的故事 and used our body movement to practice writing numbers and the character人. We all did a great job in writing these characters. In math we did simple addition within the sum of 10 and we learned counting 1-30. Hooray!
Kindergarten: In Mandarin class this week, the children were introduced to numbers and learned to count all the way to 50 in Chinese! They also learned how to write the numbers from 1 to 10 in Chinese as well. We also enjoyed learning to sing Chinese songs "Super Dad 爸爸超人" and "Ducks go Quack 鴨子恰恰恰".
First Grade: This week in Chinese class, we reviewed the words and characters they had learned last year. In addition, they also learned how to write some new words! The words include "Cow 牛", "Horse 馬", "Bird 鳥", “Fish 魚” and "Name名字". They were delighted and loved singing the "Listen to Mom 聽媽媽的話" and "Don't Take a Nap 不要睡懶覺" in Chinese.
Second Grade: This week in Chinese class, the students reviewed the vocab and the lessons they learned in the previous year. They also enjoyed the story of "Mr. Wong reads the Newspaper 王小毛看報" and had a fun time learning the new vocabulary which includes the words "King 王", "Word 文", "Promise 許", "River 川", "Half 半", and "Stop 站".
Third Grade: We have started the first lesson and learned the words第， 考，試， 張，法，因，所. We were also able to combine these words to make phrases such as 試試看，一張紙，因為，所以 and etc. We were able to construct complex sentences using these phrases. This was in preparation for their writing quiz that they will have at CP.
Fourth/Fifth Grade: We had an exciting week learning new vocabulary such as 父母，母親，上班，足夠，語文，不論 and 將來. We read many sentences and stories including these high frequency phrases. We used these phrases to explore and expand our writing skills to write a short letter with proper salutation.