|WATCH| 小皮球兒 The Little Ball

|Homework| Week of November 11-14, 2014

Starting in December, we will be starting four speaking centers that focus on (1) Ordering food in a Chinese restaurant (2) Having some tea with friends (3) How to make (ordering) a sandwich (4) In the doctor's office. I NEED your help!!! I grabbed these photos on Amazon, but if you are able to grab similar items at local yard sale that'd be great. In addition, I would love four shoe size clear boxes to store these in. Please email me and let me know if you are able to help and with which center so we won't have duplicates. 

In language, we will be learning how to say our birthday in Mandarin. Please review your child's birthday in English prior to Monday, 11/17. For Thanksgiving break, your child will be completing a home project that will involve teaching a non Mandarin speaker how to say their birthday in Mandarin. More details coming...

The sheet below is coming home in your child's folder this week. Fill out the birthday in English, and find the month and day in the chart by circling them. Once you find the month and day, fill them in the blanks. 月(yue) is Month, and 日(ri) is day.
Complete and return on 11/17(Liu Homeroom) or 11/18(Salzillo Homeroom).

In Math we are learning directionally words (上shang, 下xia, 左zuo, 右you). The students are identifying where objects are located by listening to the directions. Next week we will allow students to give directions to each other to reinforce the skills. 

More Mandarin recourses have been update, go here-----> 

Forecast is looking brrrrr... We are quickly dipping into the 20's in the coming days. Please make sure your child is dressed in layers and always has a heavy jacket/ coat for outdoor recess. 

And don't forget those water bottles! 

Some of the highlights of the week...

Counting and matching quantities to Mandarin Numerical Numbers

                              Mandarin Buddies Day - We played the Carrot Squat Game 蘿蔔蹲

Matching the words to the nursery rhymes, Putting them in order, and Reading them! 

Students practicing their Positional Words skills

One friend is blind folded while the other one gives directions on whether to go forward, backward, left, or right. 

|WATCH| Can you explain that?

One of the most important homework for children in Mandarin Kindergarten is to review nursery rhymes. It retains with them even though they don't necessary comprehend. I tell the parents that it is okay for them not to be able to translate or explain. Think about asking a one-year-old who sings Hickory Dickory Dock to explain herself what in the world she is singing...and you get a blank stare and maybe some drool. Some songs or poems are simply like nursery rhymes. They are catchy and fun to learn. Some words and phrases make sense to them especially the fruits and colors, but some don't necessary mean a thing. Below is a video clip of two of my students putting the puzzles of the poem 大拇哥 (Big Brother Thumb...told ya!) together then reading it afterwards. Enjoy!

|Newsletter| November, 2014

Week of October 27-31, 2014

Peace week was successful! Students were introduced to the meaning of bullying, heathy eating, and the importance of good reading habits. Asides from all the exciting programs, we continued on retelling in reading, learning to introduce self (name, age, favorite fruit, number of siblings), and comparing two/three dimensional shapes.

Shape book should remain in your child's reading bag. Please practice reading nightly. The video is posted HERE.

Parent teacher conference is coming up between 11/3-11/10. Click HERE if you are unsure of the time you signed up for. Be sure to arrive 10 minutes early as we are running a very tight schedule.  MAP test scores and portfolio will be shared during that time.

Book Character Day Class Picture

Book Characters

Mystery Reader