Week of August 15-19, 2016

In language thematic unit, we continued on greeting each other by saying good morning, hello, good-bye, thank you, and you're welcome. The students have made lots of improvement and some began to ask to go to the bathroom in Mandarin. Ms. Yang and I remind the students to say thank you and you're welcome whenever possible. Next week, we will introduce "I am sorry." "It's okay!" "How old are you?" and "I am ___ years old."

In Math, we used manipulatives to help us count. Students stack unifix cubes while counting in Mandarin. They also trace numbers using playdoh as well as roll them in balls to create ten frames. Students are now counting from 1 to 100 orally when looking at the hundreds chart. They are also expected to count by 10's from 10 to 100 by the end of this unit. It is important that students are counting during their spare time to get familiar with number sense. Counting in both English and Mandarin are encouraged.

Today, Ms. Eckmann's class went out on a nature walk and recorded things we see, hear, touch, and smell by drawing objects on the graphic organizer. Next week, Mrs. Holmes' class will conduct their walk and both classes will be introduced to scientific tools.

Have a great weekend and see you at meet and greet on August 25!

Swap that color!

Number Tracing & Ten Frame

Fine Motor Skill Center

Peace Feet - Mrs. Holmes introduced Peace Feet so students may resolve minor conflicts through expressing their feelings. 

Hands are not for Hitting lesson

Geo Board Sight Words Building

Nature Walk Recording

What can you hear?

Week of November 3-7, 2015

What an overwhelmingly awesome, exciting, and successful week at the GLOBE! Our class raised over $3000 with the whole school raised over 80k in just two short weeks!! Thank you parents for being a strong voice for education. Your support makes the difference.

Below is what we have accomplished on top of all the excitements. :) Yes, we get our work done (and have fun too)!

In our third language thematic unit, we learned about names of some body parts and language structures. Specifically head, shoulders, knees, feet, hands, head, hair, eyes, nose, and ears. The students can now tell someone if one of those body part hurts by saying, " My____ hurts, please help me!" "This is my_____." "I have # (body parts)." "Please don't touch my ________."  Our end of unit assessment is for the students to match the words to the body parts. Keep going over those vocabulary cards at home! Ask your child if he can identify body parts on a family pet or a stuffed animal for fun.

For the past two weeks, we have been looking for, tracing, and identifying two-dimensional shapes. We also looked at some paintings that are made up of lots of patterns and shapes. The students were inspired to create their own artwork.

GLOBE Trot! The students were such troopers. What a memorable mud run we will remember forever.

The students were able to share their artifacts from the Chinese restaurants and make a book with their experiences. I am blown away by some of the illustrations.

 "I went to ________ to eat." 

 "I went to _______ to eat." 

 "I ate....."

 "I even spoke some Mandarin!"

|WATCH| Reading Body Parts Book in Mandarin

Have you wondered how students take off to read...in MANDARIN? My kindergarten students have been with me for two and half months, but they began to build sight words starting day one. The theme of the month is Body Parts, and some students are really taking ownership of the words and their meanings. Watch how two friends read the book by matching the words to the pictures and using one to one correspondence skills.

Week of October 13-16, 2015

This week, we are all about positional words. The students placed the ball above, below, inside, next to, in front of, and behind a box. They also practiced with a figure and a cup. You may do this at home by incorporating any objects. Reinforce those vocabulary words in English! 

In language, we continued to work on body parts. We made our flash cards and are now learning to tell someone/ a teacher if a body parts. Your child may sing the body parts song to you if you ask! 

In centers, we are testing our sight words reading muscle! It's exciting how many words we already know and it's only been 40 something school days. 

In Science, we continued on experimenting with gravity. Look at the gravity art our class made on this beautiful fall day. 

Board Game Day!! 

Our second graders and kindergarteners were giggly when they saw each other. So many leaders in the group, which made the experience more meaningful. We encouraged the children to apply all the Mandarin words that they know. By playing familiar games with friends in Mandarin not only reinforce oral skills but also improve critical thinking abilities. There are so many times a second grader tries to explain the rules in Mandarin mixed in some English. 

|WATCH| Week of January 6-9, 2015

Enjoy of the video of three students working together to figure out where the correct order of the poem. It is important the students are building their word recognition skills regularly. You may hear them converse in English, and this is totally normal for dual language immersion students.


Happy New Year! Can NOT believe we are well on our way into the second semester of Kindergarten. The shadow of perspective parents touring in the school hallways is surreal. On Tuesday, January 6, 2015, our students began the 50/50 same day rotation. It went very smoothly and after four days of our new schedule, I am confident the students have already benefited from the consistency and their growth over the next few months will be exciting to see!

What was very exciting for the teachers? We are so fortunate to have Mrs. Marie Bouteillon at GLOBE! Mrs. Bouteillon is a native French speaker who also speaks English, Spanish, and Mandarin. She helped open several French immersion schools in New York City and is currently a consultant for schools across the US. I have started implementing word study centers during the language block and good dual language immersion practice throughout the day. Mrs. Bouteillon will be visiting us four times between now and May.

What are we studying?

Math
Students are learning to measure with different measuring attributes, measuring from the tip point, and comparing length and weight.
Some ideas to try at home...
1) Compare the height between two family members.
2) Measure the family pet with dog biscuit, a ruler, or a piece of yarn.
3) Compare the weight of two objects. For example, an empty water bottle versus a metal cup.

Science
Students will use senses to observe and group rocks by physical attributes such as large/small, heavy/light, smooth/rough, dark/light.
Some ideas to try at home...
1) Compare two rocks found in the backyard and discuss their attributes
2) Research natural landscapes made up of rocks
3) Discuss the difference between rocks and soils and their uses

Mandarin
Students continue to familiarize with their birthdays as well as others' by reading the month and day. We are having lots of fun playing Fruit Stand. The students are learning to recognize words by sight through poem and songs through Morning Meeting.

                                                                   Word Building

                                                     
                                                             Matching Body Part Words

Additionally, my Amazon wish list has been updated - http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3MKQG5OQDHEL3/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_o?