Week of September 8-12, 2014

When I used to teach at a traditional public school, I was pretty relaxed on Fridays. Fridays are generally assessment days. That is the day you test the students on Math, Reading, Grammar, and Spelling. All the tests would have been printed/ copied and ready to go. All I had to do was to show up for work, pass out the test, watch my students fill in bubbles, and call it a day. Sometimes we ended the day with some sort of parties to celebrate the ones who followed directions and always turned in their work for the week. I did that for seven years, and it wasn't until now I realize what a treat it is to be able to teach and have fun. There won't be copies ready to go on my desk Friday mornings, or any morning. There are copies of songs or poems ready to be cut and pasted on children's Mandarin Journals though. Other than that, I am here to inspire and teach a lifelong skill - speaking, listening, reading, writing, and appreciating Mandarin. One of the oldest and most difficult languages in the world is taught here, and it's being done. It's rewarding to hear all the wonderful things you are saying about how much your child enjoy the new adventure. Always a treat!

This week we expanded vocabulary words in greetings, colors, fruits, and animals. Continue to work on number sequencing as well as teen numbers and counting by 10's.  In science the students planted seeds under three conditions - with sun exposure and water, with sun exposure but no water, without sun or water. The students made predictions and drawings for the outcomes.

Dot Art and Chopsticks during Literacy Center

Computer Lab

The children picked a name from a pool and each said something nice to another person. 

It was a lovely exercise where we practice to focus on the positive.

Taste Testing - Most children love grapes. 

Thanks Julie for donating organic grapes for the class! 

Week of March 31-April 4, 2014

WARM WEATHER REMINDER...
* WATER BOTTLE FOR YOUR CHILD DAILY
* SUNSCREEN PRIOR TO COMING TO SCHOOL

Being the week before Spring Break, you can only imagine the excitement among students. Nonetheless, we spent the majority of our mornings practicing speaking, focusing on the tones, and reading pinyin. In the afternoons we touched and sorted some rocks. One day we even traveled to Asia via Google Map.

Traveling to the Mandarin Speaking Countries - Thanks to Google Map

Talent Show in Music - What a talented group of kids. Karate, Break Dance, Guitar, Drumming (lots), and Singing (Frozen, 3 times!) 

Happy April Fools! Thanks to the Jacobs family for your infectious spirit! 

We made our own "I like to do..." book in class this week, they are coming home on Friday. I encourage you to have your child read to you over the break!

Reed leading Calendar Math while Liu Laoshi takes a water break. 

Week of March 24-28, 2014

SPEAKING
We named our stuff animal friends, gave them birthdays, assigned their favorite and not so favorite foods. We also presented it in front of our friends. This was not as easy as I thought, but the children were able to brainstorm ideas and deliver half if not all of it correctly. As I mentioned in the video homework post, putting words together and speaking is a huge part of language development. Remember four or five years ago when your baby was just learning to speak and you filmed every precious moment? This is it. I know there might be lots of tears due to anxiety, so lots of encouragement will come in handy! 

CHINEASY
If you have not watched TED: Learn to Read Chinese with Ease, you should! 

Blurb from Amazon 

 Learn to read and write Chinese with Chineasy - a groundbreaking approach that transforms key Chinese characters into pictograms for easy recall and comprehension.

Chinese is one of the oldest written languages, and one of the most difficult to master, especially for Westerners. With Chineasy, learning and reading Chinese has never been simpler or more fun. Breaking down the Great Wall of Language, iShaoLan Hsueh draws on her entrepreneurial and cultural background to create a simple system for quickly understanding the basic building blocks of written Chinese. Working with renowned illustrator Noma Bar, she transforms Chinese characters into charming pictograms that are easy to remember.

In Chineasy, she teaches the key characters, called radicals, that are the language’s foundation, and then shows how they can be combined to form new words and even phrases. Once you’ve mastered these key characters, you can practice your skills with three stories—a fairy tale, an Asian legend, and a contemporary fable—told using the radicals.

With Chineasy, readers of all ages will be able to navigate a Chinese menu, read signs and billboards, and grasp the meaning of most articles in a Chinese newspaper. 

Below are just few of the art we have been making. Watching the characters progress is just another creative way to introduce the infamous Chinese characters. I don't think I ever thought the words were pretty until I opened this book. 

MATH
We compared numbers using numerical symbols as well as Mandarin characters. 

Better Chinese

| Better Chinese |

Last month I was thrilled to be attending the ACTFL conference in Orlando. Asides from all the great learning going on, I was also introduced to several book publishers. One of them is Better Chinese whose curriculum and materials are excellent. Please sign up for a one month free trial lesson HERE! The activities are engaging and will be a great resource for extra practice from home especially during long breaks.

Very proud Mandarin kids perform in front of Grace Lin on 12.12.13! The program will be aired on WSB-TV sometime in January, 2014! 

Week of November 4-8, 2013

This week in Math, the students were introduced Story Problems. There are problems with numbers in them, and the kids had to be the detective to figure them out. Problem Solving is a huge part of Mathematical thinking as well as a lifelong skill. It could be a complicated task, and to do it in Mandarin has got to be more challenging! I was able to engaged the kids by using their names within the problems. Let's just say, we had fun!

Do not forget to bring in FINISHED vocabulary cards on Monday, 11/11 (or Tuesday, if your child is in my homeroom class). We will be familiarizing them during read alouds, singing, and literacy center.

Thank you for all the parents who made it out to the parent teacher conference on time and with those warm and fuzzy smiles. You mean the world to me with your kind words and positive spirit. Looking forward to seeing the rest of you!!! :)

Last but not least, I'm trying to raise money for a projector for our class. Currently my project is on donorschoose.org. For the next 6 days, DonorsChoose will match ANY donation made to the class. If you have the time and the funds, we would really appreciate a donation. Even $1 will help (because really it will be $2 when DonorsChoose matches it). Please do not feel obligated to donate.

IMPORTANT: If you decide to donate within the next seven days, enter the code {CHEER}. DonorsChoose will only match dollar for dollar if the code INSPIRE is entered.

Link to my project: http://www.donorschoose.org/we-teach/2046698.-876216288?supporters=true