Understand addition

We have introduced the concepts of adding through strategies and manipulatives; drawing, connective cubes, number lines, ten frames, tally marks, dominos, etc. This may not be a new concept for some, but building operations and algebraic thinking is a critical foundation for all. Your child may be going home to express boredom, but we are constantly exploring new ways to add and improve upon critical thinking skills through a variety of tasks.

I have included two exemplars for you to review at home. Since addition isn't just about math facts, I encourage all to apply math into real life experiences. It's much more challenging and a great way to assess understanding.

First Week of School 2016-17! (Video at the Bottom!)

It's been an overwhelmingly exciting first week of school. The students have gotten into the groove of routines and are showing so much eagerness to learn. The first few weeks of school are vital because routines are taught, practiced, and reminded. Smooth routines mean a successful school year. Our students are no different, except it IS a little more difficult. They arrived Wednesday morning expected to follow directions in Mandarin. To better help students comprehend, I incorporated gestures and pictures. By day three, most students are already able to unpack their backpacks, find their names on the table, and place snacks and water bottles in the bin. It is already rewarding for me as a teacher!

Next week, we will continue to focus on Math standard - Counting from 0 to 100 by ones and tens (a Common core standard but in Mandarin, of course) We will count using manipulative (sticks, uni-fix cubes, play-doh..etc.) This is also a good time to go over writing numbers from 0 to 9 at home and counting by touching (one to one correspondence).

In Science, we will be exploring nature using our senses. The students will record their findings on a graphic organizer.

In Mandarin, the students will continue to add greeting vocabulary words by importing songs and dialogues.

See pictures below from our first week of school! Happy weekend everyone!

Fly Swapping Sight Words / Colors 

Week of February 8-12 and 17-19, 2016

Lots of festivities happened last week. The students brought in creative and beautiful homemade lion heads for Chinese New Year. They sang songs and watched professional lion dancers perform to celebrate the holiday. We had a chef visit the class, and a dentist came to demonstrate proper way of cleaning teeth. Then we wrapped the fun week off with Sock Hop.

lion heads

Awesome Lion Heads - a fun Kindergarten Mandarin tradition! 

in our festive outfits

Happy Chinese New Year!

Loving the lion dance!

 Despite a string of events outside of the classroom, we make centers as relevant as possible. Lots of cultural related centers planned for the week! The children love the calligraphy center the best.

Calligraphy - You can purchase these at China Town. Write them with a brush and water, once it dries off you can start over again and again!

To honor the year of Monkey

Chinese Restaurant Center

We continue to investigate and become fluent and efficient in addition and subtraction. Next week, we will be moving into ways to make a 10 as well as solving word problems. In language, word problems are delivered orally, while in English, the students will solve simple word problems by reading them with support. An example of a simple word problem: Amy went to the birthday party, she ate three lollipops. Her brother Aiden ate two. How many lollipops do they eat in all?

Below is a video of the children acting it out after a Read Aloud. Read aloud is a way to peak children's interest in literature as well as introducing vocabulary. Reading aloud in an early age is vital and exciting. The students get to make fun noises and learn new phrases. In the video you will hear, "Hey! Little pig! Where are you going?" Which is a very relevant phrase in any language.

Teachers dressed for Sock Hop!

|Project| Lion Head - Due: Monday, February 2/8/2016

February 8 marks the first day of Chinese New Year and we are celebrating the year of Monkey! Each year our kindergarten family has the most fun creating their own Lion Head! We will be parading the heads through the school building on 2/10! Please see the instructions below and remember to make it a fun and exciting family project.!You can find a good size box at any grocery store. 

Due Monday, February 8! 

See the photos above and here is what you have to do:

1. Find a box that isn't too big or too small for your child's head 

2. Cut a hole to show your child's face.

3. The rest is personal preference / creations! 

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!"

Week of October 19-23, 2015

This week we wrapped up Gravity in Science and Directional words in Math. Students experimented gravity through art, and a bouncy ball we made in class.

In language, we are wrapping out the "My Body Parts" thematic unit. Students are now able to point and name a body part (head, hair, eyes, nose, ears, shoulders, hands, tummy, knees, and feet), name how many of each body part, express if a body part hurts, and the color of a certain body part.

During language center, we continue to practice writing, recognizing sight words, reading, singing, and building sentences. The newspaper sight words scavenger hunt is a huge hit!

Next week, we will be sharing our Chinese Restaurant experience with classmates and begin to start exploring two dimensional shapes as well as motions.