|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!

Mandarin Journals are Annoying...right?

Yes. I hope your kid is annoying you with the Mandarin Journals nightly. Like Aiden here... Meanwhile, his big brother is quite cooperative.

Week of March 3-7, 2014

Flashcards should remain in your child's reading bag. I will be going through them and marking the ones they have mastered throughout the week. 

NOT one, but two mini iPads were delivered this Wednesday! Thanks for the outpouring support from our parents! I was also so excited to purchase apps because of the iTunes credit donated. We immediately put them to use on Thursday. There are so many neat games that reinforce reading, writing, and math skills. 

Dr.Seuss' birthday celebration was a success! We read several of Dr. Seuss' books and discussed what we noticed in his poem. We all made Horton's ears, which they were so proud of wearing. We then compared and contrasted the difference between a story and a poem and an English poem and a Chinese poem written by Li Bai .

From Wikipedia - 

Li Bai (701^[1]–762), also known as Li Po, was a Chinese poet acclaimed from his own day to the present as a genius and romantic figure who took traditional poetic forms to new heights. He and his friend Du Fu (712–770) were the two most prominent figures in the flourishing of Chinese poetry in the mid-Tang Dynasty that is often called the "Golden Age of China".

Around a thousand poems attributed to him are extant, thirty-four in the canonical 18th-century anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems. The poems were models for celebrating the pleasures of friendship, the depth of nature, solitude, and the joys of drinking wine. Among the most famous are "Waking from Drunkenness on a Spring Day", "The Hard Road to Shu", and "Quiet Night Thought", which appears frequently in school texts in China today. Legend holds that Li drowned when he reached from his boat to grasp the moon’s reflection in the river.

In your child's Mandarin journal, you will find the poem "Jin Ye Si 靜夜思" by Li Bai. It's a beautifully written poem and you can even sing it. Below is the clip.  And for your own entertainment, you may watch the other one that is more suitable for adults. 

Below is a glimpse of what we were working on all week. Story problems were introduced this week...the children read the problems, drew pictures, jot down facts, and got it all done! 

Top left - Math Story Problems

Top right - Cutting out poem for the journal

Bottom left - Writing 

Bottom right - Math Story Problem

Top left - Writing

Top right - Poem on the fan

Bottom left - New carpool practice

Bottom right - Hortons working on writing