Video : The Amazing Underwater World of Asia

Date: 6th January 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 3:00-4:00pm

Class: Pomegranate

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Video : The Amazing Underwater World of Asia

We had a brainstorming session about creatures that the children know that lives in the sea.

Teacher: Could you name me some sea creatures?

Kwan Ming: killer whale, whale, eel, turtle, sword fish, jellyfish, squid, clown fish

Derek: dolphin, stingray, octopus, puffer fish, lion fish

Chloe: crocodile (salt water)

Aiden: shark (all kinds)

Shang En: fish

Kern Ee: seahorse

Teng Hong: fly fish

After the brainstorming session, I played them a short video of 10 minutes about “The Amazing Underwater World of Asia”. In this short video, the children were very excited when they saw those creatures that they mentioned earlier.

Right after the video watching, we went back to class to look at the list that the children had given me earlier and we went through all the names of the creatures the see. Happily the children name me most of the names they saw from the video.

Nomination of Topics and the name for it

Date: 3^rd January 2014

Day: Friday

Time: 3:00-4:00pm

Class: Pomegranate

Theme: Underwater World

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Nomination of Topics and the name for it

It’s a brand new year! Welcome back.

We had a different mixture of children this year for Pomegranate class. They had some old and new friends. Anyhow, the children could mingle with each other.

As for a new start, we need to choose a new topic to begin with. At first, the children only name one or two. Then later on, they came out with the following topics:

1)      sea creatures / animals

2)      transportation

3)      space

4)      animals (land) / tame or wild animals

5)      family

6)      dinosaur

The children were getting excited to choose the topics that they were interested with. However, after one round of voting, “sea creatures / animals” and “space” came to a tie. Therefore, I let the children cast their vote again for these two popular topics. Finally, they had chosen “sea creatures/ animals” as they new topic.

Since now we had the topic, we need to name it. With all the discussion and voting done, the children chose “Underwater World” as the name for our topic.

Children were encouraged to bring any books, CD, toys or materials related to underwater world to share among them.

Art & Craft - Butterfly (part II)

Date: 30^th August 2013

Day: Friday

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Class: Pomegranate

Theme: Colours

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Art and Craft – Butterfly (part II)

We had the National Day celebration together with other class children in the morning. It was a very merry celebration with song singing and the parade around the area of the school.

This afternoon, we continued with our colour theme activities. I got the children to trace the butterfly shape around the art they did the other day. Then they have to cut it out accordingly. I prepared a short purple pipe cleaner for the children to paste it on their butterfly as its antenna. Some of the children managed to curl the antenna like the sample that I showed them while some need helps. This time round, those children who managed to do it voluntarily help out those in need. It somehow, lightened my burden quite a bit as I don’t need to guide such a big group of children.  

The children were thrilled to see that their messy art had turned out to be quite a presentable butterfly and they wanted to decorate it on their classrooms wall. We shall do this on Monday.

Kwan Ming kept reminding me about his mangosteens. So after everyone had completed the art, we all moved to the kitchen to enjoy the mangosteens. Before we cut the mangosteens, the children wanted to count the pattern at the bottom of the fruit. The children were excited to find out that there’s seven and six. I asked them children to sum up these 2 numbers and they got even excited to know there’s thirteen pieces of fruits in it. I think they were happy that finally they got a share each.

The purple fruit that I brought was a dragon fruit. The flesh was purple in colour. I cut it and shared it with the children.

The mangosteen and dragon fruit ends our colour theme. Hopefully the children enjoy learning the colours around them. 

National Day Theme Activities

Date: 29^th August 2013

Day: Thursday

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Class: Pomegranate

Theme: Colours

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

National Day Theme Activities

Today, we hold on with our colour theme activities and move in to the National Day Theme. This coming Saturday is our National Day, therefore, I would like to take this opportunity for the children to complete their National flag making and also brief them a little about the history of Malaysia.

Sometime ago during our blue colour theme activities, the children had already coloured the Malaysia flag accordingly. So today, I gave each of them a straw to paste their flag onto it. It looks easy but somehow, the children had some difficulty to glue the straw firmly.

I had a brief explanation about the history of Malaysia. The date of our independent day was on 31^st of August, 1957. The children didn’t seem to understand about the year, then I had to use their birth year to explain it. Still it took them a while to understand this. I guess it’s too abstract for them to imagine it.

Kwan Ming brought 2 mangosteens and he would like to share with his fellow classmates. However, due to the insufficient time, we postponed such activities till tomorrow. Besides, I also brought a purple fruit to share with them but I kept it as a surprise for the children.

Tomorrow we shall have a parade around the school area together with other class. So everyone was encouraged to show up in neat and nice clothes or traditional clothes if they have. 

Art and Craft - Butterfly

Date: 28^th August 2013

Day: Wednesday

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Class: Pomegranate

Theme: Colours

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Art and Craft – Butterfly

Today, I wanted the children to try out this lovely art. It’s like drawing mirror image by using water paint. I prepared a piece of white paper for each child. Then I got 3 primary colours for them to use, red, yellow and blue. My intention is for the children to mix red and blue to form purple colour. At the same time, I can imagine the picture will be quite dark so I add in a yellow colour for them to mix around.

Before they start, everyone folded their paper into half. Each child was given a short yarn to dip into the water colour they had chosen. Then they placed the coloured yarn on one side of the paper and covered it. After that, they will pull the yarn out to make the pattern.

Some of the children managed to design their pattern while some just did it randomly. With such steps, the children could actually get a mirror image of the pattern on both side of the paper. We shall continue with the butterfly art on Friday. 

More things in Purple

Date: 27^th August 2013

Day: Tuesday

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Class: Pomegranate

Theme: Colours

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

More Purple Things

As some of the children hadn’t completed in writing the sentences on their paper, therefore, I got them to complete it before we moved on to another activities.

Jun Qian brought some grapes and Zhen Yuan brought a mangosteen. Both of them wanted to share with their friends.  Since Jun Qian’s grapes were in the refrigerator, we observed the mangosteen instead.

Teacher: What’s the colour of the mangosteen?

Children: It’s purple.

Teacher: Look, there’s some petals shape at the bottom of the mangosteen. What do you think this is?

Kern Ee: Flower all is the grass there. (I’m not very sure what does he means.)

Bee Chien: Maybe it grow from the flower or tree.

Yi Han: Because it just a bottom.

Jia Jia: It’s just a pattern.

Yu Xi: Because the flower is a pattern.

Jun Qian: To keep the water in the fruit.

Bee Chien: Maybe to make the mangosteen beautiful.

Wei Lok: The mangosteen won’t fall out.

Bee Chien: Oh, I know. It got five fruits in it.

The children had a very good imagination about the pattern at the bottom of the mangosteen. However, Bee Chien had a good guess. In order to show it to the children what does it means, we all moved to the kitchen to have a look at it. The children were thrilled to find out that there were actually five pieces of the fruits in it. They all enjoy the fruit at the same time.

Jun Qian also brought out the grapes and shared it with his fellow classmates. Everyone is enjoying it though most of them said the mangosteen tasted sour and not as sweet as the grapes. 

Purple Colour

Date: 26^th August 2013

Day: Monday

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Class: Pomegranate

Theme: Colours

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

New Chapter of Colour – Purple

Today, we started with purple colour. We revised all the purple colour things that we went through last Friday.

Then I introduced a nursery poem to the children, it’s “Little Jack Horner”. The words are as followed:

Little Jack Horner

Sat in the corner

Eating a Christmas pie

He put in his thumb

And pulled out a plum

And said “What a good boy am I!”

I got the children to change the word “plum” into other purple fruits or food that could appear in a pie. The children happily changed it to “grapes, eggplant, mangosteen, dragon fruit” etc.

We saw some purple bougainvillea outside of the classroom. So I got the children to pick those bougainvilleas that had dropped on the ground to paste it on the paper that I gave each of them. After that, the children try their best to make sentences by using “purple flower” in their sentences.

These are the sentences that the children had made:

1)      The purple flower is beautiful.

2)      The purple flower looks like a butterfly.

3)      This is a purple flower.

4)      I love the purple flower.

5)      I can make bookmark with the purple flower.

The children chose 2 sentences and write it on the paper together with their flower. 

Pasting the bougainvilleas onto the paper

Bee Chien: Mine is a lily.

Kwan Ming patiently pasting his flower onto the paper.