This week is short, but it’s still full of Dragon Boat Festival enthusiasm at the events. Monday, we made panda incense bags for arts and crafts class. Tuesday, we went to see Dragon Boat races at Da-Jia Park. For most of them, it was their first time watching these races. They couldn’t help but cheer for their respective teams. In the afternoon, we had a graduation party for the graduates, and played musical chairs and other games.

This week we will skip individual comments. Monthly progress reports will be sent home next week.

I hope you that you and your family have a great Dragon Boat Festival and a long

weekend.

Starting this week, I asked the kids to recognize and to memorize the spelling of other peoples’ names. Some older kids are excited to spell out their friends’ names.

For Phonics class, we worked on S-s-seal, sun, surfboard, sink, and see-saw. We

also learned a new phonics rhyme.

*My slimy snake is moving so slowly.

* But watch out!

*When he says hello,

*Hisssssssssssssss

For motor skill class, we worked on two worksheets. One of them was practice for their scissor skills. They had to cut wavy lines and straight lines. Most kids worked on their own, expect Tanya and Dora who needed extra help. The other worksheet was tracing dotted line practice; the kids had to trace the shell of a snail.

For math class, we worked on beginning sounds. The kids had to find the same beginning sounds and color them. For example: mouse and monkey; bat and bird.

For art and craft class, we made hand puppets. After cutting the outlines, they made their own designs and decorated the eyes, nose, mouth and hair. Jae’s puppet is a princess; Leetrue’s is a father; Henry’s is a boy; and Christine’s is Cinderella.

This week we learned two new songs: “In my Garden” and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”

Individual comments:

Ellie is an attentive student. She loves to play with her sister Joyce. I love to hear her tattle tell on others. She usually has a long story, that begins with because or before, or so and so …….

August was able to identity all the beginning sounds by himself during phonics class. He was a little distracted, and wasn’t getting the right card when we were playing games for social studies.

Jae loves to move with the music. I feel that she appreciates the morning singing the most. Jae did messy work one day, so I asked her why. She said, “I don’t know.”

Casper is very easily influenced by the others. When someone does something bad, he automatically picks it up with no doubts.

Henry can use scissors much better now to cut lines (straight lines and wavy lines). He also enjoyed the arts and craft class very much this week making hand puppets.

Jason purposely stepped on poo the other day without telling me, and then walked around the classroom. I had to clean the classroom with bleach and spray. He also shared his mom’s story about having a baby; I couldn’t help laughing so much.

Tanya doesn’t follow the directions while we are doing exercises on motor skills. She just cuts the paper into pieces. Tanya sometimes hits other kids whenever she has disagreements. I tried to explain that it’s wrong by tapping them on their hands.

Leetrue has made big improvements on his scissors’ skills, compared with a few months ago. I realized that he has a wild imagination nowadays. He uses darker colors while he’s drawing.

Dora went on and on with her opinion about her baby brother, Arthur. She also told us the doctor cut her mom’s tummy open, and then the baby came out. I caught her playing with water in the bathroom many times.

Christine likes the story we read on Wednesday “Get out of Bed. “ I used her as the girl in the story, Amy. “Christine likes to sleep so much!” Mom and Dad couldn’t wake her, so they brought her to school in her bed…..”

Visiting the yukult factory was fun for the kids, especially the interactive movie that they were showing, and the free drinks. We had lunch at the nearby park. Leetrue, Tanya, Jae, and Henry all brought the same lunch. They shared candies and snacks after they finished their lunch.

For Phonics class, we worked on R-r-rug, refrigerator, roof, and rooster. We also learned a new phonics rhyme.

*Rrrrr…..it’s cold ,what shall I do?

*Rub my hands,

*Run around and

*Reach out for a hug from you.

*Rrrrrrr…..

For motor skill class, we worked on “Building a House”. Each one of them had to color the windows and the door, and paste them onto the empty house. All of them were able to work on their own except Henry, Tanya, and Dora…they needed some extra help.

For math class, we worked on finding the same beginning sounds such as: watch and wagon, rattle and ring, pencil and pig. We also did two reviews counting worksheets from 1 to 10.

For social studies class this week, we continued the same unit “Jobs and People”. We played sticky ball and ladder games while we were reviewing the flash cards.

For the rest of this semester, I’ve planned to teach them songs from the famous “Raffie” collection. This week we learned two new songs: “On the Way to Grandpa’s House” and the “Hi and Hello Song”

Individual comments:

Jason wants to be a fire fighter when he grows up. Jason tried much harder to do his best during class time, such as coloring or writing.

Tanya needs to try harder at paying attention during class time; otherwise she doesn’t have any clue with what’s going on in class. We worked on how to sit properly this week.

Casper loves to do color combinations when he fills in colors. He chooses bright colors like red and yellow. It really shows a lot of his personality. Wonderfully colorful!

Leetrue tried so hard to write his name on his own this week. He also invited Henry to his house to play.

Christine pushed Dora out of her seat on purpose. I made her apologize and she promised to be a big sister to take care of her.

Henry has been improving his eating habits since last week. He is still one of the last few who finish last, but he doesn’t whine that the food is too much anymore. His hand-to-eye coordination is slowly developing, along with his small muscles technique using scissors.

Dora recognizes the picture of a police man and a hair dresser, as their occupation. She really enjoyed the story we read this week: “Alligator Baby.”

Jae… I was so amazed that Jae was able to sing one of the love songs from the beginning to the end. She wants to be a police lady when she grows up, she said. She also told August that she doesn’t want to marry anyone yet.

Ellie was introduced to the numbers 1 to 10, this week for the first time. She’s able to count from 1 to 3. We’ll work on it.

August brought a love CD to school on Wednesday. He was able to sing half of the lyrics on his favorite track: #3. He asked Jae to marry him!

Happy Mother's Day

This week is the first week since I’ve returned from my maternity leave. It felt familiar, but also quite different.
We have been very busy with a special holiday. Mother’s Day is this week, as well.

For Phonics class, we worked on Q-q-quit, quilt, queen, quail, and quintuplets. We also learned a new phonics rhyme.
*The quails were quarrelling,
* and the sound they were making
* sounded like the letter “q”.
* Why don’t you make the “q” sound, too?
*Qq…Qq…Qq…
*Qq…Qq…Qq…!

For math class, we worked on a pair of rhyme words such as mitten and kitten, vest and nest, and clock and sock. The kids are slowly picking up the idea of rhyming words.

For social studies class this week, we started with a new unit: “Jobs and People”. We reviewed some previously covered jobs such as doctor, nurse, teacher, and fire fighter.
We learned a few new ones such as hair dresser, conductor, and waiter.

For arts and crafts this week, we made puzzle pieces frames and special flower pots for our mommies.

Individual comments:

Jae is still the leader of this class. She was very talkative as usual, but I realized that she picked up a few bad habits amongst her peers such as putting her hair in her mouth.

Ellie is a well behaved girl. She obeys the rules and repeats nicely when I ask everyone to repeat. She eats well and naps during nap time. I’m glad to have her in our class.

August seems more mature since two months ago. He sometimes has too much to say during class time.

Jason got naughtier over these couple of months. He does things on purpose to go against a teacher’s orders. I also caught him running around during nap time.

Tanya is also new in my class. She has had a hard time paying attention during class. She likes to put her nose into other people’s business all the time, such as getting a water bottle for others or tattle telling on others. She eats very well and naps a lot.

Casper grew so much. He likes to play with Dora and Tanya now that they are buddies. Wednesday, we were reviewing numbers. Casper wrote 9 like a lollipop. I took a picture to show you.

Leetrue was sick for a couple of days this week. He is such a sweetheart; he brought me some pretty flowers the other day. Thanks!

Christine was so cute. She made a comment on the different jobs. She said she wants to be an “airplane princess,” She meant “flight attendant.”

Henry is also new this month. Henry also repeats during class time. He misses his mom sometimes in the morning, but he gets over it soon enough. He doesn’t like to take medicine though.

Dora has improved a lot since I left. She is well spoken in her “la la land” talk, because she sometimes says nonsense. She loves to help others when it’s not necessary .She is getting better with direction in class.