A Peek into Kindergarten ~ 1st 6 Weeks

Kindergarten had their Open House last October 2nd so I had the opportunity to observe Keefe having his Math, I.T., Language & Phonics classes.  Here are some photos I took from that day:

A Look Inside
Height chart, bulletin board, weekly jobs, pretend/play corner near the entrance

Pretend/play corner at the back of the classroom, learning posters, lost tooth chart, drawings done by the students as part of their current unit of inquiry 

Big magnetic whiteboard in the middle of the classroom with various posters/charts, various math and literacy manipulatives on the sides, posters for each unit of inquiry that will be studied during kindergarten

Materials used in a typical kindergarten class (presented to parents during a coffee morning held in September)

8:15am-9:05am ~ Math

The teacher set up a few math stations for the kids to work on.  Keefe chose to do some number writing (an unpopular station!), play with some blocks and make the tallest tower using unifix cubes.  I had to take a photo of one kid hanging laundry in numerical order because it was too cute! 

After the kids worked on the stations, the teacher gathered them in the rug where she delivered her morning message.  In line with their unit of inquiry on "Friends", they learnt about each other's favourite colours.  Each child had to go in front of the interactive whiteboard and drag their photo to their favourite colour.  Math was embedded into this activity through counting and graphing (e.g. Which colour has more? Which colour has fewer? Did you notice any pattern?).  This activity was followed by an "I Like" activity where each kid had to ask their friends what they like to do and draw it on their clipboards.

9:05am-9:55am ~ I.T.

The I.T. teacher came in with a trolley of brand-new Thinkpad laptops and headphones that were carefully collected by the kids with their two hands.  The kids had to put an orange overlay on the keyboard (so that they can see the letters clearer!) before logging in with their IDs and passwords (smart kindergarteners!).  The kids were grouped according to their abilities and therefore, were assigned different I.T. tasks to do.  Keefe was assigned to the blue group so had to do some higher math skills (like counting backwards from 40, skip counting by 2's) through educational games available in Busy Things UK (subscription-based website).  I am amazed that these kids were trained to use the laptop without a mouse.  At the end of the I.T. class, each kid had to shut down and return all their equipment back to the trolley.

9:55am-10:30am ~ Morning Break

The kids had their morning snack, quiet time and outdoor play.

10:30am-11:00am Language

The teacher gave a whole group lesson on writing to prepare the kids in writing their letters.  Kids "write in the air" while the teacher conducts the lesson.  This is followed by individual work.  Again, the kids are grouped according to their abilities so some kids (like Keefe) are writing on paper with a pen/marker, some are writing on special chalkboards that come with drawings and lines, and some are writing on rice.

11:00am-11:50am Phonics

Phonics instruction is differentiated for all kindergarten classes so the kids work with different Phonics teachers according to their Phonics group (determined through assessments carried out at the beginning of the year).  Keefe is in a group where there were only 8 of them (4 boys and 4 girls).  Due to the small size, his group has their Phonics lessons along the corridor instead of the classroom.  Instruction is fast-paced (on the day I observed, the kids have already learnt sounds like /ng/, /nk/).  The first part of the lesson had the kids saying out the sounds speedily while the teacher quickly flashes the different sound cards.  The teacher then reviews letter formation where the kids "write" on their partner's back.  This part brings about lots of giggles from their partners because writing on their backs tickle them!  After the review, the teacher introduces the new sound and corresponding handwriting rhyme.  The kids "write in the air" before proceeding to their desks to write on their Phonics/Writing booklets.  While Jolly Phonics is used in preschool, Read Write Inc Phonics is used in kindergarten. 

Friends

The kindergarteners’ first unit of inquiry was “Friends” where they learnt what makes a friend, how to be a friend, learning about each other and working as a team.  This was the "Friends" bulletin board displays done by the kindergarten classes.

Keefe’s class version of “Friends”

Some of Keefe’s work on display

Another kindergarten’s class bulletin board display after reading “Wemberly Worried” and “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?”

Student-led portfolio sharing sessions mark the end of a unit of inquiry.  Here, Keefe is presenting his portfolio to his dad last October 3rd.

Mommy School ~ Oo is for Octopus and Ocean

~Kai is 3.5 years old~

We spent the first part of our autumn break in Dublin, Ireland.  Belle and Keefe are on autumn break till Wednesday.  Kai and I managed to work on letter Oo this afternoon while the other two played on their own.  We read Good Thing You’re Not An Octopus!, followed by our letter crafts – octopus and ocean.

 

We played an octopus-themed roll and cover number game, worked on size discrimination and the number five.

For literacy, Kai traced letter Oo’s and ovals, identified Oo’s individually and in words.  We used stickers to learn about animals that live in the ocean (octopus, jellyfish, nautilus, squid, anglerfish, sea cucumber).

A Peek into 2nd Grade ~ 1st 6 Weeks

The school had an Open House last Monday so I had the opportunity to sit in and observe how learning was conducted in a second grade classroom.  The subjects I observed were German, P.E. and Unit of Inquiry.  Children are assigned to different groups according to their ability for German.  So Belle is with 12 other 2nd graders for her German class and the teacher converses only in Deutsch.  How much Belle took in - I have no idea!  

Here are some photos I took from Open House:

Inside Belle's classroom

Belle's class bulletin board display & a close-up of her work

Some posters inside Belle's classroom

Belle rehearsing her Hobby Shop presentation in front of her peers

Bulletin board display of other second grade classes

Belle during P.E. class (she forgot her indoor P.E. shoes!)

The second graders had their Hobby Shop Exhibition today.  For the past six weeks, they have been learning about their hobbies and learning styles.  The central idea was that the children's hobbies can reflect how they learn best.

The Hobby Shop exhibition is a product of the students’ research and inquiry into their hobby (something that they like to do in their free time).  The process includes identifying what they know, formulating questions and locating key information.  Each child was encouraged to consider their learning style when making their project.  For Belle’s case, she is a visual, linguistic and auditory learner.  She presented “Rainbow Loom” as her hobby and included research facts on the inventor, etc.  She also brought samples of loom bands and charms she had made to present during the exhibition. Here are some photos I took of her and other second graders’ presentation:

Some of the other children's hobbies included ice skating, rock climbing, soccer, skiing, scuba diving, dophin riding, horseback riding.

Mommy School ~ Nn is for Night and Nest

Nn is for Night

To start off our Nn week, we read Goodnight Moon in both English and Chinese.  As we read the book, Kai matched pictures found in the book.  I created vocabulary cards in Chinese and Kai placed counters as I call out each word.  We did this a few times so that he is exposed to the Chinese words.  He also did one tracing worksheetand counted stars.  We didn’t do a night craft because he did one in Gymboree last month.

Nn is for Nest

We read Mr McGee and the Perfect Nest yesterday.  Kai enjoyed this book and actually “retold” the story in his own words.  He worked on some nest printables and we made our nest craft today.

Mommy School ~ Mm is for Moose and Muffin

Our letter Mm week was spread over three days.  We started off by reading If You Give a Moose a Muffin, and followed it up with our letter crafts.

For math, I placed numbers 1-10 in a muffin tin, and let Kai count and put the corresponding number of counters into each muffin cup.  For literacy, Kai did an ABC match-up (with the help of his big brother!).

We baked mini muffins yesterday.  Kai loved helping out and of course, gobbling down the muffins!

Mommy School ~ Ll is for Ladybug and Leaves

Tuesday, September 2^nd and Wednesday, September 3^rd

We read The Grouchy Ladybug and made a craft to go along with it. 

 Kai worked on tracing Ll’s and a ladybug puzzle.  He still can’t do a 6-piece puzzle independently so I hung a copy of the completed puzzle for him to follow.

Kai also counted felt ladybugs, worked on sequencing ladybugs from smallest to biggest and made a ladybug pattern.

 

Tuesday, September 9^th and Wednesday, September 10^th

We read The Leaf Man and made our version of leaf man as a craft activity.

 Kai practiced tracing Ll using felt leaves, worked on patterning (a skill that we still need to work on), sorting leaves by colour and leaves printables from Teaching Mama.

Mommy School ~ Kk is for King

~Kai is {almost} 41 months~

We read My “k” book yesterday and Kai learnt new words like kingbird, kaleidoscope, kitten, kettledrum, kid (baby goat), katydid, keg.  He did a bit of math yesterday night because he wanted to “study” like Belle & Keefe.  Here he was circling sets of 2 objects and 3 objects.

One of his preschool teacher's goals for Kai was for him to independently write his name by the end of this year.  We have been practicing writing his name at home through tracing.  Yesterday, he told me he didn't want to trace and wrote his name independently.  Hooray!

We made our king craft to complete our Kk day.  The glitter was messy!