Plum Garden / 梅园书栈

梅园报晓 Plum Garden News—No. 15
January 19 – January 23
Kindergarten / First grade

Important dates
1/22 Oakland Chinatown field trip. 10:00AM-2:00PM
1/26 Chinese New Year day. School closed.
1/31 Shu Ren Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration. 3:00PM-5: 30PM
2/7 Solano Lunar New Year Parade. Starts at 11:00AM
2/16 President’s day. School Closed.
2/17-2/20 Winter Camp. Extended day care provided. Sign-up for the Camp is needed at the Administrative Office.

Dear Parents,

Two Chinese Lunar New Year celebration events are coming up. Shu Ren International School will hold a Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration on Saturday, January 31st from 3pm to 5:30pm. The performance will start at 3:30PM. All of the students that are in pre-K, K, first grade, and the after-school class will be performing. We will also participate in the 2009 Solano Lunar New Year Parade. This is the second year of the Lunar New Year Celebration in Albany. The event is in cooperation with the Albany Unified School District and the Solano Avenue Association. The parade is on Saturday, February 7th and starts at 11AM. There are several local Chinese schools and programs that will participate in the parade. This is a very good opportunity for Shu Ren to join a local community event. We need to let the community know that we have been offering many wonderful language and culture programs in our school. We need your support to make it happen. More details and children arrival schedules will be posted. Please mark these dates in your calendars to celebrate these events!

Tomorrow will be a big historical day for the United States—The first African-American President! Tomorrow is Inauguration Day. We will watch the inauguration and have a morning tea party at Shu Ren at 8:30AM. Children’s art activities will be provided during the ceremony. The children have learned about Dr. King’s civil rights movement stories in both English and Chinese lessons last week. We have also celebrated Martin Luther King’s birthday in the afternoon English class. We sang “Happy birthday!” in many different languages. Let’s thank Teacher Lisa Jean for lending us such a good opportunity to celebrate this meaningful holiday.

Yay! The Chinatown field trip is coming up this Thursday, 1/22. We are planning to leave the school at 10:00AM and head to the North Berkeley Bart Station to catch the Bart. We will get off at 12th Street Oakland Center and walk to Chinatown. We will walk around and visit a few shops on 8th Street to 10th Street and Webster Street. We will discover Chinese Lunar New Year scenes in Chinatown. Teacher Lisa Jean and I will give the children a tour lesson in English and Chinese. At 12:00PM, we will have lunch at Sliver Dragon Restaurant (10th and Webster) to treat our hungry tummies after such a long walk. I would like to ask you to buy a round trip Bart ticket for your child and send $10.00 (for lunch) in cash to school with your child. The Bart fare is $1.55 for a one-way ride and $3.10 for a round trip (North Berkeley «—» 12th Street Oakland Center). If you and your child ride Bart very often during the weekends, my suggestion is that it’s cheaper for you to purchase a red children’s Bart ticket. It costs $9.00 but is good for a $24.00 ride. Usually, you can purchase it at Safeway, Andronico’s, Berkeley Bowl, and other pharmacies. We will not be buying tickets for the children at the Bart Station because it will take too much time, so please have your child’s ticket ready. Thank you for your understanding. Please send your child’s ticket and $10.00 in cash to the Plum Garden before Tuesday, 1/20. We will return at 2:00PM

Before we make our trip to Oakland Chinatown, the children will learn the traditional symbolism of foods for the Chinese Lunar New Year. We will also compare what we see in Chinatown to some of the New Year picture scenes from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. We will talk about the similarities and differences in their celebrations.

Once again, I would like to ask everyone to be punctual. We are either having Chinese or math exercises for 15 minutes each morning from 8:35 to 8:50AM. Please don’t let your child miss this good warm-up opportunity. Thanks!

Our inquiry for these two weeks is “庆祝中国农历年 / Celebrating Chinese Lunar New year.”
We will inquire about:
1. Why is the Lunar New Year also called the Spring Festival?
2. The Lunar New Year traditional symbolism of foods.
3. Lunar New Years Eve
4. Luck words, phrases, and greetings.
5. Lantern festival

Language: The children will continue to explore how to use Chinese classification words (Quantifiers) in sentences. Such as 个, 朵, 片, 棵, 张, 条, and 只. We will also learn how to use new words to make phrases. The children will learn new vocabulary that relate to “Celebrating Chinese Lunar New year.” During the small curriculum time, the children will continue to make a four seasons’ coloring book. They will have a short presentation of their season’s stories. They have enjoyed doing this activity.

Math: We will continue to learn “比长短 / Compare the length.” The children are continuing to measure their partner’s body parts. They are comparing and guessing the circumferences and lengths. We will continue to observe our temperature charts to find out how the temperature length changes and compare to his / her classmate’s observation. The measuring worksheets will be sent home with Wednesday’s homework package.

Science: We will continue to observe daily temperatures. We will have a cooking class on Wednesday. The children will learn how to make boiled dumplings. Of course, we all get a treat after cooking class. We will have a Hands-On science project to explore how salty water freezes more slowly than regular water. We will learn why salt can melt ice.

Art: We will make Chinese New Year paper cuttings and a paper lion.

Social Studies and PSE: We will continue to explore the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration.
This is a two week inquiry. The children will inquire about:
1. Why is the Lunar New Year also called the Spring Festival?
- What is the lunar calendar?
- How is the lunar calendar cycle different from our current calendar?
- How many days is the Lunar New Year?
2. The Lunar New Year traditional symbolism of foods.
- What are the meanings of the foods?
3. Lunar New Years Eve.
- Why is New Years Eve important to Chinese families?
- What is the red envelope and the meaning of it?
4. Lucky words and phrases and greetings.
- What are the meanings of lucky words and phrases?
- How do we use those lucky words and phrases to greet people?
5. Lantern festival.
- What is the Lantern Festival?
- What is the last day of Chinese New Year?
- Why do Chinese people eat rice balls during the Lantern Festival?

Singing: We will continue to sing “Happy New Year! Wang Xiaoer / 给王小二拜年.”

P.E: We will continue to practice our lion dance.

谢谢! Thanks!
Kai