Pine Garden Newsletter – January 18- January 29, 2010

The Pine Garden biweekly review and planners are listed below:

Language/ History/ Art

These two weeks, we reviewed all the rhymes that we’ve learned from our text book and have been learning a new one 红睡莲
/red lotus. We’ve learn twelve new words form 门牙掉了/teething, such as 门牙／front teeth， 香，我／me／I，她／she／her，人／people／human，敢／dare，生气／angry，明，朋，怕，拍. We are learning to make sentences with the words 明 and 朋, and learned how to distinguish the two characters from different radicals 日，月. And we are also learning how to express our feelings by using adjectives to describe our emotions, such as 生气／angry, 高兴／ happy／ glad.

About the theme of Chinese New Year, we are discussing how people celebrate this holiday both in China and here in the States.
We learned about the origin of this holiday through the resource book I got from Berkeley Public Library, called Celebrate Chinese New Year by Carolyn Otto ; consultant, Haiwang Yuan Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, c2009, and some other story tales about Chinese New Year. We have been talking about the differences between books and what we have seen here. And that’s why we are planning to head to Oakland Chinatown to feel the holiday in person.

Also, since we are learning and practicing the Chinese Zodiac, 鼠／rat, 牛／ox, 虎／tiger, 兔／rabbit, 龙／dragon, 蛇／snake, 马／horse, 羊／goat, 猴／monkey, 鸡／rooster,狗／dog, 猪／pig, we are going to have a project doing a survey about the signs of all the people we know. Moreover, we’ve extended some more knowledge of animals, such as 大象／elephant, 企鹅／penguin, 无尾熊／koala, and the vocabulary is extending.

Math
Our 1st graders have been learning and practicing 2-digit subtraction during these two weeks. While the practice was progressing, we came up with a problem of f borrowing a 10 from the ten’s in order to subtract a greater number. So, we returned to practicing the concept of what two numbers make 10, and have been playing games related to it. For 2nd graders, we’ve learned how to use different methods to solve problems about various groups of numbers, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, till 7, and how do we relate this concept to our daily life.

Social Studies/Art
While we are creating the plot for our play, the students decided we wanted to make hats to show people the roles we play instead of making masks, because they thought masks might cover our mouths and then people can’t really tell what we are saying. We have made the draft hats to put on while we are rehearsing, we’re excited that we’re going to make the real ones this Wednesday.

Our class is very interested in the symbols of the Chinese celebration– Lion/Dragon Dance. We’ve been sharing the experiences of what we have seen or heard, in person or from family and friends. Finally we got information from Michele and had a chance to get to know a Lion Dance Teacher, Jeff Lee, who is also a cultural educator, coming to our class as a visiting presenter to share his experiences and talk about cultural perspectives on Wednesday. Here is the website of the association: http://www.ofcourselionsource.com/. The students are expecting to come up with some more ideas or questions of the symbolic cultural practice.

P.E.
We are practicing ball skills this week, such as padding, catching,and throwing. But due to the unpredictable weather condition, we could only have our PE class once this period.
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Music
We’ve learned 小小羊儿要回家／little sheep going home, and 牧场／the farm. They are all related to animals.

Thanks! 谢谢！
Teacher Joyce 瑄瑄老师