Plum Garden Kindergarten News January 6 – February 2
January Kindergarten / Plum Garden Planner
Winter is here! We dress in layers like a furry bear. Winter is supposed to be cold. Winter is supposed to be wet. Winter is a good time to hibernate. Winter is good time to celebrate. “Winter is here! / 冬天来了!” is our first theme in the semester of 2010. Five weeks–from 1/5 – 2/12 are the total number of learning weeks. The subject will focus on language, social studies, personal social education (PSE), math, science, history, culture, and the arts. The central idea is to express how the changing of seasons affects our natural environment.
The inquiries are:
* Winter scene / 冬天的景象
* Cozy warm winter / 暖暖的冬天
* Animals’ hibernation / 冬眠的动物
* Celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year / 欢喜迎中国农历新年
(January 6 – January 19)
Language: We will continue to learn Lesson three “长大 Growing up”. The children will learn how to do phrase and sentence exercises. The children will play Chinese scrabble to build up their sentence structure skills. We will also learn new vocabularies that relate to our first inquiry “Winter scene”.
(January 20 – February 2)
Language: We will continue to learn lesson three “长大 Growing up” and practice phrase and sentence exercises. We will have more phrase and sentence homework to send home. At the end of January, we will be starting to learn lesson four “Draw a picture / 画画” We will also learn new vocabularies that relate to our inquiries “Animals undergoing hibernation and Celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year” in the next two weeks.
(January 6 – January 19)
Math: The children have made their own Chinese calendars for the calendar activities to learn numbers. The children will continue to learn “more” and “less” and “longer” and “shorter”. They will learn how to compare more or less objects. We will learn how to estimate the object’s quantity and length and also how to measure length. The children will recognize and count with numbers from1-20, write numbers from1-20, and understand math vocabulary used in correspondence with measuring activities to learn various ways things can be measured. In this month, the children will learn how to measure an object with a string. The children will measure different objects and compare the length. We will play math games called “Size and Shape” and “String Time.” The idea is to gradually teach the children how to measure any thing in sight—big things and little things, whether mobile or stationary. They will know how to measure objects’ heights, widths, depths, diagonals, and circumferences from different angles and directions. Through these games, the children will think hard and get the concept about an abstract quality—size.
(January 20 – February 2)
Math: The children will continue to review “more” and “less” and “longer” and “shorter”. We will continue to learn how to estimate the quantities of objects and length and also how to measure length. The children will continue to use different measurements to measure their own hand and footprints. We will also record daily temperatures and weather on the weather report charts. In the next two weeks, the children will recognize and count with numbers from 1-30 and write numbers from 1-30. We will learn how to measure objects’ lengths, heights, and widths. The children will start to learn how to use two-sided bean counters to find number combinations. We will start with 5. This is how we will learn addition.
(January 6 – January 19)
Science: We have planted three sweet potatoes in our science corner. One is in a jar with water, one is in a jar with sand, and one is in a jar with dirt. The children will observe them daily to see how the different elements affect the growth of plants. We will also discover winter weather patterns and compare the differences between summer and winter. We will draw a graph to report daily temperatures in January. We will learn how Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius both invented the temperature scales. We will experiment with melting ice. The purpose of this science experiment is to demonstrate the effects of salt and sand on ice.
(January 20 – February 2)
Science: During next two weeks, our science subject is focusing on animals’ hibernation. We will make a project about what kinds of animals hibernate in the winter. The children will learn about mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and birds and how they adapt to the winter. The children will continue to observe three sweet potatoes daily to see how the different elements affect the growth of the plants. We will be continuing to observe daily temperatures in January and tracking the weather for their temperature and weather charts.
(January 6 – January 19)
Art: This week, the children used colored tissue paper to make their own portrayals of winter. Next week, the children will observe artwork made by Alexander Calder. Hopefully, the children will be inspired by his artwork to use clouds, the sun, rain, lighting and snow to make sculptures. The following are questions in which the children will be able to answer after this unit: Does winter have colors? If so, what colors? Are winter colors different from summer colors? The children will learn the colors of different seasons from famous artists’ artworks. We will explore the warm colors and the cold colors in the paintings we observe. We will listen to classical music, Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” We will, in addition, learn how to listen to music and interpret the season the piece is for, based on the expression and articulation of the sounds.
(January 20 – February 2)
Art: This week, the children will finish their Weather Mobiles inspired by Alexander Calder. We will continue to explore the cold colors in the paintings we observe. We will continue to listen to Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” We will listen to classical music and paint our inner expressions onto paper. The children will use cold colors only to draw shapes and lines to experience their winter scenery drawings. We will also make a mitten project for the winter animals undergoing hibernation.
(January 6 – January 19)
Social Studies and PSE: We will look at the pictures that we took in September 2009. We will explore the differences of summer and winter.
The children will inquire about:
1. How our natural environment changes in the winter.
2. How the plants on our campus have changed based on the change in weather.
3. How we should dress accordingly to different weathers and seasons
4. The different activities we do in different seasons.
5. Summer foods and winter foods.
Monday, 1/18 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We will learn the story of Martin Luther King Jr. We will also learn about his importance during the American civil rights movement and the impact he has left in America today.
(January 20 – February 2)
Social Studies and PSE: In the last weeks of January, we will start to learn about the Chinese Lunar New Year. The children will learn about how to prepare for the Chinese Lunar New Year—We will look at some pictures and discover how people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China plan to prepare their New Years and New Years Eve feasts. We will learn the meaning of Chinese Lunar New Years and how it arrived—We will listen to a couple of Chinese mythological stories: 年 / Nian story and 灶王爷的故事 / The Kitchen God story and we will learn and think about why we celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Our inquiries for the next two weeks are “Hibernation and Celebrating the Chinese Lunar New year.” We will inquire about:
• The kinds of animals that sleep in the winter.
• The kinds of animals that migrate in the winter.
• How animals prepare for hibernation.
• Why the Lunar New Year is also called the Spring Festival.
• The Lunar New Year traditional/symbolic of foods.
• Lunar New Years Eve.
• Lucky words, phrases, and greetings.
• The lantern festival.
(January 6 – January 19)
Singing: We will sing “Weather / 天气 and Happy New Year! Wang Xiaoer / 给王小二拜年 songs.” The original “Happy New Year! Wang Xiaoer / 给王小二拜年” was sung by a famous Chinese singer, Bai Guang / 白光 in the early 20th century. We are staring to prepare for the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration.
(January 20 – February 2)
Singing: We will continue to sing and learn “Changeable Weather / 多变的气候 and Happy New Year! Wang Xiaoer / 给王小二拜年.”