Language: What are the parts of a car (family car)?
What kinds of cars do you see on the road everyday when you go out? We have discovered cars (汽车), dump trucks (砂石车), garbage trucks (垃圾车), fire engines (消防车), mail cars(邮件车), police cars (警察车), oil tankers (油车), (挖土机), taxis (出租车), and ambulances (救护车). What are these cars for? These cars all have their purposes. When do we need them? We are going to discover more about that.

The children tried to recall their family car. We also have been discussing and exploring the parts of car on the outside and inside. How do they work? Why do we have these parts on our car? We also did some webbing on different kinds of road signs and what they mean.

Math: (sort sort sort !)
We sorted different kinds of transportation counters with different colors (cars, boats, airplanes, helicopters, buses, and trains). For instance, If we had 2 blue cars, then we used a blue marker to circle 2 cars on our worksheet. We also played transportation BINGO.

Art: (Look! This is my transportation)
We use different art materials (play dough, paint rollers, 黏土, 滚轮) to create our own pictures of roads and cars.

Science:
What are the shapes of tires on the car? What if we used different shapes to make tires? We had a simple experiment to prove why we usually see round tires.

P.E.
Game: (red light, yellow light, green light)
We played “red light, yellow light, green light”. The children lined up and got ready to listen for directions. A child or teacher would say “green light” and the children would start walking, “yellow light” meant slow down and “red light” meant stop. The children had a great time playing the game several times.

Thanks,
Meng-Pei Chen, 陈孟贝
May 14, 2010

Dear Panda Bear Families:

Language: (What is made from trees?)
How important is a tree to us, to our earth? We had an open discussion about what is made from trees. By looking around the classroom, children tried to share what they thought were made from trees in the classroom. The children came up with a desk, chair, table, floor, shelves, paper, door, toys, etc. The teachers also brought some objects to share with the whole class such as a violin, drum, paper of different textures and colors, basket, pencils, letter sorter made of wood. After sharing the ideas, we wondered how people make paper.

Math: (Playing with beans)
Sorting by size: We had a sorting project where we counted the beans (different sizes) in a number of beans. After counting, the children needed to work on a worksheet and color the circle with the number of beans.

Music:
Who needs tree? We need trees. What about animals? What animals live in the trees? 小蚂蚁绕圈圈，小毛虫荡秋秋千，小松鼠跳树尖，小麻维在树间，咻，冲上天。

Art/Science: Make my own flower paper
Why do we try to recycle paper? Where does the paper go? What is recycled paper?
We used old newspapers to make new paper. The steps are listed below:
1. Children tore newspaper into small pieces and soaked them in the water for 2 days.
2. Children crushed flower petals
3. We used a blender to whip the newspaper into a pulp.
4. We filtered the pulp with a strainer so that extra water was disposed.
5. Children each received a ball of new paper and pressed it on a wire. They made whatever shaped paper they liked.
6. We are now waiting for the paper to dry.

For the past two weeks, we continued our inquiry on “Trees.”

Language: Vocabulary
We reinforced vocabulary that was taught throughout this inquiry. We also spent some time webbing and brainstorming with the children about what can be made from trees. The children listed tables, chairs, toys, baskets, and paper. The teachers introduced other items such as a violin, wooden utensils, a paper sorter, chopsticks, etc.

Reading: Stories
We continued to share stories that children bring from home. We also read a few books on how paper is made and what items are made from trees.

Art: Earth Day
For Earth Day, we went out and picked up trash to make our planet a better place. We also made coffee filter planets. The children used markers to draw on a coffee filter and then sprayed the filter with water and watched the colors spread and mix together.

Math: Bean Sorting
For math, we sorted beans of different color and sizes.

Science: Observational Drawing/ Paper Making
The children were introduced to observational drawing, where you draw exactly what you see as a form of documentation. We used our green bean experiment to have the children draw what the plants looked like under the three growing situations (under the sun, under artificial light, and in a box). We also started making our own recycled paper. The children saw that already used paper can be remade into new paper.

Next week, we will finish making our own recycled paper and go on our trip to Strawberry Creek Park. We will be finishing our unit on “Trees” and moving to our final unit of study, “Transportation.” We will be focusing on the three major modes of transportation: air, land, and water. We would like to know if any families are especially well-versed in a form of transportation and would like to come and share their knowledge with the children.

Best,
Katherine
5/3/10

Language:
After picking up seeds from the park, we discussed the many different kinds. From the docent, Miss Shu of Tilden Botanical Garden, we realized that leaves have a lot of different shapes. We had objects that we can compare such as “针叶(pine needles)” which are long and brown and grow mostly in cold areas, “阔叶”which are wild and grow mostly in warm areas. We also explored several different trees so that children really see the different shapes. In addition, children were great investigators and raised many educational questions about trees.

Math:
We had a game where we sorted the seeds we collected at the park by colors and shapes.

Art:
We are finishing our four season trees. We also made a big thank you card for Miss Shu to show our appreciation for the knowledge she shared.

Science:
We discussed what a seed needs in order to sprout and grow. The children came up with dirt, sun, and water. After the discussion, each child decorated a Styrofoam cup and planted some basil seeds. They put it in front of the window and have been watering their own plant each morning. After the basil started to sprout, each child was given their plant to take home. Please feel free to re-pot and use the basil for any of your cooking needs.

Music & body movement & social study:
(If I were a tree?)
Close your eyes and think about whatever seed you want to be. Think about how “you” would grow up, how your branches look like, how your leaves, fruit, flowers grow, and think about how you feel if people break your branches.

Activities:
We had story time with Chris Lin. The children had so much fun with “Pandy” and telling the stories together. We also had fun hunting eggs with our friends.

In addition, to continuing our “Tree” unit, the past two weeks have been filled with special activities. On Thursday, April 1st, we had a whole school egg hunt. On Tuesday, April 6th, Shu Wen, a docent from the Tilden Botanical Garden came in to speak with us about some native trees and plants. She brought in some leaf samples and growing trees for us to see. On Thursday, April 8th, Chris Lin, the author of “Mandy and Pandy” came in to share his stories with the whole school. The children all seemed to really enjoy all three activities. =)

Language: Vocabulary
Below is a list of theme specific vocabulary words that have been introduced:
1.Easter – 复活节（fu huo jie）
2.Maple Tree – 枫树（feng shu）
3.Squirrel – 松鼠（song shu）
4.Bird – 鸟（niao）
5.Butterfly – 蝴蝶（hu die）
6.Caterpillar – 毛毛虫（mao mao chong）
7.Monkey – 猴子（hou zi）

Reading: Stories
We continued to read a few books on how plants grow and went through the different life stages of a growing seed. We have also been sharing books that children brought in from home that are related to our current theme.

Art: What animals live in trees? / Easter Egg Trees
After we discussed what kinds of animals live in trees, the children each made a tree and drew the animals they liked on their tree. We also made Easter egg trees. The children traced their hand and forearm to make the branches and tree trunk, and then they colored five different eggs and used them as leaves and put one egg on each finger.

Science: Growing Basil
We discussed what a seed needs in order to sprout and grow. The children came up with dirt, sun, and water. After the discussion, each child decorated a styrofoam cup and planted some basil seeds. They put it in front of the window and have been watering their own plant each morning. After the basil started to sprout, each child was given their plant to take home. Please feel free to re-pot and use the basil for any of your cooking needs.

Next week, we will be observing the growth of our green beans and discussing the importance of trees in our daily lives.

Best,
Katherine
4/15/10

Dear Panda Bear Parents,

Language:
By looking at the trunk poster, what are we missing? We discussed what is missing on the poster. Branches(树枝), leaves(叶子), flowers(花), fruit(水果), blossom(花苞), roots(树根). After learning the different parts of a tree, we put all the things on a trunk poster and we finally can see how a tree looks. What about the trees during the four seasons? By observing the tree in the yard, we found out that the leaves are coming out little by little. It’s spring time. What are the different types of trees in different seasons? We came up with ideas and finished a sample of four trees in four seasons.

Art:
1. We formed groups of 4 and picked up the things that we think are needed for a tree from the yard. We had a big poster that had a trunk on it. Children needed to talk to others to finish decorating the tree.
2. When we visited the park, we made bark rubbings on paper using crayons.
3. We decorated our spring tree with pastel colors.

Science:
1. Children found out that Crabs are changing shells. They are looking forward to seeing a new shell on Crab.
2. We planted lima beans after soaking them and watching them sprout in a cotton bag. We then transferred them to dirt bowls.
3. We placed the lima plants in three different places:
a. Under the sun
b. Under an artificial light source
c. Covered with box
We will discover what might happen when lima plants grow in three different places.
Activities:
1. We went to the park and hugged trees to feel the texture of bark, the different shapes of trees.
2. We also collected seeds when we were in the park.

Social study: F-R-E-E-Z-E !!
We pretended to be a seed. We acted as a seed growing up. We discussed when we were a tree and if our branches are broken, it is very harmful. Therefore, we try not to pick flowers, sticks from the tree or any growing things on the tree. Protecting trees is important for our environment.

Music: 树
树叶一片片轻轻的滑落，花儿一朵朵慢慢的开放，树干一天天越长越胖。

Thanks,
Meng-Pei Chen, 陈孟贝

Language:
1. What is “it” on the poster? What do you think “that” is? What do you think “it” looks like? When do you see “it”? Is “it” food? Can we eat “it” if you think “it” is food? By looking at the pictures, we discussed the “mushroom” which is an umbrella in our garden. We also had real mushrooms that are big, small, long, short and different colored.
2. What is that other thing that looks like an umbrella? Which can save people’s lives? A parachute! By looking at a book and pictures, we discussed why people hang on the parachute. What is a parachute for? We discovered the need for a parachute and why is it important for people on airplanes.

Art:
We made our mushroom garden. We also made an umbrella garden with the food we usually see.

Social study: 蝴蝶伞 (butterfly umbrella)
By sharing the story of 蝴蝶伞, we fostered our imagination about umbrellas and how umbrellas work to protect us. Also, how important is a parachute? Which kinds of people need the parachute the most? Why?

Music & PE:
We continued our discussion of umbrellas. We imagined and acted out how to open the umbrella, close the umbrella, spin the umbrella fast and slow, how parachutes go up and down when it gets down to the floor how it looks. Following music, we had a group activity together.

Science:
We have been taking care of “Rufus” and “Crab”. We also took this opportunity to talk to the children about how the hermit crab might die. Therefore, providing the best environment for land hermit crabs is very important and what we feed them and providing shelter.

Cooking class:
From what we have learned, we made mushroom salad to wrap up our theme. We had baby carrots, iceberg lettuce, corn, tomato, cucumber, and mushroom. We prepared the ingredients together and cut or tore them into small pieces. We mixed all the food together with our thousand island dressing.

Third theme:
We will talk about our next theme, trees, from next week. The first inquiry we will talk about is “What does the tree look like? What are parts of a tree? ” If your child would like to share books about “trees”, you are welcome to bring books on Tuesdays.

Language: 十二生肖的故事 (12 animals)
We talked about the story of the 12 zodiac animals. The story shared how people decided on the 12 animals for calculating the years. We introduced the most meaningful five traditional Chinese foods that we usually eat on Chinese New Year and the meaning of the phrases. ( 韭菜chives-长长久久，年糕sticky rice cake-步步高升，橘子orange-大吉大利，苹果apple-平平安安，鱼fish-年年有余)

Art: We made a paper lion the fight the “year” monster. We are going to decorate our own paper shell for our hermit crab.

Activities:
1. Playing 12 animals games. Children pretended to be an animal and run towards the goal. All children took turns participating in the game.
2. “Run and Run”: We put all the traditional Chinese food pictures on the chair. We walked around the chair with one child pretending to be the “year” monster in the center. We walked around saying “年兽来了，年兽来了，怎么办，怎么办?”? All people had to find a food pictures to avoid being caught by the monster.

Science: We have been sharing our new friends (classroom pet), hermit crabs. We talked about the organ functions, the food they eat, the most suitable environment and how they move around. How can we take care of our friends? The children love to share their thoughts on the hermit crabs. We also read books about hermit crabs to the children. If your child would like to share books about hermit crabs, they are welcome to bring them in.

In two weeks, we will end our second theme, amazing umbrella. This week, we will discuss what kind of plants and food look like an umbrella? Why do we think it looks like an umbrella? What are they for?