Deer Class - Week 2

What an exciting week this has been!  I hope that you all had a lovely holiday on Monday.  Family time is such a wonderful thing.  As for myself I spent the holiday at 沙崙海灘, then I returned home to finish up the lesson plans for week two.  It was a nice holiday, although I did get a bit sunburned.  =)


This week in Deer Class we covered a lot of ground.  We moved right along in English, learning about hygiene and how to ask politely for things/permission with the "May I...please?" sentence structure.  The children learned the new grammar very quickly and I was so proud of them all.  The highlight in English this week was when we transformed the classroom into a washroom and the children all took a turn pretending to wash their hands.  We also used an giant toothbrush and set of teeth so the children could practice good oral hygiene as well.  I really stressed with them the importance of using soap every time you wash your hand.


In Phonics this week, we studied the hard "c" sound using the phonics rhyme "caterpillars crawling, c-c-c".   The students are still getting used to distinguishing one letter from another, which is why we fully intend to review previously learned materials every week.   In this way, we will prepare the children to transition to the next level without any problems.


In math, we delved deeper into the colors of the rainbow.  I taught the students a song with colors in this order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.  We will review this song in the future, to really reinforce which word goes with which color.


In science this week, we learned all about the parts of the hand: hand, fingers, fingernails, thumb, pinky, etc.  A favorite activity for the class was making rain with our hands.  If you would like to make rain with your children at home, this is what you need to do:

1. Everyone rub their hands together.  This should make a very soft sound, like the beginning of the rainfall.
2. Next, snap your fingers.  (If you or you children are unable to snap your fingers, you may make click sounds with your mouth instead)
3. Then clap your hands, building the noise as if the rain is falling harder.
4. The climax of the storm comes when you stomp your feet and slap your knees.
5. Slowly, revert back to clapping as the storm dies down.
6. Then go back to the snapping/click sounds
7. Finally rub your hands together again

The students really enjoyed this activity a great deal and are sure to love doing it with you at home. If you decide to try it at home, please leave a comment below and let me know how it went.


In music this week, we learned "This is the way we wash our hands" to the tune of "Here we go 'round the mulberry bush".  The students had a lot of fun with this song, especially as it tied in with their English lesson this week.


All in all, we had a good week and learned lots of new and interesting things.


And now, this weeks Star Students are Rueben*, Stella, Candy*, Randy, Jingo, and Elly.  Congratulations to them for their hard work.  As I mentioned before, the Star Student award is awarded each day to the students who earn the most stars for class participation and good classroom behavior.  Bravo!


Star Students (*indicates that the student has earned this award multiple times this week):

Elly

Jingo

Randy

Rueben*

Candy*

Stella