Another Transformer Day after the outside drawing day

Yesterday afternoon, we took the children outside to draw in the playground. I have wanted to do this since I have arrived at Fu Da, but circumstances have always made it impossible. I am glad we did it though as the results we spectacular. I will make a webpage for every student to post their artwork.

Hayden's mum would be the first to admit that Hayden doesn't like to write, but his English is good and he comes up with some funny things. For example, yesterday we had five people bring show and tell things and only one person brought something other than a Transformer toy. When the third child pulled out their transformer toy Hayden said, "It must be Transformer day today." It seems like the children's fascination with Transformer toys has no bounds and the only limits are the manufacturers' imagination and production abilities and your tolerance of these toys.

Today only Vivian Sh brought a Transformer toy. A stunning five robots make one big robot design that had the students entertained. Richard and Benson brought a collection of different toys and Sharon brought a card collection that was the same style as Vivian Pan's from the day before. Sharon has fitted in well with the other girls.

In our Spelling book class, Hayden and Allan continued to show how much they know, as do other students. I point out Hayden and Allan because they both like to talk and for both of them they have other areas where they are not as strong. Hayden doesn't like to write, as I have said before, and Allan has a speech impediment, but that doesn't stop him wanting to talk. Having taught Allan's sister, Janine, and knowing Allan's brother, Ben, I am surprised that he is willing to show his abilities more readily than his siblings. Owen took a long time to color one of the activities today, but showed he understood what to do when he completed everything in quick time.

The reading test illustrated what I was talking about in my last post regarding Vygotsky. Some students do the reading test easily, some have difficulty, but Vivian Pan and Benson showed that they are trying hard to learn this skill and with a bit of scaffolding are able to do a very good job. Sophia showed that she is also learning. She has troubles now, but she tries hard to read and will be better soon.

I've also talked previously about teachable moments and another one came along this afternoon when Sean came up to me. He came to me to explain that the piece of plastic that was hard to break. He had tried to cut it with scissors. I explained to him that it wasn’t easy to break and that it was very durable. To test his new word, he talked about other things that were durable. When he was satisfied with this he asked about the antonym. I explained that paper was easy to break and it was fragile. When he tested this new word with some examples, he was then happy that he had learned what he needed to learn and moved on.

The outdoor drawing class has given me an inspiration to take this further, so after we finishing drawing the kindergarten, we may take our eyes outside and find something in our community to draw. Part of my inspiration for going outside is an article I read about a teacher doing a similar thing, and when I find it I will share it with you.

That's enough for today and for tomorrow, TGIF.

Glen.