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.

Songs, Stories and Vygotsky

Hi All,

Yesterday was a really fun day. My heart beat a little faster when I looked up and saw two of our new students Vivian Sh and Gary laughing heartily. Sharon has fitted in really well with the girls. It's all been great.

For show and tell, Nana brought her toy rabbit again, she must really love that one. Sophia brought her teddy bear in a nappy (or a diaper for the Americans). She tells me that her teddy bear is a baby just like her baby sister (or is it brother, I forget just now). After lunch the nappy came off because the bear didn't need it any more. Vivian Sh brought along two light emitting tops that her mother bought for her. Vivian Pan brought her doll dress cards, again, obviously another favourite.

We started the extra songs segment of our day to add to the stories I started yesterday. We listened to Dorothy the Dinosaur and sang and danced to Six Little Ducks. They were popular. We read the story I've become a fire breathing dragon, which the children found funny.

While helping some students with their phonics book, I was reminded of the ideas of a famous Russian educational theorist called Vygotsky. The idea behind his work is that everyone learners in a group. Before his ideas, people thought that learners learn. He has an idea called scaffolding were the teacher (or more knowledgeably peer) give the learner a situation where they can go from what they know to what they can know. You could think of it as the little wheels on the side of a bicycle. This what I do everyday and this is what I was doing yesterday when I thought of this. In this way, we (Teacher Jojo, Teacher Nico and myself) help your children become independant learners.

I hope we can work together to make sure your children are the best students they can possibly be.

Till tomorrow,
Glen.

88水災募款

這次的88水災對台灣造成很大的影響，除了學校參予Apple line電台做表演之外，我們寶貝也很有愛心，將自己的小豬所存的錢，拿來幫助他人！雖然捐的款項不多，但對孩子們而言，又是一個機會教育，懂得在別人需要幫助的時候，幫助他人！真的很棒喔！

可愛的VIVIAN S

猜猜她是誰?

她是我們班最可愛的VIVIAN喔！

我們班有兩個VIVIAN喔！老師為了要分辨她們

一個叫small vivian 另一個叫 big vivian

聰明的你，請猜猜看，她是哪一個vivian呢?

小雨滴>>>>

小雨滴‧‧‧嘩啦嘩啦

看呀！我們要把小雨滴接住喔！看誰要當我的小幫手，接住小雨滴>>>>

主題-團體遊戲

在〈快樂一班〉的主題單元中，我們今天進行的是團體遊戲，透過分組來進行遊戲比賽。在比賽中，除了告訴寶貝們要一起合作，遵守規則，才能贏得比賽，也告訴寶貝們要有運動家的精神，也就是輸了不要傷心，再加加油就好，贏的人不要驕傲，不可以嘲笑別人。在遊戲進行中，孩子們都會遵守遊戲規則，當然啦，有一個小寶貝為了幫助自己的隊伍獲勝，沒有遵守遊戲規則，而出手來幫忙拉腿，老師除了告知這樣是犯規，也給孩子們機會教育一下。寶貝們都很棒，都很有小運動家的精神，尤其是今天穿裙子的小女生，每個人玩完了遊戲，都跟我說屁股好痛，真是可愛！

Nado's airplane

很厲害吧！這是我們Peter Pan班Nado做的紙飛機喔！當媽媽跟我們說Nado在迷飛機，最近一回去有空就會折飛機，且折的很逼真時，我們都不敢相信，直到Nado拿他的飛機來學校時，我們才真正的相信媽媽講的話一點也不假！

Nado小寶貝都是利用色紙做出飛機的機翼、機尾‧‧‧等等，很厲害吧！拿來學校分享時，Hayden都會問Nado可否一起玩！看，是不是很棒呢!!