Newsletter #4
Wow! We are on our way to getting much more used to hearing/and saying some Mandarin phrases/words along the way. This week’s goal was to introduced to the children that other than listening and speaking Mandarin, characters are also a big part of Mandarin, and in class we are working to start looking at characters! I also share the news with the class that we will start to move more towards hearing more Mandarin from our friends and hearing less English – the children took the news positively and is very excited to start filling in our Mandarin incentive jar!
Thank you so much for your hard work with the children’s first homework! Let me know if you have any questions about how to guide them or the strokes directions/order reading. I am happy to help. I also wanted to let you know that you are a great help in developing good Mandarin writing habit for the children 🙂 Just a reminder that Mandarin Homework is due on Fridays!
This week, Ms. Sheila came in and talk to our class about alike and differences. Ms. Sheila talked about how we all have green part (things that comes easy to us) and pink part (things that is a little harder). We talked about how we can help each other out and complete the puzzles together with our green and pink part of puzzles. We talk about how God has made us special and that He has a plan for all of us 🙂
What did we learn and What will we learn?
Mandarin: We learned a couple more basic strokes this week (we are working through our strokes practice booklet!) We have learned 15 different strokes so far and the children and starting to realize more and more that these strokes make up our Mandarin characters! We also practiced numbers 1-7 at school. We continue to explore and learn new phrases/vocabularies constantly! We are working hard on listening and repeating words, as well as starting to be aware that every Mandarin words have characters that goes along with it and we are starting to put more attention to the characters now that we are getting used to hearing Mandarin.
Math: We continue to review our numbers and shapes through different activities such as drawing, counting, looking at books about it, and many more. There are also many opportunities to include numbers, counting and even adding and subtractions through routines such as counting our lunch options, counting the amount of friends, or playing with cubes during Play Time. We introduced the concept of addition and subtraction – looked at how numbers become “more” when we add, and how it become “less” when we subtract.
Bible: We reviewed how Adam and Eve fell into sin, and how we need Jesus to rescue us from our sins. We also talked about Babel, and how there are languages in the world now and we learn languages so that we can tell the people in the world about our God. We were really emphasizing on God’s promise this week as we talk about how Abraham was obedient, and God kept his promise with Abraham (giving him a son Isaac and many more generations after him!) just like how God kept his promise with Noah when he gave Noah the rainbow. We then connect to how God keep His promise of giving us a savior – Jesus Christ. We continue to practice our September Bible Memory Verse!
Science: We continue to explore things around our world with our five senses. We also took a tour outside to explore our sense of sight with the help of magnifying glass! It was great to see the children making connections of the vocabularies we learn in class to what they see on our playground. We then tried our best to draw out the natural materials that we have picked up from the playground. It was so great to see the children turn into scientists and do their best in drawing what they see outside/in class with the magnifying glass!
Social Studies: We talked about alike and differences – we talked about how we each is a unique individuals that have roles. At home, we are children of our parents, and at school we are students and Lilaoshi is our teacher. We talked about feelings and explore feelings related to being in Kindergarten.
Play: I am observing and enjoying the creativity and imagination that the Kindergarteners have each day. There are so many opportunities for children to learn and develop skills that will go a long way – so much fun and so much learning at the same time!
Things to Note:
Water Bottle and Towel: Water bottle and towel were sent home on Friday. Please clean them and return them to school with the Kindergarteners on Monday!
Mandarin Homework: Mandarin Homework this coming week is on numbers 8-10. We have practiced number 5-7 at school together 🙂 Please continue to watch and guide your child through their Mandarin Homework by helping them follow the stroke order (you will be able to see it on the paper, and it starts left to right most of the time) and word proportion. Let me know if you have any questions about this!
Flashcard: Flashcard will also be coming home. It will be on colors. Please make sure that you keep the flashcards that I send home each week (in the ziplock bag that I gave last week) so children can keep practicing! The goal is for the children to recognize the characters! Please take a couple of minutes to review it with them – the more exposure they get the more they will be able to remember.
You can check our Resource Page for the audio recordings of the flash card each week.
I will be CHECKING their Mandarin Homework on Fridays, Please make sure your child’s name is on it (English name is fine).
School Pictures: Our class is scheduled to have our school picture taken on Tuesday, October 4th. All picture order forms are going home sometime next week. If you plan to order individual pictures for your child please be sure to fill out the information correctly on the form.
Photos: I have added a page that has photos/snippets of our classroom life! Feel free to check the page and there will be new photos added from time to time!
What’s coming up?
Specials: Monday – Spanish, Art, Tuesday – Music, Spanish, Wednesday – Library, Thursday – Spanish, PE.
Mandarin Framework Learning: Now that we have learned most of our usual routines, we are going to start our Mandarin Framework – which means we are going to dive into learning and discovering Mandarin through various ways each day. It is going to be overwhelming at first certainly, but we are going to get through it slowly but surely together!
Degraaf Nature Center: Our first fieldtrip is this coming Friday (Sept 30th)! We are going to go to Degraaf Nature Center from about 9:00AM-11:30AM, that will take most of our morning and we will be back around lunch time. Special thanks to Carrie and Geilyn who prepares our class snacks and drinks!
Picture Day: October 4, Tuesday. I am sending home forms in red alert folders this coming Tuesday.
Book It: Starting in October! You will be getting information and a sheet that children can fill in to earn their free pizzas.
Prayer Requests:
Please continue to pray for our class and the children as we adjust to school, how to do school, and adjust to learning everything in Mandarin. I am so proud of the children and know that they work really hard each and every day, and I am aware and not surprised that they are exhausted after school certainly. I would like to assure you that this is a phase that the children go through as well! The children will continue to adjust to it and they are great on taking challenges!
Please continue to pray for the Kindergartener’s anxieties and worries – drop off and saying goodbye to parents is hard for many of our friends 🙁 It breaks my heart to see the children start the day with tears! Though they do turn into smiles pretty soon 🙂
谢谢！
-黎老师