Sunday, July 01, 2007

Green

We have had red, blue, and the most recent was green. It was good being green. We ate lots of greens to start with, snow peas particularly which are in season, honeydew drizzle with some honey. We were also "green" to our digestive system by eating lots of wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta and brown rice! We talked about being green, by conserving energy in the house, turning off the lights when we are not using, turning off the TV on time by 9am to conserve energy, and and and NOT standing at the fridge with the door wide open! Ha, that was hard to achieve!


It wasn't hard to think of "green" activities. We made this frog puppet, which turned out to be of great fun. JD enjoyed this craft, and we were able to cut out circles and refreshed what we did 3 weeks ago on size comparisons. JD also learned about full and half circle from this craft.

Later on, JD hid under the table to perform a puppet show for his sister whom was sitting on the highchair. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to capture it, but it was a very nice moment.


We also took out this frog lifecycle craft we did a few months ago and went through it with JD. He could still remember most of it, though he tends to skip the part about the eggs turning into tadpoles. JD refused to pose for me but instead wanted me to pose with his craft work :)

There was also a "Grass Snake" that we made. JD liked this craft a fair bit because he had the chance to help me cut out strips of sticky tape for the snake, talk about simple fun! He didn't want to pose with the snake because he said "It looks too slimy!" and he was trying to shoot the snake with his Lego built gun! Yikes!


I also added in a bit of maths for him using some home made numbers flash cards and his marbles. It was fun for him but the excitement probably lasted no more than 5 minues before he started to get distracted by the sound of a delivery truck driving past, the barking of the dog next door, the postman on his scooter. It was time to take a break for some wholemeal toast with cheese!
Then there was more playdough fun where he made himself a "motorbike with strawberries" birthday cake, a gourmet fruit pizza and a "green apple monster with sticks"! I think the reason why JD has named his cake that way is because he likes motorbike and strawberries!



Since it was Green week, I took out one of JD's favourite Chinese story books " 扑通" and read it again. I usually read it in Mandarin then again by English to him. He knows the story now and here's a funny clip of him telling me the story. But, pardon me for his sneezing :)










As for Chloe, well, I think she went through a growth spurt last week. She just kept eating and I was always giving her something to eat througout the whole week. We also found out that she likes a good feed of Penne Bolognaise!

For Mandarin this week, we learnt about 小青蛙, 青色, 青菜, 青萍果, 青豆, 圆形.

Chloe is still doing the same stack of flash cards of 手, 口, 脚, 眼, 头, 妹妹, 哥哥, 爸爸, 妈妈 but I also added in a few new ones like 猫, 马, 大象, 绵 羊, 狗 with my own animated voices which she found amusing.

Once again, I realised kids learn the most through play. Last week I realised she could recognise the word "头" when I asked her to put a block on my head, then followed by her head in Mandarin. I was quite amazed at how quick kids learn and it was marvellous. No doubt, she was very pleased with herself when I clapped loudly followed by one of her cheesy grins!

Kids are generally happy when we spend some time playing, laughing, reading with them, and at the same time meeting their most basic needs of food, drink, clean nappy, clean clothes, warm jumper on a cold day, a treat of hot chocolates with marshmallow on a cold and wintry night....

5 Comments:

Blogger Little Impala said...

Yes, children learn the fastest through play. That's why I usually incorporate play in our Chinese HS. Btw, I just read a Chinese newspaper article about how to motivate young overseas children to learn Chinese in foreign land, I will share it with you once I have the scanner by this week.

Monday, July 02, 2007  
Blogger Vegie said...

Wow he can pronouce froggy in Mandarin ! Wohoo your effort is paying off slowly but steadily !

Monday, July 02, 2007  
Blogger jean said...

thanks for the reminder. I should start teaching grace some simple chinese. I have been putting it off for a while now.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007  
Blogger LiL'deviL said...

You are such a GREAT mother! Wish I know Mandarin to teach my boy. We just speak Cantonese. Loved the way JD read the book, although I don't understand a word...kekeke... So what's next week's colour?

Wednesday, July 04, 2007  
Blogger bp said...

So nice that both JD and Chloe are learning and at the same time having so much fun! Can always tell from their happy faces that they are having a good time! You are such a good teacher!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007  

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