January Calendar Markup: Shapes 一月: 形狀真好玩

一月份我們做的月曆是形狀。第一天是１個三角形，第二天２個三角形做成一個菱形，第三天３個三角形做成一個梯形，一直到第六天用６個三角形做成一個六角形後，每天又再多加一個三角形，到了第１２天會有２個六角形（１２個三角形），以此類推。

每天我讓小朋友自己預測今天會是什麼形狀呢？讓他們用形狀塊排出（會不會今天開始又從一個三角形開始輪呢？或是變成用別的形狀呢？等等）。然後再討論並宣佈答案。

此外，我還讓弟弟在每天的圖形上畫出線來切出三角形，再請姐姐記錄今天的形狀是什麼（如：一個梯形加一個三角形），還記錄下來今天是第幾天，用了幾個三角形（很快小朋友就發現有關連，第幾天就是用了幾個三角形！）。

並且我們也會練習寫下形狀的英文中文名稱，或是用字母來排出形狀的名稱。每次我們還會玩些不同的形狀的玩具，如 Starfall 網上的 Gingerbread man，七巧板, Super/Mighty Mind game, or 智慧片Klikko。總之，形狀真好玩！

For January, 2012, our calendar markup is SHAPES. From first day we have one triangle, 2nd day we have 2 (forming a rhombus), and then 3rd day we have 3 (trapezoid), so on… until 6th day we have a Hexagon. Then 7th day we have a Hexagon + 1 triangle, and the pattern pretty much repeats after itself.

For each day, the kids guessed what that day would be using pattern blocks. Then I reveal the answer, but any guess is a good guess. Then I would ask Alexander to draw lines on the calendar shape to see how many triangles it used. And Katharina would record the findings on our chart.

Another activity we did with this is spelling out names of different shapes. Sometimes I would ask them to write the names of the shapes, sometimes we use alphabet blocks to spell them out. As we play this more and more, the kids start to get more famalier with names of each shape, and reinforces alphabet recognition and writing.

We also learned different properties of shapes, such what diagnal lines are, and things like square is a special kind of rhombus, etc.

On some days, we would follow with another shape game. For example, from www.starfall.com we played Gingerbread man (using different shapes to decorate your own gingerbred cookie). Or Tangram, Super/Mighty Mind game, or Klikko – just having fun with SHAPES!!!

Katharina’s guess for day 12 (using 12 triangles but basically forming 2 hexagons). I asked them to find alphabet blocks to spell out Hexagon.

Alexander’s guess for day 12 (also used 12 triangles but he positioned them differently – also a good guess):

Our cat ChoCho came join the kids while they play:

Closeup:

PS. January Calendar Markup source: Bridges Kindergarten Supplment page.

Happy Chinese New Year 新年快樂

祝大家新年快樂，身體健康，閤家平安！

再過幾天就過年了，今天媽媽在家帶小朋友做了個簡單的勞作。小朋友先各挑了一張色紙做兔子。然後媽媽另外拿了一張紅色的色紙剪成小小春聯的樣子，讓公主用毛筆（自來水式的那種）分別寫上春，福，吉祥，平安，如意。

小朋友用自己選的色紙剪出媽媽事先畫好的兔子形狀後，再依自己喜好裝飾，最後再貼上春聯。然後把兔兔貼到用完的衛生紙捲筒就完成啦！很卡娃依喔～

2011 Winter Solstice

This week we had another back yard science club meeting, this time the topic is Winter Solstice, since the meeting is only two days before this years’s winter solstice. The weather is a little chilly today so we decided to do a little hike to warm up before doing experiments. While hiking, we lined up all the kids to see our long long shadow. On Winter Solstice we’re supposed to have longest shadow of the year, although it is not exactly winter solstice yet but owell more or less lah!

After hike we looked at how Earth rotates on its axis and how that gives us day and night (using an orange and flash light). I put a sticker on the Earth (Northern hemisphere since that’s where we are) so the kids can picture when they see or not see the sun (day and night).

		2011 Winter Solstice 觀看投影片 全部下載

Math fun with Christmas tree

今天讓小朋友做數字聖誔樹。樹上有四顆彩球，媽媽給了公主和王子各三個數字，讓他們用這三個數字寫出四種不同的算式（加和減）。當然，弟弟的媽媽幫了些忙（有用教具引導他算），姐姐的呢，就是她自己想出來的（最後一個媽媽有給提示）。最後呢，小朋友們還裝飾了他們的樹。當然，從不按牌理出牌的弟弟呢，還用剪剩的紙做了一塊泥土給樹站在上面，真服了他。

姐姐的：(6, 3, 9) –> 6+3=9, 3+6=9, 9-3=6, 9-6=3

後來姐姐覺得很好玩，又和我要了一顆樹，我又給了她一組數字：8, 4, 12

弟弟的：2, 4, 6

Today we did a fun math project. I gave each children 3 numbers, and the goal is to think of four different math sentences using these 3 numbers. Katharina pretty much did this on her own, and for Alexander I gave a little help. They each then decorated their trees. Alexander of course had to do something different, he made a soil for the tree to stand on (that was unplanned but awesome idea!).

Look what I did with a leaf!

Today we did a small art project with different leaves that we collected and dried. This is an inspiration from the book “Look what I did with a Leaf!”今天讓小朋友用我們撿來壓乾的葉子做了勞作，好可愛！（點子來自於上面連結的那本書）

Katharina’s leaf cat. On the top left is the Sun, on the right is a big tree. 公主做的皮皮貓，天空上還有太陽公公，右邊有大樹。

Alexander made two cats (ChoCho cat stacked on top of Pea Pea cat), himself (the round leaf next to Pea Pea Cat, and mommy (blocked by one of the trees). On the top is the sky (clouds maybe?), on the bottom grass. 兒子做的呢，是兩隻貓（球球叔叔站在皮皮貓上面）。還有兒子自己（在皮皮貓右邊的那片圓葉子），還有媽媽（但媽媽後來貼到最後被大樹擋住了），還有天空，地上還有草。

Klikko Ferris Wheel 摩天輪

Today we made a Ferris Wheel from Klikko (with mommy’s help of course). Mommy got the idea from the instruction booklet, but then we modified the design a little bit: instead of one set of gear on one side of the ferris wheel, Katharina added another set on the other side. So what happens if we try to spin different directions? It does not spin! And then Alexander dropped in some little pieces into the Ferris wheel to make charming spinning sound, the more he added, the more sounds (of course, more collision haha!)

今天我們用智慧片做了一個可愛的小摩天輪（媽媽幫忙一起做的）。雖然是看書上做的，但我們加了點東西。書上是只有一個齒輪的，但姐姐自己在另一邊也做了一個（所以各有一組齒輪在兩邊），同方向轉時還行，但不同呢？就動不了啦！（好發現）

弟弟呢，則是往摩天輪裡丟了許多小片片，所以轉動時呢，出了很多鈴鈴噹噹的聲音，好好聽呢！加愈多，當然聲音就愈多，當然，因為’碰撞’愈多丫！

好好玩的智慧片。

 

Homemade Rocket 自製空氣火箭炮

今天玩了這個好玩的空氣火箭炮，作法很簡單，就是拿個汽水的保特瓶，在瓶口塞一圑衛生紙！因為有空氣在裡面的原因，用力將瓶子一壓時（要夠用力，慢慢壓還不行：因為太慢時空氣往外推的力道不夠推動紙圑？），空氣小子被擠出去，所以把瓶口的衛生紙一推，就飛出去啦！

可惜家裡沒有其他大小的保特瓶，不然也許可以用來比較一下大小瓶子的威力有何不同？

後來瓶子被壓得有點變形，姐姐想到一個好方法：吹氣！結果還真的有用，用力吹氣，瓶子就變回原來的樣子了。

 

Today we made a ‘stomp rocket’using plastic bottle. It was a lot of fun! Lesson learned: air can be pretty powerful! 　Too bad we didn’t have different size bottles at home, otherwise we would be able to see the difference in power! But we did notice some interesting things! It is a lot of fun.