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.

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～

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

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!).

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。

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。

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.

今天和小朋友們看了一本書, The Giving Tree（愛心樹）。（上面影片是１９７３年的英文動畫版，文後我也附上了中文的版本）。

內容是一顆很愛一個小男孩的樹。它陪伴著小男孩成長，小男孩小的時候給他玩耍和乘涼休息的地方。有一天小男孩長大了，離開了大樹，但時而帶著新的煩惱回來，偉大的大樹總是給小男孩它能給它的一切。小男孩拿了它的蘋果去賣錢，再又砍了它的樹枝來蓋他的房子，再又砍了它的樹幹做船。但小男孩還是不開心。當小男孩變成個老人時，他又回到了大樹身邊，這時他很累只想休息，而只剩一個樹根的大樹，還是滿心歡喜的提供了小男孩（這時已是位老人）一個坐著休息的地方。

小朋友讀了覺得有點難過。我問，如果你們是小男孩，你會怎麼做？小小的禹閎說，我不要砍掉它。但怎麼辦呢？小男孩想要錢丫，要房子丫？公主說，可以去賺錢丫，為什麼要砍大樹？是丫，該要自己努力吧！我們討論了很多，錢重要嗎？媽媽問。＂重要＂公主說。＂是丫，是重要，因為有錢我們才能吃飯才能生活！但，是最重要的嗎？＂

不是的，人生還有很多事是比錢更重要的。和家人相處的時刻，愛你的人和你愛的人，親情友情，這些該是錢也買不到的！還有，錢的來源呢？也很重要，我們不能用不正當的手法取到錢，那麼這樣就是不對的。而且，小男孩想要的東西愈來愈多，但他開心嗎？卻不比他小時候爬爬樹來得快樂！

另外呢，也討論到父母親對孩子的愛，也是像大樹一樣的無邊無際不求回報。但當孩子長大時，是不是要把父母搾乾為止呢？還是應該記得父母恩，時而回報呢？看了一些書評，也有人會問，這樣自我犧牲的愛，真的是最好的嗎？父母親竉愛孩子，但若沒教孩子，是不是也是造成讓孩子不知感恩的原因之一呢？

還有，小男孩是自私嗎？大樹呢？

童年的快樂，成長後的責任和慾望…

雖然是有點感傷的書，媽媽覺得還真的蠻有思想和學習空間的，所以在此想與大家分享一下。

網上找到的影片（１，２集），這是比較早的繪本版本（黑白的），後來好像有畫彩色的，但我覺得還是喜歡最原創的版本。

the giving tree愛心樹－１

the giving tree愛心樹－２

This is a book about a tree that loves a little boy and willing to do anything to make the little boy happy. In the end, the boy has taken all fruits from the tree, cut down his branches (for his house), cut off his trunk (to make himself a boat), and then in the end, when the little boy became an old man, all he wanted is a place to sit and rest. The tree, now just an old stump, is happy to offer the little boy (or rather, an old man), a place to sit and rest.

The kids find this story a little sad. I asked them what they would do if they were the little boy. Little Alexander said he would never cut down the tree because he loves the tree. So we discussed values of 『MONEY”and value of love and being loved. We discussed parent-child relationship, as I feel this kind of reminds me how parents are to their children, always willing to give and not asking for anything in return.

And we also talked about what it means to give and how it makes us happy. Selfish vs generous and giving. The book opened a great room for discussion on different topics, so I really like it despite that it is a little too sad.

I found this YouTube video of the actual ’73 version of Giving Tree movie, hope you’ll enjoy it too.

(For English version please scroll down)

Note: Lesson plan and printout from Math Learning Center (nonprofit) Kindergarten Supplement page.

今天是十二月一日，舊的一個月過了，新的一個月開始了，我們就來’除舊佈新’，把我們的月曆重新佈置一翻。十一月時做的３０隻火鷄們要拿下來，公主王子們有點不捨，媽咪說＂沒闗係，打個洞我們把３０隻都串起來留著。＂

按例，媽咪讓小朋友自己貼了＂ＤＥＣＥＭＢＥＲ＂，並由四歲的王子幫我們寫＂十二月＂，寫得還蠻好的呢！

為了十二月的月曆，家裡今天來了位很特別的客人：Teddy（泰迪）…對了，牠是一隻好可愛的小熊喔！這小熊很害羞，本來躲在盒子裡：

媽咪：＂猜猜我們的特別來賓在哪兒丫？＂　公主王子：＂在盒子裡！＂
媽咪：＂Yes, INSIDE the box”並給他們看事先準備好的字卡＂INSIDE”

然後再讓他們偷看一下，並猜猜這位特別來賓是誰！

再來Teddy出來坐在盒子上嘍！媽咪問：＂Where is Teddy?”公主說：＂盒子的外面！＂王子說：＂盒子的上面！＂

媽咪：＂嗯，都對喔，Teddy 跑到盒子外嘍，OUTSIDE the box! (字卡：OUTSIDE) 但也是在盒子的上面！ (字卡：ABOVE)”

就這樣以此類推，媽咪帶公主王子討論了一些可以用來形容’位置’的方式： Inside, outside, above, in front of, behind, below/under (opposite of above), to the Left of, to the Right of。

再來媽媽把印好的 １２月１日的卡片拿出來，也是一隻熊！牠在哪兒呢？

接著就是畫畫時間到了，媽咪讓小朋友幫我們的特別來賓著色，小朋友超開心的呢！

Today is December 1, the start of a new month! Today we will be taking off our 30 handprint turkeys from November and putting up new calendar markers! Because the children loves their handprint turkeys so much, after we took them down, we punched holes and ringed them all together and saved them.

So as usual, the children picked out alphabet foam stickers to make the banner “DECEMBER”, and I had Alexander write December in Chinese.

For our December markers, mommy had invited a special guest to our home. The children were excited to guess who the special guest it. Mommy took out a box, and asked “Where is our special guest?”children guessed: “Inside the box”- so there, mommy pointed out “INSIDE”, as decribing the location.  And showed them a flash card that says “INSIDE”.

So came the special guest: Teddy!!! It came out of the box, and sat on top of the Box. Mommy asked them again: “Where is Teddy now?” Katharina answered: “outside of the box!”Alexander said: “On top of the box!”

Mommy acknowledged both answers,“Outside”and “on top of”. And showed them flash cards of  both words.

So on, we discussed different locations: Inside, Outside, On top of, below/under (opposite of on top of), in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of (opposite of to the left of).

And mommy took out the marker for 12/1 – guess who? It is TEDDY of course! And had the kids describe to me where is Teddy in the picture, and which flash card goes with it. And Katharina put it in the location for December 1, 2011 (Thursday).

The fun does not end there – time for drawing! Mommy let the kids color their new Teddy friend, and it’s all smiles They even took out their toy blow dryer to blow dryer the coloring, although it is not really necessary haha so cute. And they happily introduced Teddy to their other stuffed animals collecion, and started their pretend play session!

Wow what fun we had today!!!   And they can’t wait to see where Teddy will be at tomorrow for December 2!

		December 2011 Teddy 觀看投影片 全部下載

And of course followed by a little sorting game. I just grabbed whatever things I can quickly find around me (and given that our house is always a mess, this is easy to do – I even pulled off Alexander’s socks from his feet and included in the collection – why not?)

Math is F-U-N!