Water Cycle and 3-D Shapes

 

 

Happy Christmas Eve! I hope everyone has a fun-filled holiday spent with family and friends!

Thank you for all who pitched in for my birthday gift! Definitely feeling loved with all the presents I received. The picture is only a small portion of all the birthday/Christmas gifts I got.

The kiddos definitely enjoyed the Holiday party on Friday. We ate snacks, made candy cane reindeers, did our book exchange, and had a mini celebration for Linh and Amy since their birthday is during the break. It sure was a busy morning.

 

 

Even with antsy kids, an exciting week ahead, and a full moon, I managed to teach 40 students academics. In science, we focused on the water cycle.

Our weekly Vietnamese words for the last week before the break were:

với = with

cái= a/the

chơi= play

đi= go/went

nói= tell/talk

 

In math, we worked on identifying 3-D shapes. We discovered the number of faces, edges, and vertices each shape had. I let them do a lot of hands on activities this week to discover the attributes of 3-D shapes.

 Classroom Wishlist:

Crayons! (We are in need of some new crayons)

Magazines with appropriate pictures (The students use magazines from time to time to search for pictures)

Markers

Gluesticks

Working on "Và" and Weekly Vietnamese Words

 

Our words for this week were:

và = and

ba = dad

mẹ = mom

chị =older sister

anh = older brother

Our schedule has been so hectic with all these things happening in school that I have been very bad in having the kids write in their Vietnamese journals.

The students now know how to write sentences starting with:

Em thấy

Con thấy

 (I see)

Em thương

Con thương

(I love)

Em thích

Con thích

(I like)

Em muốn

Con muốn

(I want)

Em ăn

Con ăn

 (I eat)

Em uống

Con uống

(I drink)

We learned when it’s appropriate to use “em” and when it’s appropriate to use “con.”

Silly Quote of the Week:

Talking to a boy in the class-

S: “You know, you don’t have to be married to be a gentleman…”

Bạn Tốt and Recyclable Goods with Science Buddies!

Our monthly visit with our science buddies was on Wednesday. Instead of doing a science experiment with their buddy this month, the 5^th grade buddies helped the little ones make Christmas decorations using objects that are recyclable.

There were some pretty cool creations made.

We worked on a mini Vietnamese poem and talked about how we can be a good friend. The pictures they drew came out so cute and funny.

The kids do so well working with each other during class. They are so kind when it comes to sharing supplies or even helping each other out with spelling. When we did “Holidays Around the World” last week, they had lots of compliments from the other first grade teachers on how they share so well with each other and how they were so nice to each other. J

Money, Generated Alphabet, and Field Trip!

Our Christmas tree is set up! The kids really enjoy when I turn off the classroom lights and they get to work in a dim room with the Christmas lights on.

 

I have extended our money unit an extra week, only because I feel we could use another week of identifying coins and counting coins.  

Parents, please work on this skill with your kid at home also!

Next week, we will be working on identifying 3-D shapes.

 

We played a money race game (in Vietnamese) last week, which the kids did really well working together and helping each other add up their coin values. I have added this game to the center and the kids have already rushed over there after finishing their work to play this game.

 

To add the value of coins, we learned the "hair" trick. If you're ever wondering what all those straggly lines your child is drawing on their homework...it's their "hair" trick. Ask your child to teach you. It sounds like a silly concept but the kids get it down real fast when adding up coins.

 

Every month, my class and Mrs. Skalaban’s class update our class alphabet both in English and in Vietnamese.

 

We had a field trip to the Zachary Scott Theatre this morning to watch "Holiday Heroes" and it was a blast for the children. They really enjoyed the silly play. It would be a good place to take your family for the Holidays.

 

 http://www.zachtheatre.org/